Go Fighting! (Chinese: 极限挑战; pinyin: Jíxiàn Tiǎozhàn) is a Chinesevariety show broadcast on SMG: Dragon Television. It was first aired June 14, 2015.[1] Go Fighting! is classified as a game-variety-reality show, and the MCs and guests complete missions at a landmark to win the objective. Usually each episode will also have an overarching theme or story.[citation needed] Each episode varies in the challenges and the instructions given to the MCs, and rules are not strictly enforced, resulting in a largely unscripted show.
History
The show has been a commercial and critical success since its inception, and the MCs have received praise for 'breaking the rules' of usual variety game shows and mingling with normal people going about their daily lives.[2] The first and second seasons averaged ratings of 8.9/10 and 9.1/10 on China's main review-based social network site Douban.[3][4]
The show's catch phrases are "This is fate / 这就是命" and "This is love / 这就是爱" with a corresponding action that resembles the Chinese character for 'fate / 命'. Go Fighting! has been called the Chinese version of the popular Korean variety show Infinite Challenge; this comparison has led to minor controversies.
Personnel
In March 2019, it was reported that original director Yan Min and cast members Huang Bo and Sun Honglei have decided to temporarily back out of the show after Season 4 due to scheduling conflicts. Huang Lei stated he would only be present for 3 episodes due to acting commitments.[5] They were replaced by Lei Jiayin, Yue Yunpeng and Dilraba Dilmurat.
In episode 1/01, the three were put in a team. Sun Honglei's foolish big brother act, along with Lay Zhang's absent-mindedness and Wang Xun's slowness to realize, created this lasting combination.
Go Fighting Three Geniuses 极限三精
Huang Lei Huang Bo Show Lo
In episode 1/01, the three were put in a team. In comparison to the Three Idiots, these three are considered geniuses (Huang Lei in particular), although recently Show Lo has exhibited sillier behaviour, making him more alike to the Three Idiots and being referred to as the Fourth Idiot.
Minesweeper Alliance 扫雷联盟
Huang Lei Huang Bo Show Lo Wang Xun Lay Zhang
The character 'lei' in Sun Honglei's name is the same as the character for a mine. In episode 2/03, the five banded together to steal Sun Honglei's jogger step counter. In episode 2/09 however, Wang Xun joined Sun Honglei's team and the minesweeper alliance consisted of 4 people instead.
Hong-Xing Combination 红兴组合
Sun Honglei Lay Zhang
In episode 1/02, Sun Honglei stole Lay Zhang's suitcase containing several gold bars, though the latter forgave him afterwards. Sun Honglei also broadcast a missing person notice over Shanghai's local radio station to search for Lay Zhang in episode 2/01.
Lei-Lei Combination 雷磊组合
Sun Honglei Huang Lei
The two actors originally became friends on the set of 2011 drama Men (男人帮), and their affection for each other led to the creation of this pairing.
Teacher-Student Combination 师徒组合
Huang Lei
Lay Zhang
In Season 1, Lay Zhang is stunned by Huang Lei's reasoning skills, and decides to become his student. In Season 2, the two form a team in the 24-hour bike race. They are also known as the Two-Foxes combination, as Lay later learns to be more shrewd.
Pineapple Combination 菠萝组合
Huang Bo Show Lo
In Season 2, Huang Bo played Show Lo's mother in the comedy sketch remake of Meteor Garden. Combining the two characters from their names makes the word pineapple.
Double Huang Combination 双黄组合
Huang Lei Huang Bo
The two have been labelled as the smartest MCs in the show after Show Lo started resembling an 'idiot'.
Pig-Sheep Combination 猪羊组合
Show Lo Lay Zhang
They often paired up for missions, and in the last episode of Season 1, they were known as Mirror Brothers after Show successfully imitated Lay Zhang during a taxi ride.
Lei-Luo Combination 雷罗组合
Sun Honglei Show Lo
In episode 1/06, the two were forced to cross dress as women and fight for a seat on the train. In episode 1/09, Show Lo helped Sun Honglei complete his mission of picking lotus seed heads.
List of episodes
If more than one set of teams are used other than the Race Mission teams, they are divided and distinguished to the corresponding mission under Teams. Team members are listed in alphabetical order from Team Leader, to Members, to Guests. As some episodes consisted of road missions and were not confined to a single landmark nor was a landmark officially recognized on-air, the landmark shown for those episodes is the final mission venue.
Season 1 of Go Fighting was accused of plagiarizing popular Korean variety show Infinite Challenge, causing a halt in production for almost a month, with episode 10 airing on September 6, 28 days after episode 9.
Season 3 of Go Fighting was pulled from air by SARFT a few days before Episode 10 was due to broadcast, and it was reportedly due to the promotion of undesirable social attitudes and a heavy focus on entertainment that didn't reflect the lives of ordinary people.[10]
