Broadcaster Sam Hammington appeared on a morning live show with his two sons.
The April 14 broadcast of KBS1's 'Morning Yard' 'Tuesday guest seat' corner featured broadcaster Sam Hammington and his two sons William Hammington and Bentley Hammington.
William, who turned 9 this year, said he serves as captain of his school's basketball team, surprising viewers. William, who is mastering various sports such as soccer and ice hockey as well as basketball, drew attention with a more mature appearance that hardly recalled his time on 'The Return of Superman' (hereafter 'Superman Is Back'). Seven-year-old younger brother Bentley plays basketball with his older brother but does not have a separate position and said he wants to become a professional gamer. Bentley, who showed a lack of concentration perhaps because it was early morning, immediately straightened his posture and smiled when he was told, "Mom is watching at home."
Sam Hammington and his children, who received much love through 'Superman Is Back.' Sam Hammington said, "When 'Superman Is Back' started, William was about 3 months old. At that time it was a guest appearance, so I thought let's make good memories and appeared, and because it was fun and the child was cute, he became a regular. I think we appeared for more than four years." William, watching his time on 'Superman Is Back,' said, "I was cute when I was little," and Sam Hammington said, "He was teased at the playground because of his bowl cut. He was teased a lot as if he were a girl. It was a trend then, but from William's point of view it must have been upsetting."
Sam Hammington said, "Because it's a reality show, I was worried that if the kids knew they were appearing it might make them unnatural. And because they're young, I worried they might catch celebrity syndrome, so I didn't show them." He added, "Later they saw it through YouTube and other platforms and naturally became aware of their appearances. They never said they wanted to appear again, but they showed a lot of interest while watching their own videos."
Sam Hammington explained that his two sons have different temperaments. He said, "William is quiet, reliable and FM. Bentley is like a rugby ball. He's my way and you don't know where he'll bounce. Even if a teacher tells him to do it this way, he has to do what he wants." William said he likes that Bentley is quiet when he plays games, and Bentley said he likes fighting with William and proudly claimed he wins, drawing laughs.
Sam Hammington spoke about his own childhood: "My parents divorced early and I was an only child, so I stayed at other friends' houses until my mother got off work. Having no siblings, I spent a lot of time alone and after I got married I wanted to have at least two children. Maybe because of that, my mother let me do what I wanted. But I did things in short bursts and ended up not really doing anything. I wonder what it would have been like if someone had held me back then, so I make sure to hold on to my two sons. There's nothing they must do, but I make them learn something for a certain period no matter what they do."
Having spent a lonely childhood, Sam Hammington chose the Korean language department when he transferred to university. "Because my mother let me go when I was young, I didn't study much. After entering junior college and learning international trade, I thought it might be good to learn Asian languages," Sam Hammington said, recalling that he came to Korea as an exchange student and formed a connection with Korea but had to leave suddenly. He said he contracted hepatitis A and recalled, "At that time more than 80% of my liver was damaged and it was serious enough to require a transplant." Especially because his current wife, then girlfriend, found Sam Hammington collapsed in front of the dormitory, he was urgently flown to Australia and underwent surgery.
Afterward, Sam Hammington said his fate was made by the 2002 Korea-Japan World Cup. Having gone to Australia in 1999 and returned to Korea in 2002 after three years, Sam Hammington said, "I wanted to watch the World Cup, graduate and see my girlfriend. As a foreigner who could speak some Korean, I grabbed a chance to be a reporter and made my first appearance on TV. Then I appeared on other shows and met comedians, and when I went to watch a small theater performance in Daehangno I made a brief appearance and became connected to 'Gag Concert.' I gave up a planned job as an academy instructor, which I was going to take to appear once on Kim Jun-ho's 'Downstream Life' corner. Two weeks later I rejoined 'Gag Concert' and became a specially recruited comedian."
Sam Hammington said, "I had my two sons through in vitro fertilization. William succeeded on the third to fourth try, and after Bentley we tried more than 10 times. We tried very hard to have a daughter but it didn't work so we gave up." William said, "They told me to live alone but Bentley came out. I'm not disappointed not to have a sister," drawing laughter.
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