Jennie of BLACKPINK confirms her long-awaited return to entertainment television as a fixed cast member in a new prime-time reality format.
After two years away from entertainment-driven television formats, Jennie, member of BLACKPINK, is officially returning to the small screen as a permanent cast member of a new variety programme. The artist will join the main lineup of The Secret Friends Club, a new reality series from MBC set to premiere on 1 February at 6:10 PM.
The project marks Jennie’s first regular role in an entertainment programme since Apartment 404 in 2024, and represents a highly anticipated comeback for fans who have largely seen her focus on music, fashion and carefully selected creative projects during her time away from variety television.
Produced by TEO, the company led by renowned producer Kim Tae Ho, The Secret Friends Club introduces an original format built around anonymity, psychological gameplay and the act of gift-giving. Participants receive mysterious invitations to join a secret club, where they must interact without revealing their true identities.
The initial structure draws inspiration from the traditional manitto game, in which members secretly deceive one another while preparing gifts for an assigned person. As the show progresses, individual storylines evolve into a collective second phase, with the cast collaborating to create meaningful experiences for others, expanding the emotional scope of the format.
The cast brings together five sharply contrasting personalities: Jennie, former special forces soldier Dex, mixed martial arts fighter Choo Sung Hoon, television host Noh Hong Chul and comedian Lee Soo Ji. The combination is designed to generate tension, humour and unexpected chemistry.
Jennie’s professional relationship with Kim Tae Ho is well established. The two previously collaborated on My Name Is Gabriel, where Jennie spent 72 hours living the life of a woman named Maria, running a rural guesthouse near Rome — a project that revealed a more intimate and grounded side of the artist.
This return reinforces Jennie’s renewed presence in entertainment television, a space she first entered in 2018 with Village Survival, the Eight, and now revisits through a format that blends emotion, strategy and human connection. Her recent announcement as a special panelist on Transit Love 4 further signals a more active phase in her television career.
With The Secret Friends Club, Jennie expands her creative universe once again, reaffirming her ability to connect with audiences beyond the stage while revealing new facets of her personality without compromising her identity.
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