Choi Hye-seon
Choi Hye-seon is a South Korean model. She gained attention through her appearance in the series Single's Inferno Season 3, including for the way she tearfully shared her joy and emotions, her high self-esteem and honest confidence, and being the most prominent name of her season, due to her social and likeable personality and skillful and intelligent behavior. While on the show, her Instagram followers rose from 2,000 to 1,600,000, and she was the first of the cast to reach 1,000,000 followers. Following the attention she received as the show aired, she took a break from social media. As of November 2024, Choi still got along well with the other contestants, often kept in touch with Yun Ha-jeong, and later reunited with many others.
She later returned to social media, including appearances at events such as a Jujutsu Kaisen and Casetify collaboration in early 2024 where she surprised fans with her British accent. Her second reality show appearance came on Game of Blood, whose production presentation she attended with the rest of the cast in Seoul. Her season received the top spot in TV-OTT topicality ratings, ranked first overall in new paid subscriptions, ranked first in the non-drama topicality category, and the female cast including Choi were nominated for a Blue Dragon Series Award in the category of Female Entertainer Award / Rookie Female Entertainer Award.
Early life and education
Choi lived in the United States until middle school, and was racially discriminated against at that time, before attending an all girls high school in Korea. She majored in bioinformatics at the Life Sciences department of Ewha Womans University, graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree, and previously held internships at Seoul National University's Department of Biomedical Sciences as well as Cipherome, a Silicon Valley startup.In Choi's early 20s she befriended Shin Ae-jin, who would die in the Itaewon Tragedy. Choi later contributed a testimonial to a book of grieving essays written by Shin's father. Choi attended Durham University and as of November 2024 lived in the UK, after having obtained a master's degree in data science, bioinformatics, and biological modeling in October 2024. She received her official diploma in January 2025.
Career
Before her appearance on Single's Inferno 3, Choi modeled for Andar and Round Lab, Joy Gryson, Nature Republic and, as well as Swarovski, Sulwhasoo and Maybelline. She and the rest of the Single's Inferno 3 cast modeled for Dazed as the show was airing. After her rise to fame, a 2021 modeling experience with Enhypen came to light. While on the program, she notably wore a Rom&nd's lip tint which later won a 2023 Olive Young Award. She also maintained a workout routine five days a week of weight training, gym, yoga, and running, and kept a strict diet. After the show ended, she started a YouTube channel that she originally intended to devote to ASMR.Choi reunited with fellow Single's Inferno 3 participant Yu Si-eun to model for Alice + Olivia after the show's finale, and her outfit of the day looks were compared to castmate Cho Min-ji's. In June 2024, Dentiste selected her as the star of their new brand campaign, launching with two videos on Dentiste's YouTube channel. Later in 2024, she modeled for lululemon before being selected as ambassador for F&F's Sergio Tacchini brand for the rest of the year. She also modeled for Olay, Fila, and Skin Food. At the end of 2024, she was featured in volume 33 of Olive Young's My Precious editorial.
After Choi's appearance on Game of Blood 3, she was invited to the Ganni Show at Paris Fashion Week in early 2025, as well as the EENK show with Single's Inferno 4 participant Chung You-jin, a fellow Ewha Womens University alumna. Chung and her castmate Kook Dong-ho collaborated with Choi on an avatar blind date for Esquire, during which she revealed that her Myers-Briggs Type Indicator was ENFP. A later social media post from Choi attracted media attention, and comment from Chung herself. Choi also modeled for Max Mara in Granada and attended the grand launch event for the item she modeled. Her 2025 birthday party received media coverage, including acknowledgment of her master's degree.
Choi hosted the premiere episode of Olive Young's These Days All Young program along with Harimu, who appeared on the reality show Street Woman Fighter 2. She later modeled for Calvin Klein and was invited as Korea's representative to Longchamp's global influencer event in London, before reuniting with Max Mara at their runway collection in Milan and attending No.21's spring show.