Korea's 'Physical: 100' Now Charts Without Korean Contestants. Each Local Version Travels Less Far.

“Physical: 100” began in 2023 as a Korean reality show: a hundred people with strong bodies, a run of physical trials, one left standing. This autumn two versions made without any Korean contestants reached Netflix’s global chart in the same week.

In the week of 14–20 September, “Physical 100: Mexico” was No. 4 among non-English series worldwide and “Physical 100: Italy” No. 6. Netflix’s own files let us place those two alongside every earlier version of the format.

Four versions in the global Top 10

The format holds up: every version has reached the global chart. What changes is how far each one travels.

The more local the cast, the shorter the trip

The Korean original reached the national Top 10 in 91 of the 94 countries Netflix reports, nearly all of them. “Physical: Asia,” which drew competitors from several Asian countries, reached 44.

The Italian edition reached 27, and its best week was broad but shallow: Top 10 in 24 countries, No. 1 only at home, No. 5 in Hong Kong. The Mexican edition reached 14, and stayed largely in Spanish-speaking Latin America: Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras.

From the week of 4 October, both local versions charted only in their home countries.

What travels and what does not

The rules of the show crossed borders intact. The audience did not, at least not to the same extent. A Korean contest of strangers found viewers almost everywhere; an Italian or Mexican one found them mainly at home and among neighbours who share the language.

That is a different kind of export from a drama. A Korean series is watched abroad as a Korean show. A format is remade so that it is no longer Korean on screen, and these figures suggest each remake mainly serves its own market. France, Sweden and the United States have versions announced; none had been released by 18 October.

What this does and does not say

Countries reached is a count of national Top 10 appearances, not of viewers. A small country counts the same as a large one, and the per-country file gives ranks without hours. The comparison also runs across different years, when Netflix’s audience in each country was not the same size. The pattern is still consistent across all four versions: the further the cast moves from the original, the fewer charts it reaches.

Netflix Tudum Top 10 official files, global and per-country, all weeks from 4 July 2021 to the week of 12–18 October 2026, downloaded 23 October 2026.