Emmanuel is one of the contestants in Physical: 100 Season 2 and immediately caught the eye of viewers for several reasons. One is that he’s not Korean — the chiseled bodybuilding standout is from Nigeria. Another is that he’s extremely physically imposing, which led to him being seen as a worthwhile challenge by one of the season’s frontrunners, former UFC welterweight contender “Stun Gun” Kim Dong-hyun.
In a show about determining whose physique is the best suited to grueling physical challenges, someone who looks like Emmanuel is always going to be one to watch. But despite some of his accolades, his journey in Season 2 — which is subtitled Underground and filmed in a studio designed to look like a giant underground mine — hasn’t been smooth.
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Emmanuel Has Many Talents, Including Bodybuilding and Modelling
Emmanuel has been making a living on his physique for a long time, finding worldwide success in multiple disciplines.
In bodybuilding, Emmanual has competed in multiple international competitions and found success on that world stage, including in 2022 when he picked up his biggest accolades. placing first in the Men’s Physique Open and the IFBB Natural Pro Qualifier at the INBA Korea.
Of course, when you look as good as Emannuel does, it is a natural jump to enter the world of modeling, and the popular athlete models for a line of clothing, usually involving fitness brands.
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Emmanuel’s Journey on Physical: 100 Season 2
On aesthetics alone, Emmanuel looked to be a serious contender in Season 2 of Physical: 100, but fortune did not favor him in the early rounds.
Quest 0 was an event designed around testing the cardiovascular endurance of the contestants, with all 100 participants being forced to run on manual treadmills for ten, seven, and five-minute intervals. Bodybuilders are not known to be long-distance runners because of how difficult it is to oxygenate all that muscle, so Emmanuel didn’t fare especially well here.
As we noted in our Physical: 100 Season 2 results article, Quest 0 did not have any official eliminations, but those who did better in the event were conferred benefits when it came to Quest 1, which was a one-on-one arena deathmatch for control of a ball (the same event from Season 1, with some minor arena variations.) The top ten performers from Quest 0 were allowed to pick their opponents, and Emmanuel ended up being picked by Kim Dong-hyun.
Unfortunately, Kim Dong-hyun’s superior grappling skills allowed him to defeat Emmanuel despite him making a very valiant effort, and he was eliminated in Quest 1.
Some Viewers Are Unhappy With Kim Dong-hyun Picking Emmanuel
In this Reddit thread, user mintedfairy expressed some consternation about Kim Dong-hyun picking Emmanuel as his opponent, saying the following:
I’m a bit bummed at how Emmanuel’s death match went. Stun gun had a huge(!) advantage as a seasoned pro and I wish he would have picked on someone on his level.
Frankly I would have respected him a lot more if he picked a seasoned opponent to match with. Claiming that he picked Emmanuel just because no one else would pick him seemed like a cop out imo? Also felt a bit like he wanted to teach the foreigner a lesson?
There was a little bit of backlash against the foreigner comment, with some users thinking that the original poster meant that Dong-hyun was somehow trying to prove a point about Koreans being superior to foreigners.
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However, as mintedfairy went on to clarify, this comment was justified in the show itself. Multiple comments were made about Emmanuel being a “foreigner”, since Kim Dong-hyun is extremely famous in Korea, and Emmanuel was the only contestant there who didn’t know who he was. Dong-hyun picking him wasn’t a commentary on teaching him a lesson, but more so proving a point about why he’s so well-known in Korea.
Emmanuel’s Workout Channel and Social Media
Emmanuel is very active on social media and has a YouTube channel where he posts workout routines for his subscribers, along with competition videos, and a series of shorts. His channel will probably blow up after the series, and at the time of writing, he has 6.36k subscribers. Popular uploads to his channel include his Dumbbell Shoulder Workout Routine, Chest Day Full Workout Routine, and Coconut Shoulders Workout Routine.
Emmanuel’s most recent upload was from about a month ago and is titled ARMS DAY!!!:
You can follow Emmanuel on Instagram and TikTok. Although he seems to only be referred to as Emmanuel, his Instagram page implies that his first name is Charles.
Interested in other contestants from Physical: 100 Season 2? We also took a closer look at South African actor Justin Harvey.
