Infinite Challenge
Promotional logo
Also known as	Infinity Challenge Muhan Dojeon
Hangul	무한도전
Hanja	無限挑戰
Genre	Reality television
Created by	Kim Tae-ho[1] (de facto)
Directed by	Kim Tae-ho (Headdir.)[2] Park Chang-hoon[2] Cho Wook-hyung[2] Kang Sung-ah[2]
Creative director	Kim Gu-san
Starring	Yoo Jae-suk Park Myeong-su Jeong Jun-ha Haha Yang Se-hyung Jo Se-ho
Country of origin	South Korea
Original language	Korean
No. of seasons	3
No. of episodes	563 + 3 specials(list of episodes)
Production
Producer	Kim Tae-ho
Camera setup	Multi-camera
Running time	75-80 minutes
Production company	MBC Entertainment Production Division
Original release
Network	MBC TV, MBC+ Drama,MBC every1
Release	April 23, 2005 (2005-04-23) – March 31, 2018 (2018-03-31)
Related
Infinite Girls (spin-off),The Great Challenge

Infinite Challenge (Korean: 무한도전;Hanja: 無限挑戰;RR: Muhan Dojeon; abbreviated asKorean: 무도;Hanja: 無挑;RR: Mudo) is a South Korean comedicreality television show that aired onMBC TV from 2005 to 2018. The show was produced byKim Tae-ho,^[3] and starred various entertainers, includingYoo Jae-suk,Park Myung-soo,Jeong Jun-ha,Haha,Jung Hyung-don,Noh Hong-chul,Jun Jin,Yang Se-hyung,Hwang Kwang-hee,Gill, andJo Se-ho.^[4]

Infinite Challenge was marketed as "Korea's first reality-variety show", combining the humorous games ofKorean variety shows with the intimate filming style of reality television.^[5] Each episode features cast members competing in challenges, including physical competitions and song contests.^[6][7]

Often called "the nation's variety show",^[8][9][10]Infinite Challenge was consistently popular in South Korea during its 13-year run.^[9] In 2008, the show reached its viewership peak, with nearly 30 percent of South Korean television viewers watching the program.^[11] The show was voted the country's favorite television program in both 2015 and 2016, according to polls conducted byGallup Korea.^[12][13] Additionally, the show's song contests, which paired cast members with popular musical artists, spawned multiple top ten hits on theGaon Digital Chart throughout the 2010s.^[14][15]

Infinite Challenge first aired under the nameReckless Challenge (무모한 도전) on April 23, 2005 duringMBC TV's Saturday night programming block.^[16] The show was marketed as "Korea's first reality-variety show" and features people taking on absurd physical challenges, such as playing tug of war with a bull or racing a subway car.^[16][17] The first season of the show starsYoo Jae-suk,Jung Hyung-don andNoh Hong-chul as regular cast members, with other cast members appearing occasionally.^[17] Guest stars include actorCha Seung-won and tennis playerMaria Sharapova.^[18][19]

Season 2 began airing on October 29, 2005, and is split into two parts namedExcessive Challenge (무리한 도전) andInfinite Challenge – Master of Quiz (무한도전 퀴즈의달인).^[16]Excessive Challenge has a similar format to Season 1, whileInfinite Challenge – Master of Quiz follows a quiz show format.^[20]Park Myung-soo,Jeong Jun-ha, andHaha join Season 1 regularsYoo Jae-suk,Jung Hyung-don andNoh Hong-chul as cast members in Season 2.^[16] SingerLee Hyori appears as a guest star in this season after a slew of episodes without guests.^[21]

The third season of the show, known simply asInfinite Challenge, began airing on May 6, 2006.^[16] Special coverage of2006 World Cup Germany was featured for the entire month of June 2006, along with some 'Ah-ha' specials (withShinhwa, for example) at the beginning of each episode. However, on July 8, 2006, the program took its memorable first step as the first 'Real-Variety' television program in Korean television history, with the airing of a segment called 'Please, come early': The six members were asked to come to the recording session on time or experience some form of punishment (일찍 와주길 바래, a part of the 'Please, be...' series see below), combining elements of bothReality TV andVariety programming, includingcomic characters from each of theInfinite Challenge members, see 'hosts'). Thereafter, the program has created challenges with regard to anything related to real life (excluding some critical issues such as religions and sexual preferences), in outdoor studios, with little use of acting or heavily based plotting. Since December 2, 2006, the program has received the highest ratings ofprime-time lineups for Saturday evening.^[22]

