[New Square 10] "Black and White Cook" is hot...Who will be the final winner today?

■ Host: Lee Se-na Anchor
■ Starring: Kim Heon-sik, pop culture critic

* The text below may differ from the actual broadcast content, so please check the broadcast for more accurate information. Please specify [YTN New Square 10AM] when quoting.

[Anchor]
Who cooks better, the owner of a kimchi stew restaurant or the fine dining chef? ' The Netflix entertainment show "Black and White Cook," which began with this curiosity, is creating a craze. Also, the movie 'Veteran 2' continues to be a long-term hit in theaters. Let's talk with cultural news and pop culture critic Kim Heon-sik. How are you, critic?

[Kim Heon-sik]
Hello,

[Anchor]
It's the talk of the black and white chef these days. I'm sure some of you haven't seen it yet because you can only watch it on Netflix. Can you explain the program briefly?

[Kim Heon-sik]
We're taking a survival variety show. But this time, I came back to cooking, not singing or physical competition. Black spoon makers are challenging the nation's top chef Baek Su-jeo for 300 million won. Right now, it's been at the top of Netflix's non-English TV series for the second week in a row among those released on Netflix. Since it is a competition between chefs, interest in not only cooking but also the results of the competition is increasing more than ever.

[Anchor]
However, for a while, there have been a lot of talks about getting sick of food-related programs. What do you think is the secret of the black-and-white chef's popularity this time?

[Kim Heon-sik]
For example, there was a program called Physical 100. Here, regardless of gender or occupation, from special forces to national team members or celebrity idols, it was a structure where they took off their ranks and competed against each other. It was a huge hit. Likewise, isn't there a chef who has a famous status and some don't?

Therefore, the point of popularity is what will happen if famous chefs and non-famous chefs compete. In particular, the destruction of authority is one of the important elements of entertainment. In particular, places with collective culture or ranking culture tend to give a lot of pleasure when they cross the authority in entertainment programs. The huge 1,000 pyeong set itself, which can cook for about 40 people at the same time, offers something to see.

Although it has not been officially revealed, there is even a story that more than 10 billion won would have been spent on production. Also, whenever an unusual scene comes out, such as a cooking contest with only ingredients sold at convenience stores, it is also interesting. What is important is that we can also read the social value that fair issues are being projected into our society, given that we objectively evaluate only our cooking skills.

[Anchor]
Some people support the Black team, others support the White team, and the scenes where the judges blindfolded and tasted food like a baby bird became a hot topic, and various parodies and memes came out online.

[Kim Heon-sik]
That's right. So, cooking research is the representative of Jongwon Baek and Michelin chef, and judge Ahn Sung-jae evaluated it, and the important thing was the method. So, in the past, there were many cases where other factors were involved in competitions. For example, I could mainly evaluate the person's life story, philosophy, and diversity of ingredients, but I tried to be fair by covering it with eye patches and evaluating it only in terms of taste.

As a result, you have to taste food with a black cloth, so you don't know what food comes to your mouth, so it looks like a baby bird eating with its eyes covered, so this is also a bit of a destruction of authority. It is fun to see the scenes where very famous chefs try to eat like baby birds, so there are a lot of parodies of eye patches. In addition, chef Ahn Sung-jae's review that meat is not cooked well has become a parody, and memes have been derived from popular words these days, providing another attraction.

[Anchor]
The popularity of black-and-white chefs is so great these days that the downturn in the restaurant industry is also changing. Reserving the chef's restaurant is like picking a star in the sky?

[Kim Heon-sik]
That's right. After the broadcast, the search volume and reservation number of restaurants operated by the performing chefs increased significantly. So there were statistics that showed a 74-fold increase compared to the previous week. Looking at the testimony of the interviews of those who actually visited the restaurant, it seems that they are lining up too much. But there was one unique thing this time. In the past, chefs who continued to perform well in competitions became popular, and restaurants were crowded, but now they are visiting restaurants of chefs who have fallen. In fact, this program differs from other competitions because other competitions, programs can listen to music or see if they have succeeded in their challenge, but the cooking program has no choice but to check the taste.

