‘I‘m SOLO’ 23rd generation has opened the curtain on a chaotic romance.

On the SBS Plus and ENA real dating program ‘I’m SOLO’ that aired on the 13th, the story of ‘23rd Solo Country’, which took on the ‘polar opposite’ love line as the first date choice, was revealed.

On this day, the 23rd generation started ‘First Date Choice’ by having the single women choose the single man they want to go on a date with. Youngsoo shouted “Let‘s go eat a 9-course meal and a refreshing ‘Ah’” towards the dorm where the single women were gathered and asked them out on a date, but he wasn’t chosen by anyone. On the other hand, Young-ho ended up going on a ‘2:1 date’ with both Ok-soon, his ‘old friend’ and Hyun-sook, his ‘one pick’, who he enjoyed a ‘dating with a noble person’ and his ‘one pick’, as a result of both accepting his date request. Young-sik was able to connect with Soon-ja, who he wanted to date, from the start, and Young-ja, who he also picked as his ‘1st choice’, also appeared, refreshingly washing away the sadness of ‘0 votes for first impression’. However, Young-sook and Young-ja, who chose Young-cheol, both chose Young-cheol over Young-sik, his ‘1st choice’. Gwang-soo and Sang-cheol unfortunately became part of the ‘0 vote club’, and the two comforted each other by hugging each other. Sang-chul complained about the pain of “Lonely Set Meal’ and Gwang-soo also felt bitter, saying “I feel bad when I hear laughter from the ‘couple man and woman’ who were noisily choosing the menu in their room.

A while later, Young-ho, who went on a ‘2:1 Date’, picked up Ok-soon and Hyun-sook in the car and headed to a good restaurant, but experienced an unexpected situation where he encountered a deer while driving. At this time, Young-ho and Hyun-sook were shocked and shouted, while Ok-soon responded calmly. Regarding this, Ok-soon showed her discomfort in an interview with the production team, saying “It felt like I was taking the kids. In fact, I wanted to lean on them and have a man lead me, but I felt like I had to take care of them”.

After arriving at the restaurant, Hyun-sook grabbed the tongs for Young-ho, who is not good at grilling meat. While doing so, she took the initiative in the date by asking Yeong-ho various questions. As Hyun-sook asked more questions, Ok-soon became more silent, and at the end of the meal, Hyun-sook suggested an ‘image game’. Hyun-sook asked, “Is there a ‘1 pick’ among the people who came today, or not?”, and Yeong-ho couldn‘t answer right away and had an ‘pupil earthquake’. Ok-soon intuitively felt that Yeong-ho’s ‘1 pick’ was Hyun-sook, but after the date, Hyun-sook expressed her regret, saying, “I wish I could have felt, even just 1%, that it was ‘you,’, but I didn‘t feel that way.”.



‘0-vote club’ Gwang-soo and Sang-chul shared the pain of 0 votes after ‘Cheers with Jjajangmyeon’. Sang-chul consoled himself by saying, “I haven’t shown you anything yet,” and Gwang-soo agreed, saying, “It‘s not like we don’t have charm, we haven‘t shown any interest either.” Immediately after, in an interview with the production team, Gwang-soo expressed his positive mindset by saying, “Whatever experience I have here will be beneficial to me, and in conclusion, no matter what trials I face, I will always rise again.”

