Netflix Adapts Hit Korean Reality Show ‘Physical 100’ in Italy

“Physical 100,” which is the first unscripted Korean show to top Netflix’s non-English global charts, is getting an Italian adaptation, marking the format’s first European redo.

The streaming giant has announced that the reality show involving a survival competition with 100 contestants, including professional athletes, through a series of quests to challenge their strength, endurance, agility, balance and willpower is set to launch in Italy, following the format’s other recent redos “Physical: Asia,” spinoff involving the entire Asian continent, and “Physical 100: USA.”

The show mixes men and women and amateurs and professionals and involves a plaster cast of each contestant’s torso that is destroyed with a sledgehammer when they are eliminated.

The casting process for “Physical 100: Italy” was extensive. “Over 1,000 people were contacted, 187 Zoom auditions conducted (amounting to 130 hours), and 137 in-person callbacks held,” according to a Netflix statement. Contestants will range in age from 22 to 60. The selected contestants represent a wide range of disciplines — from triathlon to wrestling, from American football to skeleton, including sports such as the indoor fitness competition Hyrox and Calcio Storico Fiorentino, a form of football that originated in 16th-century Florence and blends soccer, rugby, and wrestling.

The editorial curator of the project is Roberta Briguglia, with Tommaso Marazza as project lead. The writing team includes Lorenzo Campagnari, Valerio Trapasso, Christian Monaco, Federica Riva, Antonio Moreno, and Barbara Strambi.

The first season of “Physical 100” in 2023 that included Korean Olympians, professional fighters, bodybuilders and former soldiers, soared to the Netflix Top 10 list in over 80 countries.