"Choi Woosusan" producers made viewers look forward to the performance of comedian Heo Kyunghwan, who has risen as MBC's variety trend.
On the 22nd, the production team of MBC's new variety show Choi Woosusan (山) revealed the process of recruiting cast members.
Choi Woosusan is South Korea's first raw-suffering mountain variety show that stages desperate competitions toward the summit through various missions carried out in the mountains. As a new work expected from the team behind MBC's flagship variety shows Radio Star and Hangout With Yoo, it is set to premiere on May 3 at 6 p.m. as the successor to the currently airing MBC variety show Manito Club.
In particular, Choi Woosusan is expected as a new work starring comedians You Se Yoon, Jang Dong-min and Yang Se-hyung, who competed for last year's MBC Entertainment Awards grand prize, broadcaster Boom and comedian Heo Kyunghwan, who has recently emerged as a "trend." From the title alone, aiming for the "grand prize," the laughter competition among variety veterans who fought for year-end awards trophies raises expectations.
Regarding this, Choi Woosusan producers said, "As the title suggests, the program contains a double meaning combining the 'grand prize' and 'mountain.' We chose the mountain to portray as primitively and realistically as possible the contestants competing to earn the top title, and the cast members will have their stamina and variety skills tested simultaneously in the unpredictable environment of nature. The clear narrative that the person who did their best to the end becomes the episode's final grand prize winner, and the raw, live laughter from the situation of climbing a mountain are the core points," they said, explaining the planning intent.
They also explained the veteran cast composition by saying, "The awards ceremony was the starting point. Casting proceeded relatively quickly right after the ceremony ended, and we judged that the relationship itself between the actual grand prize winner and the nominees is an important device that creates the program's narrative. The cast members found this setting interesting, and because their relationships are close, there was a strong reaction that the member combination was good and they decided to appear."
In particular, Choi Woosusan emphasized, "Because we were confident in the member lineup, the cast members participated enthusiastically from the early stages and even visited the production office to hold planning meetings. Yang Se-hyung's casual remark that 'I've been enjoying hiking these days' was impressive. It was a casually made comment, but it ultimately became the decisive trigger that launched Choi Woosusan," they stressed.
Among them, Heo Kyunghwan was not a 'grand prize nominee' last year, but he has emerged as the biggest variable after recently joining MBC's flagship variety Hangout With Yoo as a regular.
Because of this, some even predicted that Heo Kyunghwan's appearance on Choi Woosusan might be a prelude to naming year-end grand prize nominees. The producers said, "We cast Heo Kyunghwan as a 'wild card' who can unsettle the balance. If the grand prize winner You Se Yoon and the other cast members, who were nominees and losers, form a kind of competitive structure, we judged that the only person who could actually shake that framework was Heo Kyunghwan, who had been more active than anyone else in MBC variety shows in the first half of this year."
Above all, the producers said, "If You Se Yoon, Jang Dong-min, Boom and Yang Se-hyung are seasoned players who are adept at variety games and quickly read situations, Heo Kyunghwan is a straight-ahead character who approaches challenges honestly and diligently. Scenes are appearing in which he creates unexpected flows beyond a simple agitator role, and he is playing the key man who produces unpredictable results," they expressed confidently.
[Photo] OSEN DB, provided by MBC.
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