Running Man: Episode 251

by gummimochi

Tensions will run high this week, where all kinds of partnerships will be formed whether one likes it or not. The competition will be fierce between onscreen versus real-life couples, but the laughs will keep on coming. They say all’s fair in love and war, and our teams will battle it out to come out on top and show us what it takes to become the best team out there.

EPISODE 251. Broadcast on June 14, 2015.

Our six guys are surrounded by six gift boxes this morning, whooping to hear that it’s a couple race today. First up is Gary, who is paired with Ji-hyo—aw yay, Monday Couple! Kwang-soo shouts jokingly that Ji-hyo’s even wearing perfume today. Pfft, lookatchu outing your favorite noona like that.

Haha’s up next, and that background song “So Cute” should be enough of a clue for us. Out pops singer (and his real-life wife) Byul who calls out, “Yeobo!” Omg, the way he breaks into a wide smile is so adorable.

That makes them wonder if the other marrieds’ significant others will join them today. One man doesn’t seem thrilled at idea: Suk-jin.

Jae-suk’s arm rises, and I love how Jong-kook looks around before his own arm involuntarily rises. HAHAHA. Now this is what you call a love-hate pairing on this show. They’re both like, “Me? With him?!”

And when it’s Suk-jin’s turn, Kwang-soo’s rope tugs as well… only Kwang-soo tries to pretend like it isn’t him.

There’s another real-life couple joining them today: musical stars Son Joon-ho and Kim So-hyun (these two appear on the show Oh! My baby with their son Joo-an). Haha and Byul bust a gut when Taek PD refers to them as the Brangelina of Korea.

Jae-suk snaps at Jong-kook to pay strict attention to the games today instead of yapping, and at hearing today’s Love and War Race, the guy-guy couples yell, “We’re at war!” Ha, Jae-suk and Jong-kook are wearing white and black respectively today.

Each pair will receive a case that can hold a total of 32 rings. The top three teams from each game will be able to eliminate rings, and the team who has done away with the most will be able to compete in the final mission.

Refusing to hold each other’s hands, Jae-suk and Jong-kook grab a fistful of each other’s shirts. The Easy Brothers grab each other’s hair.

Who should be keeping watch but three rather handsome men nearby. Pfft, as if the mosaic could hide the beauty that lies beneath. They slink their way through the staff to “deliver coffee”: Song Joong-ki, Jo In-sung, and Im Joo-hwan. Excuse me while I just… eeee!

It’s so cute how the wives squeal like fangirls and so heartwarming to see Joong-ki greet his old cast members. At So-hyun grinning from ear-to-ear, her hubby Joon-ho jealously tells her to go and hug In-sung then.

A round of selfies later, Joon-ho plays the husband who’s totally cool with his starstruck wife, and lightly bonks her when she returns. Ha. Aw man, all of these old-timey flashbacks to the earlier days just remind me of how awesome it was when Joong-ki was a part of the crew. It’s okay, just make it up to us with a post-army shower scene.

Jae-suk can’t understand why In-sung would bother to hang around with Kwang-soo, to which the actor quips, “He follows me around especially.” Kwang-soo gets cut off from explaining the circumstances about their surprise visit, and adding salt to injury, In-sung slaps him across the cheek.

That’s what you get for not letting your hyung get a word in, and In-sung delivers another whammy: “Were you usually like this?!” he asks, astounded.

Jae-suk thanks them for dropping by, and when he invites In-sung to come and play sometime, In-sung jokes that his schedule is way too busy. Ahaha, you were so quiet on 1N2D and full of zingers today. Perhaps it’s because he’s got his buddies with him.

Joong-ki: “You’re not doing anything these days!” O RLY. So Jong-kook decides they’ll play a game together on the spot. Jae-suk: “If it was last week, we’d pull down their pants for them or something.”

