Former Cube Entertainment artists Lee Chang Sub, Park Cho Rong, and Son Dong Woon are drawing attention after candidly opening up about the intense and reportedly harsh trainee culture they experienced before debut.
The conversation came up in a recent video on Lee Chang Sub’s YouTube channel, where the three stars looked back on their trainee days and shared just how strict the system was during their time at the company.
According to Park Cho Rong, trainees were under constant pressure because they faced regular evaluations. She explained that there were weekly checks as well as end of the month evaluations, which created an atmosphere of fear throughout the training period.
Lee Chang Sub then gave the moment even more weight by explaining that the monthly evaluations were not just about improvement, but could decide whether a trainee stayed or was removed. He said the end of the month review was basically about “whether they would cut you or not,” while Park Cho Rong bluntly described the experience as “really terrifying.”
The most talked about part of the discussion came when Lee Chang Sub revealed how serious the weight standards reportedly were at the time. He shared, “They cut people without hesitation,” and added that “if you could not lose weight, you were cut too.”
He went on to claim that female trainees were expected to stay in the low 40kg range, while male trainees were expected to remain in the mid 60kg range, with slightly higher standards for taller trainees.
Park Cho Rong also backed up the claims by revealing that trainees were weighed every Monday, and Lee Chang Sub said the same system applied to him as well. He shared that he personally dropped from 80kg to 60kg after joining the company.
Adding to the emotional impact of the story, Park Cho Rong recalled a painful memory from her trainee years. She said that after struggling to lose weight, her dance teacher warned her, “Cho Rong, this is dangerous right now. People upstairs are talking about it.”
She then revealed that hearing those words pushed her into a deeply stressful moment, saying she remembers “crying while running on the treadmill.”
Their honest stories are now becoming a hot topic online as many viewers react to the pressure and strict standards they say trainees faced during that era.
Source: [1]