In January 2012, the program took a 6-month hiatus due to a labor strike conducted by MBC's reporters and producers. During this period, new episodes were not produced and MBC, instead, aired reruns of previous episodes.^[23] In November 2015, Infinite Challenge arranged special exhibition and expo titled "Infinite Challenge Expo", in KINTEX.^[24] The program took a 7-week hiatus from broadcast in early 2017, which Kim Tae-ho, the main PD, signified as a period to normalize the production process which has been shortened considerably where the production team had less time and always rushed to meet the deadline. The PD also reveals that the program still continues their regular shooting schedules while being off the air.^[25]

The program took another 10-week hiatus from September 9, 2017, due to a labor strike by MBC's reporters and producers. During the strike, new episodes were not aired and reruns of previous episodes were broadcast.^[26] The strike ended on November 13, andInfinite Challenge returned to regular broadcasting on November 25.^[27][28][29] In March 2018, the program came to an end marked by the departure ofKim Tae-ho, the lead producer, which was followed by the members. However, after the last episode was aired, the program returned for 3 more weeks where it aired recap specials that pays tribute to the achievements of the program called "13 Years of Saturdays".^{[30][31][32][33]}

These segments were featured in multiple episodes over the years due to their popularity.

• "Infinite News" – a parody on news broadcast in which most of the reported stories happened to some or all of the cast members. Those stories revolve around their personal life and tend to balance between facts and the comedic side of them.
• "Infinite Company" – an unscripted skit that parodied on the lives of office employees, similar toThe Office. Initially, the skit was a reproduction of the late comedianKim Hyung-gon work, calledPresident, President, Our President, portraying a situational comedy around a board of directors of a company before it was changed to be about a group of employees in a small department.
• "Ha & Su" – an unscripted situational comedy around the petty quarrels between Jeong Jun-ha and Park Myeong-su, where the latter is aggressive and hot-tempered while the former is timid and simple-minded. In 2011, they were awarded a "Best Couple" award for their dynamic.^[34]
• "Jimotmi" – it stands for 지켜주지 못해서 미안해 (jikyeojuji motaeseo mianhae), which means "Sorry I could not look out for you" In this segment, the members play hidden-camera pranks on each other to see how they react to certain contrived situations.
• "Introducing My Ugly Friends Festival" – A segment where the members invited their acquaintances which they considered visually unappealing. Afterwards, the members organize a party where they celebrate with various games.
• "Saturday, Saturday's, I Am A Singer" – Suggested by Park Myeoung-Su and Jeong Jun-ha where the program arranges a stage where old artists were given chances to return and perform their hit songs.Sechs Kies andH.O.T. were able to reunite and came out of retirement through this segment.
• "Please, be..." – a segment which was introduced to instill common principles to all of the members. '"Please, come early"' forces the members to be punctual during filming day as the staff will not inform them when they would film the segment. '"Please, be friendly"', featuring Haha and Jeong Hyeong-don, were created to encourage both members to be more comfortable around each other.
• "Ah-Ha" – a Korean word game in which one member says a word, and the next person must then say that word backwards. Members who failed or made mistakes would be hit over the head. This segment premiered in the 2nd season (Infinite Challenge – The Master of Quiz) and was played occasionally in following seasons.
• "One-flash Telepathy" – after hearing a word which was given from the production booth, each member presented a gesture that would best represent that word. A round is cleared if all six members perform the same gesture and punishments were given when they failed. The original alleged purpose of this segment was to unite the minds of the members; however, they have yet to succeed. Voice narration for this segment was provided by Na Gyeong-eun, an announcer and Yoo Jae-suk's wife.
• Television Advertisements – throughout the episodes, the hosts create some satirical Koreantelevision advertisements.
• Calendar-making Project – the members created a series of unique calendars and donated all profits from these sales to charity. This project has succeeded every season.^[35]

Some of the segments ofInfinite Challenge also developed into national events with audience participation.

