What Lee Gi-taek Said After Joining '2 Days & 1 Night'

When the news broke that actor Lee Gi-taek had been cast as the newest member of KBS2's legendary variety program 2 Days & 1 Night Season 4, his agency Keyeast moved quickly to confirm the announcement. But it was Lee Gi-taek's own words that gave the moment its emotional weight.

"I am honored to be joining 2 Days & 1 Night, a program that has been loved by so many people for so long," the 32-year-old actor told OSEN on May 14. "I still have a lot to learn, but I will work hard to grow alongside my seniors and give everything I have to this program." The sincerity in that statement caught fans off guard — here was a rising drama star, not performing excitement, but genuinely expressing something that felt like awe.

Lee Gi-taek is set to begin filming with his new castmates on May 22, stepping into the youngest-member role vacated by fellow actor Yoo Seon-ho, who confirmed his departure from the show on May 12 after three and a half years.

A Show That Runs on Chemistry — and How It Changes

2 Days & 1 Night first aired in 2007, making it one of the longest-running and most beloved variety programs in Korean broadcast history. The show's premise is deceptively simple: a group of Korean celebrities travel to different parts of the country, spending one night and two days roughing it out in unexpected conditions, bonding with locals, and competing in games that often leave the losers shivering in the cold. What the format lacks in glamour, it more than makes up for in genuine camaraderie.

The current lineup — Kim Jong-min, Moon Se-yoon, Lee Joon, and Din Din — has built strong chemistry with viewers over the current season. That tight-knit dynamic is exactly why every cast change carries weight. Fans don't just want to know who's joining; they want to know if this person can fit in naturally, if they can hold their own against veterans who've been on the road together for years.

Lee Gi-taek's arrival answers that question with a compelling backstory. Born in 1994, he debuted as a model in 2018 before pivoting to acting in 2020 through the web drama Two Women's Dangerous Cohabitation: In Seoul 2. What followed was a steady climb through prestige projects: tvN's The Devil Judge, TV Chosun's My Happy Ending, ENA's Namib, and most recently a high-profile lead role in JTBC's Efficient Relationship of an Unmarried Man and Woman opposite Han Ji-min and Park Sung-hoon.

From Drama Heartthrob to Variety Rookie

For many viewers, Lee Gi-taek's face became fully familiar during his JTBC drama run, where he played the younger love interest Shin Ji-su — a character local media described as a "dopamine-inducing younger man" who upended the heroine's perfectly structured life. The drama wrapped in April 2026, and within weeks, he was announced as the new maknae of a program that first aired when he was in middle school.

That transition — from dramatic heartthrob to variety rookie — is precisely the kind of energy 2 Days & 1 Night tends to use well. The show has a history of taking actors known for their serious, polished screen presence and watching them slowly, sometimes painfully, reveal the goofy, competitive, and surprisingly endearing person underneath.

There were already early signs that Lee Gi-taek had the self-awareness variety requires. Just before the casting announcement, he appeared on Coupang Play's Bonjour Bakery — his first fixed variety program since debut — and showed a lightness that his drama work hadn't fully showcased. 2 Days & 1 Night will test that further: the outdoor format, the sleep-deprivation games, the uncontrolled variables of traveling across Korea with cameras rolling. It's a different discipline entirely.

Yoo Seon-ho's Final Chapter and a Year of Goodbyes

The significance of this casting can't be fully understood without knowing who Lee Gi-taek is replacing. Yoo Seon-ho joined 2 Days & 1 Night in December 2022 as the program's first-ever member born in the 2000s. At just 20 years old at the time, he brought a generational freshness that the veteran cast — and particularly Kim Jong-min, who has been with the franchise for over a decade — leaned into with obvious affection.

His departure, announced on May 12, was framed as a mutual decision. "After deep discussions with the production team, taking many factors into consideration, we decided together on this graduation," Yoo Seon-ho's agency stated. His final broadcast is scheduled for May 31. He reportedly told castmates during his last recording: "2 Days & 1 Night is everything my twenties were made of — an experience I will never forget for the rest of my life."

That statement landed hard with fans who had watched him grow from a nervous newcomer into someone the older members visibly trusted. His absence will be felt.

What made Yoo Seon-ho's exit feel even more sudden was the context surrounding it. Earlier this year, comedian Cho Se-ho — a long-standing member — left following controversy involving organized crime allegations. That departure left the show running as a five-member cast rather than six, and with Yoo Seon-ho also leaving, 2 Days & 1 Night is now navigating its second major cast adjustment in 2026 alone. Lee Gi-taek's casting is therefore not just about filling one seat — it's about restoring the show's rhythm at a genuinely turbulent moment in its run.

Why Fans Are Already Invested

What's drawing early attention isn't just Lee Gi-taek's resume — it's how the age math works. At 32, he's still the natural maknae among the existing cast, but unlike the generational gap that defined Yoo Seon-ho's time on the show, Lee Gi-taek's age places him in a slightly different social bracket. He's old enough to relate to the veterans, young enough to absorb the physical demands of the format. That could make for a different kind of dynamic — perhaps less "baby of the group" and more "junior colleague who can actually keep up."

On Korean entertainment forums and social media, early reactions have ranged from cautious enthusiasm to genuine excitement. Many have noted that Lee Gi-taek's dual background in modeling and acting gives him a physical confidence that tends to read well on variety. The outdoor, often unglamorous settings of 2 Days & 1 Night have historically made those with too polished an image look stiff. Lee Gi-taek's range of drama roles suggests he's not someone afraid of going to uncomfortable places for the sake of the scene.

His agency Keyeast confirmed the casting officially, and production sources indicated that the team moved quickly to finalize his first filming date — minimizing the cast vacancy period — as a sign of how eager they were to get him on the road with existing members as soon as possible.

What Comes Next

2 Days & 1 Night Season 4 airs every Sunday at 6:10 PM KST on KBS2. Lee Gi-taek will appear for the first time in a recording scheduled for May 22, joining Kim Jong-min, Moon Se-yoon, Lee Joon, and Din Din on location somewhere in Korea — destination, as is tradition, undisclosed in advance.

The show's producers have been through enough cast transitions to know that chemistry isn't built in a single episode. But they've also seen enough arrivals to know that sometimes a new face is exactly what a long-running show needs to remember why it works. Lee Gi-taek arrives at a moment when 2 Days & 1 Night is genuinely recalibrating.

For now, his words on May 14 say something worth noting: a 32-year-old actor with a growing drama career and his first variety program under his belt called joining a KBS show that launched before he was in high school "an honor." In the Korean entertainment industry, where maintaining composure and cool is often the default, that kind of unguarded sincerity tends to stick.