By Bae Ji-sook
Staff Reporter
Entertainers exaggerating their experiences or revealing their personal lives on TV programs are becoming the target of criticism by viewers these days.
Comedienne Lee Young-ja, who once left the small screen because of her lies on her dramatic weight loss, is again being criticized for her lies that hurt someone else related to the case.
She said on a TV station program that a supermodel friend gave her a diamond ring, which was revealed to be fake, but later took it back saying that she took the ring without permission from her friend. The woman was showing off her assets on the program.
Another actress Kim Bin-woo said on a TV talk show that she was dating a man who was more than 12 years older than her, but a minute later, she took it back. However, when her statement became an issue, she again said that she actually was dating the man.
Angry viewers left comments on both TV programs saying that they do not really care whether she has a boyfriend or not, but they are annoyed at being duped by her on-off lies.
Both cases may seem like minor things, but they show that TV programs are actually being abused by some people who do not take their words seriously or care what influence they have on the viewers, some commentators note.
``It actually gives people the impression that lies are acceptable if they sound like fun or are intriguing,'' Lee Je-nam, an angry viewer, said. He said that some entertainers are even using such disputes for their own promotion.
In fact, Lee has kept saying that she would like to host a show at MBC and that her loud gimmick dominated the headlines for days. Kim Bin-woo also cannot deny that the dispute made her name big among people who did not even know who she was.
The celebrities' public lies are making people so frustrated that they even react harshly to other entertainers' romantic and once welcomed moves.
TV comedian Kim Min-su recently made an open marriage proposal to his girlfriend Oh Min-hyuk on one of his comedy programs. Images of the pair shedding joyful tears, hugging and kissing were aired under the expectation of invoking laughter. Some said it was quite a romantic and unforgettable moment for the couple, but the others said that they did not want to see two people revealing their private moments on a primetime TV show. The show had to air an apology caption on the following program.
Experts say that entertainers sometimes have the wrong idea that the more they reveal about themselves, the more the public will like them.
According to a survey conducted by research company Mbrain, 60 percent of 725 men and woman over 13 years old said that they were oppose to the comedian's wedding proposal, and 78.6 percent said they do not like TV programs that show entertainer's private lives.
``It is true that we are quite embarrassed by the audiences' reaction, because those were warmly welcomed a year before,'' the producer of the comedy program admitted. ``But if that's what the people want, then we will get rid of those private events that we once thought could build intimacy between viewers and performers,'' he added.