Throughout the history of Running Man, special series have progressed with storytelling and movie-like episodes. Many of these series have been praised for their thrill and excitement, and are considered some of the more higher quality episodes of Running Man.[1]
The Yoo-mes Bond series is famous for its protagonist, Yoo Jae-suk as Yoo-mes Bond, who is known to use a water gun to eliminate his foes to complete his missions. This series features Yoo Jae-suk against the other Running Man members, who do not know Yoo Jae-suk's identity or mission. At the end of both episodes 91 and 140, the words "Yoo-mes Bond Never Die" appeared, hinting at future episodes in the series. These two episodes have been praised for being like a movie instead of a variety show.[2] [3]
| Episode(s) | Airdate(s) | Guest(s) | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 38 | April 10, 2011 | Yoo Jae-suk was given the mission to secretly eliminate the other members by spraying their name tag with a water gun. | |
| 91 | April 22, 2012 | All members were arrested for various crimes they have committed. Yoo Jae-suk was given the opportunity of a pardon, where he must re-imprison the escaped members by spraying their name tags before they can escape the building. If he is successful in re-imprisoning the other members, he will be free to leave while the other members continue to serve time. | |
| 140 | April 7, 2013 | Yoo Jae-suk was framed for spreading the "anger virus" and infecting his fellow members. He must find that person impersonating him and eliminate them to retrieve the vaccine. | |
| 196 | May 18, 2014 | The members "traveled back in the time" to the second Yoo-mes Bond mission, giving the members a second chance at changing the results. Although, Yoo Jae-suk is replaced by Kim Jong-kook to carry the mission.[4] [5] | |
| 231 | January 25, 2015 | Yoo-mes Bond must work together with "The Successor" to eliminate the other members, but they must always stay together, and Yoo Jae-suk will decide who and when they must eliminate the members. | |
| 318–319 | September 25, 2016October 2, 2016 | Tasked to be a "Scene Stealer", Yoo-mes Bond must obtain the highest number of views by stealing other members' views. | |
| 336 | January 29, 2017 | During the sixth "Best of the Best Match", Yoo-mes Bond had to shoot other members' name tag with a water gun to get them ousted in the final mission. | |
| 449 | April 28, 2019 | Yoo-mes Bond is given a main mission to shoot other members' nametag with a water gun upon they finding money vault within 10 minutes to save them from being infected with money poison. Bond Girl is tasked to help out Yoo-mes Bond with his mission and to find out who the spy that is immune and eliminate. | |
| 700 | April 14, 2024 | TBA |
The "Best of the Best Matches" take place once in a while as the opportunity to decide who is the best "Running Man".
| Episode(s) | Airdate(s) | Guest(s) | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 42 | May 8, 2011 | A race to complete missions first then eliminate each other, with the last standing member declared as the first generation best "Running Man". | ||
| 74 | December 25, 2011 | Each member was granted a superpower, which can be used to aid their efforts to eliminate the other members.[6] | ||
| 130 | January 27, 2013 | A special story, where half of the race takes place in the year 1938 and the other half in 2013. The members are reincarnated in the process, and must find who the final surviving member was in 1938, and who they have been reincarnated as the present time, to solve the mystery and win the race.[7] | ||
| 196 | May 18, 2014 | The members "traveled back in the time" to the second Best of the Best Match, giving the members a second chance at changing the results. | ||
| 257 | July 26, 2015 | Instead of being alone, now the Running Man members are accompanied by heroes with special powers. However, the heroes do not know of their superpowers so they must complete a mission to obtain their superpowers. Later, the members with their own heroes face-off in a name tag elimination match, with the heroes acting as helpers. | ||
| 285 | February 7, 2016 | The production staff created 3 missions, specifically for the members using data from the past 6 years they have been together on Running Man; involving agility, nerve, and strength. The results of the missions determine the conditions for the final mission, which was a "Standardized Name Tag Elimination" race — each member are given advantages or disadvantages to create equal attributes among the members. | ||
| 336 | January 29, 2017 | Gary and the production staff hosted another "Best of the Best Match" where, at the beginning, each member must complete missions to determine their superpowers and their levels. The final mission is a name tag elimination race. |
"Running Man Hunter" is an epithet given to Choi Min-soo who is tasked to eliminate the Running Man members. There is a rivalry between him and Yoo Jae-suk, who betrayed him during his first attempt in the mission. Since then, he had returned to appear in the program to hunt the members and always leave Yoo Jae-suk to be the last surviving member.
| Episode(s) | Airdate(s) | Guest(s) | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 52–53 | July 1724, 2011 | Choi Min-soo was tasked to eliminate all the members. He was later betrayed by Yoo Jae-suk who previously agreed to work together with Choi Min-soo to place name tags on the other team's back first, before turning on each other. However, Yoo Jae-suk quickly placed Choi Min-soo's name tag on his back, eliminating him from the race. | ||
| 69 | November 20, 2011 | The other members are tied up to a chair and confined in different rooms. Yoo Jae-suk was given four name tags, and must save the other six members. Then, they have to find the way to escape together before Choi Min-soo eliminates him four times.[8] | ||
| 118 | November 4, 2012 | Choi Min-soo eliminates every member, except Yoo Jae-suk and will leave a piece of his name tag at the place where they were eliminated. Yoo Jae-suk must collect all six pieces, in order to defeat Choi Min-soo. |
At the end of the episode 118, Choi Min-soo hinted at a possible return to the Running Man Hunter series in the future.
