Carat or K-pop layman, new Seventeen show aims to entertain all

“Nana Tour with Seventeen” is a travel show not just for the hardcore fans of Seventeen: It’s a program for variety show lovers and even laymen unfamiliar with Seventeen or K-pop.

“Nana Tour with Seventeen,” set to air this Friday on cable network tvN, is hit producer Nah’s latest entry in his signature travel variety show where boy band Seventeen is going on their first group tour in Italy for a week. The 12 members of the band will travel around Italy on the day and play a variety of games on the night that producer Nah is best known for. [TVN]

“Nana Tour with Seventeen” is a travel show not just for the hardcore fans of Seventeen: It’s a program for variety show lovers and even laymen unfamiliar with Seventeen or K-pop.

“I don’t have the intention of making a show that only fans get to watch,” producer Nah Yung-suk, more commonly known by his abbreviated title Na PD, said during a press conference held in Gangnam District, southern Seoul, on Wednesday.

“Nana Tour with Seventeen,” set to air this Friday on cable network tvN, is hit producer Nah’s latest entry in his signature travel variety show collection, in which boy band Seventeen goes on its first group tour in Italy for a week. There will be six episodes.

Of the 13 members of the boy band, 12 will take part in the production that shows them traveling around Italy during the day and playing signature games produced by Nah at night.

The band's leader S.Coups was unable to join due to a leg injury, but he will be frequently featured throughout the show through video calls.

Nah explained that "Nana Tour with Seventeen" is designed to "bridge the gap" between K-pop fans and the general public who are less familiar with K-pop. "Seventeen is one of the few artists who can achieve that; they are diligent and [their songs] capture both artistic values and popular appeal,” Nah said.

For the hardcore fans of Seventeen who want it all, Nah has also prepared a longer 120-minute version of each episode, double the length of that which is shown on air, sold exclusively on HYBE’s fan community platform Weverse.

Seventeen members pose for the camera during a press conference for "Nana Tour with Seventeen," a upcoming travel variety show set to air on Friday [TVN]

“I think the best part of the show is that everything was very true to life; I think people will be able to watch brand new sides of [Seventeen] that we didn’t even know we had,” Hoshi said.

“I just wanted Seventeen to enjoy the trip with no regrets,” Nah said. “I wanted them to enjoy and eat without restricting themselves; I probably shouldn’t say this, but we have stories of Woozi learning to drink alcohol or Wonwoo socializing out of nowhere and things like that.”

“I think there will be [new stories of Woozi] that both Carat and fans of Woozi can enjoy. I’m sure they will go, ‘I’ve never seen Woozi enjoy himself so much!’” Seungkwan said.

Carat is the name of Seventeen’s fandom.

“I never really had the chance to drink alcohol with Woozi, and thanks to this tour — while I’m not advocating for drinking alcohol — I had the opportunity to build a more intimate relationship with Woozi, and I think I got even closer with him,” Joshua added.

“[The trip] has been such a rare opportunity for me; to travel far with our members with no burdens; it was also a time for me to rethink what I truly value,” Woozi said.

Seventeen members shared that the trip even had an impact on Woozi’s music production, which may have an impact on the band’s future albums.

“I think youth is all about dreams,” Dino said, as the older members of the band laughed. “It has been my dream to travel as a group of 13, and while we traveled as a group of 12, the memories we made, the photographs we took as we saw the scenery — it all felt like a dream to me.”

“We got to visit a place we’ve never been to and we’ve experienced a lot, so I hope you get to enjoy the ride, just like we did in the journey,” Jun said.

Seventeen members pose for the camera during a press conference for "Nana Tour with Seventeen," a upcoming travel variety show set to air on Friday [TVN]

The trip was full of surprising episodes, even from the very beginning, according to the members.

"To be honest […] I drank more than usual because we were done with the last concert of our world tour," Dino said. "But then I saw Nah's face and was so surprised that I got sober."

Like other travel shows produced by Nah, Seventeen members had been unaware of the trip until mere hours before their departure.

Mingyu even lost his passport right before they boarded the plane to Italy.

"I was looking for my passport until the plane's boarding time, and I even had fans at the airport helping me find my passport," Mingyu said.

"But turns out one of our members, DK, had taken two passports and boarded the plane with my ticket. It baffled me, but I managed to get on the plane."

“For the fans of Seventeen, I hope this show ends up being an opportunity to learn about them even more, and for people who didn't know who Seventeen is, I hope it becomes an opportunity for them to find out that we have such valuable artists in Korea,” Nah said.

To find out more about SEVENTEEN, visit Celeb Confirmed!

BY CHO YONG-JUN [cho.yongjun1@joongang.co.kr]