Yeong-chul, who gave gifts to the single women in “Self-Introduction Time,” showed off special manners on his date with Yeong-sook and Yeong-ja. He said, “I find great joy in taking care of men,” and grilled meat one by one and placed it on the plates of the two single women. Yeong-chul, who went from receiving ‘0 votes for first impression selection to ‘2 votes for first date, laughed and said, “I’m so happy. I don‘t have any wishes right now.” Then, in the ‘1:1 Date’, Yeong-cheol asked Yeong-ja point-out what her ranking was. Yeong-ja answered, “Yeong-cheol was second place”, and explained why she chose Yeong-cheol, saying, “I think I can comfort you when I’m having a hard time at work, and we have similar hobbies”. Yeong-cheol asked Yeong-sook the same question. Then, he won Yeong-sook‘s heart by saying, “Yeong-sook is my first choice. I’ve mentioned Yeong-sook in all three interviews”. Yeong-sook expressed her gratitude, saying, “I had no idea”. After the date, Yeong-cheol confessed in front of the production team that he “I can‘t control my feelings”, and that he was interested in Hyun-sook and Soon-ja, following ‘1st place’ Yeong-sook. Yeong-sook said, “It’s Yeong-cheol for now, but I think I should go on a date with Yeong-sik too.”

“Same-age” Yeong-sik and Sun-ja quickly became close as they started talking from the beginning of their date. When Yeong-sik asked Sun-ja about her “ideal type”, Sun-ja said, “I don‘t have that. I’m into something. Usually someone who‘s funny,” and chose “humor code” as an important factor. Yeong-sik said, “I like someone who is passionate about their work. I really like that emotion, so I wanted to talk to them before the night was over,” and hinted at his crush on Sun-ja during the “self-introduction time.” Sun-ja honestly revealed that she had difficulties in dating while working with the male members, and Yeong-sik said, “That’s an important point,” and “It‘s nice to see you acting so stubbornly. He praised Sunja’s passion for work, saying, ”That‘s cool.“

After dinner, the two enjoyed a romantic night walk around Yeonhwa-ji with coffee in hand. Yeong-sik said, ”I’d like someone who knows manners and compromise. I like to live by saying, ‘I’m sorry‘ and ’thank you‘, so I hope our personalities are similar.“ The two ended their date, which felt like a real couple, with a friendly ’high five‘, and after the date, Sunja said, ”It was different from the image I had in mind, so I liked him. He seemed more mature than I thought,“ expressing her satisfaction. Yeong-sik also said, ”Someone who is just like a summer night. He expressed his affection, saying, “She’s a very charming person.”

After returning from a date with Ok-soon and Hyun-sook, Young-ho said to Young-chul, who also had Hyun-sook as his “second choice,” “I’m the same age or younger, so I thought you’d think differently if I made that clear when I introduced myself,” expressing his confusion at Ok-soon’s choice of “older woman.” He asked for advice, saying, “I think I spoke to Hyun-sook in a subtle way, but I wonder if she understood the signal.” Young-chul advised him, “Shouldn’t you do whatever your heart wants?” Young-ho confessed his complicated feelings to the production crew, saying, “I’ve heard criticisms when I’ve rejected someone in the past, so I’ve had a hard time remembering those experiences.”

After much thought, Young-ho searched the dorms for a place where he could talk to Ok-soon. At the same time, Gwang-soo called Ok-soon, saying, “If it’s okay, can we talk outside for a bit?” Because of this, Young-ho said, “They say humans are designed to prefer the last thing,” and decided to call Hyun-sook first instead of breaking his plan to talk to Ok-soon and Hyun-sook in that order. However, in the trailer that was released right after, Young-ho said, “You have to watch other things to properly see what you wanted to see,” hinting that he wanted to get to know the other people better, and Hyun-sook made a strange expression. Right after, Hyun-sook expressed her discomfort in front of the production team, saying, “I don‘t like people who confuse me,” and then she gave off a rosy vibe while talking to Young-soo. Meanwhile, Kwang-soo makes a strong appeal to Ok-soon, saying, “Didn’t I radio you, Ok-soon?” and suddenly starts crying in front of Ok-soon, raising curiosity about the next episode.

The romance of season 23, which foreshadows a love line that will be “more confusing after the confusion,” can be seen on ‘I‘m SOLO’, which airs on SBS Plus and ENA at 10:30 PM on Wednesday, the 20th.

Reporter Choi Yoon-na, Donga.com yyynnn@donga.com