[2013 Best Variety Show] "The Genius" Official Thread (Entire Season Subbed)

[Shithead]

The Genius: Rules of the Game

 

 

13 contestants with a special talent or skill compete against each other in games where 1 person is eliminated in each episode.

 

Players collect garnets which can be used to make the games easier. Each garnet is worth $1000 and the total number of garnets at the end will be turned into prize money for the winner.

 

There are 2 games in one episode: the main match and the death match.

 

The main match is played by all the players and there are garnet rewards. The winner of the main match gains immunity and will get a direct path to the next episode. The loser will be up for elimination.

 

The loser of the main match chooses someone without immunity to play in a 1 on 1 death match with them. The winner of the death match survives, while the loser is eliminated and all their garnets are taken by their opponent.

 

 

 

 

 

Contestants

 

 

 

Kim Gu Ra

 

 

Wit to draw people in.

 

Age: 42

Occupation: MC, Comedian

 

Key programs:

Radio Star

Star Golden Bell

Taxi

Martian Virus

 

e.t.c.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lee Sang Min

 

 

Has suffered many hardships and legal troubles.

 

Age: 40

Occupations: Roo'Ra's leader, TV personality

 

Hit songs:

Angel Without Wings

3! 4!

Chunsangyuae

100th Meeting

Good Bye

Win Win

 

e.t.c.

 

Key program:

God of Music

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sunggyu

 

 

Was ranked 2nd at his school.

 

Age: 24

Occupation: Infinite's leader

 

Hit songs:

Be Mine

Destiny

BTD

 

e.t.c.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Choi Chang Yeop

 

 

Umchinah and student of Korea University.

 

Age: 24

Occupation: Actor

 

Key dramas:

School 2013

Faith

Dear My Sister

 

 

 

 

 

Kim Poong

 

 

Unique ideas.

 

Age: 35
Occupation: Webtoon writer, professional tweeter

 

Key works:

Freaky Family

World of Freaks

Self Defence Theatre

Tomorrow is a Lucky Bear Star

 

e.t.c.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cha Yu Ram

 

 

Current #1 ranked pool player in Korea.

 

Age: 26

Occupation: Goddess, pool player

 

Achievements:

2009 Asian Indoor Games 9 Ball Tournament GOLD

2009 East Asian Games 6 Red Snooker Tournament BRONZE

2010 Amway Cup World Women's 9 Ball Open GOLD

2011 World 9 Ball Beijing Open GOLD

2012 World Women's 10 Ball Championship BRONZE

2013 Asian Indoor Games 9 Ball Tournament GOLD

2013 Asian Indoor Games 10 Ball Tournament GOLD

 

e.t.c

 

 

 

 

 

Hong Jin Ho

 

 

Kong and King of Silver.

 

Age: 30

Occupation: Former Starcraft progamer and legend

 

Achievements:

2001 Coca-Cola OnGameNet StarLeague SILVER

KPGA TOUR 1st League SILVER

Reebok 2002 KPGA TOUR 2nd League SILVER

2003 TG Sambo MSL SILVER

2003 Olympus OnGameNet StarLeague SILVER

Neowiz Pmang Cup OnGameNet Proleague SILVER

2005 SKY Proleague Grand Final SILVER

WCG Starcraft Individual League SILVER

Shinhan Bank Proleague 10-11 Winners League SILVER

 

e.t.c.

 

 

 

 

 

Lee Jun Seok

 

 

Harvard graduate.

 

Age: 28

Occupation: Politician, entrepreneur

 

Achievements:

Youngest member of the Saenuri Party's Leadership Council

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cha Min Soo

 

 

Lee Byung Hun's character in drama "All In" is based on Cha Min Soo.

 

Age: 62

Occupation: Professional go and poker player

 

 

 

 

 

Choi Jung Moon

 

 

Engineering student of Seoul University and a member of Mensa with an IQ of 158.

 

Age: 21

Occupation: Student, former(?) member of TINUS, occasional model

 

 

 

 

 

Park Eun Ji

 

 

MBC's former weather caster.

 

Age: 30

Occupation: Broadcaster, former weather caster, actress

 

Key programs:

Stand By

Birth Secret

 

 

 

 

 

Kim Kyung Ran

 

 

KBS' former poster announcer.

 

Age: 35

Occupation: Announcer, former news anchor

 

Key programs:

KBS News 9

KBS News Line

Sponge

Love Request

 

 

 

 

 

Kim Min Seo

 

 

TV auctioneer.

 

Age: Mystery

Occupation: Auctioneer, MC, businesswoman

 

Career:

Team leader of AT Auction

Team leader of D Auction's artwork auction team

 

 

 

 

 

 

Episodes

 

Youtube links were taken down

 

Bumdidlyumptious reuploaded season 1 here

 

cr: Bumdidlyumptious for all videos

Edited December 17, 2013 by Shithead

[Shithead]

Very interesting show.

What were the ratings and the general reception in Korea? I may have missed it, but it did not seem to generate buzz outside korea (knew about it after finding this thread), so I am wondering how well it worked there.

 

Does an equivalent show exist somewhere else in the world?

