On the 10th, in the new episode of “Donor Hyung” uploaded to Shin Dong-yeop’s YouTube channel, Donghae and Eunhyuk, members of Super Junior, recalled their early days as rookies and their tough experience on the variety show “Star King “.
Having debuted 19 years ago, Donghae and Eunhyuk have been active as a “D&E” unit for 13 years. Shin Dong-yup recalled, “I’ve known Donghae since before his debut, and he was shy back then,” joking that “his first variety show was ‘Star King,’ which is notoriously tough even among celebrities.“
Donghae revealed, “Besides ‘Star King,’ within our group were the ‘Big Four’: Siwon, Heechul, Kibum, and then me, who was also pushed to participate in variety shows. But I was always eliminated and felt discouraged. My personality didn’t fit, so I even went to the company offices to talk about it. He added: “I also said I didn’t want to be a celebrity anymore. It was too difficult to make eye contact and ask guests questions. I was afraid of not doing well, so I avoided Kang Ho-dong’s gaze and said that I just wanted to continue being a singer.”
Eunhyuk chimes in: “Back then, there were many ‘victims’ of ‘Star King,’ even if some benefited from it. For me it was a mixed bag. I learned a lot about variety shows, but I also found it incredibly difficult.” He recalled the grueling recording sessions, saying: “We shot on Monday, and since Kang Ho-dong was in excellent health, we shot from morning until dawn. After a Sunday night concert and catching a flight, I would go straight to hair and makeup for “Star King,” exhausted.“
Once filming began, Eunhyuk would be vigilant, especially when “Ho-dong introduced me by saying, “We have Eunhyuk in Star King,” and I had to perform something. You had to be funny, but not too good at what you did. Every time I heard “Eunhyuk-ssi”, I became anxious,” he shared, recalling the pressure of being the main performer of the show.
Eunhyuk also mentioned working with Shin Dong-yup in another show, ‘Explorers of the Human Body,’ saying, “The members of Super Junior were like lab rats in that show. We were rookies and Shin Dong-yup was fantastic. It’s difficult to bring out the best in everyone, but he did it all on his own. We are still grateful to him to this day”, ending the story on a touching note.
Source: OSEN
