“We wanted to create something special by nurturing and honing Filipino talent with the help of their real-life idols.

The Korean craze is strongly felt all over the world, and Filipinos just can’t get enough of it. In the Philippines, the unique fandom scene has become a window for people to understand youth culture and more so grasp why the Filipino youth has been so welcoming of the foreign pop culture.

Viu, a leading pan-regional video service by PCCW Media Group in Hong Kong, has teamed up with Globe Telecom to produce Hello K-Idol, the first original reality show of its kind in the country. Following the on-ground and online auditions held last May, 10 Filipino male aspirants were chosen to be part of the show as K-trainees. The webisodes will follow the finalists as they undertake the 10-week challenge honing their talents in singing, dancing, performing and styling until one emerges as the ultimate winner.

A star-studded cast will critique their performances and will provide them with guidance until their journey to becoming the next Filipino K-Idol concludes.

“Our dream of producing an online reality show has come to fruition with Hello K-Idol. Reality shows are a dime a dozen on television, but with our first Viu Original in the country, we wanted to create something special by nurturing and honing Filipino talent with the help of their real-life idols on an international platform. With over 15 million Filipinos interested in Korean entertainment, we hope they can relate to and stand by the K-trainees in their journey to fulfilling their K-Pop dreams,” country manager of Viu Philippines Arianne Kader-Cu said.

Additional episodes with behind-the-scenes footage and extended profiles of the contestants will be available for viewing on Viu. The final winner will be awarded the coveted prize of a four-month, all-expense paid scholarship to learn K-pop vocal and dance at a prestigious entertainment talent school-based in South Korea.

“Actually, now, in the Philippines, Quark [head of Globe Studios Quark Henares] and I worked very closely to monitor the K-craze in the country. Facebook reports 15 million Filipinos are interested in Korean entertainment. On our platform alone, almost 70 percent are females so I think that this is the perfect time for the show format for a male band,” Cu added.

Hello K-Idol mentors include singer Jinho Bae, Korean professional dance artiste Dasuri Choi and Asia’s Phoenix Morrissette Amon. The K-trainees will also get a chance to be mentored by the most sought-after Korean idols in the industry, Jung Joon Young of the variety show 2 Days & 1 Night and Yook Sung Jae of K-pop group BTOB, who is best known for his role as Deokhwa in Goblin. These two Korean superstars will be guiding the K-trainees all throughout their journey on the show.

“I believe that talent is a basic thing to be a K-pop artist, but the fact that you don’t give up most of all will be the most important thing as you go through the year later,” Jung Joon Young said.

Hello K-Idol will have seven to eight episodes on its first season, with each episode being 45 minutes to one hour long. The show began airing this July at Viu and will continue on until September.

“We used to watch reality shows on TV, where the viewer’s schedule was set by broadcast times. What Globe Studios has done is give the viewer the power to watch their shows and keep up with their favorite personalities anytime, anywhere.

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