Infinite Challenge


Infinite Challenge is a South Korean comedic reality television show that aired on MBC TV from 2005 to 2018. The show was produced by Kim Tae-ho, and starred various entertainers, including Yoo Jae-suk, Park Myung-soo, Jeong Jun-ha, Haha, Jung Hyung-don, Noh Hong-chul, Jun Jin, Yang Se-hyung, Hwang Kwang-hee, Gill, and Jo Se-ho.
Infinite Challenge was marketed as "Korea's first reality-variety show", combining the humorous games of Korean variety shows with the intimate filming style of reality television. Each episode features cast members competing in challenges, including physical competitions and song contests.
Often called "the nation's variety show", Infinite Challenge was consistently popular in South Korea during its 13-year run. In 2008, the show reached its viewership peak, with nearly 30 percent of South Korean television viewers watching the program. The show was voted the country's favorite television program in both 2015 and 2016, according to polls conducted by Gallup Korea. Additionally, the show's song contests, which paired cast members with popular musical artists, spawned multiple top ten hits on the Gaon Digital Chart throughout the 2010s.

Series overview

Episodes

Season 1

Infinite Challenge first aired under the name Reckless Challenge on April 23, 2005 during MBC TV's Saturday night programming block. The show was marketed as "Korea's first reality-variety show" and features people taking on absurd physical challenges, such as playing tug of war with a bull or racing a subway car. The first season of the show stars Yoo Jae-suk, Jung Hyung-don and Noh Hong-chul as regular cast members, with other cast members appearing occasionally. Guest stars include actor Cha Seung-won and tennis player Maria Sharapova.

Season 2

Season 2 began airing on October 29, 2005, and is split into two parts named Excessive Challenge and Infinite Challenge – Master of Quiz. Excessive Challenge has a similar format to Season 1, while Infinite Challenge – Master of Quiz follows a quiz show format. Park Myung-soo, Jeong Jun-ha, and Haha join Season 1 regulars Yoo Jae-suk, Jung Hyung-don and Noh Hong-chul as cast members in Season 2. Singer Lee Hyori appears as a guest star in this season after a slew of episodes without guests.

Season 3

The third season of the show, known simply as Infinite Challenge, began airing on May 6, 2006. Special coverage of 2006 World Cup Germany was featured for the entire month of June 2006, along with some 'Ah-ha' specials at the beginning of each episode. However, on July 8, 2006, the program took its memorable first step as the first 'Real-Variety' television program in Korean television history, with the airing of a segment called 'Please, come early': The six members were asked to come to the recording session on time or experience some form of punishment. Thereafter, the program has created challenges with regard to anything related to real life, in outdoor studios, with little use of acting or heavily based plotting. Since December 2, 2006, the program has received the highest ratings of prime-time lineups for Saturday evening.
In January 2012, the program took a 6-month hiatus due to a labor strike conducted by MBC's reporters and producers. During this period, new episodes were not produced and MBC, instead, aired reruns of previous episodes. In November 2015, Infinite Challenge arranged special exhibition and expo titled "Infinite Challenge Expo", in KINTEX. The program took a 7-week hiatus from broadcast in early 2017, which Kim Tae-ho, the main PD, signified as a period to normalize the production process which has been shortened considerably where the production team had less time and always rushed to meet the deadline. The PD also reveals that the program still continues their regular shooting schedules while being off the air.
The program took another 10-week hiatus from September 9, 2017, due to a labor strike by MBC's reporters and producers. During the strike, new episodes were not aired and reruns of previous episodes were broadcast. The strike ended on November 13, and Infinite Challenge returned to regular broadcasting on November 25. In March 2018, the program came to an end marked by the departure of Kim Tae-ho, the lead producer, which was followed by the members. However, after the last episode was aired, the program returned for 3 more weeks where it aired recap specials that pays tribute to the achievements of the program called "13 Years of Saturdays".

