Jeon Somi Refuses to Back Down as I.O.I Reunite After 10 Years and Spill Dorm Secrets

Eight members of I.O.I came together for the first time in a decade on the May 4th episode of SBS variety show Ani Geunde Jinja! (also known as AGJ), and it didn't take long for old dorm grievances to bubble to the surface. Jeon Somi, Kim Sejeong, Choi Yoojung, Chungha, Kim Sohye, Kim Doyeon, Lim Nayoung, and Yoo Yeonjeong made up the reunion lineup.

Host Tak Jaehun wasted no time throwing out pointed questions. "A reunion after 10 years? Why did you suddenly get back together, did you run out of money?" he quipped, before following up with: "It's been so long, you must have plenty of stories. Is anyone married?"

EXO's Kai, appearing as a guest, reacted with mock horror when dorm life came up. "You came back just to live in a dorm again? That hellish dorm life?" he exclaimed.

Jeon Somi quickly launched into one of her standout stories from the group's shared accommodation days. "There were a few moments as the maknae where I was genuinely upset," she said, recalling an incident involving Kim Sejeong. During a group meeting, an exhausted Somi had been lying down when Sejeong pulled her aside. "Sejeong unnie told me, 'I don't think it's polite to lie down during a group meeting.' And then all eleven pairs of eyes turned to look at me at once."

Chungha confirmed she remembered the fallout: "Somi was so hurt she came to me to vent about it afterward."

When Tak Jaehun sided with Sejeong, "How could the maknae just lie down like that?", Sejeong held firm. "I don't remember it, but even hearing it now, I still think she should have gotten up. Everyone was tired there," she said, staying completely true to her reputation as the group's rule-conscious straight arrow.

Kai then chimed in with his own trainee-era memories from EXO, recalling how the younger members would wipe down tables after seniors finished eating, set out cutlery, and clean the mirrors in the practice room. He did add, however, that the hierarchy shifts quickly: "After two years in a dorm, there's no such thing as 'hyung' anymore. Once you're past being the maknae, the maknae is the boss, because the older ones are the ones who get worn down," he said, drawing loud laughter. Chungha nodded in agreement: "Honestly, even back then, the maknae kind of ran things."

Somi also shared a perk of being in a large group: "If you fight with one person, you just hang out with someone else. You can have a whole argument and no one even notices."

The episode's most heated moment came when members named Jeon Somi and Kim Doyeon as the pair least compatible within the group. Somi explained that Doyeon had frequently taken issue with her tone of voice. "She once asked me, 'Can I eat some bread?' and I said, 'Yeah, go ahead,' and she snapped back, 'Why do you talk like that?'" Somi recounted.

Kai immediately took Somi's side: "That genuinely seems unfair. It was even your bread."

Doyeon offered a mild defense, "I was just sensitive about the way she said it", but Somi was having none of it. "I'm absolutely not apologizing. I'm going all the way to the end on this one," she declared, the stubbornness of a former maknae fully intact, much to the delight of the studio audience.