Weekly Idol
Weekly Idol is a South Korean variety show that debuted in 2011 and currently airs Wednesdays at 5:00 PM KST on MBC Every1. It is one of the longest-running variety shows to air on satellite TV in Japan.
The show was hosted during its first season by comedian Jeong Hyeong-don and rapper Defconn. On February 22, 2018 MBC Every1 announced that both hosts would be stepping down from the show.
Former Roo'ra member Lee Sang-min and comedians Yoo Se-yoon & Kim Shin-young were selected as the new hosts of the show's second season, which debuted on April 11, 2018. On November 21, 2018, it was announced that all 3 hosts, current producers and crew will be departing the show in January 2019, and a re-structuring of the program is expected.
On December 18, 2018, it was announced that the new hosts for the third season of the show are comedians Nam Chang-hee & Jo Se-ho and Hwang Kwang-hee of. The third season began on January 9, 2019. On February 12, 2020, it was announced that Jo Se-ho and Nam Chang-hee will leave their hosting roles, and there will be special MCs recruited to join Hwang Kwang-hee in hosting of each episode, starting from the episode on February 19 until the episode on April 15. On April 17, it was announced that Super Junior's Eunhyuk will join the fixed MC cast alongside Hwang Kwang-hee, starting from the episode on April 22.
Segments and corners
Pre-segment
Before "Idol of the Week", Weekly Idol had only one segment, "Real Chart! Idol Self-Ranking", where idols were asked to rank each other on different topics. This was later replaced by "I Wonder If You Know", where hosts, featured idols, Ilhoon, and Bomi guess one answer out of two choices given to them about idols, with food as prize. This segment was replaced by "Weekly Food Tasting", where hosts, featured idols, Hayoung, Mina, and N complete mission to win foods they want. The following segment was "Idols are the Best", where various missions were given to the featured idols, namely Jackson, Jooheon, SinB and Dahyun.A new segment was introduced on February 22, 2017, "Masked Idol: Your Name Is", where masked idols compete against one another: the winner gets to remove his/her mask and promote himself/herself and/or his/her group, while the rest have to attend the following week's contest alongside one new masked idol.
Main segment: Idol of The Week
The main segment of the show, called "Idol of the Week", features idol groups as the invited guests, and usually consists of several featured corners which vary from episode to episode:- Random Play Dance: the staff plays any songs that had been promoted by the guests randomly. A song usually stops at a random point or changes to another song while the guests must dance with the proper choreography for each song. It can also be shuffled from the same song, or songs from opposite gender.
- Profile Verification/Rewritten Profile: the guests comment their profile cards with the hosts, verifying or voluntarily proving the info before them.
- Win Against Idol: the guests play a game together with the hosts. If the guests can beat the hosts, the winning side will get the special prize and the losing side will get the physical punishment from the winners.
- Grill Idol: the guests must correctly answer some questions from the hosts; if they get the question right, they can eat the grilled pieces of Hanwoo beef that are prepared by the staff.
- DoniConi Idol Call Center: a special call center is prepared for one week before the recording of an episode, and the fans can personally call in and leave messages for the guests; some messages are then revealed to the idols during the recording. Some fans ask the guests to perform a request.
- Absent Member Call Center: a special call center where a member that is absent for any reason is called live, and they would be prompted to mention other members' names. The member mentioned the least number of times can get a prize. The first group trialed was EXID, Solji was the one receiving the call as she was still not medically cleared to return due to hyperthyroidism.
- 99 Seconds Challenge: the guests need to succeed a certain mission during a ninety-nine-second relay.
- X2 Speed Dance Challenge: the guests must dance to one of their songs in double speed. It was first trialed on GFriend, and is now one of the most popular segments.
- This Corner's Star Is Me: the guests themselves decide the punishment in categories of when, where and what to do, and then play games to settle the final decision on each of the categories. The losing team will carry out the punishment based on the categories.
- X2 Speed Random Play Dance: a special segment trialed on GFriend, where they have to dance to a random selection of their own songs in double speed. They only have one chance to win expensive prizes.
- Magic Choreography: the guests will be asked to fit choreography from one song to the music of another song. For example: EXID dancing Hot Pink to Mr. Mr. by Girls' Generation and dancing to Up and Down to Mansae by Seventeen, or when Red Velvet danced to Russian Roulette while lip syncing to Bubble Pop by HyunA, which they did.
- I AM a native speaker: A segment specifically for EXID due to the members' English abilities which vary greatly. Each member must give English clues for a word to German entertainer Dario without acting it out, and Dario can answer in either Korean or English. The member that gets Dario to answer the most questions gets a prize.
- Back to Debut: A new segment in 2019, where a group dances to their debut song in original hair and makeup stylings, but with minor costume adjustments.
- Do You Know This: A segment for younger idols born in the 90's or beyond, where they play a series of old playground games of 70's to 90's. The winners of the best-of-3 series of games wins a set of retro snacks.
An-hour special segment: Weekly Idol Award
Host
Current
- Hwang Kwang-hee
- Eunhyuk
Former
- Jeong Hyeong-don
- Defconn
- Heechul
- Hani
- Lee Sang-min
- Yoo Se-yoon
- Kim Shin-young
- Jo Se-ho
- Nam Chang-hee
"Idols are the Best" corner
- Got7's Jackson
- Twice's Dahyun
- Monsta X's Jooheon
- GFriend's SinB
Recurring Guest cast
Guest hosts
- Haha
- Sistar's Hyolyn & Soyou
- After School's Lizzy
- Infinite's Sungkyu & Hoya
- 4Minute's Sohyun
Idol Relay System
- Infinite's Sungkyu
- Super Junior's Heechul
- Apink's Bomi
- Girls' Generation's Sunny
- Super Junior's Leeteuk
- CNBLUE's Jung Yong Hwa
- Shinhwa's Andy
- Beast's Yoon Doojoon
- K.Will
List of episodes