We’re not starting a cult but some followers on Instagram would be nice. Thank you.
Another South Korean reality television series has become the talk of the town.
New Netflix series Physical: 100 is a survival reality programme that sees 100 contestants who are in “top physical shape” compete in intense physical challenges.
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Contestants will be eliminated when they don’t finish the challenges and the fittest of them all will win a cool cash prize of 300 million won (S$319,410).
So like Squid Game, but without the dying and killing part.
And the show wasn’t kidding about featuring fit people.
Big names
Among the 100 contestants are MMA fighters, athletes from the South Korean national team and even a Special Forces Soldier.
You may recognise some names like MMA fighter Choo Sung-hoon (also known as Yoshihiro Akiyama), who has appeared in another reality series, The Return of Superman, with his daughter.
Photo from @akiyamachoo on Instagram.
There’s also celebrity chef Austin Kang.
Photo from @austinkangg on Instagram.
Here’s another contestant that may be of interest to you: Elaine Wong.
Who is she?
So far, the 34-year-old has had minimal screen time in the four aired episodes.
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However, she garnered attention in the first episode, where she introduced herself as an actress from Singapore.
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Almost a K-pop idol
Remember Skarf, the Singaporean-Korean K-pop girl group?
According to a 2012 Yahoo article, Elaine was poised to be part of the group, alongside Singaporeans Ferlyn Wong and Natasha Low.
Photo from @elainew__ on Instagram.
In 2010, Korean record label JYP Entertainment and local company Alpha Entertainment held a mass audition in hopes of forming a K-pop girl group.
About 3,000 people auditioned, and Elaine was among the three Singaporeans who emerged.
She was apparently renamed “Yuki” and told only to respond to that name.
However, she dropped out of the girl group in May 2012 before they even debuted in August 2012, “due to medical reasons”.
The group also turned out to be short-lived, and disbanded two years later in end-2014.
On the big screen…
According to a Straits Times interview, Elaine went on to the now-defunct MBK Entertainment (formerly home to T-ara and South Korean vocal group SG Wannabe) as a K-pop trainee.
While she didn’t get to debut in a K-pop girl group, Elaine did make it to the big screens.
She appeared in the Chinese movie Fight in Causeway Bay 2 and another movie called Undercover 1000.
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…and small screens
Physical: 100 isn’t the first reality programme she has starred in.
Having lived in South Korea for the past 13 years, she has also appeared in several variety shows.
She was previously on MBC every1’s South Korean Foreigners, a show where foreigners in South Korea compete in a trivia showdown.
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Elaine was also recently in a night-themed online dating series.
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Placed 80th in Physical: 100
Which should make you go “Wah, pretty good” if you’ve seen the other contestants and the challenges on the show.
In a pre-challenge, contestants depend on their upper body strength to hang onto pull-up bars suspended over a pool.
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Despite her svelte figure, Elaine managed to outlast 19 people before she was eliminated in the third episode. This includes the likes of bodybuilders and professional athletes.
Elaine told ST that she added more hours to her gym routine and kept a healthy diet to prepare for Physical: 100.
Top image from @elainew__ on Instagram.
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