TXT’s Soobin Shares The Concerning Diet Culture He Struggled With As A Trainee

With all its glitz and glamor, K-Pop also has a bad reputation for its strict standards that idols must abide by, and extreme diets are one of them. Idols like Ailee, TWICE’s Momo, and more have often opened up about their struggles with unhealthy diets while being under pressure to lose weight fast.

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Recently TXT member Soobin shared a similar story during a livestream on Weverse.

On September 21, KST, Soobin, along with Taehyun and Hueningkai, hosted a Weverse stream where they shared unheard stories from their trainee days at BIGHIT MUSIC. Though the boys were reminiscing their experiences jokingly, some of the incidents seemed pretty traumatic, especially given their young age at that time.

Soobin shared his personal memory of struggling with dieting during that time. He recalled when the company had put him on a diet regimen as a trainee, but he found it too difficult to stick to it always. Once, he got so hungry that he decided to sneak in food.

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The members explained that all the practice rooms at the old BIGHIT building had CCTV cameras to keep an eye on the trainees, except one room. Instead of surveillance cameras, it had a small window from where the staff could keep an eye on the trainees inside. Soobin bought kimbap and drinks from the supermarket and decided to eat in that room, pretending to be doing his homework.

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But, while trying to eat the food, Soobin felt someone’s gaze on him. As he turned around, he saw a rookie development team member staring at him through the window.

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While the members broke into laughter imagining the scenario, Soobin added that back then, it wasn’t a funny situation for him as a trainee. “The moment literally gave me goosebumps,” the TXT leader recalled.

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Though strict diets are the fate of almost every K-Pop idol, this anecdote was upsetting for fans, imagining how hard it must have been for a kid of that age to handle such situations.

no, i know he’s just telling us this as a memory, but i don’t think any of us realize the extent of how traumatic and abusive this kind of experience can be. and then, you ostracize idols over their views about body types. like…this is what they were going through as kids….

— soobie boobie (@hueningvibe) September 21, 2023

this boils my blood up, i hate that they had to go through this and i am so mad at people who accuse them of being privileged

— crizz is BACK FOR MORE ✵ (@abcsbinnie) September 21, 2023

All the companies are like this and it’s so abusive. No wonder so many idols develop difficult relationships with food and dieting

— Chaneli (@xxchanelixx) September 21, 2023

Fans hoped that the members have healed from these traumatic experiences and wished for a future where young trainees don’t have to suffer this much to debut.

Read more about the trainee day stories shared by TXT during this broadcast here.