Recurring segments

These segments were featured in multiple episodes over the years due to their popularity.
  • "Infinite News" – a parody on news broadcast in which most of the reported stories happened to some or all of the cast members. Those stories revolve around their personal life and tend to balance between facts and the comedic side of them.
  • "Infinite Company" – an unscripted skit that parodied on the lives of office employees, similar to The Office. Initially, the skit was a reproduction of the late comedian Kim Hyung-gon work, called President, President, Our President, portraying a situational comedy around a board of directors of a company before it was changed to be about a group of employees in a small department.
  • "Ha & Su" – an unscripted situational comedy around the petty quarrels between Jeong Jun-ha and Park Myeong-su, where the latter is aggressive and hot-tempered while the former is timid and simple-minded. In 2011, they were awarded a "Best Couple" award for their dynamic.
  • "Jimotmi" – it stands for 지켜주지 못해서 미안해, which means "Sorry I could not look out for you" In this segment, the members play hidden-camera pranks on each other to see how they react to certain contrived situations.
  • "Introducing My Ugly Friends Festival" – A segment where the members invited their acquaintances which they considered visually unappealing. Afterwards, the members organize a party where they celebrate with various games.
  • "Saturday, Saturday's, I Am A Singer" – Suggested by Park Myeoung-Su and Jeong Jun-ha where the program arranges a stage where old artists were given chances to return and perform their hit songs. Sechs Kies and H.O.T. were able to reunite and came out of retirement through this segment.
  • "Please, be..." – a segment which was introduced to instill common principles to all of the members. '"Please, come early"' forces the members to be punctual during filming day as the staff will not inform them when they would film the segment. '"Please, be friendly"', featuring Haha and Jeong Hyeong-don, were created to encourage both members to be more comfortable around each other.
  • "Ah-Ha" – a Korean word game in which one member says a word, and the next person must then say that word backwards. Members who failed or made mistakes would be hit over the head. This segment premiered in the 2nd season and was played occasionally in following seasons.
  • "One-flash Telepathy" – after hearing a word which was given from the production booth, each member presented a gesture that would best represent that word. A round is cleared if all six members perform the same gesture and punishments were given when they failed. The original alleged purpose of this segment was to unite the minds of the members; however, they have yet to succeed. Voice narration for this segment was provided by Na Gyeong-eun, an announcer and Yoo Jae-suk's wife.
  • Television Advertisements – throughout the episodes, the hosts create some satirical Korean television advertisements.
  • Calendar-making Project – the members created a series of unique calendars and donated all profits from these sales to charity. This project has succeeded every season.

    Special segments

Some of the segments of Infinite Challenge also developed into national events with audience participation.
  • 2008 Host-in-Chief Elections – after a humorous request by Park Myeong-su to have a new leader in 2008, all Infinite Challenge members and staff held a vote for a new 'host-in-chief' on December 31, 2007, at the nation's own natural gas field near Ulsan. Prior to the election, each member created campaign pledges to encourage voters to vote for them. All entertainment managers, coordinators, MBC staff and the members voted at the South gate of the MBC Headquarters and the votes were counted on the morning of New Year's Day. Afterwards, Park Myeong-su was declared the new host-in-chief, but evidence showed him of tampering the voting box. The new host-in-chief was given 3 weeks to prove his leadership skills. However, after poor performances for 3 whole weeks, Park Myeong-su announced at an Infinite Challenge press conference that he would step down and wait for the new election to take place. In the aftermath, Yoo Jae-suk was appointed as interim host-in-chief on February 2, 2008. The second host-in-chief election was held on February 4, 2008, at the MBC Dream Center in Ilsan and Yoo Jae-suk won the majority of the votes and was once again reinstated as the host-in-chief.
  • WM7 – the "Wrestling Muhan 7" project is an attempt by the members to perform at a professional wrestling event. From July 2009, the members started training by inviting, junior-professional wrestler and the drummer of Cherry Filter, as their coach and Park Myeong-su as their club leader. After numerous injuries, including a concussion suffered by Jeong Hyeong-don, setbacks and delays, the members finally put on a performance in front of a live audience on August 19, 2010, at Jangchung Gymnasium. It was broadcast over 11 episodes and MBC also released a DVD edition of this challenge, featuring several unaired segments, stories and the full uncut performance.
  • Decision 2014 – the show held another host-in-chief election in 2014 where the show elected a host-in-chief with 10 years tenure. These elections mirrored that of actual governmental elections, in an endeavor to promote voter turnout in South Korea's 2014 local elections. Similarly, the members created campaign pledges to attract viewers to vote for them in the preliminary internet polls before the airing of Decision 2014's first episode. The second internet poll was held after the episode aired. After the results of the second poll, Haha and Jeong Jun-ha decided to form a coalition under Jeong Hyeong-don while Park Myeong-su conceded, endorsing Yoo Jae-suk. About 50,000 people, including the members of Infinite Challenge, cast their votes on May 22, 2014, at polling stations in ten major cities. Another 34,000 people cast their votes earlier during the preliminary voting round from May 17–18, 2014. During the day of the election, audiences who could not make it to the polling stations were able to vote through a website, resulting in a turnout of 363,047 people online Combining the live polls and the internet votes, Yoo Jae-suk won the election by defeating Noh Hong-chul with 45,310 marginal votes or 8.29% of the combined votes.
  • Infinite Challenge Song Festival – beginning in 2007, the members collaborated with musicians to compete in a music festival every two years.