The YouTube channel 'Studio Suje' hosted by broadcaster Pungja has been troubled by manipulation by a non-celebrity cast member in its main segment 'Ttoganjip'.
On the 27th, the 'Studio Suje' team announced through their community, "Thank you to everyone who always supports and watches 'Ttoganjip'. It has been confirmed that the restaurant selected as number one in the recently released 'Ttoganjip' Anyang episode violated the selection criteria of 'Ttoganjip'."
They continued, "We have directly confirmed that the statement made by the non-celebrity cast member, 'It is not a family relationship,' is not true. We verified the facts with the individual, who has repeatedly expressed their apologies to the studio and the viewers." They explained, "As a result, the distributed poster has been recalled, and we have decided to permanently delete the video."
The 'Ttoganjip' Anyang episode, released on the 24th, garnered over 900,000 views and gained popularity, but it became embroiled in controversy over cast manipulation.
During the filming, the cast member introduced a restaurant to Pungja, who asked, "Is it your parents' house?" but the cast member denied it.
Afterward, some netizens pointed out that the interviewed cast member was the daughter of the restaurant owner. The cast member apologized directly in the comments just a day after the video was released. Ultimately, the production team deleted the video, emphasizing fairness.
The production team stated, "We wanted to respond cautiously to avoid excessive criticism of the non-celebrity cast member. We do not wish to disclose personal information or allow excessive defamatory comments, which may be deleted." They emphasized, "We would like to clarify to our viewers that 'Ttoganjip' has not accepted a single restaurant advertisement in the past three years, and we will do our best to ensure that such incidents do not happen again."
'Ttoganjip' is a variety show content where Pungja interviews citizens to receive recommendations for restaurants to revisit.
Pungja gained public recognition starting with his popularity on social media, including Facebook, and the success of his YouTube channel, Pungja TV. Since then, he has been entertaining audiences through various YouTube content and broadcast variety programs.
[Ji Seung-hoon, Star Today Reporter]
