When one of K-pop’s biggest stars marries a relative commoner, withdraws from the limelight, và escapes Seoul to lớn a wooded compound with a pack of stray dogs, the outside world is naturally curious.
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But four years after Lee Hyori moved to Sogil-ri in Jeju Isl& full time, she & her husband, Lee Sang-soon, decide lớn open up their home page lớn cameras, crew, and strangers to lớn run a bed và breakfast with the help of other celebrities they barely know. That’s the basis of Hyori’s Homestay, and South Koreans can’t get enough of it.
“They must have been curious about this house, right?” Hyori says to lớn her husbvà in the first episode, before any guests arrive. “While we’re at it, we can satisfy what they were curious about. Maybe people will stop ringing our bell after this.” (Spoiler alert: They don’t.)
Hyori’s Homestay—on Netflix, the show is titled Hyori’s Bed và Breakfast—has been a hit sensation on Korean television since it aired in 2017, having phối new ratings records for its network JTBC over its two seasons. It also won best entertainment program at Korea’s Golden Globes, the Baeksang trọng Arts Awards, this year.
While the basis for this show might sound familiar—a mega star whose fame peaked years ago gains modern relevance with a reality TV show—the end hàng hóa is nothing like the drama-stuffed American reality programming so many sheepishly describe as their guilty pleasure.
Instead, Hyori’s Homestay is a type of slow programming that reveals its charm with its beautiful setting và relatable characters, even if they do include Korea’s most famous celebrities.
Who’s who of Hyori’s Bed & Breakfast
The owners
Lee Hyori, ”chairman” of her namesake bed & breakfast, is legendary in South Korea, having been part of the girl group Fin.K.L., one of the first K-pop groups, which came lớn prominence in the late ’90s and early 2000s. Dubbed the queen of K-pop, Hyori was Fin.K.L.’s leader và transitioned lớn a successful solo career, reportedly becoming the highest-paid female singer in South Korea in 2006.
The unlikely couple
Before her husbvà, Lee Sang-soon, became “president” of the bed & breakfast, he was the guitarist for the group Roller Coaster, which the blog Allkpop described as an “acid jazz modern roông chồng band.” There was much interest in the two when they began dating, in part because people found the pairing odd. Sang-soon wasn’t a major celebrity và was seen as basically an average guy. Over and over again, guests—especially the women—remark that Sang-soon is better looking in person (but never directly khổng lồ his face because that would be rude).
Over the course of the show, this average guy gained a reputation as Korea’s “national husbvà,” seen as universally desired by Korean women because of how he dotes on his wife. “I heard that a lot of household wives are telling their husbands lớn vày better after watching the program,” Hyori said on the Korean talk show Radio Star in 2017.
The staff
Hyori & Sang-soon don’t vì chưng this alone. The producers skết thúc them an employee each season to help with the cleaning và cooking, but what the couple don’t expect (in the first season at least) is the star power of their staff.
Lee Ji-eun, who goes by the stage name IU, is often referred to as “Korea’s little sister,” having debuted as a pop star at 15. In 2014, she had the most No. 1 songs of any K-pop star & held K-pop’s record for the most weeks at No. 1, according to Billboard. She was also the most popular idol among South Koreans in 2017, according lớn a Gallup Korea survey (liên kết in Korean). So while Hyori, who is nearing 40, ruled K-pop past, IU, who is 25, rules K-pop presently.
Ji-eun trades in her microphone for a mop when she joins the show in the first season. Throughout filming, she reveals herself to be drastically different from her K-pop persona. She’s quirky, quiet, & prone lớn zoning off when left lớn her own devices. She’s not particularly good at cooking, but she is devoted khổng lồ her job and her bosses.
Im Yoon-ah (also stylized as Yoona) was a thành viên of the group Girls’ Generation, which has been likened to lớn an Asian version of the Spice Girls, & is currently an actress. Unlượt thích IU, Yoomãng cầu, who joins in the second season, is quite talented as a chef, impressing the innkeepers with her recipes and various kitchen gadgets.
Park Bo-gum, heartthrob movie star, joins the show in the second season khổng lồ assist Hyori và Yoona for a few days when Sang-soon travels lớn Seoul for work. He wins over Hyori and Yoona, the guests, and even Sang-soon, with his thoughtfulness & sweet demeanor. Bo-gum’s arrival mix new ratings records for the show, with its top producer calling it (links in Korean) the “Park Bo-gum effect.”
The animals
From the opening credits.
