“Running Man Philippines” was off to an exciting start on GMA last Saturday and Sunday, September 3 and 4.
This milestone project, the first co-production of GMA and one of South Korea’s largest networks, SBS (Seoul Broadcasting System), took some time to make because of the pandemic. It was supposed to be shot in the Philippines, but because of restrictions, the production proceeded in South Korea.
For its pilot episode, the “Running Man Philippines” cast members flew to Seoul, South Korea where their first mission awaited them. When they arrived at the Suwon Hwaseong Fortress, the runners were tasked to find characters written in the Korean alphabet hidden all around the location and spell out their names in order to earn their name tags.
Later on at the Suwon Hwaseong National Archery Field, the runners engaged in a hilarious game of archery to find out who gets to lead the two teams that will tangle with each other in the second mission, the Catch the Tail Race!
GMA Network’s Senior Vice President for Entertainment Group Lilybeth G. Rasonable recalls their ‘most pleasant experience’ with SBS, “Winelcome talaga tayong mga Pilipino sa South Korea. They were so generous na mag-share ng knowledge sa production at creative, pati na rin ng kanilang napakagandang kultura at bansa.”
Cast members Glaiza de Castro, Ruru Madrid, Kokoy de Santos, Lexi Gonzales, Angel Guardian, Buboy Villar and Mikael Daez went through a selection process. They were approved by SBS.
Mikael is “The Captain” of the group. He shares his most memorable experience from the show, “Isa sa mga tumatak talaga sa akin is nung nagta-travel kami. ‘Yung bus na ginamit ng original cast, ‘yun din ang ginamit namin at doon kami nagbo-bonding in between tapings. We hope that through the episodes every weekend, matuwa rin kayo sa naranasan namin.”
Glaiza considers this program as a dream-come-true for her. “Parang kailan lang, hindi pa namin alam kung anong kahaharapin namin. Parati ko ring sinasabi na isa itong once-in-a-lifetime opportunity na never kong na-imagine na makakapagtrabaho ako sa Korea at makakapag-collaborate ang GMA at SBS.”
Ruru treasures the lessons he learned from the Korean production team, “Bukod sa nag-enjoy kami sa challenges, marami rin kaming natutunan after na makatrabaho ang SBS. Unforgettable experience talaga ‘yung buong trip. And of course, very exciting kasi alam naming maraming fans ang ‘Running Man’ dito sa Pilipinas.”
Kokoy tags themselves as the “lucky seven” for being part of this huge project, “Until now, surreal pa rin ang pakiramdam. Ang dami ko ring nakuhang lessons from my co-runners like kapag may nangyayaring hindi mo inaasahan, kailangan i-accept mo and go with the flow lang.”
Lexi guarantees that the viewers will love the camaraderie of the cast, “Nakakatuwa kasi first day pa lang ng taping, comfortable na kami agad sa isa’t isa. It wasn’t hard to work with each other, may chemistry na kami agad. It was a different and fantastic experience for all of us.”
Because of “Running Man PH,” Angel learned a lot of new things about herself, “Ang dami kong na-discover sa sarili ko gaya ng pagiging competitive at mas nakita ko ‘yung importance ng teamwork. Malaking karangalan talaga na mapabilang dito at dadalhin ko ang opportunity na ito habang buhay.”
Lastly, Buboy feels very grateful to GMA for choosing him to be part of this program, “Thank you sa GMA dahil pinagkatiwala sa akin ang ganito kalaking proyekto. Iba ‘yung pamilyang nabuo namin dito at ginawa namin ang best namin para mapasaya ang mga tao.”
“Running Man” is the most globally successful South Korean reality-game show. It is known for its outrageous missions–a series of wacky games and exciting races held in different locations with runners competing to gain advantages in the final mission, the signature Nametag Race!
The race is on every Saturday at 7:15 p.m. and every Sunday at 7:50 p.m. on GMA.
