SBS Plus ‘Manly Way to Travel’, YouTube ‘Choo Sung-hoon ChooSungHoon’, ‘Kim Jong-kook GYM JONG KOOK’ screen capture

Choo Sung-hoon, Kim Jong-kook, and Daesung of SBS Plus ‘Manly Way to Travel’, which has taken over broadcast, OTT, and YouTube, are amplifying expectations as ‘guaranteed hit makers’.

Premiering at 8:40 p.m. on the 21st, SBS Plus ‘Manly Way to Travel’ is a ‘raw and unfiltered travelogue’ of extreme-P alpha males following their instincts. Korea’s representative tough guys Choo Sung-hoon X Kim Jong-kook, and even the moderately manly(?) youngest, Daesung, present a testosterone-fueled bromance travel diary that unleashes pointless competitiveness, endless swagger, and grade-school-level silliness. As soon as production news dropped, program-related feeds poured onto social media, and a pre-release video surpassed 5 million views even before the first broadcast, stirring up buzz.

Every time they appear, it explodes: the ‘Manly Way to Travel’ trio of Choo Sung-hoon, Kim Jong-kook, and Daesung is drawing attention with a long-standing reputation as bona fide ‘hot-issue material’ and as blockbuster hit-makers. First, Choo Sung-hoon-Kim Jong-kook-Daesung once teamed up 16 years ago on the national variety show ‘Family Outing’. Kim Jong-kook and Daesung enjoyed explosive popularity as the ‘Squinty Brothers’, while Choo Sung-hoon posted a 25.1% viewership rating and, as the ‘most buzzworthy guest’, helped Sunday variety get swept up in the frenzy, completing a chapter of variety-show history that shook Korea.

While each has been active in his own arena, the three have recently been engaging vigorously on YouTube, monopolizing buzz among both existing generations and the MZ generation. Choo Sung-hoon, through his ‘Ajosshi’ YouTube channel that surpassed 2 million subscribers, ranked first among Korea’s most popular creators in 2025, and he has since appeared on various variety shows, becoming the ‘top pick for variety bookings’. Kim Jong-kook has exerted singular influence on long-running SBS shows such as ‘Running Man’ and ‘My Ugly Duckling’, even sweeping the 2020 SBS ‘Entertainment Awards’, while topping 3 million subscribers on YouTube to demonstrate broad-based power. On top of that, Daesung surpassed 1.4 million subscribers with his solo web variety ‘Jip Daesung’, and has announced a Coachella appearance this year, proving himself a global icon.

There is intense interest in ‘Manly Way to Travel’, where the untouchable chemistry that the ‘legendary trio’who left an indelible mark on the variety sceneachieve together and apart will come to bear. Two tell-it-like-it-is videos in which Kim Jong-kook appears on Choo Sung-hoon’s YouTube have a combined 30 million views, and every clip and short featuring the two keeps hitting big. A video of Kim Jong-kook and Daesung doing Pilates has 2 million views, while a scene on Netflix ‘Churai Churai’ where Daesung takes a low kick from Choo Sung-hoon has topped 1.2 million, heightening curiosity about the trio’s proven chemistry. Sometimes they spark ‘head-to-head’, sometimes ‘tsuntsun’, and sometimes ‘growl-and-yelp’ chemistry, and attention is focused on their rhythm together.

A tale of ‘towering loyalty’ also draws attention, as Choo Sung-hoon and Kim Jong-kook joined ‘Manly Way to Travel’ to honor their bond with PD Kim Jin-ho, who directed the show. Having teamed up four times with Kim Jin-ho PD on ‘Law of the Jungle’, Choo Sung-hoon accepted the offer last year without even asking about the details, despite being at his busiest with YouTube and many variety appearances, shining with loyalty. In addition, Kim Jong-kook did not forget a promise made 18 years ago while filming ‘Family Outing’, where Kim Jin-ho PD was the youngest producer, saying, “Let us definitely do a program together someday,” and decided to join ‘Manly Way to Travel’, delivering a pleasant surprise.

The production team said, “ ‘Manly Way to Travel’ is a program where you can fully savor the essence of ‘male variety’, from the intense taste of iron and the dazzlingly childish taste of competition to the spontaneity that can bounce in any direction,” adding, “We will show the ultimate in real variety, so please look forward to it.”

SBS Plus ‘Manly Way to Travel’ will premiere at 8:40 p.m. on April 21.