Kim Byung-man “It‘s the first time I’ve looked shabby in the jungle... It‘s completely different from before” (Survival King) [TV Summary]


In ‘Survival King: Tribal War’, 4 teams of jungle X physical X military X national team participated, and ‘King of the Jungle’ Kim Byung-man led the ‘Jungle Team’ with his overwhelming jungle experience, and the 4 teams entered into an endless competition for survival.

On TV CHOSUN’s ambitious new survival entertainment ‘Survival King: Tribal War’, which first aired at 10 p.m. on Monday the 7th, the members arrived at the ‘Sabah Jungle’ in Malaysia, a total distance of 3,700km, 5 hours and 30 minutes by plane and 5 hours by car from Korea. In the 1st round, ‘Tropical Rainforest’, the 2nd round, ‘Uninhabited Island’, and the 3rd round, ‘Hidden Location’, each team will compete for 10 days, and only one team among the Jungle X Physical X Soldier X National Team can take the ‘Survival King’ title.

The ‘Physical Team’ Choo Sung Hoon X Kim Dong Hyun X Park Ha Yan, the ‘Jungle Team’ Kim Byung Man X Kim Dong Jun X Jung Ji Hyun, the ‘Soldier Team’ Lee Seung Gi X Kang Min Ho X A Motti, and the ‘National Team’ Park Tae Hwan X Jung Dae Se X Kim Min Ji gathered in one place, each with their own excitement and fear. In front of the aura of the strong players who were not left out, Kim Byung Man said, “Today is the first time I looked the most pathetic in the jungle”, and “It‘s completely different from the programs I did in the past. He stuck out his tongue and said, “I have to use my stamina until I’m exhausted once a day.”

The long-awaited first mission of ‘Survival King’ was the ‘Palm Tree Conquest’, where two team members had to run through the mud, find the ‘Team Flag’ hidden in eight boxes at the end of the road, and plant it on the top of a 13m high tree infested with fire ants. As the lead changed hands several times and the competition continued without anyone knowing what would happen next, ‘Jungle King’ Kim Byung-man, who burned his body with barefoot fighting spirit, was the first to plant the team flag on top of the palm tree. However, an unprecedented situation occurred where the flags of the ‘Jungle Team’ and the ‘Physical Team’ were switched. The four teams discussed for a long time what to do about this situation. However, in the end, the brain of the physical team, Dong-Hyeon Kim, said, “I think it’s better than the soldier team coming in first,” and gave his full support to the “Jungle Team,” so the jungle team was decided to take first place.

The “Jungle Team,” which came in first in the “Palm Tree Conquest,” gained an overwhelming advantage in being able to decide the survival locations for all teams. The “Physical Team” planted their team flag in a survival location that had to cross a river, but was near the water and had fewer bugs. Dong-Hyeon Kim, who was confident that he was “half physical, half brain,” suggested a “ㄷ” shaped tent by utilizing the tree terrain. And the “Soldier Team” received a survival location in the middle of the forest, which was a habitat for various bugs but also convenient for obtaining berries. Like soldiers, they started by leveling the ground and began making the basic “A” shaped tent, which is a soldier‘s tent.

While the two teams above were exhausted chopping bamboo, ‘Jungle God’ Kim Byung-man easily split the bamboo by throwing it on the ground, leaving everyone amazed. He even showed off his overwhelming experience in making a fire with only bamboo without any other tools. However, the humidity of the jungle was not easy for Kim Byung-man either. After 9 pitiful attempts where only smoke rose and the embers went out, the ‘National Team’, who suggested an alliance, joined and started making a fire, the first priority for survival.

The two teams, which had completed their tents but had no fire, were attacked by bugs. The ‘Physical Team’ came to the ‘Soldier Team’ with a huge wooden club(?), a ‘Jungle Sword’, and even a small hunter knife. Kim Dong-hyun transformed into a harmless looter(?) by changing his club for a housewarming gift. However, the humidity of the jungle also affected the embers of the soldier team. Kim Dong-hyun, tired of waiting, confessed, “Actually, I was going to steal the fire... I brought the jungle knife too.” Lee Seung-gi was startled by Kim Dong-hyun’s confession, saying, “You‘re a real gangster!” and made everyone laugh. In the end, when the military team failed to obtain fire, the fire robbers (?) the ‘physical team’ went to the ‘Jungle & National Team Combined Team’.

After the 13th attempt, Kim Byung-man finally suggested using the wire from the mask and batteries to make a fire. Kim Dong-jun sacrificed his microphone to provide batteries, and they were able to easily get to the stage where smoke was produced. At this time, Choo Sung-hoon, one of the ‘fire robbers’ who raided the combined team, said, “Isn’t the flashlight battery bigger than the microphone battery?” and provided stronger firepower. ‘Jungle Edison’ Kim Byung-man eventually rolled bamboo sawdust around the bark and showed off his final finishing move ‘the smoker‘s way(?)’. In the meantime, the ‘Soldier Team’ also joined and watched ‘Jungle Prometheus’ Kim Byung-man’s ‘fire show’. Lee Seung-gi was amazed, saying, “It‘s like a scene where mankind obtained fire for the first time”.

After only 5 hours of settling in the survival zone, the four teams that solved ‘home’ and ‘fire’ went up the river to ‘eel hunt’. A bare-handed fishing competition began for the jungle eel grill given only to the team that caught the most. The ‘Jungle Team’, which faced the ‘National Team’, easily caught an eel with a powerful ‘eel swing’ that sent it flying right at the camera director, impressing everyone. The ‘Physical Team’ and the ‘Soldier Team’, who saw the honey tip of the ‘Jungle Team’, showed off catch & fly like a baseball field with the ‘Physical Team’ throwing and the ‘Soldier Team’ stealing. The game ended in a tie when Choo Sung-hoon succeeded in catching the eel for the first time. Then, Kim Byung-man’s ‘Jungle Team’, who became the winner by catching two eels, enjoyed the victory by monopolizing the additional benefits and all the eels.

Meanwhile, ‘Survival King’ is released every Tuesday on the global OTT Netflix after its original broadcast.
Reporter Lee Seul-bi, Donga.com misty82@donga.com