Three lessons to learn from Running Man’s Jee Seok-Jin

SINGAPORE — Running Man’s Jee Seok-Jin is also known within the variety show as “Big Nose Hyung” because he has a tiny, delicate nose.

No, obviously that’s not quite accurate. But since it’s not nice to make fun of people’s physical traits, we much prefer his other nickname: Impala. Because if muscle man Kim Jong-Kook is the tiger on the wild savannah of the Running Man landscape, Jee Seok-Jin is definitely the defenseless prey.

Jee and Kim are in Singapore together with fellow Running Man cast members HAHA, Lee Kwang-Soo and Song Ji-Hyo for Race Start Season 2, a fan event organised by the channel ONE comprising an autograph session at Suntec City and a stage performance at The Star Performing Arts Centre today (Nov 29).

Widely hailed as the weakest link in Running Man’s cast of seven and the one most frequently eliminated first, 48-year-old Jee is also the oldest member. But it follows, of course, that he is probably the wisest. So, here are three life lessons that we learned from the Impala during our brief chat with him after yesterday’s press conference.

1. The people you sweat it out with are your family.

Jee Seok-Jin: “Filming Running Man is very tiring and sometimes, I just want to sleep while we’re at it. It takes much longer than you’d expect – about 12 to 15 hours. It’s like being at the gym every day. My stamina keeps increasing, even if we only film once a week. When I get home, I collapse. But the Running Man team is very much like a family, and I’m happy to have gained another family, besides my own.”

2. Alcohol is not the answer. 11-hour pep talks are.

Jee Seok-Jin: “As long as you do your best, you’ll get support from others. When the Running Man members meet privately, we always talk about how we have to do better for future support. When we meet, we talk and eat, because most of us aren’t good drinkers. Yoo Jae Suk doesn’t drink at all. Neither does Kim Jong Kook. I drink twice a year. HAHA drinks about five times a year. Lee Kwang Soo – about 20 times a year. Ji Hyo – 30 times. (Laughs) So, when we meet, we only drink coffee and orange juice. There’s a café we go to, with a private room. We sit and talk for five hours at a time. Once, we talked from five in the afternoon to four A.M. – no alcohol, just talking. The owner doesn’t really like us because we don’t buy drinks!”

3. Nothing is impossible. Except beating Kim Jong Kook.

Jee Seok-Jin: “In Korea, we have a saying: ‘If you try 10 times, you’ll succeed at least once.’ But I learned, while filming Running Man, that some things are impossible. Like beating Jong Kook. It is impossible to beat him, even three-against-one. There’s a rumour that he’s actually a robot and that every night, before he goes to sleep, he takes out his bolts. We say that eating, for him, is like putting oil in the machine.” (Guffaws)

Catch new episodes of Running Man on Fridays at 11.45pm on ONE (SingTel mio TV Ch 513, 604, 514 and 605 and StarHub TV Ch 820, 823 and 124). Repeats air following Fridays at 7.40pm, as well as on Saturdays and Sundays at 11.15pm.