MBC unveils K-idols to star in New Year sports special
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Rebecca Hawkes
| 12 December 2018

South Korean broadcaster MBC has enlisted a host of K-Pop celebrities for its 2019 Idol Star Athletics Championships, set to air over Lunar New Year.

For the first time in eight years, idols from Korea’s three largest entertainment companies – SM Entertainment, YG Entertainment, and JYP Entertainment – will all participate in the star-studded television spectacular.

The current line-up includes Super Junior, TWICE, SEVENTEEN, Red Velvet, MONSTA X, NCT 127, Stray Kids, (G)I-DLE, MOMOLAND, ASTRO, The Boyz, gugudan, Celeb Five, and Golden Child. iKON will also be making their first-ever appearance on the Idol Star Athletics Championship.

Now in its ninth year, the special event will be broadcast by MBC over the Korean Lunar New Year holiday, which runs from 4-6 February 2019. Filming for the programme will commence on 7 January at the Samsan World Gymnasium in Incheon.

Jun Hyun Moo, Super Junior’s Leeteuk and TWICE will be the main MCs for the event in Incheon, while Girl’s Day’s Yura, Super Junior’s Shindong and comedienne Kim Shin Young will MC the separate bowling event from Seoul.

The competition sees the K-Pop stars compete in a range of other sporting events, including jokgu, archery, rhythmic gymnastics and track and field. This year a new penalty-shoot out event will also be added to test contestants’ football skills.