'Physical 100: Italy' Season 1 Episodes 1-3 Recap & Review: Is It Better Than The Korean One?

Nah, before I get into this article, I wrote that controversial headline just because it felt like something that would get eyeballs here. There is no need for us to compare the two shows, especially considering the Korean show is the one that has inspired so many more (Mexico is just around the corner). Physical 100 is certainly a show that is exhilarating in every way, even if you’re not remotely into performative sports. Some of these numbers are literally unbelievable, and yet nowhere close to Guinness world records, so make of that what you will. But that is what it is: Performance Sports, which means a lot of it is for dramatic effect and doesn’t fully focus on strength or efficiency in the way we’d imagine. No matter what I say about the show, I can’t deny I find some challenges terribly intriguing. However, this doesn’t mean I’m willing to sit around watching 40 pairs of competitors fight it out in the same challenge. I need a dopamine hit of variety, after all. However, it’s when I’m watching the underdogs come out on top that I genuinely feel like I’m enjoying the show and how all the fellow athletes and sports people and strong humans all support said underdogs. The first 3 episodes of Physical 100: Italy, are pretty standard, because when it’s a hundred people, there are only so many you can pay attention to. I think the Olympic medallists are the ones who truly stand out at the start. But it is interesting that the show chooses to take in an actress, a surfer, and dancers, because most people believe strength is just about being massive and being able to crush something, but this show proves how important things like agility, being nimble, and just sheer willpower are if you want to be good at this kind of game.

What Happens In The First Challenge?

This is actually proven in episode 1, or rather the first two rounds of the show, when most of the athletes who looked like they possessed brute strength, as we expected from the Gladiators, really struggle to even make it through. The challenge is hard for sure; it puts the athletes on girders on top of a body of water and challenges them to stay in a plank without falling into the water for as long as they can. The participants are divided into two groups of 50 each. The challenge sees the athletes who are the biggest fall into the water first, or at least struggle the most. (Un)Shockingly, it’s a woman who wins round one, and a gymnast who wins round two. I don’t know if it’s because not enough time has passed yet, or if nobody is as dramatic in this version, because I didn’t feel like any of the participants were desperate for the hundred-thousand-euro prize to be memorable. I’m expecting to remember some of these people from next week for sure, though. Elisa Fuliano is the one who came in number one, surprising everybody with her skills. However, the way she handles round three is something that bothers most of the other participants. 

Are There Any Controversial Picks At The Start Of The Duels Round?

Let me set the stage for you here. 80 people pulled through from the planking challenge, and the top 40 now have the ability to pick their competitors for the next round, getting to face them in either a strength challenge or an agility challenge. As a general trend, the bigger athletes pick strength, and the more nimble ones pick agility, playing to their advantages. The goal of the game will be the same regardless: the two competitors will scrabble over a heavy ball, and whoever is holding it at the end of 3 minutes is the winner. If the ball’s touching the ground, you can’t hold onto it for longer than 5 seconds, and if nobody’s the clear winner when the timer hits zero, it’s a tie, and you have to do it again for a 1-minute round. Now, for the strength challenge, there’s a big pool of water in the middle of a square room, but not much else. With the agility challenge, if you’ve ever seen a world tag championship, imagine one of those rooms. Or like a complicated jungle gym if you don’t know what I’m talking about.

When it comes to picking opponents, a lot of the top 40 play it honourably, and there’s a few fun selections in there as well. Olympic medalist (one gold and one bronze) gymnast Jury Chechi ends up picking Ivano Salerno, at least in part because he’s got a fabulous head of hair and Jury is completely bald. There’s some odd picks, though, like professional CrossFit athlete (and winner of the plank challenge) Elisa Fuliano picking actress Elisabetta Canalis (she was in one of the “Deuce Bigalow” movies, plus she dated George Clooney for a while), which the others all comment on as being an unfair matchup. Most controversial of all, perhaps, is European Championship medallist gymnast Andrea Cingolani’s decision to pick Beatrice Beni. Yes, she’s a bodybuilder, but that’s not a discipline that’s as athletic as gymnastics, and the other guys all call him out for picking a woman as his opponent. I mean I’d like to think the women are strong, but this to anybody is clearly not the right match. 

