Are Hye-seon and Gwan-hee Still Together After 'Single's Inferno' Season 3?
It was a rollercoaster of a season.
Spoilers for Single's Inferno season 3 finale ahead. Like it or not, the biggest question on everyone's mind for the Single's Inferno season 3 finale was who would Gwan-hee chose on the final day. On the dating reality show—South Korea's answer to Love Island and Bachelor in Paradise—the pro athlete was the most popular man on the island, even if he wasn't the most popular among the show's fanbase. (That honor goes to Jin-seok.) Gwan-hee had three women interested in him over the course of the season, and he switched between them so often that even the show's hosting panel began to call him "If Boy." No one could predict his decision, even on the day of the finale, but in the end, he chose the contestant he described as "wife material": Hye-seon. Now that they've left Inferno together, viewers are itching to know whether Hye-seon and Gwan-hee kept seeing each other after they returned to the real world.
What are Hye-seon and Gwan-hee's ages and jobs?
The pair immediately clicked at the start of the season, and they were among the first to make it to Paradise. It turned out that they had an age gap of 10 years, as Gwan-hee was 36 in Korean-age and Hye-seon was 26.
Gwan-hee has been a pro basketball player in the Korean Basketball League (KBL) since 2020 (which is why one member of the hosting panel recognized him). Meanwhile, Hye-seon is a bioinformatics major at Ewha Women’s University in Seoul, and she has held prestigious internships at Seoul National University and a Silicon Valley startup.
What happened between Hye-seon and Gwan-hee on 'Single's Inferno' 3?
The couple's first trip to Paradise went quite well, though Gwan-hee did grow worried that he wouldn't be able to match Hye-seon's super-bubbly energy. However, they were cut off early when producers announced that Gwan-hee would be returning to Inferno with a different female contestant. He and Hye-seon were separated as part of season's two infernos twist, and during the time apart, Gwan-hee went to Paradise with office worker Ha-jeong. Once the two infernos combined, it became clear that Gwan-hee planed to keep his options open—at times even seeming callous as he appeared to immaturely string women along. At one point in episode 4, when asked who he had feelings for, he conveyed that he was split between Hye-seon, Ha-jeong, and model Gyu-ri...by pointing at each of them and saying he likes "this one, that one, and this one." (Gyu-ri's place in his heart was eventually taken over by new arrival Min-ji.) As one host more kindly pointed out, Gwan-hee lives totally in the moment, and during each of the dates he sincerely falls for whoever he's with.
By the finale, Gwan-hee is split between Hye-seon, who he has described as the type of woman he could marry, and Min-ji, who he says is his ideal type. (In a coincidence, both Hye-seon and Min-ji are 26-year-old students at the same university.) Earlier in the episode, it became clear that Ha-jeong wasn't going to be Gwan-hee's pick, as they had a final conversation where they both admitted that they fell for each other when they first went to Inferno together, but that Gwan-hee's feelings eventually faded. (They even have a flashback montage of their biggest moments, and Ha-jeong cries in a confessional, calling the situation "bittersweet.") In a later conversation, when Gwan-hee admits to Hye-seon that he's still torn, a fed-up Hye-seon tells him to just pick Min-ji. She adds that she doesn't want him if he's still torn after all the time they've spent together, as by that point they'd gone to Paradise twice. This finally makes Gwan-hee realize that he's been hurting all these women with his indecision. After the final bonfire that same night, he pulls Hye-seon aside and sincerely apologizes, saying he felt bad about hurting her and that the moments he shared and emotions he felt with her were the most special to him.
On decision day, when the girls walk up to the guy they want to leave Inferno with, Min-ji, Ha-jeong, and Hye-seon all chose Gwan-hee. He tells Ha-jeong that he had real feelings for her (again). He tells Min-ji that she's his ideal type (again) and apologizes for making her cry several times throughout the season. And he tells Hye-seon that he knows she'll do well without him. But that was one final fake-out joke, because he chooses Hye-seon! In a last confessional, he says "If I chose Min-ji, I knew I'd think of Hye-seon. But if I chose Hye-seon, I had a feeling that I wouldn't think of Min-ji as much, which is why I picked Hye-seon without any hesitation." And so they walk off into the sunset, ending the biggest competition over a guy in Single's Inferno history. May it never get this bad again.
Are Hye-seon and Gwan-hee still together?
On the weekend of January 20, both Gwan-hee and Hye-seon gave the final word on whether their relationship lasted after Single Inferno's filming. On that day, Gwan-hee posted a YouTube video where he confirmed that he and Hye-seon are not dating due to long distance, as his basketball career is based in Korea while Hye-seon's attending university in England.
"First of all, I want to tell you that we are not a couple," he said, before explaining that though the pair stayed in touch after filming, he ultimately needed to be "in a relationship where I can meet the person every day," per AsiaOne.
"Realistically, Hye-seon would need to go to England soon, and I needed to move back to Changwon and focus on my training, so I didn't think we could be a couple," he added.
Hye-seon also addressed their relationship status in an Instagram post written in English and Korean, where she adds that she's sorry to share the "disappointing" news so soon after season 3's release.
"Even though we had enough conversations on how to overcome a long-distance relationship in Paradise, it seems that in reality, the time difference and distance became an insurmountable barrier, contrary to our confident feelings for each other," she wrote. She later added, "We treated each other sincerely, and we still remain in a good and respectful relationship. I would be deeply grateful if you continue to support us with a beautiful heart."
