1.1 billion protagonists forgotten with the end of ‘Mr. Trot 2’

Although it was predicted that there would be no 'second Lim Young-woong', the results were even more disastrous. This is the story of Son Tae-jin and Ahn Seong-hoon, the 'unlucky first place winners' who have been forgotten in the public's memory as if it were a month after they were crowned with glory and the noisy Trot audition program ended.

There were many controversies and troubles, including controversy over the contestant's history of violence and controversy over the judges' qualifications and personal connections, but in the end, the winner was decided. They are Ahn Seong-hoon of TV Chosun's 'Mr. Trot 2' and Son Tae-jin of MBN's 'Burning Trotman'. The two received a total of over 1.1 billion won, 500 million won and 630 million won respectively.

However, Son Tae-jin was overshadowed by Hwang Young-woong, who was overwhelmingly first place in 'Burning Trotman', and only came to light in the latter half of the film. When Hwang Young-woong withdrew from the finals after his assault history was revealed, Son Tae-jin, who was in second place, rose to first place. As strong as Hwang Young-woong's fandom was in 'Burning Trotman', Son Tae-jin was unable to bring out much firepower even though he won.

Ahn Seong-hoon also ranked first in the text voting for the finals of 'Mr. Trot 2' with 27.55% of the votes. This is a higher figure than the vote rate of 25.32% for Lim Young-woong, who won the title of 'Mr. Trot 1'. However, there was a huge difference in the number of votes. Ahn Seong-hoon received 583,900 votes, and Lim Young-woong received 1,374,748 votes, which is nearly three times more. This means that public interest is significantly low.

Is that why? Now, a month after the program ended, the huge popularity for Son Tae-jin and Ahn Seong-hoon was not felt. Song Ga-in, who was Jin of 'Miss Trot 1', became a huge hit, while Ji-eun Yang, Jin of 'Miss Trot 2', received relatively less attention. It's impossible to even compare him to Lim Young-woong.

Spin-off program performance is also poor. 'Burning Trotman's' spin-off entertainment show 'Burning Roses' has a viewership rating of around 5%, which is about one-third of 'Burning Trotman'. 'Mr. Trot 2' spin-off 'Mr. Trot 2 Talk Concert' also recorded 9.9% in its first episode, which is only half of the average viewer rating of 'Mr. Trot 2'. To audition entertainment, compared talk shows require fan sentiment for the contestants. Poor performance means there is little public interest in the cast.

It is difficult to find Ahn Seong-hoon and Son Tae-jin's sound source even on the music charts. The number of Naver official fan cafes for both Son Tae-jin and Ahn Seong-hoon is around 10,000. Lim Young-woong and Son Ga-in have about 190,000 and 60,000 people, respectively.

The audition was hot, but reality was cold. Son Tae-jin and Ahn Seong-hoon won the crown after beating the competition rate of 15,000 to 1 in the preliminaries, but failed to win more than the prize money. Since he is a singer with ample musical talent and charm, he may need more time. Attention is being paid to whether they will be able to reveal their presence to the public with their own charm without the halo of a disappeared program.

Taeyuna, Ten Asia Reporter youyou@tenasia.co.kr