How Does The Duel Competition Pan Out?

Even though we’ve lost a few people after the plank challenge, 80 people, i.e. 40 duels, is still a lot to get through, so even the show only focuses on less than half of them. The duels are exciting to watch, the agility challenges more so than the strength challenges, since with a lot of those, at least one of the competitors is built like an ox and trying to adapt to a new situation. Sadly, Jury Checchi bites the dust, since he couldn’t resist the temptation to try and wrestle the much younger Ivano, since when is he ever going to get the chance to fight an MMA guy again? Elisabetta Canalis can’t put up much of a fight against Elisa Fuliano, and ends up admitting she wishes she’d trained harder.

The size difference in the agility challenge is immediately obvious with how breakdancer Mattia Schinco basically wipes the floor with champion bodybuilder Riccardo Crocci at the start, but when the big guy gets his hands on him, it’s a different story. Ultimately, though it goes to a tie, Mattia pulls through. Similar stuff happens with MMA fighter Valentina Scatizzi beating PT Federica Murgia and surf champion Eduardo Papa beating the older CrossFit athlete Stefano Migliorini. There’s a flipside to this too, of course, with swimmer Federica Pellegrini being able to leverage her height to beat Sarah Abdessalem, the personal trainer. Sadly for couple Raffaele Del Piano and Caterina Piccirilli, they both get eliminated in this round, pretty much one after the other, but they support each other on the way out. Emanuele Bruno was upset his mum got disqualified in the plank rounds and managed to channel that emotion into his win against Marco Cavanna. But coming to Andrea Cingolani, though Beatrice Beni did her best, climbing on top of the mountain of a man and trying to bring him to the ground, he ultimately made it through without great difficulty.

What Are The Teams For The Next Round?

There’s a convoluted system in place for deciding the teams for the fourth round, starting with all 40 surviving contestants picking the names of three people they think should be team leaders. One strategy that emerges is to vote for three people you don’t want to be on the same team. But ultimately, 8 names are picked, in order of least to most votes, with only one woman among them, Elisa Fuliano. The non-leaders are then asked to line up behind the leader whose team they want to be on, and from most votes to least votes, the leaders pick who they want to accept, taking 4 members on and forming a 5-member team. This means the most voted for, Andrea Minguzzi, an Olympic gold medallist wrestler, gets to pick all his fighter friends to join his team: Olympic bronze medallist judoka Rosalba Forcinti, judo champion Emanuele Bruno, judoka Manuel Lombardo, and judo world champion Susy Scutto. One hell of a squad.

Elisa Fuliano’s squad ends up being the one that has the most women, with MMA fighter Federico Rotini being the only male member. When everyone lines up, Rugby player Elvise Rigo’s queue is the shortest one, with only two people in it, so the other leaders already have his team pegged as the weakest, even though there’s an Olympic gold medallist (in rowing), Federica Cesarini, in it. That’s why, when Andrea’s team has the choice to pick their opponents in the next (and by the looks of it, gruelling) challenge, they decide to face off against Elvise’s team, openly calling it the weakest one, in an attempt to demoralize the enemy.

Ultimately, this is a challenge of endurance, both physically and mentally. A lot of people give up easily, but if you find yourself in a funk, this is the kind of show to watch to keep you motivated. It might feel lame and a bit over the top at the beginning, but underneath the surface level sheen of “performance,” of course,  when it comes to the discipline and sheer capacity in these people, it is all very genuine. However, we must also not forget that they’re human after all. Also, the visual of the god-like game master is quite funny for sure. This version has got me thinking, though: an Indian Physical 100 might actually be worth our time. But anyway, tell us what you thought of the first 3 episodes of the show, and we’ll see you next week. 

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