{"id":260842,"date":"2026-01-24T02:23:15","date_gmt":"2026-01-24T02:23:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/260842\/"},"modified":"2026-01-24T02:23:15","modified_gmt":"2026-01-24T02:23:15","slug":"koreas-reality-tv-crisis-can-broadcasters-truly-screen-noncelebrity-participants","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/260842\/","title":{"rendered":"Korea’s reality TV crisis: Can broadcasters truly screen noncelebrity participants?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"A<\/p>\n

A scene from “Scandal Supervisor,\u201d left, and chef Im Seong-keun \/ Captured from JTBC, courtesy of Netflix<\/p>\n

Controversies over the casting of noncelebrity participants with undisclosed criminal or ethically questionable histories are sparking debate in South Korea\u2019s entertainment industry, raising a pressing question: Is it truly possible to vet ordinary people before putting them on reality television?<\/p>\n

From extramarital affairs and assault to drunk driving and fraud, recent incidents have prompted backlash, forced edits and outright cancellations, causing a growing issue for unscripted TV.<\/p>\n

\"Scenes<\/p>\n

Scenes from “Scandal Supervisor” \/ Captured from JTBC<\/p>\n

Dating show backlash over alleged affair history<\/p>\n

On Tuesday, JTBC\u2019s current affairs program \u201cScandal Supervisor\u201d featured a woman in her 40s who said she was shocked to see her ex-husband\u2019s alleged former lover on a dating show. The woman said she divorced her husband in 2022 after confirming his affair and pursued both a divorce lawsuit and a related civil case. A court found both the husband and the other woman responsible for the marriage\u2019s breakdown, and the plaintiff won the civil suit.<\/p>\n

Public attention focused on the dating program in question, \u201cMatch to Marry: With Parents\u201d \u2014 a reality show in which participants appear alongside their mothers. After criticism swelled, the show\u2019s producers announced they were removing the participant\u2019s footage from all remaining episodes to \u201creduce viewer discomfort.\u201d<\/p>\n

The producers said they conduct screening through detailed interviews and written questionnaires that require participants to affirm they have no history involving \u201ccriminal activity, drugs, extramarital affairs or school violence.\u201d They also include contractual penalties to discourage false statements, but added that they were \u201cshocked and distressed\u201d that the controversy arose despite those efforts.<\/p>\n

\"Chef<\/p>\n

Chef Im Seong-keun \/ Captured from Im’s YouTube channel<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Chef Im Seong-keun, who gained attention on Netflix\u2019s \u201cCulinary Class Wars 2,\u201d was revealed to have prior incidents involving drunk driving and assault just as he was set to appear on other shows. The disclosure led to a series of cancellations: MBC\u2019s \u201cOmniscient Interfering View\u201d and the web show \u201cSalon Drip\u201d canceled episodes, while appearances on \u201cKnowing Bros\u201d and KBS2\u2019s \u201cStars\u2019 Top Recipe at Fun-Staurant\u201d were also scrapped. Im later said he would step away from television.<\/p>\n

At the Wednesday Next on Netflix lineup event, the streaming platform\u2019s head of entertainment acknowledged the challenge of vetting noncelebrity participants. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe also struggle with this and find it very challenging,\u201d the executive said. He explained that as reality formats proliferate and audiences increasingly demand raw, unfiltered content, identifying potential red flags in a participant\u2019s past is inherently limited. \u201cWe try to check histories to the fullest extent permitted by law, but issues still emerge that we couldn\u2019t detect.\u201d<\/p>\n

A recurring problem<\/p>\n

The risk posed by noncelebrity participants has been a recurring topic as more reality shows cast ordinary people. Programs such as \u201cHeart Signal\u201d and \u201cPhysical: 100\u201d previously faced controversies involving sexual assault, drunk driving, bullying and other misconduct by cast members.<\/p>\n

In 2024, SBS Plus and ENA\u2019s dating show \u201cI Am Solo\u201d drew criticism after a participant was revealed to have engaged in theft after luring men with promises of a paid meeting, leading to heavy editing of both the person and their romantic counterpart.<\/p>\n

Broadcasters continue to pledge stricter vetting, but critics say the same scandals keep resurfacing, suggesting that current safeguards may be insufficient. As the industry pushes further into \u201creal people\u201d programming, calls are growing for deeper discussion on responsibility and how best to protect both participants and audiences.<\/p>\n

This article from Xportsnews is adapted by a generative AI system and edited by The Korea Times.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A scene from “Scandal Supervisor,\u201d left, and chef Im Seong-keun \/ Captured from JTBC, courtesy of Netflix Controversies…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":260843,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[93,61,60,282],"class_list":["post-260842","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tv","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-tv"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/260842","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=260842"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/260842\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/260843"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=260842"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=260842"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=260842"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}