PUBLISHED ONApril 04, 2024 6:52 AMByDrima ChakrabortyWarning: Spoilers ahead.
One was knocked out in round one in the first season, while the other was eliminated after his team lost in season two.
But Hong Beom-seok and Amotti (real name Kim Jae-hong) were the last men standing in the finale of Physical: 100 Season 2, which was aired on Netflix on Tuesday (April 2) — after beating out South African actor Justin Harvey and rugby player Andre Jin Coquillard.
After a gruelling battle, it was Amotti who who bagged the 300 million won (S$300,000) prize money — marking the second year a CrossFit athlete has emerged the winner.
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Throughout the season, the comeback kings have captivated fans of the Netflix reality competition show, which started out with 100 contestants, as they clawed their way back to the top.
Last year, Beom-seok was eliminated in the one-on-one arena death match, the first quest, but the firefighter and former special forces soldier became one of the first to be introduced for the second season and returned with a vengeance.
The 37-year-old was also selected by his fellow competitors to be a team leader.
Amotti, 31, a fresh contestant this season, was eliminated along with his team in the second quest, but was given the opportunity to fight his way back in a redemption match.
Former Olympic gold medallist Jung Ji-hyun won that and formed a new team with four other eliminated contestants, including Amotti.
The Crossfitter ended up beating the rest of his team, nicknamed The Avengers, in the fourth quest to make it to the final four.
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In the last contest, Beom-seok and Amotti faced off in a best-of-three match where they each had to push one end of a huge horizontal pole to knock over a post.
"He was definitely the contestant I dreaded facing off against the most," Amotti said about his opponent in a talking head interview.
Beom-seok won the first round, but Amotti made a quick comeback to clinch the second and aimed to "ride that momentum" into the nail-biting third round.
According to Beom-seok, Amotti started "pushing like hell" as soon as the starting whistle went off, and the firefighter was no match for his opponent's explosive strength.
"I was getting pushed back from the start, and once my centre of gravity was raised, I just lost all my strength," Beom-seok said. "And, you know, then I fell over and that was it."
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A triumphant Amotti said: "Ever since I made the choice to come here and give Physical: 100 a go, my goal was to be my absolute best and do so in every moment so I wouldn't leave with any regrets.
"I think my determination to see things through to the very end and never give up is ultimately what led me to where I am right now."
He added in a talking head interview: "I came in first out of 100. Only the strong survive, and I survived."
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drimac@asiaone.com
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