In for a penny, in for a pound — but sometimes going after that shiny penny means your body will take a pounding.

An Instagram post last Friday (Feb 3) by Physical: 100 contestant Kim Kyeong-baek revealed that his arm was injured for two months after the first challenge of the competitive reality TV show.

"Remembering that moment, I thought my arm would be okay after a day," Kyeong-baek wrote on the post. "But my arm ended up being numb for two months."

Physical: 100 is a variety show on Netflix where contestants such as mixed martial arts fighters, military experts, national athletes and bodybuilders face off against each other in multiple challenges that push them to their physical limits for the prize of 300 million won (S$315,450).

If you've watched the show, here's a refresher: In the first pre-quest mission, contestants had to hang on metal bars — the person who hung on the longest would gain an advantage the next round.

Kyeong-baek, a UDT instructor, was one of the last to fall and had a long contest against Olympic gymnast Yang Hak-seon, who was favoured to win that challenge.

UDT refers to South Korea's underwater demolitions team, which is the equivalent of the US' Navy Seals.

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"I didn't want to lose, so there was a battle of wills," Kyeong-baek said in a post-match interview.

Ultimately, Hak-seon was the one to fall first — Kyeong-baek had won.

But his victory was short-lived and he was eliminated in the subsequent deathmatch against Dustin Nippert, a baseball player.

"Oh my god, was winning that challenge worth it?" a Reddit user commented. "Not really. I wonder if that's (his numbed arm) why he wasn't able to win the deathmatch challenge afterwards."

Another user said: "The winners were handicapped. Pretty messed up."

'Their pride and jobs are on the line'

Speaking to AsiaOne, Singaporean Physical: 100 contestant Elaine Wong explained on Monday (Feb 6) why these athletes had gone to such lengths straining themselves for what could potentially just be a pyrrhic victory.

"I think everybody was crazy about the [prize money], and because their pride and their jobs are on the forefront and on the line," she said.

Although not a sportsperson, Elaine, 34, is an actress, and she understands what it's like to take pride in what you do.

"It's just like if you put me in acting competitions or certain variety show competitions — I would be very prideful as well, because it's my job. I'm supposed to shine, you know?

"So can you just imagine 99 of them — they were all crazy about it… Other than money, the most important thing is their pride. You can never lose that.

"Even though they have broken ribs and torn ligaments, they just go ahead with it (the competition) — they act like it's fine but they will be very much in pain after performing."

Elaine also delved further into the types of injuries the contestants sustained in their matches, particularly the one-on-one deathmatch.

She recalled: "One of [my friends sustained] a broken rib. Breaking a rib is actually very painful, even a fracture is already painful enough… 

"Another one, I think his knee fractured, or something was out of place. He couldn't walk — it was horrible.

"And there is this lady, she was wearing shorts… She was picked to play on the sand arena. She was fighting and her whole leg was all bloodied."

She added: "Netflix didn't show all this… but behind the scenes, there's an ambulance every 20 to 30 minutes, picking up [contestants] and going off."

The price of victory

And similar to Kyeong-baek's case, going all out and getting yourself injured for a victory could culminate in a later loss.

For fitness model and casino dealer Seong Chi-hyun, his acrobatics in the deathmatch left him victorious but with an injured knee, and he was seen limping about later in the show.

He was eliminated in the next sand-bagging challenge but pulled through a survival round that saw him returning to the competition.

"I wanted to show that my legs are strong and I can do more," Chi-hyun said in the show.

But the other contestants, who had to form new groups, weren't so keen to test his mettle and could be overheard saying to disclude him from their team for the 1.5-tonne-ship challenge, which appeared to mostly be a test of strength.

The remaining ten contestants who weren't chosen — consisting of four women and Chi-hyun — ended up forming a team.

As they rallied together, Chi-hyun cheered: "Never think we'll lose, and fight to the end."

On Jan 10, Chi-hyun shared on Instagram a heartrending video of his seven-month road to recovery, after what appeared to be surgery on his left knee. He had first mentioned his injury in July last year on his account.

In the clip, he had problems lifting his left leg initially and he moved around in a wheelchair and also on crutches. After months of rehabilitation, he could finally run.

In Physical: 100, Chi-hyun also injured his left knee in his one-on-one deathmatch. It is unclear if the injury that Chi-hyun chronicled in his Instagram post was the same one sustained during Physical: 100.

Elaine mentioned that filming for the Netflix show took place last summer over the course of two months.

She added post-production work had taken so long that other programmes she had filmed in the same time as Physical: 100 had already been aired.

Physical 100 is streaming on Netflix with two new episodes every Tuesday.

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khooyihang@asiaone.com

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