'Hangout With Yoo' Yu Jae-seok raised suspicions about Joo Woo-jae's romantic relationship.
On the afternoon of the 3rd, the MBC variety program 'Hangout With Yoo' aired the '2026 new year greeting' episode. Yu Jae-seok, Haha and Joo Woo-jae met Heo Kyunghwan to exchange new year greetings and deokdam.
While mentioning Heo Kyunghwan's recent popularity, Yu Jae-seok said, "Isn't Kyunghwan really a star we raised?" In response, Heo Kyunghwan said, "Since the topic came up, I'll say this: I left out Thursday for now. The company has to keep the (popularity) going. It's a joyous occasion. I'm calming the company down," proving his increased popularity.
While exchanging life updates, Joo Woo-jae applauded to congratulate Yu Jae-seok on winning the grand prize at the 'MBC Entertainment Awards.' Yu Jae-seok laughed, saying, "The awards ceremony is next week, so why are you clapping now?" At the time of recording, the 'MBC Entertainment Awards' had not yet taken place.
At one point Yu Jae-seok mentioned Joo Woo-jae's acceptance speech at the 'KBS Entertainment Awards,' saying, "I told you. I said he has someone he's dating," which drew attention. Heo Kyunghwan also said, "I saw it on TV and he kind of gave a pause."
On the 20th of last month, Joo Woo-jae won the excellence award in the show & variety category at the '2025 KBS Entertainment Awards.' While giving his remarks, Joo Woo-jae expressed gratitude to his family and made a surprise confession, saying, "Arin, I love you." He quickly added, "Arin is my niece," which provoked laughter.
When Yu Jae-seok again mentioned his niece Arin, Joo Woo-jae explained, "I had no intention, no thought; I just thought of my niece and said, 'Arin, I love you.' But it was made out like I had some ulterior motive. My niece's name is Joo Arin. She is my brother's daughter," he said.
Even so, Yu Jae-seok said, "You were clever with that, but that is not the first time for you. To be honest, we don't care. But since it's a recent update, we couldn't not bring it up, so I talked about Arin," which made people laugh.
After hearing Joo Woo-jae's new year physiognomy reading, Haha added, "Please say hello to Arin in Japan," teasing Joo Woo-jae. Eventually Joo Woo-jae seemed to give up and said, "Arin-chan. Ogenkidesuka," and added, "Arin is really my niece. She's probably watching on TV now." Yu Jae-seok continued, "We will definitely make it public. We're not ready yet, so please wait a little bit," mentioning Joo Woo-jae's dating rumors, which provoked laughter.
[Photo] MBC broadcast screen capture.
[OSEN]