Joong-ki greets the viewers, promising to come again next and bring In-sung with him because “he isn’t busy.” Then when one of the writers ask for the handsome trio’s autographs, Jae-suk signs off for her.

In-sung says a word as well, and Jae-suk says that even if In-sung happens to be busy, they’ll just pick him up after collecting Joong-ki. Jong-kook: “I can make you pass out in three seconds flat.”

Aw, the guys actually brought coffees and snacks with them. They mention that actor Kim Ki-bang usually hangs with them too, Kwang-soo belatedly realizes they didn’t call him. All three of them are all, Sssh! What he doesn’t know won’t hurt him! Can we get all of these guys to come and do a BFF special?

Jong-kook and Jae-suk ride with the two married couples, who have each been married for about three to five years. Jong-kook asks whether the husbands get jealous or not if their wives turn into fangirls. The husbands say nothing, and Jae-suk scolds Jong-kook for asking such an awful question.

It’s because that’s one of those all-time dangerous questions that could lead to squabbles at home, and Haha gently reminds Jong-kook that while the rest of them can go their separate ways after filming, he’s still going home with his wife.

Still, Byul is curious and Haha says he doesn’t get jealous. The others chime in agreement, and Jae-suk says his wife likes Joong-ki, but that really depends on what drama she’s tuned into at the time.

Jong-kook figures that the feeling of jealousy diminishes the longer one is married, and Jae-suk predicts that Jong-kook will end up being the super-jealous type.

The conversation turns to the female celebs the husbands like, and Joon-ho says he likes all of Girls’ Generation. He hesitates when asked to name one, and everyone picks up on the fact that he does like someone but can’t say with his wife sitting next to him.

Jae-suk can predict the follow-up conversation at home, where So-hyun will ask just which idol girl it is. At that point, Joon-ho could just say who, but like every guy out there, he’ll just toss the question right back at her.

For their first game, the couples will face off on a bubble-wrap platform and try to knock each other off with their plastic sticks. Jong-kook says he’s got a foot injury, but the others know that any kind of physical brawl in his favor.

One team will immediately advance to the semi-finals, which will be determined through another mini game. They’ll be playing airplane (where one suspends the other in the air with their feet) and after the thirty-second mark, will bend their knees.

Jong-kook makes the demo look super easy, and Ji-hyo proposes to switch with Gary, so that she’s balancing him in the air. Suk-jin: “You guys can do that.” Joon-ho suggests his wife, who’s taken aback. He replies in jondaemal, “How can I balance you in the air?”

Joon-ho and So-hyun look to be in danger not long after the whistle blows, but he can’t be as much pain as Suk-jin, because Kwang-soo’s knees are on his family jewels. Both teams falter.

A couple of compressions later, Jae-suk kicks Jong-kook off. It’s down to the Monday Couple vs. Haha and Byul. Haha offers to treat Gary to a meal (if he gives up) and when he refuses, Haha yells, “You guys are fake anyway!” Gary: “Hey, for me, this is a chance!”

Haha: “You guys can’t even date even if you win!” Gary: “You don’t know when you’ll separate either!” Haha keeps up the trash talk, muttering that those two want to shoot another commercial together. Shouting their names, the caption spells out the underlying meaning: “Do! You! Know! My! Heart!”

The back-and-forth continues with Haha screaming, “You guys haven’t even kissed!” Gary: “Hey! What do you know! You don’t know!” HAHAHAHA.

To speed things up, they go for three and five compressions in a row, and it’s so cute how Byul cheers her husband on. We flashback to all the times Haha would throw in the towel, but that changes today—he gets all five. Wow, go Haha go!

Deciding that the one who completes five compressions the fastest will win it, Haha and Gary speedily bend their knees, but it’s Haha who’s faster. So impressed right now.

Haha gets picks on which teams will battle it out, and when his the Easy Brothers try their usual Betrayal Trio chant, he tells them to get lost. He has Jong-kook think of an impromptu acronym poem—left impressed, he pits the Easy Brothers against him.