• 2008 Host-in-Chief Elections – after a humorous request by Park Myeong-su to have a new leader in 2008, allInfinite Challenge members and staff held a vote for a new 'host-in-chief' on December 31, 2007, at the nation's ownnatural gas field nearUlsan.^[36] Prior to the election, each member created campaign pledges to encourage voters to vote for them. All entertainment managers, coordinators, MBC staff and the members voted at the South gate of the MBC Headquarters and the votes were counted on the morning of New Year's Day. Afterwards, Park Myeong-su was declared the new host-in-chief, but evidence showed him of tampering the voting box. The new host-in-chief was given 3 weeks to prove his leadership skills. However, after poor performances for 3 whole weeks, Park Myeong-su announced at anInfinite Challenge press conference that he would step down and wait for the new election to take place. In the aftermath, Yoo Jae-suk was appointed asinterim host-in-chief on February 2, 2008. The second host-in-chief election was held on February 4, 2008, at the MBC Dream Center inIlsan and Yoo Jae-suk won the majority of the votes and was once again reinstated as the host-in-chief.
• WM7 – the "Wrestling Muhan 7" project is an attempt by the members to perform at aprofessional wrestling event. From July 2009, the members started training by invitingSonstar, junior-professional wrestler and the drummer ofCherry Filter, as their coach and Park Myeong-su as their club leader. After numerous injuries, including a concussion suffered by Jeong Hyeong-don, setbacks and delays, the members finally put on a performance in front of a live audience on August 19, 2010, atJangchung Gymnasium. It was broadcast over 11 episodes and MBC also released aDVD edition of this challenge, featuring several unaired segments, stories and the full uncut performance.
• Decision 2014 – the show held another host-in-chief election in 2014 where the show elected a host-in-chief with 10 years tenure. These elections mirrored that of actual governmental elections, in an endeavor to promote voter turnout in South Korea's 2014 local elections.^[37] Similarly, the members created campaign pledges to attract viewers to vote for them in the preliminary internet polls before the airing ofDecision 2014's first episode. The second internet poll was held after the episode aired. After the results of the second poll, Haha and Jeong Jun-ha decided to form a coalition under Jeong Hyeong-don while Park Myeong-su conceded, endorsing Yoo Jae-suk. About 50,000 people, including the members ofInfinite Challenge, cast their votes on May 22, 2014, at polling stations in ten major cities (Seoul,Incheon,Daejeon,Daegu,Ulsan,Gwangju,Busan,Jeju,Chuncheon, andJeonju). Another 34,000 people cast their votes earlier during the preliminary voting round from May 17–18, 2014. During the day of the election, audiences who could not make it to the polling stations were able to vote through a website, resulting in a turnout of 363,047 people online Combining the live polls and the internet votes, Yoo Jae-suk won the election by defeating Noh Hong-chul with 45,310 marginal votes or 8.29% of the combined votes.
• Infinite Challenge Song Festival – beginning in 2007, the members collaborated with musicians to compete in amusic festival every two years.

• There are a number of people who both individually work for this program and irregularly appear withInfinite Challenge members (hosts). They are frequently referred to as 'the 8th member' (제8의 멤버).

Numerous Korean celebrities have appeared on the show due to its popularity. Many of the guests have some relationships with the co-hosts of the show, including:

Infinity Challenge is famous for predicting jokes before some events occurred in real life, likeThe Simpsons.^[81] Several episodes predicted the dramaSquid Game.^[82] Another episode, "Manager Jeong", Haha bought a book calledAmerican Prometheus, and about 2 months later, he wrote a book review for the book, but the contents were messy, so he made the members laugh.^[83] In 2023, twelve years later, Christopher Nolan made the filmOppenheimer based on that book, Haha became the South Korean public relations ambassador for that movie.^[84] Other examples purported as Infinity Challenge predicting the future include theBrexit,^[85]Among Us,^[81]Hangout with Yoo,^[86]Koo Jun-yup andBarbie Hsu's marriage,^[87][88] andKim Shin-young'sKorea Sings MC selected.^[89]

The reason why this makes a lot of prophecy is that this program itself is a format in which different special features with different themes were planned every time, and even though it has been several years since the show ended, it enjoys greater popularity than active programs, and there are overflowing sources that are discovered.^[90]

