Despite efforts to keep “Running Man” afloat, controversies are not helping the show to gain higher viewership ratings and garner what once was highly deserved awards at the recent SBS Entertainment Awards.

The appearance of the new YG Entertainment’s BLACKPINK on the show last December 18 is much talked about considering the growing popularity of the girl group. Although the episode was as much fun as the previous episodes of the show, the episode recorded a 5.9% viewership which is a noticeable 0.7% drop, according to pollster Nielsen Korea, as per the report of The Jakarta Post.

BLACKPINK showed their powerful dance moves and beautiful voices into which the audiences and the host alike were awestruck. The girl group performed their latest hit song, “Playing with Fire.”

Meanwhile, in the 2016 SAF SBS Entertainment Awards held just the other day, “Running Man” was snubbed from some awards. Apart from Lee Kwang Soo winning “Top Excellence Award in Variety Show,” there are no other awards given for the show and to its cast members.

Cast members, however, are sport on the result of the said awarding ceremony. They reasoned that they have high hopes of joining the ceremony as calmly as possible as not to win any prizes from the program aside from one.

As per Soompi, this is in contrast to the history of the show in terms of getting awards due to its wide popularity. As such, this event sparked speculations that “Running Man” was neglected because of the current controversy it is under.

The alleged mistreatment of the producers to the cast members of the show must have contributed to the decreasing popularity of the show. This issue arose after news that Kim Jong-kook and Song Ji-hyo are being pulled out from “Running Man” without a prior discussion.

“Running Man” is coming to an end in February. Stay tuned for more exciting updates!