The Debt

Achieve fame as a K-pop star includes years of intensive training, and often some of the plastic surgery. Euodias is one of The Few British hopefuls to have experienced the gruelling life of a K-pop trainee. Here she describes what it was like, and explains why - After choice for a girl-group - stop it.

I was a child, when I made the big move from my home in the North-East of England to South Korea , where I trained for two years to a K-pop star.

At the time K-pop was largely unknown in the UK. But I'm half-Korean and half-Chinese, so I began to see South Korean TV-dramas such as Boys Over Flowers and Playful Kiss , And Then fell in love with K-pop and the whole culture.

While my classmates Spears and the Backstreet Boys were crazy about Britney, I was listening to also, Wonder Girls , and B2ST.

My burning ambition was to be an actor, and lead.

One Way of in South Korea is an "idol", which means that you are someone who is not everything: model, act, sing, and dance. So K-pop seemed to be a way to achieve my dreams.

from the age of 10 years, I played for several companies in The Hope that one of them would let me log in.

Often, this meant the sending of a " self-shot video of me. Sometimes I have school film audition tape skipped, what my mother really angry. to visit

Then, on A Family of my grandma's trip to Seoul , I got to go to a huge audition with More Than 2,000 other people.

We were always in a huge waiting room, like the kind you see on Britain's Got Talent, except there are no chairs. So we sat on The Floor in rows of 10.

waiting After six hours, I was at the range on it. My heart was beating so fast, as we were called, more one-by-one redirect.

to Stop When The First girl that sang, barked The Judge ". More!", before you have to The Chorus of your song. Almost everyone got the same treatment.

When it was my turn, I performed a monologue from a Korean TV drama. The Judge held me halfway.

"We're looking for singers," he said. "So are you going to sing?" I had not prepared a song, but I had a do to go to A Whole New World from Disney's Aladdin.

The Judge stopped me and asked me to See Me dance. I had prepared myself that either, and felt like an idiot. So put on a dance track, and I have to style some free.

After consulting with the assistant of The Judge a yellow leaf gave me paper. I was through to the next stage.

you pointed me in a room, in which I was asked to walk along a line with tape on The Floor and my face was photographed from different angles to how I would look in front of the camera.

Within a few days I was again asked to be with a parent to discuss part of a Contract .

Under the terms of The Contract , I would leave My Family and move To Live to South Korea and train at The Company .

If I chose to leave before The Contract was terminated, would I have to repay the full cost of my training, that would be in the thousands of dollars.

mom reluctantly signed a two-year Contract - the shortest that you offered in my name.

After The Meeting , we had an argument, and mom didn't speak to me for a month.

Soon After I started as an Intern, the transferred records entertainment company, under me, my Contract to another company. Such movements are frequent and students have no say in The Matter .

My new company was strict. I had To Live in your house with The Other interns, who were all between the ages of nine and 16. The sexes were separated.

We just leave The Building , to our regular classes. Korean trainees went to local state schools, but also because I was English, I went to an international school. Other than that, we were not allowed, without permission, is rejected in the rule.

If Parents Wanted to visit, you had the approval in advance. Related, be transformed, without that was notice rejected.

would get to Wake up On a typical day, we trainees at 5 in the morning, some extra dance practice before school started at 8 o'clock.

As The School day ended, we again have The Company , a training in singing and dancing. Trainees remain in practice to impress until 11 p.m. or later, in an attempt trainers.

that night, we were left to look After us. We had a lock-in strict output, to ensure we would be back in the dorms, before they locked The Building .

Dating is banned, although some secretly. The trainees were not all the actions will be, especially if you were. Everyone seemed to be, was openly gay, is excluded from society.

Both male and female trainees would have the "Manager" uncle-type figures, the text would hold us in the night tabs on us. If we are not on this text, then we would immediately take a phone call and was asked where we were.

It was not such a thing as weekends or holidays. On national holidays such as the Lunar New Year , apprentices in The Building would remain in The Company , while employees took The Day .

The Company sorted us into two main groups, kind of like a Team A and Team B . I was one of the 20 to 30 members of the Team - we were thought to be The Most potential.

Team B had approximately 200 trainees. Some of them had even had to pay their way in The Company . Train you could know for years and years and never whether you actually "Debut " - the word that is used, if someone started as a K-pop artist.

Team A trainees slept in dormitories with four girls to a bedroom. The regular apprentices would sleep together in a big room and had to floor with mats on a wooden

I looked exhausted from Team B , the apprentices sleep in The Dance studios, " After the training, because the mats were there, just like The Ones in their dorms.

I only ever saw a Team B trainee promoted to Team A. If Team A daze, the trainees bad, or complained about something, what threatens you, perhaps, thrown, or moved to Team B .

But in General, no one complained. We were all very young and ambitious. The setting of The Company was that everything that we have learned, was part of the learning, the discipline that is necessary to have a K-pop idol. So we just accepted everything.

Within The Company building, we have not with Our Own name, except with other trainees. We were each provided with A Number and a stage name, in accordance with the type of character, had selected for us.

I was given the name Dia, but our teachers would always shirts not only call us by our numbers you read from the label on our T -. It felt weird, a bit as if we were in a kind of scientific experiment.

I knew I had the attributes to become a successful idol.

The Company has preferred me because I'm a very Small person - instructors praised constantly, me as a petite. Don't get me wrong, I love food, but I'm happy, have a high metabolism and don't gain weight easily.

weight was the constant obsession of everyone there. Everyone was required to be not heavier than 47kg (7st 6 lb or 104lb), regardless of their age or size.

weekly weigh-ins, your body would be the coach analysed, And Then they announced her weight to everyone in The Room .

If you have had the appropriate weight, they would eat their ration. Sometimes they would even bring in entire meals, and the "overweight" trainees would be given only water.

If you thought support for eating disorders, help and support

I, that was really hard, because some of The Girls couldn't help, big.

to was Starving really normalized. Some trainees were anorexic or bulimic, and many of The Girls ' periods don't have.

It was customary, passed out from exhaustion. Often we had to help, to halls lead to the unconscious trainees back to sleep.

I went twice, during The Dance practice, probably because I was dehydrated or had not eaten enough. I woke up in the bed and didn't know how I got there.

The attitude among the trainees then was like, "Good for you! You want it so much!" Looking Back on it now, I think it was really disgusting.

I found that I was not really good friends there, each more like a colleague. The Environment was much too tense and to forging competitive and real friendships.

The stressful atmosphere was reinforced by the monthly showcase events. Each Intern would be in front of everyone, and evaluated by the instructor.

If a trainee does not grade well, then you would be kicked out immediately.

I felt, to slip away like my dreams.

Source of news: bbc.com