Jeon Somi Reveals I.O.I's Dorm Secrets After 10 Years

Ten years is a long time in K-pop, and when nine of the eleven original I.O.I members walked back onto an SBS variety show stage together on May 4, 2026, the memories came flooding back — not just the performances and chart records, but the messy, intimate, sometimes tense reality of eleven young women crammed into one dormitory at the height of their fame. Jeon Somi, the group's youngest member, made sure none of that stayed buried.

Appearing on Ani Geunde Jinjja (translated as "No Wait, Really?"), the SBS talk show hosted by Lee Suji, Tak Jaehun, Lee Sangmin, and EXO's Kai, the reunited I.O.I members were invited to relive their dorm days in a segment styled around Lee Suji's fictional boarding house. What followed was a cascade of long-overdue confessions, roasted friendships, and the kind of honesty that only a decade of distance can unlock.

From Rivals to Roommates: Somi and Sejeong's Complicated Beginning

Before I.O.I ever existed, Jeon Somi and Kim Sejeong spent six grueling months competing against each other on Mnet's Produce 101. Somi finished first; Sejeong came in second. For most of that journey, they were direct rivals — the two women trading the top spot week after week in a show designed to pit them against each other in front of millions of viewers.

When the results were announced and they suddenly became teammates, neither of them quite knew how to handle it. "I was rivals with Sejeong unni for six months. We competed for first place every week, and then suddenly we were in the same group," Somi recalled on the show. "When we became a team, it was honestly difficult."

Sejeong, now one of South Korea's most recognized actress-singer crossovers, admitted the adjustment was no easier from her side. "I normally try hard to get close to people, but when I force it, I actually end up being less close," she explained. "I wanted to be friendly with Somi, but I was awkward around her."

That awkwardness came to a head during a moment that Somi has apparently been holding onto for a decade. During a monthly group meeting, a then-16-year-old Somi was lying down in her room — she had an early schedule the next morning and was exhausted. Sejeong, one of the older members, stepped in. "Somi, all the other unnies are sitting through this meeting. I don't think it's right for you to be lying down," she said, firmly but not unkindly.

Somi sat up. She listened to the rest of the meeting in silence. But what stayed with her wasn't the correction itself. "Unni was right," she admitted with a laugh. "But it was a lot for a 16-year-old." She paused for effect. "It wasn't even what Sejeong unni said that scared me the most. It was suddenly feeling eleven pairs of eyes all staring at me at once."

The Bread That Almost Ended a Friendship

If Somi's rivalry with Sejeong was the most emotionally layered story of the night, her conflict with Kim Doyeon was the one that had the studio floor in stitches.

When the members were asked to name the pair who fought the most in the dorms, the group's answer was unanimous: Somi and Doyeon. The culprit, it turned out, was a single piece of bread.

As Somi told it, she had stopped at a bakery on the way home from school and brought back bread for everyone. She left it on the kitchen table while she did the dishes. Doyeon came in, saw the bread, and asked: "Can I eat some?" Somi, hands still in the sink, replied simply: "Eat it." Doyeon's response was immediate. "Why do you talk like that?" She then turned around, walked to her room, and left the bread untouched.

"She didn't eat it," Somi said, shaking her head. "She went to her room. Over a tone of voice. Over bread." The studio erupted.

Doyeon, to her credit, offered an explanation. "The age difference between us is only two years," she said. "I think I was sensitive about the way she said things." The admission landed to warm laughter, the tension of the original story fully diffused by the affection that ten years of shared history tends to create.

When MC Lee Suji asked Somi whether she changed her behavior after being confronted about her attitude, the answer was swift and absolute. "Absolutely not," Somi said, grinning. "I'll go all the way."

Kim Sejeong's On-Screen Moment and a Room Full of Reactions

The evening's most visually memorable segment came when the MC team screened a clip from the SBS drama Business Proposal, in which Kim Sejeong starred opposite actor Ahn Hyo-seop. The clip in question featured a kiss scene. The reactions from her former groupmates were immediate and chaotic — members covering their eyes, shoving each other sideways, and releasing sounds that the show's editors likely had to work hard to keep clean.

Somi, ever the youngest, claimed she had never actually watched Sejeong act before. "Honestly, this is the first time I'm seeing Unni perform in a drama," she said, eyes wide. After the kiss scene played, her verdict was diplomatic: "It's a bit... hard." The word choice — "어렵네," roughly translating to "this is a lot to process" — brought the house down.

Kai, who has seen this dynamic play out in EXO with his own groupmate D.O. (Do Kyungsoo), offered a knowing perspective. "When it's someone you know, you see things other people don't see," he said. "Honestly, whenever any of us watches a member act, we're just mocking them the entire time." The comment drew the kind of knowing laughter that comes from people who have lived the exact same experience.

Ten Years On: The LOOP Comeback and What Comes Next

The variety show appearance was just one piece of a much larger 10th anniversary project that I.O.I has been building toward throughout the spring of 2026. The nine participating members — Jeon Somi, Kim Sejeong, Choi Yoojung, Chungha, Kim Sohye, Jung Chaeyeon, Kim Doyeon, Lim Nayoung, and Yoo Yeonjung — are set to release their third mini album, I.O.I: LOOP, on May 19. Original members Kang Mina and Joo Kyulkyung are unable to participate in this round of activities.

Ahead of the full release, the group dropped "Goodbye With a Smile" on May 4 — the same night as the variety show appearance. The track, produced by Jinyoung of B1A4 (who also produced several of I.O.I's original tracks including "When the Cherry Blossoms Fade"), was recorded during the group's original 2016 run. It carries the voices and emotions of that era, preserved and finally released ten years after the fact. The tagline the group has adopted for the anniversary — "It was never over" — feels especially apt given that the song itself is a time capsule.

The reunion, according to member Chungha, almost didn't happen at all — not because of reluctance, but because no one had formally asked. "I called the members and said, are we really going to do nothing for our 10th anniversary?" she explained during a recent appearance on Running Man. "Everyone agreed right away." The speed of that agreement says something about what this group still means to its members, even a decade on.

A concert tour has also been confirmed, with stops in Seoul, Bangkok, and Hong Kong — signaling that the group's reach still extends well beyond South Korea, as it always has.

Tak Jaehun's sardonic welcome on the variety show — "What's the reason for the reunion, did you run out of money?" — drew a laugh even from Kai, who admitted "that could be a reason." But judging by how quickly the dorm stories surfaced, how easily the members slid back into their old rhythms, and how naturally the affection between them filled the room, the real reason seems simpler than that. Some bonds don't require a financial motive. Some groups just come back because they were never really gone.