#Faceless challenge 1 professional#
#Faceless challenge 1 series#

Even as they’re challenged, the majority of the players are united in their appreciation of physical skill, and they default to rooting for one another whenever they’re not in direct competition, the one-on-ones soundtracked by shouts of encouragement from spectators above. That ending moment between Jeon and Yang speaks to what makes Physical: 100 so unusual among reality competitions: the camaraderie between contestants. Once the match ends, the gymnast and the dancer bow to each other out of respect and give a mini-performance of flips and breakdancing. See beast-mode standout Jeon Young, a dancer who choreographs the zombie movements for the dramas Kingdom and Hellbound and transforms into one of his subjects in his one-on-one match with Olympic gymnast Yang Hak-seon, zipping around the jungle gym on all fours.

But individual favorites emerge as survivors get through each round and have more opportunities to reveal themselves through confessionals that highlight their personalities, and challenges that highlight a level of skill that doesn’t seem human - or, in the best cases, a combination of both.

These contestants aren’t just perfect physical bodies paraded out for our amusement they’re allowed to show their emotion and be full, relatable people.Įarly on, competitors mostly group themselves into cliques - the national athletes, the YouTubers, the UDT soldiers. These are some of the most humanizing moments within the series, the complete opposite of a triangle or circle face loading an anonymous gift-wrapped coffin into an incinerator. As they do so, we hear their reactions in voiceover: they ruefully call their body “useless,” promise to work out more, and even hug the statue before it’s totaled.

#Faceless challenge 1 series#

When someone is eliminated, their “body” is destroyed, the busts shattered in the closest approximation of death this series has.īut instead of, say, exploding the busts in pitiless, spectacular fashion, Physical: 100 requires the losers to smash their bodies themselves. Plaster busts of each player’s torso are kept in a central chamber, a circular room that feels bigger and bigger as the number of statues, and contestants, gets smaller. The voice from above narrates the rules of each round as both the players and viewers take in the grandeur of the ornate set, contestants all wear the same clothes (with one player noting that it “feels like a prison”), and faceless attendants jump in to play referee when necessary. Where Squid Game’s aesthetics followed the theme of “demented children’s summer camp,” Physical: 100 is more of a modernized Gladiator. All of this takes place in a windowless bunker facilitated by faceless attendants and led by a voice from above that sounds just like Squid Game’s Front Man.

#Faceless challenge 1 professional#

The premise seems like a straightforward strongman competition: 100 contestants, both men and women, from various professional fields that build muscle and endurance (bodybuilders, soldiers, Olympic athletes, fitness influencers, professional dancers, and more), face both team challenges and one-on-one matchups, and the last one standing can say they have the “most perfect physical body,” in addition to a cash prize of 300 million won (about $240,000 USD). Netflix’s new Korean competition series scratches a feral voyeuristic itch to watch absurdly strong people get put through the physical and emotional ringer as their pride and joy, their body, is tested. This series is intense, yes, but thanks to certain choices made by both players and production, it’s also really fun. Now, though, the viewing area goes mostly silent, save for the players telling Park to get up, that “this isn’t fun,” a statement that underlines how Physical: 100 elevates itself above a mere Squid Game dupe: It isn’t built to be brutal. It’s the type of savagery you’d expect from a show that borrows from the aesthetic of Squid Game to imply life-or-death stakes - and it’s a complete vibe shift from every other match-up of the competition so far, which have been soundtracked by cheers of encouragement from the other players.

Park decides his go-to move throughout the three-minute round will be kneeling on Kim’s stomach and solar plexus so she can’t move or breathe. The most brutal moment of Physical: 100 plays out in episode three during a one-on-one wrestling match between male MMA fighter Park Hyung-geun and female bodybuilder Kim Chun-ri, whom Park hand-picked for a match with the strategy of easily beating a weaker opponent.