Hyori and Sang-soon, who started dating because of their work for animal-rights groups, have three cats & five dogs (six in the second season). The cats are Mi-Mi, Sam-sik (who’s often mistaken as pregnant but is just morbidly obese), & Sun-yi. The dogs, all strays, are Guana, Mocha, Soonshim, Ko-sil, Seok-sam, & Mi-dal.
The guests
Hyori & Sang-soon aren’t told anything about their guests—who they are, the form size of their groups, their genders, or how long they’re staying. But the producers, after reviewing more than 180,000 applicants over the two seasons, seem to lớn screen candidates for their thoughtfulness. Often they’re couples, families, friends, or coworkers, but sometimes they’re solo travelers. Some of the guests have very compelling backstories, but none bring any drama (the token Trắng guy, however, brought a lot of awkwardness).
The reality of Hyori’s Homestay
It’d be naive sầu to think Hyori’s Homestay is as real as it gets. This is a television show with producers &, as it becomes more apparent in the second season, sản phẩm placements. (It’s no coincidence the Dyson handheld vacuum from the first season was later replaced with nearly identical ones from Korean electronics giant LG.)
That said, the show’s quite unpolished and that’s a part of its charm. The hour-plus-long episodes of Hyori’s Homestay are far longer than they need lớn be—often chronicling the mundane, like doing laundry, grocery shopping, & fixing plumbing problems—which only reinforces the idea they’re showing what daily life is lượt thích at the bed & breakfast.
While there are occasionally beautiful timelapses và drone photography, the vast majority of footage—from inside the house, inside cars, or gathered by crew following the guests on their outings—is pretty average in unique and sometimes seem to lớn barely qualify as high definition. The show’s low-production value is only furthered by its very Asian-variety-show style of TV editing—for example, by replaying the same moment three or four times, and the liberal use of slow motion và cheesy captioning.
Creative captioning.
Also, their home page, while lovely, is not phối up lớn be a bed and breakfast. It’s a spacious loft that doesn’t seem khổng lồ have any doors inside, not even for the bathroom (they put up a partition khổng lồ give sầu guests some privacy). In addition to giving up their bedroom, Hyori and Sang-soon turn a nook by the stairwell that had served as an office inlớn a makeshift second bedroom by putting up a curtain to accommodate more guests.
At times when they’re surprised with more guests than they have sầu room for, they resort lớn creative solutions like renting an RV (a pair of backpackers also opted lớn sleep in their tents). Each night, Hyori, Sang-soon, and their animals retire to lớn a small standalone structure by the main house that serves as their recording studio when they’re not running an inn.
We love sầu Hyori
Voyeurism aside, it seems likely the reason viewers keep returning khổng lồ the show is because the people and the relationships seem so genuine.
Hyori, IU, Yoona, và Bo-gum don’t come off as divas, even if they’re cleaning toilets as a temp gig, và they don’t seem to lớn mind being surrounded by fans, who for the most part try lớn restrain their excitement of living with their idols (after the initial meeting anyway). There is no army of assistants fixing their problems nor is there a fixation on looking flawless—Hyori’s more likely to be seen wearing a bathrobe and slippers than makeup.
When it’s time for the staffers khổng lồ return khổng lồ their normal lives as Korea’s rich & famous, we see how difficult it is for them to lớn leave sầu Hyori and Sang-soon. Somehow staying at Hyori’s bed & breakfast, whether it’s for a few weeks or even days in Bo-gum’s case, appears khổng lồ have sầu deeply changed them. The same can be said for the guests.
When everyone departs, Hyori & Sang-soon still have each other, of course. Over & over, viewers see in the couple how effortless and simple love sầu can be. They’re patient and kind with each other, và constantly laughing. That’s probably what Korean women are really after—a relationship like theirs—more so than Sang-soon himself. (Of course, it’s easier when you don’t have sầu normal-people problems like needing to work or take care of children.)
This show was a big transition for the couple after holing up in their love nest for a few years, but partway through the first season they come to lớn realize there was a certain emptiness và loneliness to their lives, và they seem to love the experience of opening up not just their homes but also themselves khổng lồ others (though the couple did kết thúc up selling their house to the network because of frequent trespassers & break-ins).
What you find watching the show is that the retired pop star who escaped the glamour of her past lớn live a more down-to-earth life is actually quite down to earth. And though you know it’s television, you find yourself thinking Hyori, Sang-soon, IU, Yoona, và Bo-gum are people you could actually be friends with.