• During the 12th episode (aired on August 16, 2007) ofMBC's Monday-night variety programme 'Jippijiggi'(지피지기), comedian Park Su-hong urgedNoh Hong-chul,Jeong Hyeong-don, andHa Ha (members of Infinite Challenge) to create a new comic-variety program called 'Yuhan Dojeon'(유한도전, 有限挑戰, Finite Challenge). However, this was a joke when he attended this program as a guest.^[91]
• MBC Drama, MBC's Drama and Entertainment channel onSkylife and Cable TV, has decided to launch a brand-new comic variety show calledInfinite Girls (무한걸스), the female edition ofInfinite Challenge. Six Korean entertainers includingSong Eun-i,Shin Bong-sun,Kim Shin-young,Hwangbo, Baek Bo-ram and Jung Ga-eun serve as the co-hosts of this program. Previous hosts who have already left the show include Ahn Hye-kyung (안혜경, who is formerHaha's girlfriend), Kim Hyun-sook (김현숙), Bin-woo (빈우),Kim Ga-yeon and Jung Shi-ah.^[92] It aired on September 23, 2007, as a pilot (special) program forHangawi holidays. Since October 15, 2007, This format wenta regular-scheduled programme at theMBC every1,MBC's Cable andSatellite network for comedy and variety shows, eventually.
• On December 27, 2007, theSERI, a well-known economic research institute of South Korea, picked this program as the 6th most-influential product and service of the year 2007, due to its strong public popularity and its own productive characters.^[93]
• Infinite Challenge is often mentioned on other similar programs, when guests asking if the staff of the show in question copied the idea for a segment fromInfinite Challenge.
• In the first quarter of 2008, the Global Marketing Department ofMBC reported that MBC had attempted to sell the format of Infinite Challenge to a European agency inSweden. This was the first time in Korean television history that such a deal had been made. However, the contract was not finalized, as there were too many characters on the program for the Swedish company to reproduce. Even so, rights to the show were eventually sold toAir France andQatar Airways' in-flight broadcast.^[94]
• The creators ofInfinite Challenge filmed an advertisement aboutBibimbap which has been shown inTimes Square since November 26, 2010.^[95] Due to this involvement, theMinistry for Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries had been put up a Plaque of Honour, to acknowledge MuDo's dedication.^[96]
• In 2011,Infinite Challenge held the West Coast Highway Music Festival. At this festival 7 teams participated and everyone got a trophy.^[97]
• The show is also famous for its loyal fans, especially from the youth demographic. Despite the show's hiatus of 22 weeks due to MBC's Union Labor Strike in 2012, the show was able to keep its strong popularity with television audiences. It was acclaimed as "the most favorite program in South Korea" numerous times.^[98][99]
• Members ofInfinite Challenge cast (Yoo Jae-suk,Park Myeong-su,Jeong Jun-ha,Jeong Hyeong-don,Noh Hong-chul,Haha,Gil) are featured on "Gentleman" music video byPsy.^[100]

• On June 30, 2015, the rights to air the show was sold to one of the big channels in China; "CCTV-1” provingInfinite Challenge's rise in popularity as a Korean Variety Show Program.^{[101][102][unreliable source?]} The Chinese version of the show started airing in China on December 6, 2015.
• Before the export publication rights to China, the program was already popular throughout Asia. People of the world watched this program by YouTube and the highest hit is 3,202,248 (Infinite Challenge Yeongdong Expressway Song Festival, Hwangtaeji's "Mapsosa".)
• The program went to Japan, China, Thailand, America, Africa, Germany, etc. for filming. Many international celebrities participated in one of the episodes.
• In April 2013, a British TV program calledThe Greatest Shows on Earth came to Korea to showcase Korean TV, and visitedInfinite Challenge on set.^{[103][unreliable source?]} The episode aired onChannel 4 on July 8, 2013. While visiting the recording session forInfinite Challenge, presenterDaisy Donovan also went in front of the cameras and guested a sketch segment which was shown on both shows.

It has been alleged that the show was copied without permission by a Chinese variety program calledGo Fighting.^[104]

According to production company MBC: "Currently in China, multiple broadcasting and production companies are saying they are personally producing 'Infinite Challenge' or a similar program, causing a disturbance in the market and damaging MBC Contents' image. From hereon, excepting the broadcasting of 'Infinite Challenge' on CCTV1, we will take firm legal action against any behavior that has nothing to do with MBC while making people confused and misunderstand [that program] as MBC's 'Infinite Challenge."^{[105][unreliable source?]}

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