Struggling with his position, he turned around restlessly in the orange ragged bag. “I can’t hold it anymore…” Kim Joon Ho, a comedian filming 2 Days 1 Night, muttered to the camera. The cameraman couldn’t hold his laughter.
Joon Ho tried to waddle to the bathroom when a farmer asked for a photo, recognizing that Joon Ho was a famous comedian. As the farmer took out his phone, the comedian released it. “Ffffrrrrrppp” and the intense miasma of rotten cabbages and sewage water erupted into the atmosphere. The comedian smiled embarrassedly as the other cast members and staffs ran away from the stench. The old farmer clenched his teeth and endured the smell as he posed for the photo.
2 Days 1 Night is a South Korean T.V. show that presents an unscripted and funny impression of comedians. According to soulsbeat.com, a website that reports news about South Korean shows, 2 Days 1 Night is one of South Korea’s most popular reality shows, attracting as many as 15,660,000 national viewers per episode.
Every week, the PD’s or producers of the show plan a location and several missions for the cast members to do on the two days and one night road trip. The show’s motto is “real wild road variety” where it is all about survival of the fittest, a distinct trait that sets 2 Days 1 Night from other entertainments. The members battle amongst themselves to earn the superior food and lodging by facing various challenges at some of South Korea’s most beautiful locations. Whether it is harvesting in a village in Gimje or climbing up an ice mountain to eat the local specialty, the PD’s never disappoint.
Unlike other reality shows that do not acknowledge the existence of the staffs behind the camera, 2 Days 1 Night boldly displays the interaction between the cast members and the staffs on screen. In the first episode, viewers saw one producer play a prank on the cast members by replacing their coffee with odious fish sauce. The cast members drank it without any suspicion but only to spit it out with disgust.
Viewers are able to trust the show because of the genuine and playful relationship between the members and the staffs.
In the “End of the Year Special” episode, the six cast members voyaged to Jeju, an island in Korea known for its seafood, scenic beauty and warm climate in the winter. However, an unexpected snowstorm materialized which only made the episode more comedic. Playing with the concept of nature versus mankind, the members wore black scuba diving suits on the beach as they spun fifteen times in the freezing cold and ran to capture the flag for a lavish sushi dinner.
From the rough challenges, to the amusing and almost petty interactions between the crew members, and the sense of brotherhood that defines the show, 2 Days 1 Night is a must watch.
