The Devil's Plan winner Ha Seok-jin on his relationship with money: 'I don't want to really be greedy'
South Korea actor won the hit reality show, but said it’s very hard to find how to use the prize money because it’s like a 'trophy'
WITH his wit and charm, South Korean actor Ha Seok-jin snagged the prize money of Netflix’s reality survival show The Devil's Plan - and won viewers’ hearts along the way too. Clearly, it didn’t hurt that he has killer good looks and a smile that could light up a whole town.
The 41-year-old, who reportedly has an IQ of 152, walked away with 250 million won (S$250,000). The prize money was a subject of great interest as people were curious to know what he was going to do with it.
Last November, Ha revealed on his vlog that he had custom gold coins made for the cast and crew of the shows. But that’s just “a part of it”, he told Yahoo Southeast Asia earlier this month when he was in town for a Singapore fan meet.
As for what plans he has for the rest, the actor laughed sheepishly and said it’s very hard to find how to use it because it’s like a “trophy”. Although he has not decided what to do with the money yet, he admitted that it’s important to invest and “to use money for a good cause to help himself as well as other people”.
“It's probably different for everyone but I try to strike a balance (between spending and investing). Especially seeing a lot seniors in the industry, they don’t really have a good balance between spending as well as investing," he shared.
Ha also hasn’t really thought much about financial goals, and said, “I do not want to really be greedy, and just be contented… I rather have a comfortable amount that I can live with day by day that gives me a comfortable life.”
Digital detox with no internet
On The Devil’s Plan, 12 celebrity contestants compete in a series of collaborative and competitive strategy games. And like most other reality shows, they had to stay on set in an apartment which served as their accommodations, and the venue for the games.
Ha shared that he and the rest of the celebs didn’t have any internet access during their time there. “It’s like digital detox at that time,” he remarked. “Seven days of no connection with the internet.”
While others might feel uncomfortable about being isolated from the outside world, Ha confessed that he was “happy” at having some time away from the connectedness of the world.
He added, “Especially these days, there is no chance to ‘cut’ the connections.”
Hardest game on the show
As for the hardest game, Ha replied that it was the blind gomoku.
Gomoku is traditionally played with Go pieces (black and white stones) and the aim is to be the first player to have an unbroken line of five of your pieces. However, in The Devil’s Plan, there’s an added layer of complexity as the top of the stones are coloured differently, so players have to memorise which pieces are theirs.
On the show, Ha got a peek at the game and the room when fellow contestant, actress Lee Si-won, entered the room. Ha and Lee had struck up a deep friendship and he was affected when he theorised that she might have lost the game and eliminated from the show.
He also managed to infer that the game would be played from memory and the stones couldn’t be differentiated based on the colours. So, he spent the night making a strategy.
“At that time, I couldn’t sleep. My mind was so 'collapsed',” he said, adding that it would have brought him more comfort if he had not known what the game was going to be in advance.
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