Growing Privacy Concerns Over Male Cast Member
JTBC Edits Screen Time of Cast Member
A man appearing on JTBC's senior dating reality program 'Kkeutsarang' has been embroiled in allegations of a past 'fraudulent marriage.' As the controversy grows, the broadcaster has decided to edit out the segments featuring the man. The risk associated with non-celebrity participants in broadcast programs seems to be increasing.
On the 28th, JTBC stated, "We are verifying the facts regarding personal issues of participant A," adding, "To avoid discomfort for viewers, we plan to edit the footage and air it on the 29th. We kindly ask that malicious comments and slander directed at non-celebrity participants be refrained from."
'Kkeutsarang' is a dating reality program with the concept of single men and women over their 50s seeking new love, which first aired on the 15th and has been gaining popularity. Due to the nature of the show, many non-celebrity participants appear.
However, after the first broadcast, a post exposing A's private life was uploaded on an online community. Netizen B, who wrote the post, claimed about A, "After eight years of marriage in Korea, he fled to the U.S., fraudulently married pretending to be single, and then returned to Korea," adding, "His life has been a career of deceiving and exploiting women, and now he even appeared on a broadcast."
He also stated, "His first wife is in Korea, and the wife in the U.S. knew about this and, after talking with the wife in Korea, tried to file for annulment but divorced considering the child," further adding, "Since the child in the U.S. would become an adult and could obtain U.S. citizenship through family sponsorship, he also took custody."
In addition, several posts containing detailed claims about A's divorce process and other matters have been spotted multiple times. A's side has not yet issued a statement regarding these allegations.
Meanwhile, this is not the first time a broadcast program featuring non-celebrity participants has been embroiled in controversy.
Representative programs targeting non-celebrity participants, such as SBS Plus and ENA's entertainment program 'I Am Solo,' have repeatedly faced issues related to school violence, sexually transmitted infections, and private life controversies among their cast members. Channel A's entertainment program 'Heart Signal' also faced backlash due to personal life allegations including infidelity and drunk driving.
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