“Miss B”, who was part of a 7-member girl group under Yeil Entertainment, opened up about all the hardships she faced while training to become an idol, as well as after debuting.
She revealed that she was cast by the label to join a group of girls who were already set to debut within 6 months. As soon as she began training for their debut, her hardships started.
“Honestly, I had a short training period. I became a trainee right around the time when the group was debuting. I trained for about 6 months, so I debuted pretty quickly.
But that was more difficult for me. Everyone else was training for years, but I had to catch up within 6 months. I didn’t sing and dance on a regular basis before, so I had to catch up fast.”
— Miss B
Joining late in the game was no excuse to the instructors. Even tears of pain didn’t let Miss B off easy when it came to keeping up with the others.
“Dance training was the hardest. I wasn’t good at dancing.
I cried while I practiced doing a split, but they don’t go easy on you because you cry. They pushed me even harder.
It was also hard because we had to train past midnight. We would usually finish practicing around 4am, and we’d return back to the dorm to sleep a little bit and wake up early to start the day again.”
— Miss B
The hardest part about training was the constant need to diet and lose weight. Despite practicing for hours a day, Miss B rarely had the chance to eat well.
“I love to eat well. I’d eat 4 to 5 plates at a buffet, but I only ate about one and a half meal a day [while I was an idol].
I would split a bowl of rice into three portions and ration them throughout the day. But it wasn’t even a regular sized bowl of rice. It’s a tiny portion.
I was afraid that I would eat a lot if I ate sitting down, so I used to eat standing up by the sink. Or sometimes, I would eat right before I had to go practice. That way, I would only eat a little due to the lack of time.
Once I was so hungry while practicing, so I went up to our manager but he told me to drink water. I had to dance with nothing but water to sustain me.”
— Miss B
The trainees also had no privacy. Their CEO would take their cell phones and read their text messages. And particularly, Yeil Entertainment’s CEO would also prioritize the girls’ beauty than a healthy sleeping habit.
“We would get our makeup done in Seoul and travel down to Busan for our schedules. But [our CEO] wouldn’t let us sleep in the car on the way down because our makeup would get ruined in our sleep.
I would sit in the most uncomfortable seat where they keep all the clothes, just so I can hide and get a little bit of sleep.”
— Miss B
Their CEO would also make sure that the female and male trainees were constantly separated in fear that they may start dating.
“The company would make sure that we would never collide with the male trainees. Even if we would meet, we avoided eye contact and barely greeted each other.”
— Miss B
Finally, Miss B revealed the hardships that many idols face while living in a dorm with a bunch of other people. From bathing to sleeping, they had to sacrifice for one another while living in a tiny dorm.
“Four members shared the bigger room and three members shared the other room.
Washing up was the biggest problem because girls usually take a long time to get ready. There were only two bathrooms, so we would always be at war about who washes up first.
Everyone has their own lifestyle routine. But a bunch of girls had to live together suddenly, so that was also a challenge.
I used to read in the bathroom because the other members wanted to turn off the lights and sleep.”
— Miss B
Unfortunately, Miss B’s group wasn’t able to find success so they have since disbanded. She revealed that she’s currently working as a freelance model and enjoys her freedom to eat and sleep as much as she wants.
Watch Miss B’s full interview below:
