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BTOB's Shin Peniel spills behind the scenes details about 'Kingdom' show and 3rd gen idol life

'We don't really care about our image or anything anymore. It's been 10 years,' said Peniel about BTOB's legacy as a third generation K-pop idol group

Ever since his appearance on the idol reality show, Kingdom: Legendary War, the buzz around BTOB’s Shin Peniel has been growing. The K-pop group BTOB debuted in the year 2012 and has been in the industry for the past decade. As a group gets older, its popularity usually starts receding but that is certainly not the case for BTOB. Infact, their stint on the reality show has made them more popular amongst the newer K-pop audiences.

Peniel is the only member of BTOB who has been exempted from enlisting in the military as he has American citizenship. He is also seen on various podcasts and videos with Dive Studios, co-founded by Eric Nam. His ongoing podcast with Dive Studios titled, ‘Get Real,’ features two other idols namely, Choi Ashley and BM from Kard, and they have conversations on a variety of topics including what it is like to be in the industry as idols with international citizenship.

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What it was like working on 'Kingdom'

After his appearance on 'Kingdom', Peniel started drawing a lot more attention than usual. On August 13, a video was released by LA based video creator and gamer JRE which featured Peniel. In the interview, JRE asked Peniel questions about his appearance on the reality show. Answering his questions Peniel talks about how the format of the show Kingdom was performance-based and his group, BTOB were not known for their performances.

Peniel then gave more insight about how the show wanted idols’ genuine reactions to other group performances which is why they were never allowed to see other performances live. He went on to talk about shooting for the show and how it was extremely draining for him as well other idols as shoots could last as long as 33 hours at a stretch. He explained that since the show had so much to do with performances, the sets had to be made live which took most of their time. 

Peniel dishes about 'favorite interaction'

When asked about his favorite interaction on the show, Peniel said that JYP Entertainment’s Bang Chan member and leader of the K-Pop group Stray Kids was one idol that he knew from before for a long time and had gotten very close again, all thanks to the show. He also went on to talk about how being a K-pop idol for the past ten years has made their interactions different compared to the newer rookie groups like Stray Kids, The Boyz, and Ateez.

Peniel says that since the newer groups had to maintain and create a new image for themselves, they needed to be civil and careful about what they said. BTOB on the other hand in Peniel’s words, “does not care anymore,” and They just do what they like. He said that since he was the oldest member in the performance unit of Kingdom, he was the leader and had very good interactions with his juniors.

He finally talked about his new comeback with BTOB’s sub-unit BTOB 4U. BTOB 4U is all set to make a comeback on August 30 with their new special album, ‘4U: Outside’ which will be their last release as a sub-unit before their other bandmates are discharged from the military.

Fans react to Peniel’s interview

Melodies were quick to notice that Peniel had talked about the group being very comfortable with one another as they tweeted a clip from the interview with the caption, "We don't really care about our image or anything anymore. So it's been 10 years." Other fans also joke about Peniel's humor when he names out fishes in an aquarium calling all of them 'fish.' One fan pointed at how Peniel is one member from Kingdom who has 'spilt the most tea' about the show and could get on his podcast with other participants. One fan said, "So BTOB Peniel’s favorite moment during Kingdom is when he got the chance to become close again with Stray Kids Bang Chan." about his favorite interaction on the show.