When Suh Dong-joo first stepped on the set of Netflix’s hit Korean reality game show The Devil’s Plan, she didn’t expect herself to do as well as she did – even if others certainly thought highly of her, particularly upon learning about her impressive academic background. Dong-joo, armed with a Bachelor’s degree in Mathematics from MIT, a Master’s in Marketing and a JD in corporate and intellectual property law, emerged as one of the survival program’s most heavily endorsed participants.
“So far, a lot of these types of shows had a lot of lawyers joining, but they would go up to fifth place or less out of, say, 10 people,” she told NME over a video call from South Korea in November. “So, I was expecting to probably go home after a couple of days. I wasn’t expecting a lot from myself.” The Devil’s Plan, where twelve contestants are shut off from the outside world and forced to compete in a series of games where they either earn or lose a currency called Pieces, has gained a popular following in the Korean entertainment space as a gruelling battle of wits.
When a contestant loses all of their Pieces, they are eliminated from the show. Prize money is also accumulated as their wins (and losses) contribute to the prize money, which amounted to a total of ₩500million (roughly US$380,000) awarded to the last man standing. Dong-joo ended up coming in third place on the show, after runner-up and South Korean YouTuber Orbit and actor Ha Seok-jin, who emerged as the winner. “It was a very big surprise to me to have stayed a lot longer than I thought,” she admits bashfully.
Amid the blistering pressure of mind-bending, friendship-straining challenges from social deduction and memorisation to abstract strategy and nine men’s morris, Dong-joo – also known as Danielle Suh – described her experience on The Devil’s Plan as “very uncomfortable”. “We didn’t have our phones and we weren’t allowed to go outside for seven days,” Dong-joo told NME, adding that the inherently tense atmosphere on set was “just a lot of stress”.
“It was actually during the time when my mom was diagnosed with cancer, so she was in the hospital,” she recalls, revealing that she had also “just gotten out of a relationship” days prior. “When we were on set, I couldn’t sleep at all. If I could, it would only be for two to three hours a day. I couldn’t eat – when I’m stressed, I don’t really eat.”
“We had to let go of a lot of people. These contestants felt their ending coming. It was very emotional.”
Yet, Dong-joo says that both she and her fellow contestants “all really liked solving puzzles and playing games”, so much so that it was the one thing that helped her “stay sane”, as she described. “In between [the games], the only thing we would talk about is the games, and even afterward, we would talk about the games we played that day all night long. Just having people around me that really enjoyed the process with me [really helped].”
Yet, the mental games presented throughout the course of The Devil’s Plan was bound to cause some level of animosity among the cast, who eventually split into alliances of their own, but Dong-joo testifies to the healthy boundaries set by her fellow cast members. “There was a little bit of tension, but at the end of the day we were all good people. Once we got out of the show, we’re all thankful that we got that experience. Even when we were shooting, maybe there were little moments where we all felt intense, but it was very momentary,” she chuckles while recalling the memory. “We understood the assignment, so it was okay.”
Despite the clear boundary set by Dong-joo and her cast members, all twelve participants on The Devil’s Plan had starkly different expectations of how they wanted the games to go for them. For Dong-joo, she was famously in a strong alliance with Orbit for a good portion of her time on the show – although her intentions behind this partnership was a lot simpler than expected. “After the introductions, Orbit and I [were sat next to each other] and instantly started talking to each other and we found out we were the same age, and we were like, ‘Why don’t we play the game together as a team? Just for today and see how it goes.’”
Many viewers were understandably torn between the mindsets of final contestants Orbit and Ha Seok-jin, with Orbit leaning more towards an altruistic approach to his strategy for the games – a mindset that Dong-joo also shared. “Orbit and I tried to get as many people as possible to stay on the show, not because we wanted everybody [to leave] together, but because Orbit’s philosophy [was influenced by the fact that] on a lot of these survival shows, people get eliminated in the very beginning and they never get the chance to show their good qualities,” she explains.
“I currently have discussions going on with some producers, but I think the show will start [filming] early next year.”
However, Dong-joo recalls the dread she felt when it came to the Poker game during the semi-finals, where the contestants were forced to play until only three remained. “We had to let go of a lot of people. These contestants felt their ending coming. It was very emotional, the way we were all speaking to each other with just our eyes and with our body language, and I could totally understand what was going through their minds,” she recalls. “Letting go of people that you tried so hard to [keep] on the show, that was the hardest part for me.”
Dong-joo also recognises the criticisms she and Orbit faced for their strategy when the series premiered: “Some people like it, some people don’t, but I always felt like [Orbit] is such a genuine guy. He truly believed in his philosophy, so I just wanted to help him.” She also spoke about how “worried” she felt for Orbit during the finale, as he was getting ready to fight for the top spot after she had been eliminated.
“During the final game, Orbit was in tears. He was crying when he was going into the final game,” she recalls. “But I think even despite the emotional state he was in, Orbit did his best and did what he could.” The lawyer-turned-TV-personality also recognises the mastery in reigning champion Ha Seok-jin’s winning strategy: “In the very beginning, Seok-jin didn’t really stand out – I think he meant to do that. He didn’t build much emotional attachment to other people. He just really focused on the games. It kind of helped in the end, because he was less emotional.”
Dong-joo may have staked her claim to fame with her appearance and impressive endurance on The Devil’s Plan, but she intends on continuing her work as a lawyer while maintaining her presence as a television personality in South Korea. “I still work for a small start-up in Korea, and also am an advisor for a nonprofit organisation,” she shares, before explaining how she approaches her life’s work while achieving the emotional fulfilment she seeks from her work in both professions.
“It’s good to have as many identities as I can, because if you just have one and it’s attacked by people – say, some people just don’t like me and I’m aware of that – you would be so affected,” she says. “But when you have other identities like being a mother, daughter, or a great lawyer, even if one part of you is attacked you’re still going to be okay. I try to make sure that I have a full life outside of entertainment. Whatever goes on there, stays there. I am happy otherwise.”
As for her next steps, Dong-joo tells NME that she’s in the process of working on starring in another similar survival program, although remains tight-lipped about the specifics. “I currently have discussions going on with some producers, but I think the show will start [filming] early next year. But I’m preparing for it – it does involve a little bit of mind strategy games like The Devil’s Plan, but it’s mostly physical, so I’m trying to get healthier now!”
Follow Suh Song-joo on Instagram here. The Devil’s Plan is available to stream on Netflix
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