That's why he's so famous. Why did he fail? He's also visiting restaurants of people who have fallen to see if they can fall. Therefore, whether or not they have performed well, they are revitalizing the restaurant industry in a way. That's why I can think that I don't regret it even if the chefs fall, so I can think in this context that I think there will probably be more participants in Season 2.

[Anchor]
You said you're looking forward to Season 2, but there's also a buzz as it's popular. In particular, you mentioned earlier that the keyword fair is one of the secrets to its popularity, but coincidentally, the number of successful black and white chefs came out the same at every mission, causing controversy over fairness.

[Kim Heon-sik]
That's right. This is something that has been predicted to some extent. Because they're actually my favorite chefs. Even if you are a black chef, even if you are not famous, your skills are very outstanding, so there was some controversy over fairness as you went back, but there were actually two cases. First of all, the most controversial part was that two people were posted as Super Pass, but coincidentally, it happened to be Black 11, White 7, and so on.

And in the case of top 8, so 8 went up in the end, but this was also black 4 and white 4. How can black and white go up in the same number? It was said that the production team intervened artificially and matched the pair, but the production team never intended it. And although there is a controversy over fairness, I think he will show an attitude of improving next season, but anyway, a lot of people are watching right now. Of course, it's something you have to watch until the end, but I think you need to evaluate this.

[Anchor]
Black and white chefs are gaining huge popularity overseas. Some Chinese people are making this absurd claim that Korea stole Chinese food?

[Kim Heon-sik]
I think the reason for this argument is that this program is gaining huge popularity worldwide. It's a Chinese dish, and it's a scene where you make Chinese baskets. When we were young, it was very eye-catching by applying it to cooking like we made grass, but the Chinese side said that Koreans would claim Korean food, not that they claimed it like this, but that they would claim it.

They said that there is no unique dish in Korea, but in fact, the program clearly states that it is Chinese food. That's why we didn't plagiarize or cheat, you can see it like this. That's why I think it's defamation to express to Jongwon Baek, the judge, as a grand thief who steals Chinese food. As I said earlier, it's so popular that I think the Chinese side is jealous of the reality that they can't make food into a global program.

[Anchor]
In China, Netflix services are also blocked, and some say that such unreasonable claims should be considered evidence of success. Black and white chef at the center of the topic, the last episode is finally being released today?

[Kim Heon-sik]
That's right. At 4 p.m. today, the 11th and 12th episodes will be released. The production of this program has been completed by the 12th episode of the season promotion. So you're going to compete for the final winner out of eight, and in this final round, everything about the dish goes in. So, in terms of your life, ingredients, and design, at first, you only evaluated it based on taste, but after that, you made various comprehensive judgments, so this will be a concern about who will be the best winner in the comprehensive judgment.

[Anchor]
Who will win the final championship, and when the final winner comes out, I think it will be a hot topic again. Lastly, let's talk about the theater. Veteran 2, a movie released during the Chuseok holiday, has surpassed 7 million viewers. What do you think is the secret to the success?

[Kim Heon-sik]
First of all, it's called a franchise movie these days. It can be seen that the movie with a sequel has a rear effect due to its previous work, and it is playing a role in driving the box office by attracting many people to the theater. Following the crime city, Veteran 2 also shows these characteristics. Since it's a work that so many people have seen, there were virtually no competing works in that regard.

It also has a clear message. I'm looking forward to a veteran detective's story that he doesn't forgive bad guys, and actor Jung Hae-in, who has established himself as a rising star, has appeared, raising questions, but I think the factors that female fans cheered for are working in general.

[Anchor]
Attention is focusing on whether Veteran 2 will surpass 10 million. So far, we've learned about the culture industry with Kim Heon-sik, a pop culture critic. Thank you for talking today. Thank you.