The Daily Stream: Physical: 100 Is The Best Reality Competition Show In Years

(Welcome to The Daily Stream, an ongoing series in which the /Film team shares what they've been watching, why it's worth checking out, and where you can stream it.)

The Show: "Physical 100"

Where You Can Stream It: Netflix

The Pitch:

Are you tired of the same old reality competition shows? Do you think endless shows where people scheme, cheat, and backstab their way to victory are just tiring and dull? Is the lack of originality of bonkers-factor in physical competition shows like "American Ninja Warrior" that all have the same course becoming too much? Well, then I have the right reality competition show for you.

"Physical: 100" is a reality competition show from Korea where one hundred contestants, each in absolute peak physical shape, compete in different challenges to claim a hefty cash reward, and prove they have the best physique in the country.

This show deserves to be Korea's next big entertainment export and get all the press and love that "Squid Game" got. When it comes to physical competition reality shows, there is nothing quite like "Physical: 100," a show with exquisite production design, and one of the best reality show casts in years.

Why It's Essential Viewing

"Physical: 100" is the closest we'll get to a real-life Hunter Exam from the fantastic adventure show "Hunter x Hunter," with the strongest, fastest, and most qualified people from all over the land trying to prove they are the very best. The first episode is mostly dedicated to introducing the contestants, revealing their mighty impressive bodies, and telling us what they do for a living and how they became so fit.

Herein lies the first big surprise of the show, where we learn the backgrounds and expertise of the contestants. This is not just a show about the strongest man or the fastest woman, but the person with the overall best physique, meaning people of all backgrounds participate. There are bodybuilders, and literally the strongest man in Korea, sure, but also actors, dancers, MMA fighters, a car salesman (really!), fitness YouTubers, and a guy who designed the choreography for zombie shows like "Kingdom" and "Hellbound."

Indeed, "Physical: 100" has a wide variety of competitors of vastly different ages and body types. Better yet, it does not separate challenges by gender, even the one-on-one death match challenge. The diversity of body types also serves a practical function, feeding straight into the challenges, where one can benefit the purely strength-focused competitors, while the next challenge can be all about agility and speed. 

Then there's the design of the actual challenges. Here is where the comparisons to that other popular Korean show come in (which several competitors reference at various points), became it is not just about having a bunch of people compete for cash, but because each challenge looks designed by Jigsaw from "Saw." 

The Thrill Of The Fight

Sadly, not dividing the challenges by gender does lead to a lot of misogyny from some of the bigger contestants looking down on some of the women. The upside is that this only makes it cooler and more thrilling when the female contestants utterly annihilate the big strong men and prove there are different kinds of strength. There are heroes everyone admires, jerks you instantly hate, and tons of contestants that look and act as if they came straight from a sports anime.

Though the challenges are cool to watch, what really makes "Physical: 100" stand out is how astonishingly polite and respectful everyone is (except when showing their misogyny). From the very first episode, every contestant is just beyond thrilled to meet their opponents and is in constant awe of the other's physiques. 

Unlike lots of other similar shows which are all about scheming, backstabbing, making alliances, and generally trying to make things easier for you and harder on the others, the contestants on "Physical: 100" don't want any of that. Each person is here to prove themselves, and they'd all rather fight the toughest person and lose than get an easy win — like an MMA fighter challenging legend Choo Sung-hoon to a one-on-one fight and deciding to have an actual MMA match instead. 

During a downtime in-between challenges, rather than relax or make alliances, the contestants hold a mini-tournament of their own to showcase their skills, and it is genuinely heartwarming to see them cheer for one another even while staring at someone who will probably eliminate them. There are many reality competition shows out there, but "Physical: 100" easily makes the case to stop trying to emulate death-game dramas in real life, and just let top athletes be nice and compete with one another.

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