Physical: 100 winner Woo Jin Yong speaks out on ‘fairness’ of final round after runner-up Jung Hae Min

‘Physical: 100’ started off as a new survival show that watchers can get hooked on thanks to its concept and participants who hailed from varied backgrounds. The first few weeks went great and the show saw a massive influx of positive comments as well as global attention. However, towards the last few episodes, it slowly began to deteriorate. The final episode, with much anticipation, found itself closing off in an anti-climatic end and then came on the other end of receiving a lot of fingers pointed at it for conducting its last quest in multiple rounds instead of one.

Jung Hae Min’s claims

In an interview following the happenings of the show, runner-up Jung Hae Min spoke up about his side of the understanding. In the interview, the contestant and track cyclist claimed to have decided to speak up about the events after looking at the criticism faced by other cyclists as well as wanting to clarify the production team’s statement of there being no rematch of the final round. In his own words, Jung Hae Min said that it was Woo Jin Young who asked the match to be stopped at first after noticing an issue with his equipment. Subsequently, the spools (of the rope pulling match) were oiled however the production team asked the match to be stopped once again due to audio issues, asking for a rematch. Jung Hae Min claims to have denied it at first after being told that his rope would be shortened as much as he had pulled so far and as he did not want the show’s staff to return only because of him the next day he admitted to having accepted the terms later on. According to him, he does not know if his rope was even shortened or if there was any fault with his own equipment the second time around, he was unable to pull any more rope, leading Woo Jin Young to victory. He further claims to have asked the production team to air the scenes showing the reason why he lost, but was reportedly told that participants have no say in editing.

Reported record of final match

After replying with a ‘no comment’ at the start, all eyes continued to be on Woo Jin Yong, the former professional snowboarder and cross-fit gym owner. After winning the first season of ‘Physical: 100’ and being awarded 300 million KRW, he had become a star himself however soon as the controversy began, questions were being raised about his acceptance of the result as well as any possible manipulation that went into it. Now in a new post, shared on his personal Instagram account, Woo Jin Yong has written a tell-all of his understanding of the situation.

The post is a screenshot of a record reported earlier, containing the exact happenings of the day of the final round along with the proper time stamps. Under the subheading of the first interruption, it has been written that due to noise coming from Woo Jin Yong’s rope-pulling equipment, the footage was declared unusable and it was the production team who asked for the match to be stopped. Further checking reportedly revealed the source of noise leading to lubrication. It is lastly mentioned in the screenshot that the match began right from where it left off.

Woo Jin Yong’s clarification

The winner finally shared his own views in a detailed statement in the caption. Woo Jin Yong claimed to be wanting to tell the people about the truth of the match, siding with the reported timeline. He emphasized that it was not he who asked the match to be stopped and in fact the production team who noticed audio issues. Continuing with the narrative of the match resuming exactly where it was stopped, Woo Jin Yong wrote about playing to the best of his abilities and not taking any ‘unfair’ means to seek victory. He ended his statement by saying how he feels responsible about the controversies that surround the show and potentially undermine the efforts of other contestants who undoubtedly gave their best. He believes that the show was loved for sportsmanship where people give their best and accept the results, wanting to stand by those values.

While earlier, a lot of praise and empathy went towards Jung Hae Min who had seemingly lost out on the win, public opinion has taken a hit with Woo Jin Yong’s words.
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