In Netflix's Death Game: Bet 10 million won (hereinafter Death Game), singer DinDin proved the prowess of a "survival-type brain."
On the 18th, episode 9 of the Netflix daily variety show Death Game (directed by Kwon Dae-hyun, produced by TEO) featured a tense showdown as IVE member Gaeul, challenging the show's first-ever three consecutive wins, faced singer DinDin in a 1:1 brainical match. DinDin, appearing as a new challenger, said, "On 2 Days & 1 Night, I'm the brain. Today is the proving ground," emphasizing that his appearance was effectively on behalf of the honor of 2 Days & 1 Night.
The contest was "secret-revealing." It is a high-difficulty psychological game in which players score points by setting their own secret propositions while also deducing the opponent's rules. Using 120 sun·moon·star·cloud cards, players alternately place cards in a shared slot, making it crucial to infer the opponent's secret proposition. Commentator Jang Dong-min emphasized the game's strategic fun, saying, "They made the conditions in detailed ways. You have to analyze the opponent's psychology while playing both offense and defense at once."
Once the real game began, DinDin opened with a strategy of taking on difficult propositions. Gaeul, by contrast, focused on securing points early and signaled a disruption tactic to unnerve the opponent in the later stages. Although Jang Dong-min said he was neutral, he drew laughs by getting louder as if cheering whenever Gaeul played.
Through a close contest that remained hard to predict up to the third round, DinDin delivered unexpectedly sharp play to take the first-round victory. Riding the momentum, DinDin made the audience laugh by saying, "Just bring Jang Dong-min out." Gaeul, saying, "Writing an easy proposition seems to have been the fatal mistake," rallied with awakened play to bring the match back to even, but DinDin presented a trump proposition that even Jang Dong-min found hard to crack and ultimately claimed victory in episode 9.
DinDin earned the seed, a symbol of the championship, along with prize money of 10 million won, and caster Park Sang-hyun applauded, saying, "Survival-type brain DinDin pulled it off." Gaeul, who had reemerged as a superstar of Death Game, said, "Just appearing on the brain survival I dreamed of since school days feels like a dream and a great memory," and sadly ended the attempt at three consecutive wins.
The next challenger expected to appear is Heo Seong-beom, a KAIST artificial intelligence researcher and runner-up of Blood Game 3, raising expectations. DinDin said, "I'll show who is truly smart," continuing his attempt at a two-game winning streak, but Heo Seong-beom's sharp provocation has been teased, increasing curiosity.
Meanwhile, Death Game is a one-on-one brainical sudden-death match decided in a single game and is released every Wednesday at 5 p.m. on Netflix.
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