Look Back at the Talented Contestants And Memorable Moments on KBS The Unit
KBS launched a new idol reboot program called The Unit in October 2017. The show promised to give idols a new way to re-establish their idol career. Being an idol is a very fast and challenging career; almost every month, new idol groups are debuted and try their way to make a name for themselves in the Korean entertainment industry. Only a few and only the best groups manage to persevere and establish their career. Most new groups fail and are overthrown by newer and better groups. KBS’s The Unit gave idols who were not prospering a new breath and a fresh chance to restart their career.
In this article, Byeol Korea will talk about the details of KBS’s The Unit and interesting facts about some of its members. So stay tuned!
About The Show
Following the success of other idol revival programs, KBS produced a new program, The Unit. The program was broadcast from October 28th, 2017 to February 10th, 2018. The Unit invited 200 idols to participate on the idol rebooting program. From those 200 contestants, only 64 boys and girls could participate on the competition stage. At the end of the program, nine idols were selected to re-debut as a new group.
The Unit was a program designed to provide an opportunity for less popular idols to showcase their talents and gain more attention from K-pop fanatics. Top Korean singers joined the program as mentors, to polish and reshape their idol junior’s talent. The solo singer Rain acted as The Unit’s MC, while SHINee’s Taemin, HyunA, Jo Hyun-ah, Hwang Chi-yeul, and rapper San E participated as mentors.
HyunA and Taemin Expressed Their Feelings As Mentors
HyunA and Taemin joined the idol rebooting project The Unit as mentors for the “less popular idols.” On the program, Taemin taught dance and HyunA taught contestants about performance on the stage.
In an interview about her participation, HyunA said that she knew the feelings of each contestant more than them, since she was a trainee and rookie. She got through the entire process and received much experience that made her successful. She encouraged all the participants to learn many things from the program and to enjoy the experience.
As a mentor on The Unit, SHINee’s Taemin always criticized all the participants. He was disappointed when contestants underperformed and failed to deliver a good performance. Once, he said that there was no one on the stage good enough to be an idol.
However, neither of the senior, experienced idols could hide their emotion when seeing desperation from the contestants. Perhaps they could see themselves in the contestant’s position and remember the difficult periods in their own early careers.
The Contestants
April, Brave Girls, DIA, Dalshabet, 100%, Boyfriend, Spica, and Melody Day were among many idol groups that participated on the program. The contestants were given missions to accomplish and must avoid elimination to reach the final stage. For the final voting, viewers could vote for nine male and nine female contestants to form Uni+ B and Uni+ G groups. During the final episode, The Unit announced that the Uni+ B and Uni+ G names were replaced with UNB and UNI. T
Ex-T-ARA Member Ahreum Revealed Bullying Story
As a former member of T-ARA, Ahreum was one of the senior idols among the contestants on The Unit. On the stage, Ahreum opened up about the bullying scandal that cost T-ARA’s popularity. At the time, Ahreum, the youngest member of T-ARA, was the victim of bullying from Hyoyoung, the twin sister of former T-ARA member Hwayoung.
On the stage during one of The Unit episodes, Ahreum clarified everything and said that she felt no resentment toward Hyoyoung and Hwayoung. She said “Hwayoung has a good character. She treated me well and took care of me as the youngest member of T-ARA. Hwayoung informed me that she scolded her sister, Hyoyoung, for sending the bad words.”
She also said that mostly, it was the people and the staff that hurt her, rather than the other T-ARA members. The senior members treated her well, but it was hard to mingle and interact with them. In their early debut year, the members were young and very sensitive.
DIA Yebin & Somyi Controversial Statement
DIA’s Yebin and Somyi announced their participation on KBS2 The Unit through their Instagram account. They posted the news on September 4th, 2017. Other DIA members and former participants of another idol survival-rebooting project, Jung Chae-yeon and Huihyeon, supported them and shared lots of advice regarding the program.
On December 14th, 2019, during an Instagram live session on her private account, DIA’s Somyi allegedly told fans about her agency, MBK Entertainment, banned her from using social media platform. She revealed that she didn’t receive any news or information from her agency for several months.
