The best Run BTS episodes for beginners

If there's one piece of BTS content that makes it especially easy to learn who's who, it's Run BTS. In their own variety show, the members cook, play games, tackle challenges, act, compete, and regularly manage to completely overcomplicate even the simplest task. For new fans, it's one of the most entertaining ways to get to know their dynamic off the stage.

Run BTS has more than 150 episodes, and eventually, sure, the best move is to watch them all. But for a first encounter with the series, some episodes have simply become classics. They're where a lot of the scenes, memes, and inside jokes you'll keep running into later come from, so we picked out a few episodes that perfectly show why ARMY loves Run BTS so much.

Episode 11 – Back to School is one of the first worth watching for Min Yoonji alone. In the school-themed sketch, SUGA becomes the new transfer student, while the other members get their own roles in the story. What was supposed to be just one sketch left the fandom with a character still brought up years later.

Episode 20 – Taste of Korea shows why the cooking episodes became their own category of Run BTS entertainment. The members split into teams and prepare Korean dishes, with very different levels of kitchen experience among them. There's Jung Kook's sweet potatoes that can barely stay on the plate, RM's adventures with kitchen tools, and enough chaos to make it very clear pretty quickly who should, and definitely who shouldn't, be trusted with making dinner.

Episode 24 – BTS vs. Zombies is probably one of the most famous episodes in the whole series. The members think they're in for a night safari, and instead end up in the middle of a zombie game. For some, the main goal is solving the tasks, for others it's surviving their own fear, and for others the situation gets a lot funnier the moment they realize how scared everyone else is.

Episodes 30–31 – Variety Shows of Memories send BTS back into the world of old Korean variety shows. Retro outfits, old TV games, and a completely unnecessary amount of competitive spirit turned out to be the perfect combination. These are the episodes where you quickly forget you're watching one of the biggest groups in the world, because seven grown men are dead serious about winning the most ordinary game imaginable.

Episodes 33–34 – BTS x Manito delivered another classic. The members have secret missions tied to their Manito (secret Santa-style partner), and episode 33 includes the famous Photo Zone, where they have to strike a given pose mid-jump in front of the camera. The results of their attempts became some of the most well-known Run BTS memes.

Episodes 53–56 – BTS Picnic are a bit different from the classic studio episodes. The members go on a trip together, buy groceries, cook, play games, and end up at karaoke. They get more room just to talk and have fun, which makes this mini-series a good pick for getting to know their dynamic when there isn't some big game or task constantly running the show.

Episodes 79–80 – 007 Operation turn BTS into secret agents who have to find cards and complete their own missions. Very quickly, nobody trusts anybody, alliances only last as long as they're useful, and figuring out what everyone else is up to becomes more important than the original rules of the game. If you love Run BTS when the members start outsmarting each other, these two are essential.

Episodes 83–85 – Summer Outing move the competition to the water. The members go through various water games and challenges, and what should look like a nice summer trip quickly turns into another serious BTS competition. The three-part special has enough falling, splashing, cheating, and mutual provoking that it's often a fan favorite for good reason.

Episodes 102–103 – Avatar Cooking put BTS back in the kitchen, with an extra twist. Jin and SUGA give instructions to the other members, who have to cook according to their commands. That means the people who know what they're doing can't make the dish themselves, and the people making it don't necessarily know what they're doing. You can probably guess how that turns out.

Episodes 104–106 – Photo Challenge give the members a chance to design their own styling and photoshoot. Naturally, an ordinary photoshoot quickly turns into something else entirely, and these episodes are also where Jimin's legendary photo comes from, the one that looks like it belongs in a school yearbook. Production later got a lot of extra mileage out of it for jokes at his expense.

Episodes 118–119 – Photo Story combine photography, a clue hunt, and a hidden intruder. The members have to complete tasks while also trying to figure out whether something's happening behind their backs. They're especially fun if you like episodes where the original game slowly turns into mutual accusations and suspicion.

Episode 128 – Hello, 2021 is one of those episodes where the concept sounds completely unremarkable on paper, and the result is hilarious. The members play various games, including relaying words while wearing headphones that stop them from hearing each other properly. Attempts at lip-reading and completely wrong guesses at what someone said turn a simple task into chaos. If you want an episode that needs zero context and just makes you laugh, this is a great pick.

Episodes 131–132 – 77-Minute Debate are further proof that production didn't need a particularly complicated concept. The members debate completely trivial topics, but there are banned words and gestures that trigger water dumping down on them from above. The problem is they don't know what the triggers are, so they're trying to figure them out while also holding the debate. After a while, nobody's sure what they're allowed to say or do anymore, and that's exactly what made the whole game one of the funniest in the series.

Of course, this isn't a list of the only Run BTS episodes worth watching. Over the years the series has had so many different formats that everyone will find their own favorites, from cooking and sports challenges to mysteries, acting, and games where the members spend more time trying to trick each other than following the rules. These episodes are a good starting point because there's a bit of everything among them, and a lot of them are where moments come from that you'll keep running into again through other BTS content and fandom jokes.

And then, of course, there's really only one plan left: go back to the start and watch everything else.

You'll find all the recommended episodes below the article, ready to watch right away.