Netflix‘s Physical 100 has proven to deviate from other competition series thanks to its humanity among the contestants. Fans have watched how they have bonded as teammates, competitors, and friends. A-reum and Bo Mi-rae proved their selflessness in the face of elimination. But during the Physical 100 finale, Cho Jung-myung was left in tears as Park Jin-yong was eliminated. His reason tugged at the heart.
[WARNING: This article contains spoilers for Physical 100 finale.]
Park Jin-yong faced elimination during the triangle shuttle run on ‘Physical 100’
After the first two elimination challenges during the Physical 100 finale, the third had Park Jin-yong, Woo Jin-yong, and Hae-min go against each other in a shuttle run. In a triangle, each competitor had to run to the other side, ring a bell, and return. The challenges test their endurance as they must keep going until one runs out of energy. Park Jin-yong was the first to be eliminated, allowing Woo Jin-yong and Hae-min to move on to the finals.
“I never collapsed like this during training. My legs have never given out. I went beyond my limits, and I did my best. I was glad that that’s how I went out,” explained Jin-yong. He had a heartfelt speech when it came time to destroy his plaster bust. “First of all, it was really hard to get this far. I’m really happy that I got to compete with such great guys. And it was really fun. Lastly, I’m 30 this year. I wanted to show them that people with fat bellies could do it. I wanted to win so badly,” he said.
While laments losing, he applauds his good times on the series. Fans were surprised that Cho Jung-myung took his Physical 100 elimination to heart and shed a few tears.
Cho Jung-myung is Park Jin-yong’s luge partner outside of ‘Physical 100’
At the sight of Jin-yong on the ground after being eliminated, Physical 100 panned to a tearful Jung-myung. While smiling, fans could not help but get emotional at his watering eyes. Off camera, someone explains, “Jung-myung was here cheering for him. It’s just that he feels for him right now.” But why? It is revealed that Jung-myung and Jin-yong have an incredible bond beyond just knowing each other.
“I actually luge together with Jin-yong, and we can share our emotions and experiences, which makes it very valuable and special. Jin-yong really did so well. He went through a lot,” said Jung-myung. Photos show them together at the Olympics. The other contestants tried to comfort him as he hid his tears behind his shirt. The emotional moment has a lot of weight behind it after also learning why Jin-yong joined Physical 100.
Jin-yong has been invested in sports from a young age and was an alpine skier in elementary school before becoming a biathlon in middle school. In high school, he started luge. But he admits that after the Beijing Olympics, he lost motivation. “Athletes always have to live in competition. I have to survive that. Only the good athletes are remembered, and only the good survive. To be honest, as a sportsman, when people don’t acknowledge you, it’s kind of upsetting,” explained Jin-yong.
He joined the unscripted competition series to bring awareness to the sport and its current and future athletes. In reality, Jin-yong also reached the Physical 100 finale for his teammate Jung-myung. Min-cheol, Hae-min, and Park Jin-yong understood his reasoning as they, too, entered the competition to raise awareness for their sports that they believe are “unpopular.”
‘Physical 100’ contestant Kim Sik also has a heartfelt connection to another contestant
The contestants of the competition series were not picked at random. As the series progressed, more details of their backstories were revealed and captured fans’ hearts. Fans were in awe when Kim Sik decided to take on the Atlas challenge on Physical 100 despite Sung-bin losing in a game of rock-papers-scissors.
It was then revealed that Kim Sik has a close bond with Sung-bin. He was also a national athlete and Sung-bin’s skeleton coach. Photos showed Kim Sik being by his side when he won the Olympic gold medal. Kim Sik explained that not having Sung-bin reach the finale would be a waste of physique. Kim Sik’s sacrifice rang through Sung-bin’s head during the Sisyphus challenge.
Against Hae-min, Sung-bin began to lose energy. His monologue explains that he was trying to stay in the game and fight off his desire to end it. “For Coach’s sake, who let me take this event. I just thought I’d have to try my best so that everyone would know that I gave it everything I got,” explained Sung-bin. Ultimately, the challenge got the better of him, and he was eliminated. But he did so with some comedic cursing.
Physical 100 is available to stream on Netflix.
