06-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Straits Times
Culinary Class Wars wins top prize at Baeksang Arts Awards; IU loses out on Best Actress again
Netflix's hit cooking competition series Culinary Class Wars became the first variety series in the Baeksang Arts Awards history to clinch the top honour of Grand Prize. PHOTO: NETFLIX
Culinary Class Wars wins top prize at Baeksang Arts Awards; IU loses out on Best Actress again
Netflix originals won big in the television category at South Korea's prestigious Baeksang Arts Awards on May 5.
The streamer's hit cooking competition series Culinary Class Wars, which pits established chefs against underdogs, became the first variety series to clinch the top honour of Grand Prize, also known as 'daesang', in the television category.
'It feels especially meaningful to receive the grand prize for a variety show,' Mr Yoon Hyun-joon, chief executive of Studio Slam, the production company behind the series, said in his acceptance speech. 'The stature of South Korean variety shows is rising.'
The Baeksang Arts Awards was introduced in 1965 and recognises the country's best in film and television.
The Best Drama prize went to the Jeju-set tearjerker When Life Gives You Tangerines, which wrapped its run on Netflix in March. It beat period drama The Tale Of Lady Ok, romance series Lovely Runner, thriller Doubt and Netflix's medical comedy The Trauma Code: Heroes On Call, which won for Best Screenplay.
The supporting stars of When Life Gives You Tangerines were named Best Supporting Actress and Actor. Yeom Hye-ran played the protagonist's haenyeo (female free diver who harvests seafood for sale) mother, and Choi Dae-hoon played a vulgar village bully.
Yeom's co-stars, singer-actress IU and child star Kim Tae-yeon, both of whom played her daughter Ae-sun onscreen, cheered her on in the audience.
In tears, Yeom said: 'It's just nice that both my Ae-suns are here. Ae-sun, mummy won a prize!'
Choi broke out his character's favourite catchphrase, 'Damn it!', in his speech. In disbelief, he said: 'Is this some sort of hidden camera prank? I'll continue living and doing my best. And in this cruel world, when you feel tired, remember to yell out: 'Damn it!''
Singer-actress IU pulled double duty playing two characters in When Life Gives You Tangerines. But she lost out for a third time in the Best Actress category. The winner was Kim Tae-ri, who reportedly spent three years training in the traditional Korean art of musical storytelling, or pansori, for period drama Jeongnyeon: The Star Is Born.
IU was previously nominated for My Mister (2018) and Hotel Del Luna (2019).
The Best Actor accolade also went to the star of a Netflix series, with Ju Ji-hoon winning for his role of a cocky trauma surgeon in The Trauma Code: Heroes On Call.
In the film category, the Grand Prize was given to cinematographer Hong Kyung-pyo for his work on the Hyun Bin-led biographical period drama film Harbin, which also won the Best Film award. The movie centres on Ahn Jung-geun, a Korean independence activist who assassinated the first Prime Minister of Japan in 1909.
Hyun Bin, who was nominated for Best Actor for Harbin, lost to Jo Jung-suk, who played a pilot in the comedy film Pilot. The Best Actress prize went to Jeon Do-yeon for the crime action movie Revolver.
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