This season of Single’s Inferno brought with it some of the messiest, cringiest, and perhaps most dramatic moments of the entire series. From “star players” like Choi Mina Sue shaking things up on the island to contenders like Shin Hyeon Woo completely fumbling the romantic bag, this was a season that definitely made for good old-fashioned reality TV (or, well, by Korean dating show standards).
While you can’t technically “win” or “lose” on Single’s Inferno, you can certainly shoot your shot or flop while you’re on the island looking for your new romantic partner. In honor of the season finale dropping on Netflix, we’ve compiled some of the players who’ve given us the most memorable highs and lows this season had to offer.
Spoilers ahead.
Jo I Geon: Loser
When I Geon entered Inferno halfway through the season as a surprise gamechanger, it seemed as if he had absolutely no competition. He’s hot, he’s an actor, and he excels at exhibiting cool dude behavior. What’s not to love?
Well, it looks like he may have played it a little too cool, because when it came time to express his feelings towards his main love interest, Kim Go Eun, I Geon completely fumbled the bag. Go Eun was one of the most popular girls this season, having had three male contenders fight for her affection. For a while, I Geon seemed to be on the top of her list, and the two had an undeniable chemistry between them when they spent not one, but two evenings in Paradise together.
But Go Eun’s the type of girl who needs her romantic partner to actually show what he’s feeling about her, and I Geon did not meet her standards. During the Truth Game at the final campfire dinner, I Geon gave what was possibly the worst answer to give when Go Eun asked him what he liked about her. “It would be faster if I listed the things I didn’t like,” said I Geon in Korean. Wow, real smooth.
Go Eun was not impressed, and when it came time to choose their final partners in the season finale, she chose her other love interest, Woo Sung Min, instead.
Lee Sung Hun: Winner
I never thought I’d find myself congratulating a New York finance bro, but Sung Hun did surprisingly well this season.
The quant trader walked into Inferno with his sights immediately set on resident pick-me girl Choi Mina Sue, but his romantic advances were repeatedly shot down. Never mind that he was Mina Sue’s shoulder to cry on when she was down bad for Lim Su Been, and never mind that he’d hinted again and again that he wanted to be more than friends. Mina Sue consistently chose other male suitors as her partners in Paradise, and it seemed like Sung Hun had been permanently banished to the friendzone.
Well, it looks like Sung Hun was playing the long game, and it paid off. He and Mina Sue spent their last days in Inferno going on lunch dates by the beach and sitting next to each other at the final campfire dinner. When it came time to choose who’d they be leaving Inferno with for the last time, they both chose each other.
Shin Hyeon Woo: Loser
Like quite a few of the other contenders on the island, Hyeon Woo decided early on that there was only one love interest worth pursuing. He’d fallen head over heels for Go Eun, and if that sounds cheesy, it’s because Hyeon Woo is also a ridiculously cheesy guy.
Some of his cheesiness initially came off as sweet, with the handball coach even waking up in the middle of the night to write a quick love letter to Go Eun. But when he eventually spent an evening in Paradise with Go Eun, his cheesiness ruined his chances with her. An example of said cheesiness: “Help me,” said Hyeon Woo to Go Eun, “How can I stop falling for you?” (At this, the panelists bent over in their chairs with second-hand cringe, and I couldn’t help but cringe with them).
Needless to say, Hyeon Woo’s pick-up lines did not work on Go Eun, as she ended up choosing Sung Min to leave Inferno with.
Park Hee Sun: Winner
There was a hot minute when even the panelists were shaking their heads and sighing, “Oh, poor Hee Sun.” This was because the Carnegie Mellon graduate was spending a lot of her time in Inferno competing against Choi Mina Sue for Lim Su Been’s attention, and things weren’t going in her favor.
Perhaps it was the production team playing tricks on us with the edit, but it seemed like Su Been was constantly looking around for Mina Sue, even if he was spending time with Hee Sun. Even when Hee Sun finally got the chance to go to Paradise with Su Been, Mina Sue was always there (I mean this literally: there was a whole double date situation where Hee Sun and Su Been went bowling with Mina Sue and Song Seung Il, and things got a little tense).
Despite the bumps along the way, Hee Sun eventually won Su Been over completely, and the two left Inferno together in the season finale. Although it’s yet to be confirmed that the couple is still together, there’s been a recent Instagram story floating around that shows the two of them cosying up and watching their season together.
Choi Mina Sue: Loser Turned Winner
It’s safe to say that Mina Sue has turned out to be this season’s most divisive player, considering how fans have responded (both positively and negatively, but mostly the latter) to her behavior on the island.
Mina Sue spent most of her time in Inferno unable to decide whether she liked Su Been, Seung Il, or Sung Hun (and sometimes Hyeon Woo, and sometimes Sung Min). Like a kid in a candy store, Mina Sue was trying to pluck these male contenders away from their respective love interests, and I think this is the real problem that people have with her. There’s nothing wrong with dating more than one person (especially on a dating show), but the former pageant queen seemed a little too inconsiderate about how her actions were affecting her fellow contenders.
However, Mina Sue saw the error in her ways and eventually backed down on pursuing most of the men on her roster, except for Sung Hun, whom she’d been keeping as a sort of platonic safety option for most of the show. But after the two began spending more time together and opened up to each other more, it looked like Mina Sue was genuinely starting to fall for her friendzoned bestie. The two chose each other as their final picks and left Inferno together.
