The Soldiers (Korean: 더솔져스) is a South Korean military-themed reality show broadcast on SBS. The show seeks to find the "best special forces operator in the world," beginning with selecting the best Korean special forces representatives through a series of missions. Twenty male South Korean reservists who served in various special forces units of the Republic of Korea Armed Forces compete on the show. The cast also includes four former special forces operators from the United Kingdom, Sweden, United States and South Korea who serve as mentors and later team leaders to the participants.
In the first episode, the show is explained as a three-season project:
- Season 1: Select the best team of South Korean special forces reservists
- Season 2: Compete with national representative teams across Asia-Pacific
- Season 3: Find the strongest team across the globe
The first season can be watched here
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This show provides examples of:
- The Ace: Hong Beom-seok, who was ranked the first out of the individual rounds, can almost do everything and do it well.
- Affectionate Nickname: Kim Ho-jong, due to his usage of saying "Yam" as a cheer, is called "Yam" by his leader and teammates.
- Awesomeness by Analysis:
- Kim Chang-wan is the only one who notices that the teams were sleeping in a bunker that could be sealed and filled with water. The second mission has them escape from the bunker as water is quickly pouring in. Later on, despite only been given 1/4 of the map for a mission, Chang-wan is able to deduce a rough outline of the floors based off the map and photos of the building they were given.
- Hong Beom-seok also realizes in the CQC mission that they were told to deactivate the bomb on the hostage on 12F but he notes there is actually 20 floors in the building, leading him to suspect there would be extra missions. He is right.
- Badass in a Nice Suit: KDIC agents Go In-ho and Kim Yeong-cheol arrive on the first day wearing suits, surprising the other agents who initially thought they were idols. Go In-ho shows his mettle as he runs with a 30kg bag in his suit and manages to make it to sixth place in the first mission.
- Decapitated Army: In the final mission, Alpha team manages to "kill" team leader Jay first, which shocked and demoralized the rest of Bravo team, though they did their best to complete the mission regardless.
- Determinator: Many of the soldiers go through many physical hardships and struggles during the missions but refuse to give up and continue with completing the mission, even if they don't reach first place like they originally hoped for.
- Kim Yeong-hwan failed the rope climbing event a few times but refused to stop trying and managed to succeed in ringing the bell eventually. In the last mission, he was the last one standing in Team Bravo but he continued to push forward with his best efforts until the very end.
- During the uphill trek mission, Go In-ho carries two 30kg bags, almost his own weight, on two occasions so Team Charlie could have a chance to catch up.
- Down to the Last Play: In the sunken ship mission, it was a tight race between Alpha and Brave teams to who would be in first place. While Bravo reached the SMB first, Alpha was quicker in inputting the right passcode to open it, leading them to be the victors.
- A Father to His Men: All the team leaders are this.
- Good-Looking Privates: Many of the soldiers are very good-looking.
- Fire-Forged Friends: The members of each team, particularly Alpha and Bravo, become close to each other and to their team leader despite coming from different military branches. There is even a photo showing Alpha team meeting up and having a meal together after the first season was done.
- Poor Communication Kills: Downplayed but the Bravo, Charlie and Delta leaders do not speak Korean, limiting communication between them and their teammates, which sometimes can delay the overall missions. Delta team has Lee Kang-woo at least who is able to speak fluently in both Korean and English and helps to communicate between Wil and the others quickly during the missions.
- Shirtless Scene: Depending on the mission, such as the tick-picking challenge or the sunken ship mission, the agents removed their tops due to mud or water to prevent their clothes from hindering their performances.
- Team Dad / Team Mom: Team leader Lee Chang-jun and assistant leader Hong Beom-seok have respectively been referred by the other team members as "dad" and "mom".
