'Physical:100 Underground' to feature skilled participants, quests of increased difficulty

"Physical:100 Underground" (Netflix)

The second season of Netflix Korea's flagship survival competition show "Physical: 100" will feature formidable participants, including renowned national athletes, taking part in quests of increased difficulty, the show's producers said Thursday.

"Physical: 100" series features 100 contestants competing in survival matches to see who is the most physically fit. The winner gets prize money of 300 million won ($228,000).

Its first season unveiled last year became a global success after becoming the first Korean variety show to top Netflix's global top 10 chart for non-English TV shows. Over the course of six consecutive weeks, the nine-part series accumulated over 192 million hours of viewing, surpassing hit Korean original dramas such as "Hellbound" and “Juvenile Justice."

According to the producers of "Physical: 100 Season 2 Underground," the second season will differ from the first season in that this season's participants largely consist of professional athletes.

Nearly 30 percent of the participants of the second season of the show are incumbent or former national athletes. Notable participants include Olympic wrestling gold medalist Jung Ji-hyun and Olympic judo gold medalist Lee Won-hee.

Also, the new season will include more difficult tasks.

"What we considered the most in preparing the second season of "Physical:100" was that participants could analyze the first season and get prepared for (the second season)," said Jang Ho-gi, the producer of "Physical: 100 Season 2 Underground," during a press conference in Mapo-gu, Seoul, Thursday.

"I thought we needed to design quests that would break with the participants' expectations. Therefore, we ramped up the difficulty level of the survival quests," said Jang.

"A slew of former and incumbent national athletes who have enjoyed the first season joined us for this season, and, they told me that this season reminded them of participating in international sports games," Jang added.

The first episode of "Physical: 100 Season 2 Underground" will stream on Netflix, Tuesday.

By Lee Yoon-seo(yoonseo.3348@heraldcorp.com)