Whereas Kwang-soo cheers on his hyung, Jong-kook issues Jae-suk a warning. Suk-jin gets a punch in, only to get one in return that sends him backwards. Poor Kwang-soo gets hit over and over and over again. It’s sad, but it’s cracking me up.

Kwang-soo gets in his barrage of counter attacks, but that’s short-lived because Jae-suk pushes him off anyway. Gary and Joon-ho face off in the next elimination round, and one hit sends Gary off the platform. Feeling a bit embarrassed, he asks the production crew to do a good editing job to his quick defeat.

Haha’s legs are still feeling the strain from the pre-game, so he resorts to attacking while on his knees. Joon-ho surprisingly has a good balance, and Haha steals his punchstick while desperately holding onto the bubble wrap platform. Joon-ho tries to help him along, so Haha grabs his shoelaces.

It quickly turns into a balancing brawl, and Byul yells that their son, Dream, is watching. Slipping into the gap together, Haha is declared the winner.

Now it’s time for the final match: Jong-kook vs. Haha, the latter of whom is told carries a different aura today. Must be that inner strength from being a father. Jae-suk says this is where all that adrenaline ends, but man I seriously want Haha to win this thing.

And then Jong-kook gets in the first hit. Filled with energy, Haha grabs the punchstick and Jong-kook’s wrist… and accidentally pulls off his prayer beads. Uh oh. Jong-kook says it’s all right, but there’s apology written all over Haha’s face.

Empowered, Jong-kook gets in another hit. With Byul’s encouragement, Haha crosses over… and falls off. Feeling apologetic, Byul promises to make her husband proud.

Since we all know Jong-kook is weak to women, we see him lose to Byul in the picture-in-picture recap. So it’s up to Jae-suk, but then Byul goes in for the aggressive attack. She crosses over using the stick to lead her and successfully pushes Jae-suk off.

Haha and Byul are given the chance to do away with ten rings for coming in first place. Jong-kook and Jae-suk are allowed to take away seven, and Joon-ho and So-hyun get rid of five.

In the car, Byul says she’s always known her husband to be strong, so it strikes her as odd whenever he plays up the weak character on his shows. Haha: “Are you being a supportive wife?”

At their next mission location, everyone settles in their desks, feeling nervous about the water dispensers above them. Jae-suk’s “This is the Moment” rendition spurs Joon-ho to join in. Evidently Joon-ho worried about being too silly, but we welcome that here!

So-hyun giggles that she likes this song, so Haha sings too and tells Byul to like it. Back to the game: it’s Talk Bingo, where the first person for their team gets two bingos, wins the road. The losers face a wet punishment.

The first topic is “Previous Date Locations,” to which Jong-kook points out that Jae-suk was probably too busy a man to go on a proper date. Byul asks, “You mean between the two of us right? So it can’t be ones with different people?” Haha: “Different people?!”

Once everyone fills out their board, Jong-kook starts things off. No one has written “nightclub,” so they ask if he went with a past girlfriend. Jong-kook confirms it and they start shooting questions at him, trying to see if she were a celebrity. Jong-kook says he was a high-schooler and they all cry out, “That’s illegal!”

Byul calls out a “postpartum care center” which no one else has. Haha claims they went to a ddukbokki place before they were married, and she momentarily returns a blank stare. But the general “restaurant” works too, which other people have.

Joon-ho says he and his wife had a date at church, where she kissed him for the first time. Gary chimes in, “My first kiss was with a pastor’s daughter!” Joon-ho shares the story and reenacts the scene for everyone’s amusement. Hee.

Gary’s choice of “Han River” is a popular choice, and so Jae-suk asks if anyone has gone on a date and stumbled upon another celeb couple enjoying some cozy times there. A few of them have, including Haha who claims to have kept his mouth shut.

