TWICE First Guest Appearance On ‘Running Man’ Successful But PD Wants Popular K-Pop Group To Come Back For Special Episode
On the June 5 episode of popular Korean variety show Running Man, K-pop fans, especially those who identify themselves as Once, were given a special treat when popular K-pop girl group Twice made an appearance. Although it was a success in which fans, the cast, and staff were happy to spend some time with Nayeon, Jeongyeon, Momo, Sana, Jihyo, Mina, Dahyun, Chaeyoung, and Tzuyu, they were only able to participate in the iconic nametag-ripping game.
It was peculiar why Twice only appeared for that short amount of time, but a Running Man producer made it known why the girls could only participate for a short amount of time. He also made it known that Running Man wants to do a “Twice Special” sometime in the future too.
Jung Chul Min, one of the producers of Running Man, commented on why Twice only made a brief appearance during an interview with Korean news outlet Donga. According to Soompi, the main reason why Twice only appeared for a minute amount of time was simply their schedule as they are busy working on other promotions associated to “Cheer Up” and their second album, Page Two.
“Time just flew by during the filming. Twice’s schedule allowed them to only stop by in the evening, but we’re grateful they did their best. The Running Man members also wished they could’ve spent more time with Twice.”
The good news is that the short amount of time Running Man spent with Twice enticed them to call upon the popular K-pop group for a full-episode appearance. Not only that, they want to make it a “Twice Special” too, as reported by AllKpop. A Running Man producer (it is not confirmed if it is still Jung Chul Min or another PD) provided another statement on the highly-anticipated special, which will happen sometime hopefully in the near future.
“The Twice members said, ‘If you call us again, we’ll work hard,’ so we promised to bring all the Twice members on for a ‘Twice Special.'”
Despite the fact that such specials are a lot of fun for both the cast and crew of Running Man, it is possibly safe to say such specials are now keeping the popular variety show alive. For example, the 254th episode, which aired on July 5, 2015, was a “Girls’ Generation Special” in which the Running Man cast and popular K-pop group were divided up into five teams to participate in the “video game world.” The fact that the most popular K-pop girl group appeared on the show reportedly helped with ratings in which the next episode had a viewership over 11 percent by both TNS Media Korea and AGB Nielsen.
As for a more recent Running Man special, the cast and crew invited popular K-pop boy group BTS (also known as Bangtan Boys or Bulletproof Boy Scouts) for their “300 Special.” They had hoped that BTS’ appearance along with the fact the “300 Special” is the show’s 300th episode since making their debut back in 2010 would account to an increased viewership. The show did average for the 2016 season, but at least BTS’ appearance was well received, unlike Girls’ Generation in which critics often accuse Running Man of depending heavily on the popular K-pop girl group at times just to keep their viewership ratings up.
Running Man airs on the Seoul Broadcasting System (SBS) on Sundays at 6:10 p.m. KST as part of their “Good Sunday” lineup. For those who do not have access to Korean channels, Running Man can be viewed for free, with ads and pending region, on both DramaFever and Viki.
[Image via JYP Entertainment/TWICE Promotions for Page Two]
