The reality show ‘I am SOLO’ has left viewers chilled, replacing romance with “cruel backstabbing.”
While Solo Land is known for brutally honest emotions, indiscriminate belittling and deception toward a fellow participant have led to an unprecedented situation where a cast member was rushed to the emergency room.
In the May 13 broadcast of SBS Plus and ENA’s ‘I am SOLO’, Sunja from the 31st batch suffered stress-induced stomach cramps and had to stop filming to go to the hospital, despite winning a long-distance running mission, all due to the sharp remarks of her roommates and Oksoon’s deceptive attitude.
The most heartbreaking part is that Sunja was hearing all these conversations in real-time from the next room. In an interview with the production team, she burst into tears, saying, “I had to pretend I didn’t hear anything, so it just kept building up. I feel like I’m being subtly ignored.” Even after taking first place, the pressure of hearing comments like “Youngsook, you’re the one who won,” which excluded her, eventually manifested as physical pain.
Youngsook’s attitude after falling during the running mission also sparked controversy. Youngsook speculated that “it felt like I tripped over someone’s leg,” seemingly targeting Sunja. This triggered anger from Oksoon and Jeonghee in the lodging, acting as a catalyst to make Sunja the “public enemy.”
Watching this, MC Song Hae-na criticized the behavior, saying, “This isn’t right. Watch your words,” while Defconn pointed out, “Those three must apologize to Sunja.”
The sight of Sunja clutching her stomach and heading to the hospital due to stomach cramps created a sense of discomfort that went beyond the typical entertainment of a reality show.
When Kyungsoo visited Sunja and declared he would use his date ticket on Youngsook, Sunja’s patience finally reached its limit. Kyungsoo’s belated self-blame, saying, “I think this situation happened because of me,” provided no comfort to the already wounded Sunja.
Even for non-celebrity participants, behaving without courtesy on a program with such massive influence makes it hard to avoid harsh criticism. While the production team acted quickly by removing unbroadcast footage as the controversy grew, what is more important is establishing minimum guidelines to ensure that “deception” and “ignorance” between participants are not consumed as mere entertainment.
