(KBS)

Singer Rain revealed the reason why he chose to star on an audition show in the latest episode of KBS’ “The Unit” aired on Saturday.

The K-pop superstar pointed out that he was also once a nobody.

“I debuted in 1998 -- about 20 years ago. The name of (my) group was ‘Fanclub.’ The group was not successful and I spent difficult times as that group was disbanded,” he said.

He, however, did not give up and finally shot to stardom after releasing his debut album, “Bad Guy,” under his current stage name in 2002. He has since become a household name.

“Since about three, four years ago, I’ve been offered so many jury positions on audition programs. But I declined them all because I really hated to evaluate someone,” the singer said.

“But when I heard the purpose of ‘The Unit’ I thought (if I join the show) I can help these people,” he said. “‘The Unit’ is not a show to evaluate people but to give people who have already experienced failure an opportunity to show their capability.”

Alternatively dubbed the “Idol Rebooting Project,” the idol show aims to shed light on singers who have already debuted professionally but failed to gain public recognition.

The show airs Saturdays at 9:15 p.m. It is set to run for 14 weeks.

By Kim So-yeon (syk19372@heraldcorp.com)