Breaking Down the Ending of Single’s Inferno Season 5

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The Korean dating show Single’s Inferno has been a hit with audiences for over five years. Since its Netflix debut in December 2021, each season drops a group of attractive single Koreans onto a remote island with limited supplies. The only way to escape is to form romantic connections strong enough to earn them a short getaway – an overnight date at a fancy hotel called “Paradise.”

The latest season of Single’s Inferno, Season 5, is being praised as a strong return to the show’s roots. While the series has remained popular, it hasn’t always successfully sparked many lasting romantic relationships. Changes to the format have had mixed results; allowing contestants consecutive “Paradise” dates helped build stronger connections. However, additions like the second “Inferno” camp in Season 3 actually made it harder for romance to develop.

Okay, so heading into Season 5, after all the focus on Lee Si-an’s love life in Season 4, the producer, Kim Jae-won, really wanted to strike a good balance. He didn’t want to reinvent the wheel, but he did want to make sure there was enough new stuff to keep things interesting and let all the contestants really shine. Basically, he told me they weren’t planning any huge format changes – they just wanted everything to feel authentic and let the personalities of the cast come through.

Netflix’s Single’s Inferno Season 5 has become a huge hit, reaching over 45 million hours viewed in its third week as one of the platform’s most popular non-English shows. Now that the finale aired on February 10th, let’s take a look at the relationships and connections formed by this season’s contestants.

Choi Mina Sue becomes the season’s breakout character

The latest season kicked off with a surprising move in January: the two most popular contestants, one male and one female, were immediately sent on dates to a romantic getaway. Back on the main show, the producers introduced a group of new contestants earlier than usual. While it’s common for the show to add people mid-season to shake things up, this time they hoped to spark connections right away. According to a producer named Kim, the change was inspired by earlier seasons where contestants bonded quickly through shared activities like cooking and writing letters to each other. They wanted to recreate those intimate moments but move the season along at a faster pace.

Kim was happy with how quickly connections started forming between the contestants. A lot of these connections involved Choi Mina Sue, a student at the University of Illinois, and several of the male contestants, like fashion marketer Song Seung-il, model and former baseball player Lee Su-been, and quant trader Lee Sung-hun (also known as Samuel Lee). Throughout the season, Mina Sue became a popular topic of conversation because she struggled to make up her mind about who she liked.

Kim believes Mina Sue was completely honest with herself throughout Single’s Inferno Season 5, which is difficult when being filmed. She admires Mina Sue’s willingness to be vulnerable and admit when she was conflicted, even if it meant appearing inconsistent. Kim felt this openness took courage.

Producers of Single’s Inferno were surprised by the strong reaction to Mina Sue’s storyline, which led to some viewers labeling her a “pick me girl” and creating negative viral edits. They don’t watch every conversation as it happens during filming. Kim, a producer, shared that editing the show was enjoyable because it revealed Mina Sue’s complex inner thoughts. She expressed gratitude for Mina Sue’s honesty and believes that well-rounded, multi-faceted characters make for compelling content, whether in movies, series, or reality TV.

Casting Single’s Inferno’s biggest season yet

According to Kim, the most important thing about Single’s Inferno is the contestants’ personalities, which is why choosing the right people is crucial. While initial seasons focused on charm and looks, they realized effective communication became more important over time. Contestants need to be able to genuinely connect and share their feelings with each other. However, finding people who can truly communicate on camera is challenging. Kim explains that some contestants seem great during interviews, but then become shy or less engaging once they’re on the island.

For Season 5 of Single’s Inferno, the producers added a new stage to the interview process. According to Kim, they created a practice interview that closely mirrored the conversations contestants would have on the show. This allowed them to get a better sense of how each person would behave and communicate while on the island.

The show also featured more contestants each season. Season 1 of Single’s Inferno started with six men and six women. Season 4 brought seven women and six men to the island. By Season 5, the cast expanded to seven women and eight men, which created more opportunities for connections. According to Kim, the show’s creator, “What I’ve learned over the seasons is that people aren’t simply good or bad—it’s about whether they have good chemistry with each other. To show all the different kinds of chemistry, you need a diverse group of people.”

Single’s Inferno Season 5 finale love matches

Season 5 saw a positive change, as more contestants were able to form romantic connections. Although Ham Ye-jin, a freelance announcer, and model Lee Ha-eun didn’t find love and left the show single, the remaining cast members all pursued relationships during the finale.

After Choi Mina Sue changed her mind halfway through the season, model Kim Go-eun became the most popular contestant. As the finale approached, three men were competing for her affection: optician Woo Sung-min, handball coach Shin Hyeon-woo, and actor Jo I-geon. Ultimately, Go-eun chose Sung-min, whose calm and reliable personality struck a balance between Hyeon-woo’s enthusiastic flirting and I-geon’s playful charm.

Mina Sue’s inconsistent behavior during the season caused Su-been and Seung-il to lose interest in pursuing a relationship with her. But Sung-hun, who bonded with Mina Sue over their mutual ease with speaking English, remained consistently interested. In the end, they chose each other, leaving the show together as a couple even though they hadn’t had a chance to go on a date in Paradise.

After things didn’t work out with Mina Sue, Su-been began spending more time with Park Hee-sun, a student at Carnegie Mellon. Although Hee-sun was initially hesitant after learning Su-been had shared a bed with athlete Kim Min-gee during their time in Paradise, she decided to give their connection another chance. They were even filmed watching the finale of Single’s Inferno together, suggesting they continued to see each other after the show ended.

I watched Min-gee and Su-been share a bed in Paradise, but it became clear she was still in love with Seung-il. They finally talked things through before the final ceremony and seemed genuinely happy together for the rest of the episode. It was really sweet to see!

The same is true for dancer Kim Jae-jin and ceramic artist Lee Joo-young. Though office worker Youn Hyun-jae also asked Joo-young to leave the show with him, she had already made it clear to both him and Jae-jin that she preferred Jae-jin. Many viewers believe Joo-young and Jae-jin have the strongest connection and are the most likely couple to continue their relationship after Single’s Inferno.

Single’s Inferno Season 6 and beyond

Despite contestants on Single’s Inferno usually keeping their relationship statuses a secret – and no couples from the first four seasons remaining together – the fate of the romances from Season 5 will be revealed in the Season 5 reunion, which airs on February 14th.

Kim explains that the show’s producers want to continue featuring a wide range of contestants in future seasons, similar to what viewers saw in Season 5. He says they aim to include a large and diverse group of people to bring different viewpoints and make the show more interesting. Maintaining this level of diversity will be a key focus and a challenge for the production team.

A unique situation in Season 5 that likely won’t happen again involved a contestant choosing to skip a date to Paradise. After Go-eun was selected by I-geon, leaving her unavailable, Hyeon-woo actually asked the show’s producers if he could decline his won Paradise date. According to producer Kim, they discussed it and ultimately allowed him to do so, feeling it was the best decision for him at the time.

Kim explains that future contestants on Single’s Inferno probably won’t have the same choice as the current cast and will be required to go to Paradise when it’s their turn. She worries that allowing contestants to skip Paradise repeatedly could lead to problems, potentially discouraging others from going at all.

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2026-02-11 02:07