Jeon Somi Has One Big Problem With JYP's Sex Education

Jeon Somi had plenty to say when she walked onto the set of SBS variety show Ani Geunde Jinjja (No, But Seriously!) on March 30, 2026 — and it did not take long for one particular topic to set the internet on fire. Appearing as a guest alongside MCs Tak Jae-hoon, Lee Sang-min, Lee Soo-ji, and EXO member Kai, the 25-year-old K-pop star turned what might have been a casual chat show into a candid look at life inside Korea's biggest entertainment agencies, complete with ghost stories, a three-passport confession, and a very public critique of how JYP Entertainment taught its trainees about sex.

The episode quickly became one of the most-discussed variety appearances of the year, with clips of Somi's candid revelations circulating widely among fans and entertainment insiders alike. Here is everything that went down.

Inside JYP's 67-Course Training Program

The conversation started when MC Lee Soo-ji brought up the well-known intensity of JYP Entertainment's trainee education system. According to Somi, JYP puts its trainees through approximately 67 different training programs — a staggering number that covers everything from character development and etiquette to academic management and even cybersecurity, including anti-hacking protocols.

When the panel pressed her on which program she found least useful, Somi did not hesitate: sex education. "I had already received thorough sex education at home," she explained. "My parents explained everything well. But JYP left out everything important and talked around it." She compared the approach to a standard middle school moral education class — technically present, but conspicuously vague where it mattered most. The comment drew immediate laughter from the studio and quickly lit up fan communities online.

Kai offered a useful point of comparison from the SM Entertainment side of the fence. SM trainees also go through a demanding curriculum covering speech training, etiquette, and academic performance. Kai noted that trainees were expected to keep their studies in order because, as he put it, "If I can't debut, I have to go back to school, so I managed my studies accordingly." He and Somi also had a friendly argument about the physical locations of the former JYP and SM buildings in Seoul — Somi insisting JYP was on Cheongdam's main street while Kai disputed the memory, claiming the old JYP building was near a donut shop in a dining area. The debate settled nothing but amused everyone.

For context, Somi trained at JYP from a young age and famously appeared on the 2015 Mnet survival show Sixteen, where she was eliminated despite consistently strong performances. She then won Produce 101 in 2016, becoming the center of project group I.O.I with 858,333 votes — still one of the most dominant wins in the show's history. She left JYP in 2018 and signed with THEBLACKLABEL, the label co-founded by hitmaking producer Teddy, where she has been building a global solo career ever since.

Three Passports and an 'Exotic' Compliment

Later in the episode, Somi revealed that she holds three passports — South Korean, Dutch, and Canadian — a reflection of her unique background as the daughter of a Dutch-Canadian father and a Korean mother. She uses her Korean passport most often, her Dutch one when traveling in Europe, and her Canadian one for trips to North America. It is a logistical reality for Somi that many fans may not have known about, and it prompted a warm discussion on the show about navigating multiple national identities.

On a lighter note, Somi shared an incident that fans immediately found relatable. While waiting in line at a tanghulu shop with a friend, she was wearing a hat and mask — a standard celebrity disguise in Seoul. A man approached her and asked for her phone number. When she removed her hat and mask to politely decline, the man did not recognize her at all. His only comment: "You look exotic." Somi delivered the punchline with perfect comic timing, and the studio erupted.

Kai chimed in with his own version of the story. At an amusement park, he found himself being followed by someone who eventually recognized him. When Kai made it clear things were not going further, the person's response was to ask if they could at least have his SNS handle instead. The exchange between Somi and Kai on the subject — two of K-pop's most recognizable faces swapping stories about going undetected in public — was one of the episode's most entertaining stretches.

Fortune Tellers, Ghosts, and a Marriage Prediction

Somi also opened up about a fortune teller visit that gave her pause. The teller told her that this year — 2026, at age 25 — is her peak window for marriage, describing it as the best possible timing and suggesting that later opportunities would be comparatively rare. Somi's reaction was a mix of amusement and something close to mild panic. "The timing is just not great," she said, prompting sympathetic laughter from the panel.

The fortune teller also told her that a "spiritual door" would open for her this year — a prediction that Somi claims has already come true. She told the panel she has seen ghosts four times since the prediction was made. The first sighting was in her own bathroom at home. The second, most dramatically, occurred in Rome, where she claims to have seen 200 ghosts at once. The Rome story drew audible skepticism from Tak Jae-hoon and the other MCs, though Somi maintained her composure throughout.

Tak Jae-hoon's best moment of the episode may have been his response to the bathroom ghost sighting: he suggested, deadpan, that it might have been fellow K-pop artist Chungha passing through. The joke landed perfectly, and even Somi could not hold back her laughter.

Her Father's Legendary Looks

One of the warmer segments of the episode came when the conversation turned to Somi's father, Matthew, a Dutch-Canadian man who turns out to have been something of a social phenomenon in his youth. MC Lee Sang-min revealed that he and Somi's father are friends, describing Matthew as "the best-looking foreigner I've ever met." When old photos of Matthew were shared, the studio reacted with visible surprise at how model-like his appearance was in his younger years.

Somi added her own detail to the portrait, explaining that her father was so striking that men as well as women took notice of him. "My dad was really popular with men too," she said. "When I was little, he would point out someone behind me and say, 'That person over there is interested in me, not you.'" She also mentioned that as a small child she had the chance to meet actor Hong Seok-cheon, who was acquainted with her father's circle. The anecdote painted a vivid picture of the kind of effortlessly magnetic presence Matthew carried in those days.

Somi in 2026: From Variety to Music

The variety appearance comes at a busy moment for Somi professionally. In March 2026, she collaborated with American singer-songwriter JVKE on the track "moonboy," adding to a growing catalog of cross-genre, cross-cultural work that has steadily expanded her international profile since her departure from JYP.

At 25, Somi carries the unusual distinction of having spent her entire adult life in the public eye — debuting on Produce 101 as a teenager and navigating the intense scrutiny that followed. The candor she showed on Ani Geunde Jinjja — talking openly about corporate training programs, identity, supernatural encounters, and her family — is consistent with a performer who has long since decided that authenticity is more interesting than careful image management.

Whether or not the spiritual door stays open, Somi's willingness to walk through it on national television made for some of the most talked-about variety moments of the month.