The Running Man members competes with guests and each other in order to win the "Olympic" battle.
| Episode(s) | Airdate(s) | Guest(s) | Notes | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 86 | March 18, 2012 | They were grouped into three (Red, Blue, Yellow) and they were tasked to finish the Olympics courses in order to win the gold medal. The courses were bowling, badminton, high jump, and name tag ripping relay. | |||
| 104 | July 22, 2012 | They were tasked to defeat the other team in the courses—name tag relay, trampoline volleyball, pool hurdles, and the hide-and-seek switch off. | |||
| 129 | January 20, 2013 | Idols battle head-to-head against the Running Man team for the second time around. At the end, instead of getting a gold medal, the winners received gold colored name tags. | |||
| 184 | February 9, 2014 | They were to compete against each other on various courses—speed-skating relay race, test of concentration while crossing the stream, test of teamwork to get the flag, and the name tag ripping on ice. | |||
| 195 | May 11, 2014 | They were to compete against each other on a relay to have their music video played in a large billboard, Yoo Jae Suk Choice, Live broadcast Name Tag Elimination 1 vs 1 vs 1 |
The Running Man members were given a chance to participate in charity football matches alongside Park Ji-sung. Each year, the members would participate in training missions with Park Ji-sung to prepare for the football game prior to the match.
| Episode(s) | Airdate(s) | Guest(s) | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 95–97 | May 20, 2012June 3, 2012 | The 2012 Asian Dream Cup held in Thailand. Kim Jong-kook and Gary were selected after completing missions given by Park Ji-sung. | |
| 153–154 | July 714, 2013 | The 2013 Asian Dream Cup held in Shanghai, China. Yoo Jae-suk, Kim Jong-kook, Haha, and Lee Kwang-soo were selected by Park Ji-sung and Patrice Evra. | |
| 199–200 | June 815, 2014 | The 2014 Asian Dream Cup held in Indonesia. All members, except Song Ji-hyo, were able to participate in the game. | |
| 283 | January 24, 2016 | The 2016 Smile Cup held in Shanghai, China. All members were able to participate in the game.[9] | |
Aside from the episodes created by the team, the Running Man members undergo challenges suggested by fans or made by the team through their fans' ideas.
| Episode(s) | Airdate(s) | Guest(s) | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 165 | September 29, 2013 | A fan wanted the Running Man members to visit her town with the guidance of her scrapbook. No other clues were given but they knew about her along the way. They were able to meet her, who really admires Lee Kwang-soo, when they surprised her in school to finish the mission. | |
| 182 | January 26, 2014 | An avid fan from Hong Kong was given an opportunity to propose an entire episode solely designed by her for the Running Man members to play. She was also brought to South Korea by the program to observe the filming of the episode and meet the members. | |
| 242 | April 12, 2015 | With over 2,000 suggestions, the Running Man members chose and played the games put together by their fans around the world. | |
Gary, who is gullible and unable to lie, has been asking the production staff to give him a spy mission. However, when the production staff decided to give him the mission, they decided to trick him and created hidden camera episodes instead.
| Episode(s) | Airdate(s) | Guest(s) | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 11 | September 6, 2010 | Because of the constant trickery of Yoo Jae-suk to Gary, Ji Suk-jin devised a plan for all of them, including the guests, to trick Gary without him knowing. If they win, all except Gary will get running balls. Otherwise, he'll be the lone receiver of the ball. This game is considered as the first of the 1:8 (1 vs. 8) series. | ||
| 60 | September 11, 2011 | Gary was assigned as a spy and was tasked to eliminate the members. Unbeknownst to him, his entire actions and plans were watched by the rest of the members, knowing that Gary is the spy. The members were later tasked to fool Gary until the end of recording. | ||
| 265 | September 20, 2015 | The members and the guests were trapped on an island and must find and complete their name tags to escape before the exit path is closed, which will cause them to stay overnight. Unbeknownst to Gary, the production staff informs the other members and guests to prevent Gary from completing his mission and make him the last member to stay in the island. |
The Running Man members (sometimes along with guests) participate in the Christmas events.
| Episode(s) | Airdate(s) | Guest(s) | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 22 | December 19, 2010 | TBA | ||
| 74 | December 25, 2011 | TBA | ||
| 125 | December 23, 2012 | TBA | ||
| 177 | December 22, 2013 | TBA | ||
| 226 | December 21, 2014 | TBA | ||
| 278 | December 20, 2015 | TBA | ||
| 331 | December 25, 2016 | TBA | ||
| 382 | December 24, 2017 | TBA | ||
| 431-432 | December 16-December 30, 2018 | TBA | ||
| 634 | December 25, 2022 | Each members were given mission by the production staff to choose any gifts that the members wanted up to the limit of 300 dollars, which the remained gifts that aren't being chosen by the members, will be given to the fans. | ||
| 685 | December 24, 2023 |