Winner (K-pop Group)
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40 free Winner (K-pop Group) trivia questions with answers — music quiz, new questions added Oct 2026.
Winner are one of the few K-pop groups whose origin story played out on television. Five trainees fought a rival team through a season of weekly battles for the right to debut at all, and the name they earned came with the prize. Since then the group has written most of its own material, topped charts at home and abroad, lost a member, and come back as a quartet. This quiz covers that whole story: the talent contests that first made two of the members famous, the debut and the records it set, the singles and albums that followed, and the tours and reality series along the way. A good share of the questions follow the members on their own, from rap competitions and art exhibitions to sitcoms, dramas and dance. It is written for fans who know their Jinu from their Hoony, and for K-pop listeners who know the songs better than the backstory. Every answer comes with a short explanation, and the questions can be played on screen or printed.
30 of 40 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Which boy band grew out of the trainee team that Winner beat on the 2013 survival show WIN: Who Is Next?
iKon
iKon took shape a year later on Mix & Match, a follow-up contest that pitted the losing trainees against three newcomers for places in the final line-up.
Q 02Winner's launch showcase won a Red Dot Design Award for its unusual debut concept; what form did the event take?
A fashion show
A fashion show put the members on a catwalk beside professional models, the first time an artist's debut had borrowed the format of a collection launch.
Q 03Winner's Mino finished as runner-up to Basick in 2015 on which Mnet rap competition series?
Show Me the Money
Show Me the Money made his single Fear, featuring Taeyang, the best-selling song in the series' history. Six years later he was back on the tenth season as a producer rather than a contestant.
Q 04After Mino won a wish on a tvN variety show, where were Winner whisked off to film Youth Over Flowers in 2017?
Australia
Australia came as a surprise: the production team tricked the members into the trip, and they spent a week on the road there.
Q 05Which Korean agency, the label behind Big Bang, put the boy band Winner together in 2013?
YG Entertainment
YG Entertainment drew the five from widely different routes: two were known from television talent contests, and three came through private auditions, one of them after his first group folded.
Q 06For the 2016 JTBC series Half-Moon Friends, Winner halted promotions for 15 days to work as what?
Daycare teachers
Daycare teachers was the brief: the members looked after children aged four to seven and took cute nicknames so the kids could learn their names.
Q 07Winner's Lee Seung-hoon placed fourth on the first season of which SBS audition show before signing with his label?
K-pop Star
K-pop Star made him a talking point for renting a tiny room one minute from the agency he dreamed of joining. He signed there alongside fellow finalist Lee Hi.
Q 08Winner announced which official name for their fans when they made their debut stage on the SBS programme Inkigayo?
Inner Circle
Inner Circle has since joined the band in charity work: after a 2018 fan meeting, the two sent food to shelters for teenagers, single mothers and the elderly.
Q 09Winner flew to which US state to film the videos for their 2017 single album Our Twenty For?
Hawaii
Hawaii gave the single album Our Twenty For its sunlit look, and the title nods to the members' average age of 24 at the time.
Q 10Kang Seung-yoon, later Winner's leader, finished fourth as a teenager on which 2010 Mnet singing contest?
Superstar K2
Superstar K2 drew more than 1.35 million applicants, and his last-stage cover of Instinctively went on to top the charts as a single. He nearly skipped the audition, going only because a friend asked him to.
Q 11Before joining Winner, Mino trained for a place in which boy band's original line-up?
Block B
Block B slipped away because he was still a minor: his father handled the contract talks and could not reach terms with the agency, so he left to start again elsewhere.
Q 12Winner's Kang Seung-yoon won King of Mask Singer six times running under the alias of which Hong Kong film actor?
Chow Yun-fat
Chow Yun-fat was the mask name under which he became the first idol to win six times in a row and, at the time, the programme's youngest champion. His run kept its ratings in double digits.
Q 13Which main vocalist, the composer of Baby Baby and Sentimental, left Winner in November 2016?
Nam Tae-hyun
Q 21Winner became the fastest act to win a music show trophy, days after their debut, on which weekly chart programme?
M Countdown
M Countdown gave the group its first trophy, and two rival chart programmes followed with wins of their own within three days.
Q 22Winner's Mino released the 2016 singles Full House and Hit Me as a hip hop duo with which rapper?
