Introduction

The Soldiers (Korean: 더솔져스) is a South Korean military-themed reality television show. 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.

Outline

Twenty male South Korean reservists who served in various special forces units of the Republic of Korea Armed Forces competed on the show. The cast also includes four former special forces operators from the United Kingdom, Sweden, the United States and South Korea who serve as mentors and later team leaders to the participants.

The show aired on SBS TV from 19 November 2021 to 28 January 2022, every Friday at 23:10 (KST). Longer, uncut versions of each episode were released the following Wednesday at 18:00 (KST) on the YouTube channel “뉴띵 NDD”.

In the first episode, the show was 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 survival program has been compared by media and viewers to Steel Troops, which has a similar special forces premise and aired its first season half a year earlier. In response to the comparison, show host Kim Sang-joong said that “[The Soldiers] is more upgraded and entertaining, with more intense missions.” Show producer Gi Sang-soo also asserted that The Soldiers is “the first television program of its kind,” with its global focus bearing the largest distinction.

Missions

The show began with an individual competition, spanning episodes 1 to 3, to assess and rank the 20 participants. At the end of this stage, 4 participants were eliminated. The mentors then collectively ranked the remaining 16 participants prior to selecting their desired team members. However, the top 4 ranked participants were given the right to choose which mentor’s team to join instead. From the second half of episode 3, the show then proceeded with the main team competition.

Individual competitions included:

• Inclined march race.
  • Based on their ranking, participants were divided into “higher ranking” (1st to 10th) and “lower ranking” (11th to 20th) bunks for the first night.
• Assault course.
  • As 8 participants failed to complete the full assault course, a rematch was conducted with a shortened assault course to determine the first 4 elimination candidates.
• Tire tug and deep tank.
• Boxing battle.

Team competitions included:

• Obstacle route march.
• Cave escape.
• Mud car rescue.
• Counter-terrorism rescue.
• Underwater retrieval mission.
• Battlefield.

The Soldiers Series

• Episode 01.
• Episode 02.
• Episode 03.
• Episode 04.
• Episode 05.
• Episode 06.
• Episode 07.
• Episode 08.
• Episode 09.
• Episode 10.

Production & Filming Details

• Presenter(s):
  • Kim Sang-Joong
• Director(s):
• Producer(s):
  • Sung Gi-hoon
  • Min Sun-hong (CP)
  • Cha Min-young
  • Son Ji-young
  • Kim Hak-sung
  • Choi Jun-hwan
  • Hong Deok-hwan
  • Shin Jun-ho
• Writer(s):
  • Lee Min-jung
  • Kim Min-ji
  • Yang Gyu-ok
  • Lee Soo-min
  • Kwon Yeo-reum
• Music:
  • Jo Young-joon
• Cinematography:
  • Han Gwang-hwan
• Editor(s):
• Production:
  • New Button
• Distributor(s):
  • SBS TV
• Release Date: 19 November 2021 to 28 January 2022.
• Running Time: 75 minutes (per episode).
• Rating: Unknown.
• Country: South Korea.
• Language: Korean.

Video Link(s)