If you like watching Korean dramas but are looking for some variety, you've come to the right place. Maybe it's time to check out even more of the entertainment that Korean television has to offer. Have you ever tried Korean variety or reality shows? We'd love to give you a few recommendations so you know where to start!
We've already taken a deeper look at variety shows and introduced a few of them to you, so in this article we're focusing on reality shows.
I Live Alone still cut: Park Narae
If you've ever watched reality shows, you can probably imagine what they look like in South Korea. They document real, unscripted situations and often feature unknown people, not just celebrities. We either see the daily lives of the people or watch them take on special challenges.
However, many of the well-known and popular Korean reality shows revolve mainly around celebrities, so our recommendations will include only a few shows with ordinary citizens. Still, we've done our best to put together a colorful selection for you:
- I Live Alone
- Little Forest
- Law of the Jungle
- Begin Again
- BTS in the Soop
- Dating Shows: Heart Signal & Single’s Inferno
I Live Alone
Our first example is “I Live Alone”, also known as “Home Alone”. The show portrays the daily lives of celebrities who live on their own. Through I Live Alone, viewers learn more about the celebrities, for example that Key from the boy group SHINee tends a vegetable and herb garden on his balcony, or that the comedian Park Narae has her own bar at home where she invites her friends.
The show became popular, among other reasons, because the thousands of singles in Korea who live alone can identify with the celebrities' lifestyle!
The show has a regular cast that appears in every episode. Some members have been on it for years! The oldest member is Kian84, a webtoon artist and author. Kian84 has been on the show since 2016, which means for six years now! In total, the cast currently consists of 11 members: Kian84, Park Narae, Hwasa (Mamamoo), Lee Jangwoo, Key (SHINee), Jun Hyunmoo, Code Kunst, Kim Kwangkyu, Lee Jooseung, Cha Seowon & Honey J. There are also guests on a regular basis who show a few days of their lives and thus provide some variety.
The regular cast and their guests gather for every episode to watch the footage together and comment on it. Over the years, the members of the show have naturally grown close; their chemistry makes them even more likable.
There are plenty of clips of the show on YouTube. Here you can also just watch excerpts of specific stars you're interested in:
Little Forest
Children who live in big cities have hardly any opportunity to play in nature and get familiar with it. This thought led to the show “Little Forest” being developed and aired in 2019. It invites five children to a rural area, where they spend two days and one night surrounded by nature and can play outdoors. Four celebrities take care of them during this time: the actress Jung Somin, the actor and singer Lee Seunggi, the comedian Park Narae and the actor Lee Seojin.
Jung Somin and Lee Seunggi both hold a certificate in child psychology, and Lee Seojin, who is not only an actor but also a certified chef, took a cooking course beforehand so he could take professional care of the children too. Park Narae also took a cooking course in order to support him.
The children gain new experiences and, for example, get to see chicks hatching! The caregivers also gather experience, because looking after small children and entertaining them all day is exhausting, but also an instructive task.
Law of the Jungle
The concept of “Law of the Jungle” is easy to explain: a group of celebrities, such as actors and K-pop idols, are sent to remote places all over the world to find out what it feels like to live in the wild. In these remote places, the celebrities now have to do everything themselves, just like in the wilderness: build a shelter and prepare food. In this case, that means they first have to find the food!
In the following clip, for example, the celebrities chase after a small crab because they have hardly eaten anything:
You can imagine how many incredible and funny scenes come out of the show! The only permanent member of the show is the comedian Kim Byungman. He is, so to speak, the leader of the group, who knows his way around better than the others.
The show aired from 2011 to 2021. It was actually always filmed abroad, but in 2020 plans had to be changed because of the global Covid pandemic. After a break, Law of the Jungle was then filmed in Korea itself for the first time. Even though no new episodes are airing at the moment, there are more than enough episodes you can catch up on if you don't know the show yet!
Begin Again
Korean musicians travel abroad, to places where nobody knows them, and perform on the street. With these street performances they introduce themselves and get the chance to sing in front of a whole new audience and to work together with the other members of the show.
They mostly sing covers, often of English songs too. So even viewers of the show who already know the singers get to see something new from them. Maybe it's a chance for you to discover new stars you didn't know before!
So far, four seasons have aired between 2017 and 2020. The fourth one took place in Korea because of the Covid pandemic. In this season, the performances are meant to be a gift for the Korean people, to comfort them in these hard times.
As you can see, you'll find lots of clips on YouTube that are perfect if you only want to watch the performances!
Some of the better-known singers on the show include Suhyun (AKMU), Henry (Super Junior), Taeyeon (Girls Generation), Paul Kim or Lee Hi. But there are many others too!
BTS in the Soop
Of course, there are also reality shows that revolve entirely around popular K-pop idols. Many idols even have one or more reality shows of their own! The global boy group BTS is no exception!
In August 2020, the reality show “BTS In the Soop” aired. The seven members travel to a peaceful, wooded area and enjoy a time-out there. There they get the chance to do everything they were previously too busy for, such as devoting themselves to different hobbies. Among other things, they go fishing, play table tennis or boxing; sometimes alone, sometimes in pairs and sometimes all together. So the guys get a well-deserved break, and viewers get to know new sides of them. In 2021, a second season even followed!
There are two more spin-offs of the show: “In the Soop SVT ver.” is about the boy group Seventeen, and “In the Soop: Friendcation” is about a group of five friends. It consists of V from BTS, the actors Park Hyungsik, Park Seojoon and Choi Wooshik, and the rapper Peakboy.
Maybe your favorite band has a reality show of its own too?
Dating Shows: Heart Signal & Single’s Inferno
Before we wrap up this article, let's take a quick look at dating shows. They exist everywhere, and of course in South Korea too:
Single’s Inferno
The Netflix show invites a number of singles to a remote island. There is one fixed rule: the participants don't know each other's age or job. On the island, which is called “Inferno”, only limited resources are available. The participants get closer, and for dates they get the chance to visit the nearby luxury resort “Paradise” and thus escape the “Inferno”. In Paradise, they are even allowed to reveal their job and their age.
The Netflix show was very successful, among other things thanks to the attractive singles and the setting of a remote island, and has already announced a second season!
Heart Signal
Several singles live together in a house for a month. During this time, they get the chance to get to know each other better and go on dates. It gets especially exciting in the evenings. Then the participants anonymously send a message to the person they are currently most interested in. So they aren't allowed to confess their feelings directly. That naturally leads to uncertainty and sometimes to misunderstandings. It definitely won't get boring!
On top of that, a group of celebrities comments on what's happening and tries to guess how the singles' relationships will develop.
From 2017 to 2020, three seasons of the show aired. In 2021 there was even a spin-off called “Friends”, which shows the daily lives of participants from season 2 and season 3.
Survival shows (the Korean casting shows) also belong to the reality show genre. Find out more about them here!
Which of these shows interests you the most? Or maybe you've even already seen one? Feel free to let us know in the comments!
Sites where you can watch these shows, besides Netflix and YouTube, include Viki or Kocowa. Unfortunately, some content is only available in certain countries.
