Happy Chuseok from BTS!

By Jae-Ha Kim
Kocowa.com
September 10, 2019

In Korean culture, Chuseok is a major holiday that’s equivalent to Thanksgiving. And SBS gave viewers a gift by airing the “BTS Variety Chronicles” — a collection of hand-picked segments from the group’s various variety show appearances on the network.

That inspired us to curate our own best of picks, but we’re not going to limit it to just SBS shows or funny moments. Here are some of our favorite BTS appearances and why:

Before BTS became known as one of the world’s most famous boy band — RM, Jin, Suga, J-Hope, Jimin, V and Jungkook appeared on “Star Show 360.” Hosted by Tak Jae-Hoon and Super Junior’s Leeteuk, the series devoted 80 minutes to the group’s antics. They premiered a short skit they had filmed just for the episode called “Eye Candy of BTS High School,” danced and bantered with the hosts. But the most touching moment was when Jung-kook talked about how it was easy for him to deal with the hardships of being away from his family to be with the group, but it made him sad when his hyungs were suffering.

Jin’s not only BTS’ eldest member and main visual. He’s also a natural comic, which shouldn’t be surprising to fans of his Dad Jokes. He appeared on five episodes of “Law of the Jungle” (Episode 247, Episode 248, Episode 249, Episode 250, Episode 251) and was praised for his showmanship. He acknowledges that he gets easily scared and plays it up for laughs. But if you were to get trapped on a deserted island with anyone, Jin would help you survive. He not only caught, prepared and cooked food for his castmates, but he also brought ARMY bombs that they used as flashlights. Ingenious!

RM had appeared without the rest of the group on Episode 265 of “Running Man.” That episode was devoted to idols renowned for their brain power and RM literally is a genius. The entire group appeared in Episode 300. Their mission was to go against the cast members to see who could stack the most boxes of ramen onto their respective trucks. The winners would have the honor of donating all the food to charity. Can  you guess who won? It won’t be surprising if I tell you that both teams cheated. For many BTS fans, though, their favorite moment was when Kim Jong-Kook (aka Sparta!) manhandled some of the guys to prevent them from cheating and inadvertently lifted up JK’s shirt!

J-Hope and Jimin made an appearance on “God’s Workplace,” where their job was to help sew 100 pairs of summer shorts. You read that correctly. Anyhow, the guys quickly learned how to use the sewing machine and were praised for their dexterity. It turned out the show was going to use the shorts as bonus items to help sell one of the other guest’s CDs, which wasn’t doing so great. How’d they fare? The shorts sold out in less than 60 seconds on a homeshopping network! (If any of you out there bought one of these shorts, I want to hear all about it in the comments below…)

When it comes to cooking, Jin is the chef in BTS. All the other members acknowledge it, too. So when the producers of “Idol King of Cooking” put together their show, of course they asked Jin to be on their show! Honestly, there weren’t a lot of competitors who seemed to know what they were doing. It seemed almost unfair for Jin to compete against them.

Fans sometimes try to create drama between their favorite groups. But in reality, many of the idols are friends with one another. After all, who aside from their own bandmates know the difficulties of what it takes to become an idol?  On “Idol Star Athletics Championships,” fans get to watch their favorites compete against each other not on the music charts, but in the sports arena. At this meetup, BTS competed to win their third consecutive gold medal in the 400m relay. I knew Jungkook would be their strongest and fastest competitor, but whoa! Jimin,  J-Hope and Suga were something else, too.

It’s always fun when the group appears on variety shows together. But it’s also special when various members make solo guest spots and shine on their own. Three years ago, Jung-kook wowed “The King Of Mask Singer” judges with his pitch-perfect version of Big Bang’s “If You.” BTS’ golden maknae didn’t win the overall title, but he charmed the judges with his maturity and spot-on vocals. “I came on the show, because I wanted to have a coming-of-age ceremony,” he said at the time. With characteristic modesty, he added, “I’m still really lacking vocally. I’ll continue to grow and become a singer that melts hearts.” Of course, today he’s known as BTS’ lead vocalist.

Honorable Mention: This isn’t a variety show, but we’re also going to throw in “Hwarang: The Poet Warrior Youth.” Why? Because Kim Tae-hyung plays an important role in the K-Drama and, to date, he is the only BTS member to act in a series or film. Plot-wise, this series has some holes. But V more than held his own among veteran actors like Park Seo-joon and Sung Dong-il. During the initial few moments of his debut, it was difficult to gauge his abilities. He didn’t have much to do but act young and cute. But as the series progressed, V fleshed out the role of Suk Han-Sung, the air-headed aristocrat who was expected to carry the responsibilities of his tony family on his slender shoulders. He left many viewers in tears.

And just to put this out there, but we’re still patiently waiting for Kim Seok-jin to make his acting debut…

Be sure to follow @GoAwayWithJae, where I tweet about all things Korean.🇰🇷