Introduction

Running Man (Korean: 런닝맨) is a South Korean variety show; forming part of SBS's Good Sunday lineup. It first aired on July 11, 2010, and as of 2015, is currently the longest-running program, at five years on Good Sunday, surpassing X-Man's three and a half years.
Running Man was originally classified as an "urban action variety"; a genre of variety shows in an urban environment. The MCs and guests complete missions at a landmark to win the race. The show has since shifted to a more familiar reality-variety show concept focused on game show games. It has garnered attention as being the come-back program for Yoo Jae-suk, the main MC of the program, after leaving Good Sunday's Family Outing in February 2010.
Airing at the 5 pm KST time slot for most of its run, Running Man switched to the second part of Good Sunday (between May 22 and May 29, 2011 with Kim Yu-na's Kiss and Cry but was quickly switched back due to low ratings) beginning May 6, 2012, airing after Kim Byung-man's Law of the Jungle 2 at 6:10 pm and airing against KBS2 Happy Sunday's 1 Night 2 Days Season 2 and MBC Sunday Night's I Am a Singer 2.
The show has become popular in other parts of Asia as well, and has gained online popularity among Hallyu fans, having been fansubbed into a number of languages by volunteers, such as English, Spanish, French, Thai, Malay, Vietnamese, Chinese, Indonesian, Arabic, Brazilian Portuguese and Russian.

The original members of Running Man are Yoo Jae-suk, Ji Suk-jin, Kim Jong-kook, Haha, Lee Kwang-soo, Song Joong-ki, and Gary. Song Ji-hyo was originally a guest for the second (episode 2-3) and third landmark (episode 4-5). She officially joined the program in the fourth landmark (episode 6) but was unable to attend until the fifth landmark (episode 7). In April 2011, Song Joong-ki recorded his last episode (episode 41) in May, and has left the program to focus on his acting career but returned on episode 66 as a guest after leaving for almost half a year, and later made cameo appearances in several episodes.