When I decided to take this daily journey counting the days served of G.O’s military service, I knew that there would be a wealth of G.O moments I would be able to write about and share. Admittedly, I would have loved to kept it primarily focused on his music. But in a way, that would do him a bit of a disservice. Even though G.O would probably describe himself a musician (and specifically, a vocalist) first and foremost, his time spent on the musical stage, small screen (and soon, big screen) as well as MC duties and his many appearances on variety programs offer us a window to the vast and infinite facets of his incredible talent. And then, there is his charm, which is always in overflow mode. But it was completely off the richter scale in Episode 41 of KBS2’s Invincible Youth.

I am pretty sure everyone is familiar with Invincible Youth, but essentially it was a variety program where a group of 7 girls from various Korean pop idol groups experience how it is to live and survive in the Korean rural outdoors. Various guests would come to the program to of course add spice and flavor, and in August 2010, the men of MBLAQ dropped by for two episodes. I am actually having a look at the second one first because I felt like being cheeky, and the show did serve up a very hefty and lethal combination of sensual G.O coupled with his ever-present humor.

And of course there was this grey t-shirt.

In this Summer Vacation Special episode the ladies were paired each with one of the guests. Our main vocal was paired with After School’s Joo Yeon. I love that the bulk of variety programs always had some kind of challenge for the participants and guests. When I watch Korean variety programming, my first thought is, ‘you would never see a Western idol doing this.‘ It’s a shame, too. I think this is why Korean idols are so very much endeared by their fans. In addition to the music, they treat their fans by taking part in various variety programs often putting themselves in vicarious and hilarious situations. It truly is another wonderful way in which they extend fan service.

When the challenge is the tantalizing game of peppero, however, feels and emotions can tend to get a little flared up, to say the least.

*Sizzle*

Did Joo Yeon even eat any of the pepper??? It looks like G.O did all the work and unfortunately they ended up in last place which meant they had to complete a mission. So first came the sensual and next came the silly.

Seriously, I was laughing so hard!!! Go into a haunted classroom, fight off disturbances by the ghosts, put on a pair of pajama pants, tie elastic around the pants and GET OUT! Oh…and if the ghosts attack and try to remove the pants, you have to fight them off and emerge with pants and elastic intact.

Who thinks of these things???

The challenge may have been grueling for our failed peppero pair, and I think G.O screamed as much as Joo Yeon, but they emerged victorious in their mission nevertheless, and G.O was able to smile about it in the end.

I think this has to be one of my fave variety appearances. It is a fun watch, and G.O….well he is as entertaining as he is gorgeous.

~♥~

[Video cr. KBS World TV]