When I first got inot SNSD, the forums I frequented would always refer to some show called "The Running Man" as the funniest guest appearances ever made by Girls Generation and that it was a MUST SEE! Subsequently the first two episodes of Running Man I ever saw were SNSD's guest appearances in #64 and #65, which featured six Running Men: Jaesuk, Sukjin, Gary, HaHa, Jongkook, and KwangSoo, by their banter I figured out that they were the regular cast, but they kept referring to a mysterious girl regular who was apparently out for health reasons named Jihyo, and though i didn't know it, she would go on to become my favorite Running Man of all time!
The first time I saw Jihyo was in the epic Non-Stop Survival Race in RM episode #93, and it was here I first realized how frickin' COOL she was! Running alongside her fellow teammates to try and track down their quarry, scolding and lecturing her subordinattes, you knew this was a gal not to be trifled with!
By the time I had seen a few more back episodes, i began to feel a tugging at my heart every time she was onscreen, and by the time of #38's Chinese Restaurant Delivery Race, I was totally in love with her, and began going online and trying to find any and every pinup and picture I could find of this beautiful lady.
Typing "Jihyo-Running Man" into the search engines, I found out a few interesting things- one was that her full name was Jihyo Song, and that she was actually a Movie Actress! WOW- I had NO IDEA! The way she was portrayed in RM, she seemed like such a rocker type chick, and I truly believed she was nothing more than (an admittedly pretty awesome) variety show regular! And here she was, a tried and true respected actress! The OTHER thing I discovered was her sultry performance in "A Frozen Flower", and after watching that, I would never be that same again!
Coincidentally, around that time I began to check out a lot of the older Running Man episodes, back when Jihyo wasn't a regular cast member yet and instead a cherished guest Movie Star...Wow, how differently they treated her back then, LOL! Whereas in later episodes she was just another tuff chick in the bunch, back then she was fawned upon and treated like the lovely lady she is! But soon enough she was a regular (and with Gary Kang, became part of the show's legendary Monday Couple) and with AfterSchool's Lizzy onboard to take care of the "Cutesy" image, left Jihyo to evolve into the no-nonsense Beauty we've come to know and love!
Man, I just LOVE this Girl, The Affable Miss Mong, Our "Ace" Jihyo Song!!!!
