4th-Gen Boy Group Idol Exposes HYBE’s “Evil” Trainee System

Netizens were left highly disturbed. 
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Koreaboo

A fourth-generation boy group member recently went viral after exposing the extent of the difficulties trainees had to endure while participating in the popular K-Pop survival show I-LAND.

The idol in question is Hanbin, a member of Tempest. Hanbin was a contestant on the first season of I-LAND.

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Hanbin | @tpst__official/Instagram

During a recent interview, Hanbin shared some lesser-known details about the lifestyle the contestants were made to follow. According to the idol, before I-LAND started airing, the trainees were kept extremely isolated from one another and weren’t allowed to even interact beyond greeting each other in the corridors. The alleged penalty for befriending a fellow contestant was to say goodbye to the show and return home.

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In addition to this, all trainees were supposedly made to hide their identities, including their names, ages, and affiliated agencies, from everyone. However, the more absurd part of the protocol was the lodging system for the trainees. Each of them stayed with a host family in Korea and had to hide the fact that they were trainees. Hanbin suspected that the company had already created fake identities for the trainees and set up the accommodations accordingly.

Despite the precautions, some trainees seemingly ended up telling the truth to the host families. Whenever the agency learned of such cases, it moved the trainees to new homes. Hanbin speculated that this system was created to protect the personal history of all the contestants.

Hanbin’s revelation has been met with majorly divided reactions from netizens. It has made many former I-LAND contestant fans look back at the painful struggles their favorite idols went through, while some were alarmed by the cruelty of the system.

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