Fans acknowledged that Somyi made several controversial statements during her Instagram live session. According to her followers, she said that her internet connection was cut off. She assumed that her agency was behind the problem. She confessed that if she quit DIA, the group would be more beautiful.
In an audition in front of The Unit’s judges, both Yebin and Somyi expressed their true feelings about DIA’s most famous member, Jung Chaeyeon. People knew about DIA, but only as far as knowing DIA’s Jung Chaeyeon. Yebin and Somyi were also DIA members, but hardly anyone know about them. Yebin confessed that she envied Chaeyeon. Somyi revealed that she is the one that sings the ending of one of their songs, but the cameras always zoomed in on Jung Chaeyeon instead of her. In their audition performance, DIA’s Yebin and Somyi performed Red Velvet’s Happiness and passed the audition after collecting three votes from six judges.
Dalshabet Wo-hee Often Cried As She Joined The Unit
Initially, Dalshabet’s Woohee hesitated about joining The Unit. She thought about her group’s condition more than the benefits of joining the program. Joining the program could reboot her career, but failing to compete could bring disaster to her group, Dalshabet. She feared that if she joined the program, fans would think about Dalshabet’s disbandment.
Later, Woohee confessed that Matilda’s Haena’s appearance on the show was the reason for her participation. Haena encouraged and supported her because Woohee wanted to participate on the program.
Throughout her participation, Woohee became known for crying a lot on the stage. Apparently, during her participation, Dalshabet was in a turbulent period. Dalshabet’s members were forced to move and sign with different agencies, and fans were thinking that Dalshabet was disbanding. She became depressed and emotional when thinking about the problem.
Woohee’s talent and determination earned her the right to debut in the new girl group. She recollected all the good memories and thanked the judges, fans, and colleagues for their support. Woohee said “I gained a lot from participating in The Unit. I met good friends that share the same passion and gives me new hope.”
SM Entertainment Ex-Trainee Ji Hansol Feelings About the Show
Ji Hansol accepted the challenge when he was offered a chance to participate in The Unit. His main reason was to be able to perform on the stage. Throughout the program, he experienced many things and was able to showcase his talent.
Being an SM Entertainment idol, he surprised the viewers with his incredible dancing and performance technique. He reached the number six position on the final episode of The Unit. At first, Ji Hansol never expected to become one of the final nine idols. He said that all of the contestants were talented, and he was happy and honored to be able to reach the final nine members. Personally, he thanked his family for taking care of and supporting him.
He admitted that his most important performance was performing SHINee’s Taemin’s Good Bye at the first evaluation stage. At the end, he said “I smile and talk a lot during the show but I become nervous when the crew started shooting the episode. I wasn’t performing well and showing himself fully. Step by step, I will reveal everything.”
100 Percent Min-woo Has Passed Away
Minwoo, member of the K-pop boy band 100%, was found dead at his home in Seoul on March 25, 2018. He was 33 years of old when he was pronounced dead by paramedics in the Gangnam Area. Reports stated that the cause of his death was cardiac arrest. The 100% member’s funeral was held two days after his death.
Minwoo and other 100% members participated in the KBS2 variety program The Unit in November, 2017. After celebrating their recent 5th debut anniversary, Minwoo confessed to The Unit judges “100% recently celebrated 5th anniversary. Few people knew about our group but we felt great joy when performing on the stage, so we decided to join the program.” People noticed that Minwoo was very positive and determined to perform and do well on the program. 100% performed one of TVXQ’s hit singles for the audition. Sadly, only one member, Rokhyun, passed the audition and gained a chance for a reboot.
Two months before his untimely death, Minwoo posted a video on his Instagram account. At the time, he was traveling and enjoying the scenic views of a snowy forest. At the time, he looked like a man that enjoys life to the fullest.
That was all the information about The Unit, the idol rebooting program. We hope all the best for participants of The Unit, and wish that they can restart their careers in the Korean music industry.
Don’t forget to share your opinions and thoughts about The Unit and its contestants in the comment section.
