Yang Hyun-suk
In 2013, YG Entertainment reached out to him upon discovering a video of him covering Big Bang's La La La through his appearance on Channel A cable drama "The Strongest K-POP Survival" in March 2012. Upon being called for an audition, Mino was accepted and joined as a trainee. That same year, he appeared on Mnet survival program "WIN: Who Is Next" as a contestant under "Team A". Initially, he was appointed as the leader by Yang Hyun-suk during the first episode of the show, however, due to an injury part-way, he was replaced as leader by Kang Seung-yoon. Seeing the synergy and improvement in performance, Yang Hyun-suk made the change permanent in benefit of the team. On October 25, during the finale episode of the survival program, Team A was announced as the winners of the show. In result the team was set to debut under the name, Winner.