​​“To appearing on Please Take Care of My Refrigerator, Wednesday Food Talk, and Gourmet Road!” In an episode of Run BTS titled “30 Seconds Gate” (episode four), which aired on September 15, 2015, SUGA expressed his desire for BTS to appear on famous variety shows. It was just a dream for SUGA at the time: that the group would go on to cook with popular TV personality Paik Jong-won—and on their own show, Run BTS, not some other TV program.

“We’ll be a legend.” What V said on the August 1, 2015 premiere episode of Run BTS came true. This signifies more than simply BTS’s status as artists. With BTS’s growth, each episode of Run BTS has as many as 10 million viewers or more, and has become an influential enough entertainment show to have specials on Mnet, JTBC, and other cable and broadcast TV networks. Now, Run BTS were able to discuss with Disney, who are very protective of their copyrights, so that the members can try their hand at dubbing animation (episode 109, “Dubbing”) —and could offer an invitation to international pro gamer Faker and his esports team T1 to play games together (episodes 114-115, “League of Number 1”). However, long before meeting T1, BTS sat at a computer desk in a small studio and the members all played a simple online game (episode 25, “Game King”), and after a long while, tried out a new game in an esports arena complete with upgraded environment and equipment (episodes 107-108, “BTS Game Scout”). The changes with each of the cooking-related episodes of Run BTS are an even greater display of the way the show has grown. The group members split into teams to take each other on in a challenge (episode 20, “Taste of Korea”), made various dishes using kimchi they made (episode 36, “Kimchi Battle”), learned how to cook Italian food from a famous chef in a restaurant (episodes 57-58, “BTS Chef”), had two best cooks direct the other members to complete a cooking challenge in “King of Avatar Cook” (episodes 102-103), and reversed that format in “Reverse Avatar Cook” (episodes 122-123), after which they went on to meet Paik Jong-won (episode 125, “K-HAM Special”). At present, if Run BTS indirectly shows how enormous a team BTS has become, then the history of the show’s run provides evidence of how many different things they have done and how much they have grown.       

On the May 9, 2020 broadcast of DJ SUGA’s Honey FM 06.13 on V LIVE, Jin and SUGA said, “I never realized Run BTS had come this far,” and that “it originally started out feeling like a pilot, but ARMY loved it so much that it kept growing in scale.” According to the production crew, at the beginning, Run BTS was “released with a plan to have just ten episodes, but fans responded so positively to it that it’s still going.” The crew pointed to “the fans’ enjoyment and pleasure” as the reason Run BTS has been able to make it this far. The members “found filming awkward and difficult at first,” but they “could see the fans liked the show and thanks to that they gradually came to enjoy themselves and kept working at it,” while the members developed the show from simply a variety TV program into the full-scale Run BTS show it is today. A far cry from the beginning of the series when they were a bit awkward, they now keep things light and friendly when they ask for Paik’s autograph during his appearance, and lead an ice breaking session with T1, who are unaccustomed to appearing on variety shows. More recently, in “Director, TV Writer” (episode 124), BTS shared their opinions among themselves as they planned, discussed, and chose what to film in the future and developed their ideas, which later aired over two weeks as “777 Lucky Seven” (episodes 126-127). They may not be expert TV personalities, but they continue the show because fans adore it, proving they have become a team that gives us entertainment in all areas and genres, from a hit number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart to Run BTS.

Some things have not changed, however. During their meeting in the “Director, TV Writer” episode, when deciding which sport to learn in depth as a long-term project, RM mentions footvolley, and the other members say, “Footvolley is meaningless the moment we’re good at it.” In “BTS Picnic” (episode 54), BTS kick the footvolley ball far as though they are hitting a home run in baseball, and continuously haggle with the production crew in a flurry. A long time has passed since their footvolley match, but they know how to keep things fun on Run BTS and know that they should enjoy themselves. Just as the crew said they “have to keep our minds open and keep having fun” for the sake of the series’ spirit, BTS—even now with the show grown to a huge scale—still have fun playing tricks on one another, react dramatically to scary rides, and accidentally break props and laugh bashfully.

Throughout Run BTS, the members go to places like an arcade (episodes 17–18, “Arcade Olympics”), amusement park (episode 51, “50th Episode Special”), and sauna (episodes 61–2, “BTS Sauna”), which are public places that they cannot easily visit otherwise. They also try new, challenging experiences like making lattes (episode 45, “BTS Cafe”), doing pottery in a workshop (episode 46, “BTS Workshop”), and arranging flowers (episode 99, “Florist”) amidst their busy schedule. During the roughly six years since Run BTS first started airing, they have had such repeated success that, if it were fiction, it would be deemed improbable. The outward appearance of Run BTS’s growth is at once a result of and also a contributing factor to the show’s success. Paradoxically, however, the show allows BTS to enjoy things they otherwise could not in their everyday lives. Run BTS is made by the group for their fans, but it is also a shield for them to escape from the countless eyes fixated on them as they continue to become more successful. Judgment, forced obligations, and demands from the outside world are lifted from the members, so that they are not so much BTS as they are ordinary twentysomethings hanging out together in a relaxing space.

They do what they want, help one another out, have fun, work hard, and laugh with fans for thirty minutes. While at once a testament to BTS’s enormous status, Run BTS, from the very start, shows that they have not given up what they are, even today. It is a place built from the members’ friendship, their everlasting feelings toward their fans, and their determined attitude. In the end, we can say that watching and listening to BTS on Run BTS is a complex and delightful experience, and that’s all that matters.