The Search for the Perfect Body: How the Producer of Physical: 100 Came Up With the Hit Netflix Show

(SPOT.ph) Netflix’s hit survival game show Physical: 100 is showing people around the world that there’s no one look to the strongest of the strongest.

With a chance to win 300 million won (P12.5 million), the series saw 100 fit contestants compete against each other in a series of physical challenges, like hanging on to bars and holding up boulders, to see who has the actual strength to show for their physique.

Physical: 100 is the first unscripted show to hit number one in Netflix’s non-English TV show list, with it still in the Top 10 most-streamed shows for the past month. All that for a show that had only ended on February 21. Which leaves us wondering, how did they even come up with a show like this?

Also read: How Physical: 100 Is Taking the World By Storm

What’s the concept behind Physical: 100?

According to Netflix, Physical: 100 is unique in that the human body is the story. Producer Jang Ho-gi came up with the show’s concept after having spotted a poster at a fitness center for the “Best Body of the Month. On it were gym members with various body types, postures, and fitness routines—and no, the "best body" did not look at all like how he expected it would. 

Jang wondered: “What is the best body? How can bodies be compared to other bodies? Is there a standard for it that is agreed upon by everyone?”

He went on to realize that great physique goes beyond toned muscles. There’s also other physical and non-physical attributes to look at, like muscular strength, balance, endurance, agility, and willpower, and this is exactly what Physical: 100 hoped to show in its many challenges.

Physical: 100 sounds like any other reality show, until it isn’t. Professional athletes, bodybuilders, MMA fighters, military personnel, and ordinary fit people come together on a set the size of two soccer fields.

Nothing else matters aside from the physical prowess of those 100 contestants. In fact, the show doesn’t even have a typical host who moves the story forward or mingles with the crowd. It’s as straightforward as it can get, which Netflix viewers found to be a breath of fresh air.

"Our show provides an opportunity for people to reflect on their bodies and think about what they can do to improve themselves,” Jang said in a press release. “It's not just about physical strength; it's about mental fortitude and the willpower to push oneself to the limit."

Season 1 might have concluded that lean is king when it comes to the search for a perfect physique, but there’s no saying for sure what kind of body type we can expect to win in the future seasons of Physical: 100.

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