Female idol Yuqi - a member of Kpop girl group (G)I-DLE recently appeared on Big Bang's weekly talk show "ZIP Daesung".
In the program, Yuqi shared about the pressure on weight and appearance of idols, especially female idols.
Yuqi said that now she no longer gains weight as easily as before and her appetite has decreased, because she dieted a lot when she was a trainee.
Yuqi revealed that she has to check her nearsightedness every day, and feels very pressured when she goes to Cube Entertainment every Saturday.
Daesung was very shocked by this. He admitted that female idols seem to have to control their weight more. Daesung mentioned 2NE1's Park Bom when he saw her often eating bread in the corner of the room.
Yuqi confirmed this is normal for female idols , and they will secretly eat in the dressing room.
One of Daesung's attention-grabbing questions during the conversation was about the most effective weight loss method.
Yuqi recounted that every Chuseok holiday, everyone gained weight. At that time, Cube company printed a list of the artists' weight and posted it publicly in front of the office.
Yuqi felt embarrassed because her weight could be seen by seniors like PENTAGON, HyunA, and BTOB.
Artists have to see it every day, and this is a wake-up call because this list will remain there until they successfully lose weight.
Yuqi shared that she once lost 5kg in 3 days because of the weight list. She ate almost nothing to lose weight.
The female idol emphasized that this is an unforgettable memory during her active time.
Although currently, Yuqi freely shares Cube Entertainment's method of motivating artists to lose weight. But many viewers were "shocked" to hear her revelations.
Netizens criticized Cube's method because publicizing his weight could directly affect the artist's spirit and psychology.
However, they admit, Cube is not the only entertainment company pressuring artists to lose weight.
JYP Entertainment artists once shared unbelievable ways to gain weight. Momo (TWICE) revealed that when she was about to debut, JYP asked her to lose 7kg within 1 week at all costs. Momo didn't eat anything for a week. She diligently went to the gym and sucked ice instead of rice to reach her ideal weight.
Many opinions say that the fact that the audience specializes in criticizing the artists ' appearance is the factor that causes them to lose weight in an unhealthy way.
On theqoo, Korean audiences commented:
"Community sites make noise all day about idols gaining weight, those places need to learn to stop first, need to reflect on themselves first."
“Everyone knows that the people who hate seeing idols gain weight the most are their fans. If idols gain just a little weight, they will post posts like: Leaving the fandom."
“Imagine the fear when you see your seniors know about your weight and your weight is published everywhere.”
"When you listen to weight loss stories from JYP, you'll see that whether the company is big or small, it's all the same."
