All those wannabe pop stars dreaming of fame and fortune, take note. Stardom comes at a cost, as two Singaporean K-pop hopefuls are finding out.
Ferlyn Wong and Elaine Yuki Wong were picked from a mass audition here last year and will join three Korean girls to form a yet-to-be-named group that will debut in South Korea in March next year.
Back home in Singapore from Korea last week for a two-week visit, the two girls told LifeStyle about the gritty reality behind the glitz.
They had spent a week in Seoul getting their first taste of the gruelling regime of exercising and dieting they will have to endure for five years under the Korean star-making machine.
Elaine, 23, says: "I didn't expect it to be so tough. But since we are scheduled to debut in March next year, the intensive training is necessary. We have to be at our best."
Their experience of being groomed for stardom has been more like undergoing a military boot camp.
This has been their regime five days a week, with weekends off:
Get up at 7am. Eat breakfast consisting of a few low-fat biscuits and lettuce.
Go for 21/2-hour gym session.
Swim for two hours.
Lunch, well, no lunch actually. Must count those calories.
Snacks (if the girls complain of hunger) - a banana or a few low-fat biscuits.
Dance class after lunch, for up to four hours.
Dinner - boiled chicken breast and salad.
Finish dinner by 7pm. After that, they are not allowed to eat or drink anything; apparently drinking will make them look bloated in the morning.
After dinner, vocal, acting and Korean language lessons.
10pm, free time. The girls are given back their mobile phones, which their Korean manager keeps during the day so they cannot use them.
They can use the Internet to communicate with their family and friends but it is no more personal Facebook and blog accounts for them.
No boyfriends are permitted, either. Luckily, both girls say that they are single at the moment.
And no make-up - the girls are supposed to have a minimal, natural look.
Other orders: When out with their managers, they have to wear sunglasses which they must not remove in public, even when indoors.
Add to that new look, new identities: They have to use Korean stage names, with Elaine's being Yuki and Ferlyn's, Gieun.
Elaine, who has graduated from her studies in tourism and hospitality management at private school Kaplan, says: "I get hungry very easily and I would complain once every two to three hours. Luckily, my minders give me a banana or a few low-fat biscuits when I complain."
One of the aims of the week was to build up their stamina and whip them into shape.
Ferlyn, who is deferring her business studies course at Temasek Polytechnic for her shot at stardom, says: "It is very tough, but it is something that previous female stars have gone through before. They survived and are fine now, so I am not worried that it would affect my health or anything like that."
The 19-year-old has been ordered by her minder to lose 3kg during the two weeks she is back here. If not she will 'die' when she returns to Korea, she says with a laugh.
Ferlyn, who weighed 52kg before she went to Korea, says: "I have only soup these days when I am in Singapore: tofu soup, seafood soup, seaweed soup, fish soup. I feel hungry sometimes, which is why I try to have more small meals a day. It works though, I have already lost 2kg in a week."
The local duo are being handled by Korean minders who are well-known in the industry and have managed big Korean names such as Girls' Generation, Rain and Dong Bang Shin Ki.
The training they are undergoing is similar to what those big names went through to crack the big time and make millions of dollars.
Local talent management company Alpha Entertainment pays for everything during the training period. The girls do not get any allowance during this time.
After they debut, they will be paid once every three months - a net sum and any profits they earn.
They went to Seoul after being chosen from more than 3,000 hopefuls by Alpha Entertainment in an audition held here late last year to find K-pop's next big thing.
Ferlyn's previous entertainment experience consisted of learning singing and dancing for many years. She was a dance instructor at Chinese pop entertainment company Ocean Butterflies before the life-changing audition.
As for Elaine, she does not have any prior experience but had been doing freelance modelling on a regular basis.
Next weekend, it is back to Korea to continue their rigorous training, coming back to Singapore only once every three months to visit their family.
They will stick with Alpha Entertainment under a five-year contract which starts on the first day they debut. If either of them wants to quit during the training period, they have to pay a penalty of US$20,000.
With about five to 10 Korean rookie groups debuting every year, competition is stiff. Some bands such as five-member male group Beast made a strong impression when they emerged, but there are others who toil for years before making it - and some fizzle out altogether.
OK to diets, plastic surgery
Elaine had her concerns as well. She says: "Initially, I had my doubts. I had to shut down my blog which was my source of income through advertisements and I wondered what I would do if we didn't make it big in a saturated market.
"However, I have decided not to think so much anymore. Since I have decided to go for it, I should work hard and perform well when the group debuts."
But such is the pull of the fame game and she and Ferlyn are undaunted.
They are even prepared to undergo plastic surgery, common among Korean pop stars. Ferlyn wants to have double eyelids, while Elaine has thought about enhancing her nose.
However, Elaine, who before being selected for K-pop camp was earning her own money from modelling and blogging, says: "We asked our minders in Korea and they told us that we look fine and do not need to go for plastic surgery. So, we are not thinking about that issue anymore."
The duo were wary about one aspect of the Korean entertainment industry: the casting couch, where rising stars have to perform sexual favours in return for landing roles in shows. But their Korean minders have assured them that no such thing will happen as they will keep tabs on them all the time, even when they go to the restroom.
Ferlyn's parents are unfazed by the K-pop boot camp. Her mother, housewife Rosy Ng, 48, says: "What the girls have gone through so far has been quite reasonable. The company has invested a lot in them, so they need to work hard for the company. I am not worried about Ferlyn. I want her to follow her dreams and make it big."
Alpha Entertainment says it is investing S$500,000 in each girl to turn her into a star .
As for Elaine, her mother, a housewife in her 40s who wants to give her name only as Mrs Wong, has told her: "No matter what happens in Korea, do not do anything stupid. Remember that your family is always here for you."
