Lee Young-ja enters second heyday
Comedian Lee Young-ja, front row center, who won the Grand Prize at the MBC Entertainment Awards, with other winners at the MBC Broadcast Center om Seoul, Sunday. Courtesy of MBC
Comedian sweeps KBS MBC Grand Prizes
By Kang Aa-young
Lee Young-ja
Seasoned comedian and TV show host Lee Young-ja, 50, is now in her prime time.
She won the top award at MBC's Entertainment Awards for her role in the reality show “Omniscient Interfering View” on Sunday, days after she clinched the Grand Prize at the KBS Entertainment Awards.
Lee became the first woman to sweep the top prizes at MBC and KBS in the same year.
“I was here back in 1992 when I won the Rookie Entertainer Award. But I am as nervous as I was back then,” she said in her winning speech. “Some 70 crew members are sweating for the Omniscient Interfering View and I always feel that we hosts are in the front line and need to work harder to make the show successful.”
She expressed her gratitude to her manager Song Sung-ho for his unwavering support.
“He used to say he feels rewarded whenever stars he is working with win awards like this,” she said. “I think he'll be proud of me today that I won this award. I thank him for his support and would like to say he's the best manager I have worked with so far.”
Three major broadcasters ― KBS, MBC and SBS ― present the entertainment awards near the end of the year to people in show business who outperformed others that year.
Before Lee, comedian Kang Ho-dong won Grand Prizes at MBC and KBS in 2008, becoming the only celebrity to win the top honors at the two awards. Comedian Yoo Jae-seok won the Grand Prize twice in 2009 at MBC and in 2014 at SBS.
Lee is the first female celebrity to win the top entertainment awards twice the same year.
Other nominees for the MBC Grand Prize were Jeon Hyun-moo, Park Na-rae and Kim Gu-ra.
“Omniscient Interfering View” is an observational show where the hosts and behavioral analysis experts observe the video-taped life of a cast member and comment on it. It topped the viewership of same-time programs and its ratings hover at 9 percent to 10 percent, depending on the episode.
The Lee factor was critical behind the reality show's relatively high ratings.
Lee's sweep of the Grand Prizes at KBS and MBC shows she is at her peak.
Since debuting as a comedian in 1991, Lee has had peaks and valleys in her 27 years in show business.
She was extremely popular in the 1990s. Since the early 2000s, she took a break after a controversy about her weight loss. In 2001, she lost 36 kilograms and said she had been on a painful diet with exercise. Months later, a plastic surgeon identified only as Kim alleged Lee was lying about her weight loss and claimed he performed liposuction surgery three times from 2000 to 2001.
Their legal dispute led to Lee's popularity declining. In recent years, Lee has returned to the small screen in multiple reality shows, including “Omniscient Interfering View” and binge eating shows, of which many were very popular.
Amid her popularity, “Omniscient Interfering View” suffered a backlash in June for an episode that featured TV footage of MBC's breaking news about the Sewol ferry tragedy that killed more than 300 passengers in April 2014.
In the controversial scene, Lee was eating fish cake with background footage of the sinking of the passenger ferry. It caused a stir partly because the term fish cake is slang referring to the victims of the maritime tragedy which some online trolls use whenever they mock the victims and their parents.
Citizens and Internet users slammed cast members for their reckless use of the maritime tragedy for the show. This led to a reshuffle of staff and suspension of the reality show. But after repeated public apologies, the program returned and regained its popularity.
In addition to the Grand Prize, Lee also won the Entertainer of the Year Award. Three others ― comedian Park Na-rae and TV show hosts Jeon Hyun-moo and Kim Gu-ra ― also won the Entertainer of the Year Award.
Park and Jeon are co-hosts of “I Live Alone.”
Together with Lee, Park's winning the award signaled the power of women in show business.
Park, who vied for the Grand Prize with Kim and Jeon, was considered one of the two strongest candidates for the top prize. As Lee's name was called as the winner, Park shed tears and applauded her teammate.