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ELEVEN years have passed since the popular Korean variety show, ‘Running Man’, started, and after 3,991 days – and a total of 559 episodes – fans around the world have reluctantly bid their goodbyes to one of the original cast members, Lee Kwang Soo.
Known for being the ‘icon of betrayal’ due to his cunning character on the show, as well as his ‘unlucky touch’ because he is no King Midas, Kwang Soo announced back in April that he would be leaving the show due to health reasons, specifically following his devastating car accident back in February 2020.
Kwang Soo, who has been the butt of many jokes and source of laughter, got his avatar animal, the giraffe, very early on in the game because of his height, and although he started his career as a model, cast members would often joke about it being a hoax on air because he doesn't carry the flower boy look on the show.
There is no doubt that Running Man, that started with their nametag ripping concept, is physically strenuous.
And although the nature of the show changed a few years after its debut, the games prepared are still very much physical, and for avid fans, we all know that going against ‘Spartan Kim Jong Kook’ is just death waiting to happen.
I have been a devoted fan since this show started back in 2010, watching through the funniest and the most boring of episodes, incorporating some of the variously interesting games into my own classrooms as a teacher, feeling sad when Kang Gary – another original cast member – left in 2016, feeling skeptical when Yang Se-Chan and Jeon So Min joined in 2017 and today, heartbroken to see Lee Kwang Soo leave.
Episode 559, was recorded back in May, aired on June 13th in Korea and reached most online streaming sites the next day with subtitles, and to say that I cried throughout the episode would be a grave understatement because I was literally ugly sobbing.
While Kwang Soo was developing his character on the show as ‘the betrayer’, often turning his back on cast members in the game to secure a win, one must understand that this must have also been strenuous on his mental health.
To have the whole world look at you as someone with selfish goals and having to portray that role convincingly for 11 years will definitely mess with your psyche.
Yet, Kwang Soo stuck with it, and although viewers could tell that he was uncomfortable with the role and often doubted himself in the beginning, you could see the confidence grow and the ability to separate the performance from his true nature as the years went by.
Over the years, fans around the world have compiled short clips of Kwang Soo being caring and protective over his fellow cast members, but nothing prepared us for his final episode, which was why it was extremely difficult to watch.
Used to his conniving nature on the show, his last episode was anything but that; instead, he showed the world how caring he actually is.
From beginning to end, Kwang Soo thought of nothing but his fellow members. His only wish for the last episode was that they would create more memories at places that the whole crew had fun at; such as eating chicken stew at his place, being at the Han River, and finally ending at the old record bar.
Kwang Soo’s selfless behavior continues as we find out that the gifts that posed as parting gifts for him, were in fact gifts that he had bought for his fellow cast members, and throughout the episode, he did everything he could to secure the gifts for them by winning the game on his terms – it wouldn’t be Running Man if there wasn’t a catch to the game.
Journeying through the 11 years of the show, it would not only be a rare sight to see Kwang Soo doing something for the benefit of others, but it would be an even rarer sight to see him serious, speechless and crying.
That was the starter for the major water works.
Even from the start of the episode, the tension to hold back the tears was strong, and although the members did a good job with entertaining the audience and joking as they usually do, it all came crumbling down at the end.
It is a wonder that Yoo Jae-Suk was still able to remain professional and maintain his composure to host the ending, as even our headstrong Jong Kook, was at a loss for words and we could tell that he was fighting back the tears as he consistently blinked them away.
Lee Kwang Soo has always been a champ when it came to accepting the blows in the name of comedy and entertainment, even till the last episode, and as Jae-Suk wrote in his parting letter, “It was never boring because of you.”
Kwang Soo definitely added finesse and humour to the show, even at the expense of himself and his unlucky touch remains constant as he successfully popped the pirate from the bucket on his first try, which was a nice ending game for both the viewers and the cast; to know that some things never change.
Kwang Soo has left a vast hole and it will be interesting to see how the other members fill it without taking over his role, because I think I speak for all the fans out there when I say, there will only ever be one Giraffe Kwang Soo in our lives.
Now I just hope the crew doesn’t invite him back as a guest for the next two episodes like they did when Kang Gary left because that would just be overkill. – The Vibes, June 16, 2021
