Netflix reveals fate of hit cooking show as judge is embroiled in controversy
Netflix competition show Culinary Class Wars is reportedly set to return later this year despite judge Paik Jong-won being accused of workplace bullying and violating food regulations.
On Tuesday, news broke that the 58-year-old entrepreneur had been reported to authorities for allegedly breaching country-of-origin labelling laws for food products.
It comes after a soybean paste produced by his company, Theborn Korea, was marketed as a domestically made product despite using imported ingredients.
According to The Star, Jong-won's business is also accused of violating the Farmland Act after allegedly producing the soybean paste in an agricultural promotion zone in South Korea, where making products with foreign raw materials is illegal.
Additionally, Jong-won was accused of abuse of power by former MBC producer Kim Jae-hwan in a scathing YouTube video last week.
Jae-hwan, who had worked with the television personality on the popular show My Little Television, said that the star made increasingly excessive demands of broadcasters, including pushing for his preferred writer and production teams to be hired.
He also alleged in the video, titled Can Paik Jong-won recover?, that individuals Jong-won disliked were quietly removed from broadcasts.
Not all employees felt the same, however, with one anonymous source telling The Korea Times that their experience was different.
Speaking of Jong-won, they said: 'He worked with staff he met for the first time on set.'
According to The Chosun, Jong-won publicly apologized to his company's shareholders during their annual general meeting on March 28.
'I sincerely apologize for not managing the company more thoroughly as a CEO,' he's reported to have said.
He also vowed that Theborn Korea is 'reassessing internal systems from the ground up' and that the company 'will enhance our ingredient origin management and work with external experts to establish an effective internal monitoring system.'
He added: 'We plan to improve our menus and services and implement a new ingredient information disclosure system to restore customer trust.'
Culinary Class Wars follows 100 elite chefs divided into two classes: white spoons (veterans) and black spoons (newcomers) as they compete for the prize of 300 million won ($210,000).
Veteran restaurateur and celebrity chef Jong-won serves as a judge alongside the only Michelin three-star chef in Korea, Anh Sung-jae.
The wildly popular unscripted Korean show topped the platform's global mon-English series list for three consecutive weeks after its launch last September.
Netflix announced in December that it was actively recruiting for participants for Culinary Class Wars' second season after the series premiere became an instant hit in September 2024.
An advert posted on the streamer's website read: 'Open to everyone, regardless of nationality or where you reside, the show's only requirement is confidence in your cooking skills.
'If you believe in the power of your flavors, you can apply now by filling out this form.'
DailyMail.com has contacted Netflix for comment.
Elsewhere, MBC announced earlier this month that there would be a delay to the release of Chef of Antarctica, a new show which sees Jong-won prepare meals for researches in the South Pole.
The show was initially set to air this month and sparked rumors of indefinite postponement, until MBC clarified the delay.
'The broadcast schedule was adjusted due to breaking news coverage and the early election period,' they told The Star.
'The exact airing date will be announced once it is finalized.'
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