WINNER’s Seunghoon in SBS K-Pop Star
Prior to his career as a member of WINNER, Seunghoon was a contestant on SBS’s K-pop Star in 2011. The idol had already charmed the judges during the audition session and made a smooth entrance once again in front of several judges, including Psy and the founder of YG Entertainment, Yang Hyun-suk. Notably, Seunghoon rapped and danced to Park Jin-young’s I Have a Woman with a goofy and comical carpet dance that made the judges burst into laughter.
In the semi-final, Seunghoon worked with Psy after he offered to be his special mentor. As we already know, Psy was already impressed with Seunghoon after watching him performing his self-written rap and choreography.
He joked that Seunghoon must meet him later and his joke turned out to be true, because three months later they worked as a team. Not only did he serve as a teacher, but Psy also encouraged Seunghoon relax, “You have become way too serious lately. You seem too normal. Don’t pressure yourself to be too serious or do well”.
Unfortunately, Seunghoon’s journey in K-Pop Star came to an end after he performed his self-written rap The Show Must Go On. He became the only male participant who reached a position in the Top Five, and ended up ranked fourth.
Upon hearing his elimination, Seunghoon thanked everyone while crying his heart out. Yang Hyun-suk also teared up when saying his last goodbye to Seunghoon, “I wanted to say goodbye smiling, but since he is crying, it is making me cry as well. Seunghoon, do what you enjoy. I will see you in the professional world”.
Yang Hyun-suk’s statement became reality as Seunghoon picked YG Entertainment as his agency after K-Pop Star ended. Later, Seunghoon joined WIN: Who Is Next? and debuted as one of the members of WINNER, as we already know.
WINNER’s Seunghoon in Law of the Jungle
In late February, 2018, it was confirmed that Seunghoon would be appearing on SBS’s wildlife variety show Law of the Jungle, along with Red Velvet’s Seulgi. They would join the filming in Mexico and the episode was scheduled to air in April.
Contrary to the initial report, it actually took two months longer for Seunghoon’s episode to air. Despite the delay, Law of the Jungle’s ratings increased spectacularly, to 15.2 percent, when Seunghoon tasted the mammee fruit as soon as he found it with Choi Hyun-suk. The show also maintained its rating in the following episode when Seunghoon and Seulgi had a dance battle where they danced to each other’s songs.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qph26kbKdB4&feature=youtu.be
After finishing filming for Law of the Jungle, Seunghoon said that he wanted to go on the show once again with Seungyoon or Jinwoo, “Seeing BTOB’s Eunkwang and Hyunshik’s great chemistry during the trip made me want to go with the members so we could show our sweet side too.” He also shared that iKON’s Yunhyeong, who already appeared on the show the previous year, specifically advised him to take a knife.
The mention of Law of the Jungle shouldn’t be limited to the period of its airing, but also its aftermath. During his guest appearance on Mino’s episode of Idol Room, Seunghoon bluntly told Mino, who wants to appear on Law of the Jungle, that having breakfast in the wildlife is nearly impossible, “The important thing is trying to have one meal a day. You cannot save something”. Seunghoon talked more about what the conditions were like during filming for Law of the Jungle, such as the uselessness of phones, the annoying bugs that will find their way into your sleeping bag, and relevant issues.
After sharing the hard truth, Seunghoon still encouraged Mino to join the show, “Mino should experience some hard things, because he had been too comfortable while doing variety shows (referring to New Journey to the West)”. Lol, we certainly love witty Seunghoon!