Bobby
Bobby and Mino had been on opposite sides of a trainee contest three years earlier. As MOBB, each added a solo track to the duo's four-song EP.
Q 23Winner's Kang Seung-yoon first acted alongside Lee Jong-suk and Krystal Jung in which Korean sitcom franchise?
High Kick
High Kick had no part for him at first: he auditioned in his hometown dialect with no acting experience, and the writers created a new character for him.
Nam Tae-hyun stepped back that October for the sake of his mental health, and his exit a month later ended a planned series of releases. The group returned as a quartet the next spring.
Q 14Which debut single by Winner, co-written by rival trainees B.I and Bobby, entered the Gaon Digital Chart at number one?
Empty
Empty came from the camp Winner had just beaten: B.I, who led the losing team, co-composed the music. Bandmate Lee Seung-hoon devised the dance.
Q 15Which tropical house single marked Winner's 2017 return as a quartet and passed 100 million streams on Gaon?
Really Really
Really Really came with a video filmed by the director Dave Meyers, and it ended a 14-month gap between releases, during which a member had left the group.
Q 16Winner's debut album 2014 S/S topped the Gaon Album Chart at home and which Billboard chart in the United States?
World Albums
World Albums had the newcomers at number one with a record they largely made themselves, writing the lyrics and composing most of its ten tracks. A Japanese edition reached number two on Oricon a month later.
Q 17Winner's Kang Seung-yoon and Lee Seung-hoon both hail from which city, whose dialect Kang used at acting auditions?
Busan
Busan gave both a start in the arts: Kang majored in classical guitar there, while Lee formed a dance trio with friends from the city.
Q 18On WIN: Who Is Next, the contest that created Winner, who had the final say over which trainee team debuted?
The voting public
The voting public was handed the decision because the label's founder said he could not launch two boy groups at once. Around 3,000 fans watched the finale in an Olympic handball arena.
Q 19Winner's Mino became a regular on which tvN variety show in 2017, joining alongside Super Junior's Kyuhyun?
New Journey to the West
New Journey to the West gave him his first fixed spot on a television series and led to the cooking spin-off Kang's Kitchen. Losing a table-tennis match on the programme cost him his hair.
Q 20Mino of Winner topped the charts in 2018 with Fiancé, a solo single that fuses hip hop with which older Korean genre?
Trot
Trot runs through the song by way of a sample: it borrows from Soyanggang Maiden, a hit from 1969. The single led his self-written first solo album, XX.
Q 24Winner's Kang Seung-yoon took a supporting role in which 2017 tvN drama about a fallen baseball ace?
Prison Playbook
Prison Playbook came from the director of the Reply series, who cast him after hearing him read in dialect. Kang and bandmate Mino also recorded the song Door for its soundtrack.
Q 25Kang Seung-yoon of Winner won a best actor prize for the 2015 web drama We Broke Up, starring opposite which labelmate?
Sandara Park
Sandara Park and Kang drew more than 16 million views, and theirs became the first Korean web drama invited to the Geneva International Film Festival.
Q 26Winner's eldest member Kim Jin-woo was scouted at an acting academy in his hometown owned by which Big Bang member?
Seungri
Seungri referred him for a private audition, and he waited six months before being accepted as a trainee. He had enrolled hoping to act, inspired by the late actress Choi Jin-sil.
Q 27Kim Jin-woo of Winner became the first K-pop idol cast in a contemporary dance production, playing which title role?
The Little Prince
The Little Prince was staged by the Korea National Contemporary Dance Company, whose director cast him for his image and passion. He said the part healed him and changed how he thought about dancing.
Q 28After leaving Winner in 2016, the group's former main vocalist founded a label and formed which rock band?
South Club
South Club made its bow at a surprise 30-minute bar gig that was streamed online, with Beatles covers in the set. Its debut EP was titled 90, partly because every member was born after 1990.
Q 29Which label founder made Kang Seung-yoon Winner's permanent leader after an ankle injury sidelined Mino during filming?
Yang Hyun-suk
Yang Hyun-suk had named Mino leader in the first episode of the group's survival series, then kept the swap after seeing how the team improved under its stand-in.
Q 30Soon after Winner's debut, Mino guested on Born Hater, a hit single by which veteran hip hop act on his label?
Epik High
Epik High packed the track with guest rappers, and it sold almost 1.5 million downloads. Its first stage performance came at that year's Mnet Asian Music Awards.