WayV’s Winwin Gets Brutally Honest About Trainee Life, Revealing He Once Fainted From Hunger While Following An Extreme Diet

WayV‘s Winwin recently got real about the dark side of being a K-Pop trainee, revealing that at one point he passed out from hunger while following a strict weight-loss diet.

While Winwin has not been able to participate in WayV or NCT‘s recent activities, he is set to make his acting debut with the Chinese drama The Shadow.

He has also been participating in variety shows since 2021. He has recently been guest-starring on the reality show Star Chaser, and a recent clip is drawing questions about what many trainees have to go through in order to become K-Pop idols.

In a humorously chaotic live earlier this month, fellow WayV members YangYang and Hendery spilled some details about what sort of tasks they had been asked to carry out as trainees at SM Entertainment. But while they discussed having had to write reports on songs and concerts…

HD mentioned other assignments they had to do like write-ups after attending sunbaenim’s concerts, filming 10-15 minute vlog-style videos with company iPad/cameras to practice foreign language and practice for how to talk ab interesting topics in future live broadcasts like this

— claire •◡• 🍊 🐻 (@missclaireliu9) June 7, 2022

…Winwin got real about an altogether different experience. Speaking on Star Chaser, he told his fellow cast members about the extremely strict diet he had to follow while he was a trainee; one which only allowed him one small meal a day.

I remember when I was overseas [in Korea], I needed to maintain my physique and be skinny. I only ate one meal a day, and I ate very little every meal. I ate things like boiled vegetables. It was to the point where I couldn’t take it anymore.

— Winwin

One day, Winwin was feeling hungry, so he went out to buy himself some noodles. But when he got there, he suddenly fainted.

Then one time, I went to buy something to eat. When I got to a place to buy jajangmyeon, I suddenly fainted. A lot of people were waiting in line in front of the place to buy jajangmyeon…I got there and I just fainted. After I fainted, the people were like, “What happened? Are you okay?” I regained consciousness and said I was fine.

— Winwin

Yet, he was so weak at the time that, as soon as he tried to get up he fainted again.

When I stood up, I fainted again. And I couldn’t remember where I was. The owner of the place quickly came over and fed me a spoon of white sugar, and I slowly regained consciousness.

— Winwin

Thankfully Winwin had his members that he could rely on, and they went to get him when he called. Yet, Winwin stated that that had been a really difficult time for him.

I called my members and they came to get me. It was a difficult time back then.

— Winwin

Many idols have come forward with their own horror stories about extreme dieting, some of which also got to the point where the idols in question would pass out. Some of these include BTS‘s Jimin and TWICE‘s Momo, who underwent such extreme diets that they both fainted on several occasions, with Momo even going as far as to say that she feared for her life.

While many K-Pop idols are arguably healthy and fit, the truth is that the industry continues to have unrealistic weight standards for both female and male idols. As an already slim person…

…Winwin shouldn’t have been losing so much weight to begin with, especially since he was still a child at the time.

Hopefully, Winwin is in a much better place now as an adult, and is able to eat well and maintain a healthy weight!

For more on how K-Pop companies calculate the ideal weight for idols, check out the following link.

Former K-Pop Trainee Spills On The Formula Companies Use To Calculate The Ideal Weight For Idols

And for more on what the WayV members have to say about their trainee experience, read the article on the link below!

WayV’s YangYang And Hendery Spill On The Unexpected Things SM Entertainment Trainees Have To Do During Training