Earlier in the week, I had been approached by one of my fellow interns. She said that there was a TV show coming through doing interviews of people who were really terrible singers. She asked if it would be ok if she signed me up. It sounded like a fun opportunity to get on TV, and I certainly fit the description (as you can tell in the video) so I agreed.
Having expected to be pulled into a nice quite room where I could embarrass myself in peace, I was shocked when tv studio staff members came into my office and began setting up a television studio around my desk. As it was happening, one of my other interns messaged me on gchat, "we're all watching you, better do a good job!!!"
What on earth had I gotten myself into? Everyone on the floor of the office was beginning to gather around my desk area, soon the hosts of the TV show were approaching me, the cameras were rolling, and it was "go time" for my interview.
I did the best I could to respond to the questions in my limited Korean. When I got stuck, I would whisper to one of the other interns for a little help. I gave a short introduction of myself, answered some basic questions, and did a respectfully lousy job singing a couple of Korean songs a cappella. It was going pretty smooth, but also pretty boring. It was clear that the hosts and some of my co-workers were expecting a bit more of a show.
"So do you know any pop? Do you dance?" asked the host. I hesitated, then decided "why not?" and went for it. "Sure I said, Michael Jackson, I like his song Thriller." The hosts got excited. Out of nowhere a karaoke machine appeared in front of me and suddenly I was standing on my own, surrounded by my Korean co-workers who were clapping to the beat and smiling eagerly. One of the interns on my team gave me a thumbs-up.
I had no idea what to do, so I just started to dance. I danced and I sang and had more and more fun with it as I went along. My co-workers all loved it and cheered me on. The experience was surreal. Soon I was bidding the hosts of the show goodbye and the temporary TV studio was being broken down and taken away.
The show is called 음치들의반란 or "Bad Singers Revolt." I was told that it will air sometime next month on cable tv in Korea. I will be interested to see the show, I still have no idea what its real premise is.
A day later, the whole thing still feels like a dream. The good news is that all of my co-workers loved me for it, especially the other interns, so I guess the risk paid off. How fond Michael would be of my actions is not so certain, I imagine he is likely rolling in his grave at the moment.
