PUBLISHED ONFebruary 21, 2023 6:19 AMByDrima ChakrabortyBeing a public figure may make you a magnet for criticism, but Physical: 100's Tarzan thinks how the show was edited had a part to play in the hate he received.
Appearing in a video on teammate and fellow YouTuber Shim Eu-ddeum's channel, Tarzan said: "I saw a comment by chance, 'Why is that jerk so ignorant?' They said something like that."
The 23-year-old clarified that the comment was about the second quest, where teams have to build a bridge and carry bags of sand across it, and that the viewer had meant that their plan was "ignorant."
"Before the challenge started, nobody knew what the game would be," he added. "We're also not fools, we're adults with brains.
"We created a basic plan beforehand, but the edited broadcast showed our team talking about our MBTI (Myers-Briggs Type Indicator) and laughing, saying, 'We're young so we can win this', things like that."
Besides Tarzan, the video also featured some of his and Eu-ddeum's teammates — fitness model Im Jeong-yun and personal trainer Bang Seong-hyeok — as well as fellow contestant Jo Jin-hyeong, a car dealer and strongman athlete.
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Eu-ddeum, 32, agreed with Tarzan, adding: "In the sand-carrying mission, they edited out our team's hard work, effort and focus while making the plan.The edited broadcast didn't show our team's efforts and hard work very well.
"If our team members were watching, I thought that they might feel upset or heartbroken, and I immediately thought of my team."
For example, Eu-ddeum mentioned that she and teammate DBO were the ones to bag the sand for the rest of the team, and were barely shown.
"One of us would hold the bag, while the other dug out the sand, and then we'd switch," she said. "Both of us had to hold a deadlift posture, and I thought my back was going to break."
Jin-hyeong, another team leader who eventually made it to the top five, agreed: "After digging out the sand, the right side of my back and left hind leg were cramped for three days."
Eu-ddeum's team was eliminated in that round, though Eu-ddeum made a valiant comeback in the consolation round.
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The team's camaraderie in the consolation round was a far cry from the beginning. The video revealed that Seong-hyeok had confronted Tarzan in the toilet during the show and asked why he had picked Eu-ddeum. Tarzan's reasoning was that he wanted a woman on his team in case further challenges called for flexibility.
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Eu-ddeum eventually came out as one of the top five contestants in the consolation round, which had the 25 eliminated contestants from the sand-carrying challenge hoist the casts of their torsos for as long as possible. Extra weights were added to adjust the burdens to 40 per cent of their body weight.
Unfortunately, Seong-hyeok, who had gained almost 10kg before they got weighed, had to carry the additional weight and failed.
"When our teammates were getting eliminated, Tarzan whispered in my ear so I could focus on becoming one of the last five people [to hold their torsos up], 'Eu-ddeum, you're almost there, Eu-ddeum, there are only 10 people left'," she recalled.
As she made it to the last five, her teammates came rushing in to help carry her torso so it wouldn't break even after her victory.
"My strength was at zero," she recalled. "But as soon as the last five were selected, our team ran up to me and protected my torso. I only gave up at that moment because I believed in the guys.
"I really cried a lot at the time. I felt so grateful, because we got eliminated together and did the consolation round together.
"Only I survived, and even though that annoys me, they were cheering for me just so that I could survive."
The finale of Physical: 100 airs tonight (Feb 21) on Netflix, and features Jin-hyeong, luger Park Jin-yong, CrossFit athlete Woo Jin-yong and ice climber Kim Min-cheol. Rounding up the top five will be the winner between skeleton racer Yun Sung-bin and cyclist Jung Hae-min in the Punishment of Sisyphus challenge.
drimac@asiaone.com
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