I wonder what the PDs have cited as inspiration. It reminds me of animes like Kaiji especially the voice off to explain the progression in the game.

actually the narration in this show was the best thing. They made stories through the games and kept the suspense very high (Good editing with awesome choice of background music)

 

We can always argue, but some games look like gambling (indian poker for example). Gambling is kind of illegal in Korea. How did they go through?

 

i really now wonder who will be the guests in season 2.

No Hong Chul is the best choice. i don't know much about infinity challenge, but he has this solid reputation for playing tricks in the most well know variety show.

I saw him on god of victory and another show with idols. He acted very goofy, it was strange for me knowing his reputation.

 

There will be at least one idol in the cast.

I really would like to see SNSD's Seohyun. Her being upright will create some interesting moments.

Otherwise except for BEG's members I don't see other girl group members fit into that type of play.

I would support SISTAR's Dasom though. I saw her broadcasts of Happy Together and she is entertaining interacting with others.

For males I can think of Nickhun and shinhwa.

What are your thoughts?

I have not started to think for musicians and actors.

 

It got a ton of buzz in Korea and the ratings were over 1% despite airing at 11PM on cable. It drew a lot of attention at the start because of Sunggyu, Gura and Jinho (he actually has a massive dormant fanbase in Korea). Then the show itself was fun, so it just took off.

 

The PD cited Big Brother and Liar Game as inspirations.

 

 

Unfortunately it seems like he wants to make the games easier in season 2 because he wants to capture the older audience and only a few contestants found the secrets for season 1's games.

 

[Shithead]

 

 

1% is good for cable. Is Jinho the same guy that appeared in Introducing a star's friend? I remember a starcraft player appearing with SNSD's Sooyoung and Tiffany. If my memory serves me right, the guy had 600 000 fans at that time. In The Genius they were speaking about 190 000 fans nowadays. I don't remember if it was really him, but the first segment in that show is absolutely hilarious. They ask the friend to do silly actions before entering the studio.

 

I found Jinho's twitter, but he had around 11000( ?) followers. I was surprised. Even Poong has more followers.

 

That was Lee Yunyeol. His dance from that show is called the ricebot dance and is one of the darkest creations known to man.

 

Jinho isn't a very active tweeter and he joined when he wasn't playing in many matches. His popularity is kind of hard to explain in Western terms. At first he was popular for being the only zerg player able to dominate top terran players when the balance was extremely terran favoured. He was also one half of the most famous Starcraft rivalry with Lim Yohwan (known as LimJinRok) and a member of the "Four Kings".

 

Lim Jin Rok

 

 

Four Kings

 

 

There was also his Bae Yong Joon zerg phase when he got all the lady fans.

 

 

 

Then he created a ton of Korean internet trends back in the day and brought the entire Korean web together as haterfans of him. He's a weird case in that his haters and fans are all the same people, and most Starcraft fans are Jinho "haters" because "beans should be peeled". He probably has more popular phrases associated with him than most comedians. Most notably, his nickname Kong extends outside of Starcraft and anyone that comes 2nd is part of the Kong line. Brown Eyed Girls and 2AM are both part of the Kong line.

 

This picture by The Genius producers sort of explains his popularity.

 

Jinho's stats from the top in a clockwise direction - Pronunciation, Strategy, Netizen Buff, Age, Luck, Storm.

Junseok's stats from the top in a clockwise direction - Pronunciation, Strategy, Netizen Buff, Age, Luck, Personal Connections.

 

 

 

This is also another reason he's such a legend in Korea:

 

• 2nd born of 2 children
• 22 2nd place finishes
• 2nd player to reach 100 wins in Starleague (1st: BoxeR)
• 2nd player to be inducted into the Hall of Fame (1st: BoxeR)
• Longest running 2nd ranked player in the KeSPA rankings (12 months)
• 2nd progamer to receive a six figure salary (1st: BoxeR)
• Zerg with the 2nd most wins in team games
• 2nd most votes for All Star matches
• Won his 222nd ZvT match against his rival BoxeR (including event matches)
• 2nd progamer to start up a PC bang franchise
• 2nd ever Zerg player to get over 60% winrate against all 3 races
• When he was returning from his military break, he made a reservation and was automatically assigned a ticket for train line 2, seat 22, on the 22nd.
• He was the 2nd most searched term on Naver immediately after his retirement announcement because a lunar eclipse was at 1st
• His retirement match was the 2nd match of the day which started at 2:22pm and it was his 200th ZvT match (official matches)
• He was appointed coach of Xenics Storm on 2012/02/22
• Xenics Storm won their first qualifier match 2:0 with 22 kills 2 times in a row

 

Edited August 23, 2013 by Shithead

[Shithead]

The main music for the ones interested:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IAH43-XiMCM

I think Jinho can become a TV personality. If he is not offered anything, I suppose he will be casted again in the second season of The Genius.

 

I had a look at the number of views of the subbed videos on Youtube. I thought it would have more hits and be more popular. I would be interested in knowing what made people drop the show.

 

Subs were done after the show ended. Other sub groups gave up because it was too hard to translate. Episodes 1~3 were done after 4~12 as well.

Edited September 2, 2013 by Shithead