Celebrity roommates

The new kids on the block of an upscale neighbourhood in Seoul are a starstudded bunch, including heart-throb actor Lee Dong Wook and boyish Chanyeol of popular boyband EXO.

No, it is not that the Seongbuk-dong neighbourhood is suddenly hot property among South Korean celebrities. Lee and Chanyeol live together with their nine celebrity housemates in a spacious house under constant surveillance for the filming of reality show Roommate, currently airing here on Korean channel ONE.

The show has done wonders for the careers of the lesser known stars, such as rookie actor Seo Kang Joon and comedian Jo Se Ho, who has a bit role in the hit drama My Love From The Star.

After toiling in show business for over a decade, the pudgy Jo recently uploaded on Instagram a selfie taken with hordes of fans in the background - it is captioned: "The first fan meeting ever of my life in Taiwan."

Together with his fellow Roommates, Jo met fans last month when they were in Taiwan for the show's filming.

Compared with Jo, Seo is getting his lucky break much earlier in his career. In an e-mail interview with Life!, he reveals that his schedule has been packed with upcoming projects.

"I am working very hard to reach out to my fans through various platforms such as movies, dramas and pictorial books," says the 20-year-old who debuted in the idol actor group Surprise last year.

"I am likely to release a Surprise music album in the second half of this year. In addition to Roommate, my fans can catch me on the weekend drama What's With This Family."

Roommate, a work assignment that crosses into personal boundaries, proved to be unnerving for the soft-spoken actor - it is no joke being monitored throughout the day by 60 cameras installed around the house, he says.

"On the very first day, the cameras installed in the house were bothering me. I was conscious about being filmed and worried about how I would appear on TV.

"On the second day, I decided not to be bothered by the cameras. I believed it was best to be my natural self and not bother how I would look on screen."

The shy actor had everyday household chores to think about. He says: "My concerns were things such as, 'Do we have to cook ourselves? What type of people would I be living with? Would I be able to get along with them?'"

The 11 celebrity occupants of the sprawling Seoul home are an eclectic bunch, including veteran rocker Shin Sung Woo, tough female mixed-martial arts fighter Song Ga Yeon and powerhouse singer Park Bom of girl group 2NE1.

The spunky Park was part of the show's original line-up, but her scenes have been edited out in recent episodes due to a controversy resurfaced by a South Korean newspaper.

The article questioned if Park was let off for an alleged drug offence in a 2010 investigation due to her celebrity status.

Watching celebrities during their downtime has provided interesting insights into their lives beyond their usual glamorous selves in the media.

The Roommate cast were shocked when they found out that Seo did not own a mobile phone.

When Life! asks him if there is a ban on mobile phones by his management, Seo says: "There was no oppressive control by my company. People are glued to their mobile phones these days, so our boss suggested that we could better spend our time reading books or drama scripts. My fellow group members and I made up our minds to follow his suggestion."

Another surprising fact revealed on the show was Seo's South-east Asian connection. During his teens, he had studied in Malaysia for two years at the Ipoh International School in Perak.

"My parents wanted to expose me to a broader world rather than just plain studying. I experienced the cultures of different countries, associating with people of different nationalities and races.

"Eating food with my hands at Indian restaurants and eating at a round table with a revolving rotating platter (lazy susan) at Chinese restaurants were all valuable experiences to me."

Although he did not manage to visit Singapore while he was studying in Perak, he says he has heard "that Singapore is very clean and well organised" and "would love to visit".

For now, Seo is still living in the Roommate house and dreads the day he has to leave his celebrity housemates.

"I would be sad and will miss my housemates. But I expect our strong relationship will continue even after we leave the Roommate house."

This article was first published on August 07, 2014.
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