Ji Suk Jin's Disappointment Was Immeasurable And His Day Was "Ruined" After SBS Handed Him A Random Award

The 2021 SBS Entertainment Awards took place even during the Covid pandemic and all of the nation’s hottest variety stars gathered to celebrate.

In the midst of all the excitement and celebrations, was perhaps one particular person who had the most anticipation for the evening—and it was none other than Running Man‘s Ji Suk Jin.

The veteran comedian, who has been in the industry for almost 30 years, saw grand success in 2021 with his comedic antics on Running Man—and his hard work didn’t go unnoticed. For this year’s SBS Entertainment Awards, Ji Suk Jin was nominated for the Daesang (Grand Prize), which is a huge honor in the industry.

Ji Suk Jin and his “Running Man” members talking about his Daesang nomination | *SBS*

Given his veteran status and his successful year, Ji Suk Jin was a strong candidate for this year’s Daesang. Along with the rest of his Running Man members, they all had high hopes that 2021 would be the year of his Grand Prize victory. However, to everyone’s surprise, the comedian did not win the Grand Prize at the 2021 SBS Entertainment Awards, which brought forth some mixed reactions.

“Running Man” members at “2021 SBS Entertainment Awards”, Ji Suk Jin (2nd from left) | *SBS*

The SBS Entertainment Awards host, Shin Dong Yup, prepared himself to announce the winner of the “SBS Honorary Employee Award.” This award was not only announced right before the Daesang winner, but it was also a new and random award that had been unheard of prior to the ceremony.

And the awkwardness of the award could be felt before the announcement, as Shin Dong Yup tried to play up the cool factor for the otherwise uncommon award.

Host Shin Dong Yup explaining the “SBS Honorary Award” | *SBS*

We used to have ‘Achievement Award’ and things like that to give to older people before, but the level of this one is different. It’s different so please don’t misunderstand.

— Shin Dong Yup

Despite his successful Running Man career, Ji Suk Jin was announced as the winner of the “SBS Honorary Employee Award” and this shocked everybody—including the veteran comedian.

As Ji Suk Jin took off his face mask, the sadness behind his smile was captured on camera. The other Running Man members, who could sense his disappointment, could be seen consoling the veteran comedian as he prepared himself to accept the award.

While the veteran comedian tried his hardest to smile through, the efforts of Ji Suk Jin trying to hide his disappointment tugged on the heartstrings of netizens throughout the nation.

Following the ceremony, Korean netizens immediately criticized SBS and the unprofessional way that the broadcasting station handled the situation.

Despite his visible disappointment, Ji Suk Jin showed his true professionalism, as he delivered the coolest acceptance speech while proudly showing off his trophy.