[Soompi 2011] Variety Show Review – Revolutions, Controversies and Creaky Old Backs

2011 has been a pretty hectic year. We’ve had more natural disasters than a crazed sadist messing around with the disasters options in Sim City, we’ve seen the world economy go from bad to everyone running around like headless chickens etc. But all of that is dreary real life based issues, let’s break away from that for a bit and talk about variety shows, more specifically Korean variety shows and what they were like during 2011.

Will Lee Seung Gi Be Able to Beat Yoo Jae Suk for the Grand Prize at the Entertainment Awards?

With less than a month left of the year of 2011, many television viewers are speculating and putting interest on the year-end awards ceremonies. Especially with the temporary retirement of Kang Ho Dong, more interest is going into the winner of the grand prize for the Entertainment Awards. This is because it is safe to say that Yoo Jae Suk and Kang Ho Dong pretty much monopolized the three major…

Why was Kang Ho Dong at a Yakuza Party?

On December 1, local media Channel A showed footage of Kang Ho Dong at a special Yakuza event held 24 years ago. The video taken in 1988 shows Kang Ho Dong (in high school at the time) attending a dinner party in Osaka with Kaneyama Kosaburo, Japan’s Yakuza boss, and Lee Kang Hwan, the boss of Korean mafia “Seven Stars.” According to Channel A, it was a special dinner organized to celebrate the two bosses becoming sworn brothers.

Yoo Jae Suk and Running Man Members Have Dinner at Kang Ho Dong’s Restaurant

A picture of Yoo Jae Suk having dinner after shooting SBS “Running Man” is garnering attention. On a recent online community board, a picture titled: “Running Man Members Having Dinner” was uploaded. The revealed photo shows Yoo Jae Suk, Kim Jong Gook, Lee Kwang Soo, and other members and staff having dinner at a Korean barbeque restaurant after shooting.

Lee Seung Ki: "Kang Ho Dong’s Empty Spot Will Never Be Replaced"

Lee Seung Ki finally opened up about Kang Ho Dong who has retired from TV. During the press release for Lee Seung Ki’s 5th album he was asked the question, “What do you think about people saying that you have filled in Kang Ho Dong’s empty spot well?” Lee Seung Ki replied, “Kang Ho Dong will never be replaced. I don’t even try to fill in his empty seat. While doing variety shows with Kang Ho Dong, I always thought to myself that I had met a great senior. Looking over his shoulder I learned a lot, and throughout the years I learned the variety show mindset. Instead of focusing on trying to fill in his shoes, I am going to focus on trying to do variety shows with my own style.”