Cooking show reels from sex-video scandal

From left are Shinhwa's Eric, Lee Min-woo, chef Lee Yeon-bok, singer John Park and comedian Heo Kyung-hwan, who star in the third season of tvN's cooking reality show “4 Wheeled Restaurant.” Courtesy of tvN

By Dong Sun-hwa

Season three of “4 Wheeled Restaurant,” tvN's cooking reality show, has fallen prey to controversial singer Jung Joon-young, one of the initial cast members who left amid a sex-video scandal.

The cast and crew have been striving to counter the scandal's effect on the program, but Jung has literally “stolen” the spotlight.

Jung had to fly back to Korea for the police investigation while working on the show in the U.S.

He allegedly filmed himself having sex with women and distributed the videos through online chatrooms where several K-pop stars were members. He was arrested in March.

Jung was a hot-topic issue during the program's promotional event on Tuesday at the Kensington Hotel in Seoul.

“Today is the day for our cast members, so please refrain from asking questions about 'the incident,'” the main producer Lee Woo-hyung said.

But the first question to Lee was about Jung's cell phone. In the U.S., Jung reportedly threw away the phone, which allegedly had incriminating content on it.

“We did not know about his phone, because we only focused on the filming,” Lee said. “We have not seen Jung since he returned to Korea.”

All scenes featuring Jung have been deleted, Lee said.

The five stars of the third season of tvN's cooking reality show “4 Wheeled Restaurant” during the press event Tuesday at the Kensington Hotel, Seoul. Courtesy of tvN

For the show's third season, Chinese cuisine chef Lee Yeon-bok, Shinhwa's Eric, Lee Min-woo, singer John Park and comedian Heo Kyung-hwan headed to Los Angeles and San Francisco to run a food truck that offered “Korean soul foods.”

“Many people may wonder why we did not sell Western dishes in the U.S,” Yeon-bok said. “But I wanted to know how Americans would react to so-called 'Koreanized' Chinese cuisine that I cook.” He used the term “Koreanized,” since many of his “Chinese” dishes are different from original dishes found in China.

He also offered several Korean dishes including “Korean-style hot dogs.”

“You might be able to see how Americans enjoy Korean food on our program,” Eric said. “My cooking ability also improved after working with Lee Yeon-bok.”

Heo said: “I will appear in the fourth season, too, if the viewership rating hits 7.32 percent.” He was in the second season that featured a food truck in China.

“4 Wheeled Restaurant” will premiere at 11 p.m. on Thursday.