BTS’ V, Park Seo-joon and more in new reality show ‘In the Soop: Friendcation’

What happens when five South Korean entertainment stars, who are also best buds, work together? Apparently they do a reality TV show.

BTS singer V, actors Park Seo-joon, Choi Woo-shik, Park Hyung-sik and singer-songwriter Peakboy — collectively known as the Wooga Squad — are uniting for a reality show titled ‘In the Soop: Friendcation’. The show will start airing from July 22 on JTBC in Korea and on Disney+ for some regions. It’s unclear if it will air in the UAE.

The series, which means ‘In the Forest’, is a spin-off of the original ‘In the Soop’ that kicked off in 2020 with K-Pop boy group BTS at its centre. Over eight episodes, the seven members — RM, Jin, Suga, J-Hope, Jimin, V and Jungkook — were seen playing games, cooking and doing non-music group things in a serene and remote location in Korea.

There was also a second season of the show with BTS and one season starring K-pop group Seventeen, both in 2021.

This will be V’s first major solo project after BTS announced that they’d be taking a hiatus as a group, nine years into their illustrious career. Earlier, he sang theme songs for two of his friends’ shows — ‘Sweet Night’ for Park Seo-joon’s ‘Itaewon Class’ and ‘Christmas Tree’ for Choi’s most recent show ‘Our Beloved Summer’.

Park Seo-joon is best known for starring in hit dramas ‘What’s Wrong with Secretary Kim’ and ‘Itaewon Class’, and will be making his Hollywood debut in ‘The Marvels’. Choi Woo-shik is famous for roles in ‘Train to Busan’ and the Oscar-winning ‘Parasite’. Park Hyung-sik used to be part of boy band ZE:A and has acted in shows such as ‘Hwarang: The Poet Warrior Youth’ and ‘Strong Girl Bong-soon’. Peakboy is known for tracks such as ‘Gyopo Hairstyle’ and ‘Diet’.