Celebrity Chef Baek Jong Won Bids Goodbye To TV Forever

Baek Jon Won, arguably one of the most popular celebrity chefs in Korea, has announced his decision to end all television appearances.

Baek Jong Won | Money Today

On May 6, KST, Baek released a YouTube video titled “I will start again from the beginning” on his official channel, where he shared this decision with his fans.

In the video, Baek addressed the ongoing controversies regarding his F&B brand, The Born Korea. He took full responsibility for all the problems and stated that he was working toward completely switching up the organization and transforming work culture at his company to address the issues at the very root.

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Chef Baek also shared his company’s decision to launch a large-scale support plan for all its franchise owners, helping them financially to get through his tumultuous period.

Apart from his F&B business, Baek also faced allegations of power abuse as a TV personality. On April 21, former TV producer Kim Jae Hwan accused him of mistreating the staff on the 2015 live competition show, My Little Television. According to Kim, he was making unreasonable demands to the broadcasting company and removing cast members he didn’t like behind the scenes. These allegations, however, were countered by another producer from the same show.

Despite the divided opinion, Chef Baek also addressed this power abuse controversy in his YouTube video, stating, “If my words or actions in the process of producing entertainment content have hurt anyone, that is entirely my responsibility.” He apologized for his mistake and announced that he would cease all his broadcast activities apart from the ones he was still filming.

This decision implies that Baek Jong Won, who is a much-beloved face on entertainment and culinary programs, is effectively set to disappear from TV screens forever after tvN‘s The Genius Paik 3 and Netflix‘s Culinary Class Wars Season 2 air.

Some fans are genuinely disheartened at this decision and are hoping for his return. Meanwhile, Chef Baek, who has appeared on popular shows such as Street Food Fighter, Korean Pork Belly Rhapsody, and even guest-starred on BTS‘s popular variety program, Run BTS, is currently battling the sharp decline in his company’s stock price and a rapidly dropping reputation among the Korean public.

Stay tuned for more updates.