When Jong-kook says he stayed in his car, Haha counters that he once saw him too. Jong-kook eggs him on to tell, because he’s got dirt on Haha, too: “And your wife is here.” Touché.

None of So-hyun’s and Joon-ho’s choices seem to match, but she thankfully jogs his memory. Asked if her in-laws’ place was where they kissed too, he replies, “We do our best to kiss wherever we go!” Ha.

Jong-kook tosses out “practice room” claiming that this was all back in his Turbo days. Jae-suk has a pretty good idea of who it was then, and Jong-kook shuts him up.

Jae-suk’s choice of “convenience store” was feasible because the elderly owners in that tiny empty place didn’t recognize them. Jae-suk readily confirms all of his locations were with his current wife because of course he can’t say if any of those place were with other women.

Jong-kook’s last choice of “America” gives him two bingos, leaving everyone else drenched. In the second round, the topic is “Disappointing Presents You’ve Received” and Haha suggests that they be cool and add past relationships.

Byul goes with a “handwritten letter” then launches into the story of how Haha wrote her one on her birthday. Although Haha’s a generous man, he finds expressing himself rather awkward, so that letter was short and sweet and ended in curse words.

So-hyun shares how she was given a credit card while they were dating, only to later find out that there was a limit. The idea of a limit itself led to feelings of betrayal of trust, but Joon-ho explains that he put all of his paltry savings into that card. He did add a note saying that she should just use this card from now on.

Although this sounds wonderfully romantic, these overtures are exactly what Jae-suk hates. Ji-hyo hated getting a serenade, and she covers her head while all the guys sing those classic noraebang ballads to her.

Joon-ho says he would serenade his wife in times when she was mad at him, and Jae-suk can’t believe these romantic gestures happen at home too. It seems like So-hyun enjoys it, which is most important at the end of the day, and has him share what he says when she’s upset.

In those times, she won’t look at him, and he would tell her: “I know your side profile is pretty too, but look at my face.”

Ji-hyo grabs second place, and thanks to Kwang-soo, Haha and Byul grab third place. Jae-suk and Jong-kook are left with fifteen rings after the toss, and Haha and Byul are left with seventeen.

For their next mission, our couples must unlock themselves before being allowed to rip others’ nametags off. That’s how Haha and Byul eliminate the others to score second place, with ten rings remaining.

This power couple is then given the opportunity to tackle today’s final mission, and then the couples are split into two different floors, the ladies blindfolded. Everyone is told of the mission: Telepathy Elevator.

Haha and Byul will choose one number out of the remaining ten—only arriving on the same floor will ensure a victory. Haha says they’ve got at least five special days between them, including their family members’ birthdays.

Everyone cheers the couple on, and Haha proposes a few numbers: his birthday, Byul’s, and their wedding anniversary. Wow, Byul chooses those same numbers in that exact same order.

Haha’s ready to rip his hair out, dreading the possible “Gift of the Magi” situation should both he and Byul act out of consideration for the other. Byul worries about the same thing.

The others have fun guessing what their partners would pick: Kwang-soo guesses that Suk-jin would go with 6 because they picked out the first five. Jae-suk hits it right on the nose—Suk-jin would’ve chosen lucky 7.

Cut to: Suk-jin, proclaiming 7. Both So-hyun and Joon-ho choose 31, the latter because he got a gut feeling.

We see a nervous Haha climb in first and out on an unknown floor. Byul climbs into her own elevator, and Haha watches the number rise…

We watch an old self-made video of Haha proposing to Byul (they registered their marriage ahead of their wedding) where Haha asked her to be his last love. Awww. The doors finally open…

… to the 30th floor where Haha excitedly greets her with open arms. Ahhh!! I love it, I love it, I love it! Then these two break down into what is the cutest victory dance ever.

Haha and Byul are given matching star-shaped rings as victors. When asked about that mysterious “31” choice, Joon-ho blurts out that that was the day So-hyun first kissed him. Hahaha, a day to remember after all.

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