On the Dec. 21 episode of SBS’s "Running Man", the cast kicked off a new race alongside the show’s incoming main PD.
Through a series of missions, the members worked to uncover who brought the most talked-about gift. The person behind the coveted golden key turned out to be Kim Jong-kook.
Producers teased that his reason was surprisingly heartfelt, sending the cast into a playful scramble as everyone claimed it might be theirs.
Next came a challenge that revealed how many gifts each person had received: players blew air into a glove fixed to a cup; the number of fingers that popped up became their score, and only the top three earned a hint.
Kim Jong-kook, HAHA, and Yoo Jae-suk placed in the top three and checked their counts. Yoo had two gifts waiting, while Kim and HAHA had none ― and the final gift pick began.
Per the rules, anyone who failed to correctly identify their own gift would get a penalty, so the members entered the choice room one by one.
Already knowing they’d come up empty, HAHA and Kim couldn’t hide their disappointment.
Facing two gifts, Yoo looked conflicted and ultimately chose underwear and Yeongdeok snow crab.
Yang Se-chan and Song Ji-hyo predicted they wouldn’t have gifts. Ji Ye-eun guessed the body lotion and a hair styler were hers, while Ji Seok-jin staked his claim on the golden key.
In the end, everyone but HAHA and Kim guessed wrong. That meant Kim dodged the penalty ― and even got to take the golden key back with him, cheering at the win.
When the gift owners were finally revealed: Yoo Jae-suk ended up with Song Ji-hyo’s Yeongdeok snow crab and Ji Seok-jin’s callus remover; Yang Se-chan got Ji Ye-eun’s underwear; and Ji Seok-jin took home HAHA’s hair styler and Yang Se-chan’s body lotion.
As for the headline-making golden key, it was intended for Song Ji-hyo. “I brought it hoping Ji-hyo would meet her match ― think of it as a little good-luck gold for finding her other half,” Kim explained.
Unaware of his intentions, Song kept her distance from Kim all day, which made him laugh: “Honestly, I was hoping she wouldn’t guess it.”
(SBS Entertainment News | Kim Hyo-jung)