The blatant exclusion of a female participant in ‘I Am Solo’ Season 31 has escalated into a full-blown bullying controversy. This led to an unprecedented situation where participant Sun-ja was rushed to the emergency room by ambulance due to extreme stress. As viewers’ anger peaks, critics are calling out the production team for ignoring the situation in pursuit of buzz.
The trouble began in the episode aired on the 6th on SBS Plus and ENA. A wave of backlash hit after scenes were aired showing Ok-sun, Young-sook, and Jung-hee talking behind Sun-ja’s back, completely ignoring her presence in the next room. While chatting with roommates Jung-hee and Ok-sun, Young-sook openly expressed her intention to approach Kyung-soo and revealed her true feelings about Sun-ja. However, since the door was open, Sun-ja heard everything from the opposite room.
The exclusion of Sun-ja continued in the broadcast on the 13th. Sun-ja found herself helpless against the sharp conversations Ok-sun, Jung-hee, and Young-sook made openly within the lodging. After a date, Sun-ja confided in her roommate Young-ja, saying, “Actually, it was harder when I came back to the lodging to get ready. Even though I was right there, the people in that room said, ‘Go and eat them all up’.” She added, “My mental state crumbled then. From that point, I felt upset and my stomach felt sick.” Watching this, MC Defconn lamented, “One side is whispering, but the other side is so noisy. It’s not fair.”
Later, during a Super Date Ticket mission, Young-sook fell. Upon returning to the lodging, Ok-sun shouted, “Young-sook is number one in our hearts,” as if protesting against the isolated Sun-ja. Having to hear all of this, Sun-ja tearfully said, “I don’t want to care, but I keep hearing them talk about me.” When Young-sook subtly blamed Sun-ja, suggesting she might have tripped over someone’s leg, even Song Hae-na expressed anger, saying, “Why is she like that? She should watch her words.” Due to the continuous atmosphere of exclusion, Sun-ja eventually complained, “My heart is struggling so much, and my upper stomach hurts because of the stress,” and was eventually taken by ambulance as the pain worsened.
The most critical point here is the silence and negligence of the production team. PD Nam Gyu-hong, who directs ‘I Am Solo,’ previously experienced a tragedy while directing SBS’s ‘Jjak,’ where a female participant took her own life during filming, leading to the show’s cancellation. Despite having already experienced an irreversible disaster due to a failure to closely monitor a participant’s precarious psychological state, it is unacceptable that he has repeated the same mistake by leaving a participant in extreme pain.
Of course, it is understandable that perfect pre-screening of non-celebrity participants is difficult and there are limits to handling post-broadcast controversies. However, the story changes completely when collective exclusion and verbal abuse toward a specific participant occur continuously on set, where the production team is watching everything through cameras. The production team should have intervened immediately and mediated the situation to protect the participant’s psychological well-being and safety.
It is hard to ignore the reasonable suspicion that the conflict between participants and the bullying controversy were left unchecked to boost the program’s ratings and buzz, especially since a participant was left until they were rushed to the ER with stomach cramps. Can buzz gained by displaying another person’s pain truly be called the success of a program?
Immediately after the broadcast, viewers voiced their anger not only at the rude behavior and attitude of the participants, who lacked basic consideration for others, but also at the production team’s responsibility. As the controversy spreads uncontrollably, ‘I Am Solo’ has only provided a principled response, stating, “We plan to broadcast according to the flow of the content.” How long can viewers tolerate a production team that pushes participants to the edge without learning any lessons from past tragedies? It is clear that the limit is nearing.
