As Sports Kyunghyang celebrates its 21st anniversary, there is a program that has walked the same 21-year path. It is MBC’s Infinite Challenge, which first stepped out in 2005 as Moomohan Dojeon and completely changed the landscape of Korean variety shows.
Although the show came to an end in 2018 and is currently taking a break, the vitality of Infinite Challenge is still very much alive.
Even now, many people pick Infinite Challenge as their go-to companion for eating alone, and online communities are constantly filled with the phrase “There is nothing that Infinite Challenge hasn’t covered” (Eop-Eop-Mu). While the broadcasts have stopped, the show continues to be summoned through memories and memes, infinitely challenging itself. Let’s look back at the power of Infinite Challenge through its parallel theory with Sports Kyunghyang, which has also run tirelessly for 21 years to deliver fast news to its readers.
■ From Squid Game to Culinary Class Wars… The Ultimate Prophecy Book of Pop Culture
Infinite Challenge is often called a “prophecy book” of pop culture because its past episodes seem to have foreseen current mega-hits with uncanny direction. When Netflix’s Squid Game took the world by storm in 2021, many people immediately thought of Infinite Challenge from 10 years prior. From the ddakji and stone-hitting games to the way the “Squid Game” played in the 2011 “Myung-soo is 12” episode gradually became more intense, it was like a miniature version of the death games in the drama. Additionally, the “Global Rooftop Tug-of-War” from the 2014 “IF” episode, which featured a setting where members fell from an 80-story building, overlapped eerily with famous scenes from the drama.
The recent syndrome-inducing Netflix show Culinary Class Wars was also within the Infinite Challenge universe. In the 2009 “Sikgaek” episode, Jung Hyung-don frantically fried pork in a pan when the boiled pork wasn’t cooking in time. This perfectly matched a scene in the Culinary Class Wars team mission where the White Spoon team ended up frying 100 servings of meat in oil, burning them like charcoal, after they didn’t cook through. Furthermore, the funny sight of Gil and Jung Hyung-don moving with black blindfolds in the “Tell Me Your Wish” special that same year evolved into the iconic blind tasting scenes featuring judges Baek Jong-won and Ahn Sung-jae.
■ From the COVID-19 Era to Martial Law… The “Eop-Eop-Mu” That Captured the Times
The prophecies of Infinite Challenge have been summoned during social and political upheavals beyond just entertainment and culture. During the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, people noticed lyrics from a song Park Myung-soo improvised in the 2010 “Pro Wrestling” episode: “Our lives have too, too many viruses.” Moreover, unfamiliar sights of the pandemic era, such as social distancing, hand-washing campaigns, mask-wearing, QR code electronic entry logs, and gathering bans after 9 PM, were already captured in various Infinite Challenge clips, leading to amazement that it “predicted the COVID-19 situation.”
The YouTube channel “O-Bun-Sun-Sak” released a compilation titled “Mudo clips where not a single word is wrong, as if predicting this situation.zip,” which garnered 660,000 views and resonated deeply with viewers.
Major political issues weren’t missed either. During the 20th Presidential Election in 2022, when candidates Yoon Suk-yeol (No. 2) and Ahn Cheol-soo (No. 4) dramatically unified, a scene from the 2014 “Selection 2014” special was revisited. In that episode, low-ranking candidates Haha (No. 2) and Jung Jun-ha (No. 4) joined forces, shouting “I’m Brother 4” and “Brother 2.”
Most recently, following the emergency martial law incident on December 3, 2024, Infinite Challenge appeared once again. In the 2016 “Spring Day is Coming – Rating Special,” extreme ideas to save viewership were poured out, such as “Let’s play Infinite Challenge in every movie theater nationwide.” To this, Yoo Jae-suk remarked, “This is almost like entertainment martial law.” Meanwhile, when asked about the meaning of “martial law” (gye-eom-ryeong), Kwanghee quirkily answered, “Gye means ‘dog’ and Eom means ‘strict.’ It means it’s dog-strict.” This sharp episode brought a bitter feeling to the public amidst the chaotic political situation. Netizens reacted with surprise, saying, “As expected, Mudo has everything” and “How is the special even titled ‘Spring Day is Coming’?”
■ Records Create Tomorrow… Sports Kyunghyang’s “Infinite Challenge” Path
The secret to Infinite Challenge becoming a prophecy book that pierces through time is not coincidence or magic. It is thanks to the sincerity of diving into new items for 13 long years and fiercely recording the joys and sorrows of the public with timely satire and laughter.
Because all facets of our lives are contained within the vast trajectory they left behind, new meanings are constantly discovered even as times change.
The journey of Sports Kyunghyang, which started at the same line and is now celebrating its 21st anniversary, is no different. Just as Infinite Challenge continues to challenge itself in memories even while the show is on break, Sports Kyunghyang is infinitely delivering news, breathing with readers during every upheaval of pop culture amidst the globalization of K-content and the changing media environment. The fact that fiercely recording today is the solid strength that opens tomorrow is the valuable parallel theory that Sports Kyunghyang confirmed from the tireless vitality of Infinite Challenge on its 21st anniversary.
