Tom Cruise sends BTS' Jin on secret-agent challenges in variety show

BTS' Jin tried his hand at being a 'secret agent' recently.

In the latest episode of his YouTube variety show Run Jin uploaded on May 20, he interviewed Hollywood star Tom Cruise, who was in South Korea for his latest Mission Impossible movie.

Tom, 62, shared with the 32-year-old singer that it was his 12th time in the country and that he enjoys eating Korean barbecue chicken and samgyeopsal (grilled pork belly).

Jin also took the food conversation as a cue to rave about his favourite food.

He said: "I like spicy foods. Here, there's something called mulhwe — it's a combination of fresh fish, vegetables and seafood, with a seasoned broth made with gochujang. It's very spicy and good. Before you go, I recommend you try it."

"I'm going to try that. I love spicy food. I love fish and vegetables," agreed Tom.

Tom also told Jin: "Mission Impossible: The Final Reckoning took seven years to make, and those sequences [of hanging from planes and being underwater] took years to develop. It took years to build the water tanks and build the sets."

As Ethan Hunt, Tom performs a stunt where he walks on the wings of an airborne airplane.

"The stuff that you're seeing with the wing-walking has never been done before and I didn't know physically what it would take. Within five minutes, it was like the hardest weight workout you've ever done," Tom added.

"I really had to improve my power to be able to do it. The kind of training that I had to do surprised me — I had to change my whole training regime. It's definitely the most challenging action I've ever done."

A secret mission from Tom

After the interview, Jin received a letter from Tom instructing him to go on a secret mission to deactivate a bomb.

He had to overcome four challenges before he could finally deactivate the bomb: Throwing darts, evading detection to find a key, overcoming a spider web trap and solving puzzles. All must be completed in 15 minutes.

Upon arriving at the mission venue, Jin proceeded to do some 'secret agent' forward rolls on the grass and started the timer.

Along the way, he was subjected to penalties such as staring into a camera without blinking and having to look in the opposite direction of a toy hammer pointed in his face. When he answered a puzzle incorrectly, a 'bomb' exploded on him.

When asked about his experience at the end of mission, Jin said: "I interviewed Tom Cruise and tried to do something similar, although it wasn't similar at all. I can't jump off moving trains and hang from planes in the air.

"I just tried out a light version of it but even that was so hard - which made me realise once again how much work and effort he puts into his films. I've always loved Tom Cruise's Mission Impossible films ever since I was a kid and I'll be cheering for it to become another box-office hit."

Mission Impossible: The Final Reckoning is now in cinemas.

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kristy.chua@asiaone.com