By Russell Chua

1. The pirates have spoken.

The cold hard truth is that I don’t think any of Singapore’s variety shows are recorded and pirated around the world for others to watch. The pirate world has spoken and Running Man is one of the top Asian variety shows enjoyed worldwide. There are even dedicated teams that churn out English subtitles for the show as quick as 24 hours after Running Man has been aired in Korea. Any takers to translate the Sheng Siong Show?

2. Their special guests are kick-ass

Big Bang

Girls' Generation

While we do get the occasional mega-Asian stars on shows such as the President’s Star Charity, we don’t do it like Running Man does.

Jackie Chan

Patrice Evra

Rio Ferdinand

Special big name guests are almost a weekly fixture for this show and this keeps things fresh and exciting. It’s more than enough that we get Mark Lee and Quan Yifeng week in week out, some times they are on more than two variety shows each week. *shudder*

3. The chemistry between the Running Man hosts is incredible

We once had hosts who were entertaining every week and had awesome chemistry. They were the original crew of City Beat – Bryan Wong, Kym Ng and Sharon Au. Unfortunately that was the height of Singapore’s variety hosting prowess and now we are stuck in a less-than-inspiring variety-hosting rut.

Conversely, the Running Man hosts enjoy great chemistry and you can enjoy their inside jokes and personal attacks. Frankly the hosts are so well-trained at talking that the entire show could be just seven of the hosts sitting in a circle and talking to each other for 90 minutes and it would still be entertaining.

4. The games are fun, funny and outrageous

The games thought up by the producers of Running Man are probably second only to the Japanese in terms of being outrageous and downright entertaining. Revolutionising block catching/wrestling with Velcro tags, and being flung into a swimming pool on a pneumatic chair are just tip of the iceberg in variety-fun for this show.

5. The scenery in Running Man is just beautiful

Running Man is filmed across South Korea throughout their four seasons. This makes for beautiful backdrops and an ever-changing mode to the show. Our variety shows rotate between the studio, hawker centre and shopping centres. Le sigh.

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