"The leading couple" Byun Woo-seok and Kim Hye-yoon have won the Baeksang Popularity Award, and there is increasing interest in whether they can also take home the best acting award for both men and women.
The '61st Baeksang Arts Awards' ceremony will be held on the 5th from 8 p.m. at Coex Hall D in Gangnam, Seoul. This year, Shin Dong-yup, Suzy, and Park Bo-gum are hosting, and candidates are more competitive than ever.
Before the ceremony, Byun Woo-seok and Kim Hye-yoon from "Lovely Runner" were decided as the winners of the Popularity Award. Over the past week, fans voted online to select one male and one female for the "PRIZM Popularity Award," where Byun Woo-seok received 2.404 million votes and Kim Hye-yoon got 7.873 million votes, securing first place. Competition among the female candidates was fierce, but Kim Hye-yoon won the Popularity Award by defeating Lee Hye-ri (6.923 million votes) and IU (3.474 million votes).
During this process, claims arose in online communities and social media that the voting numbers for Kim Hye-yoon and Lee Hye-ri, both among the top female candidates, were abnormally high, raising suspicions that they were manipulated using a "macro program." Although allegations of fraudulent voting surfaced, the organizers dismissed them.
The PRIZM team stated, "The 'macro suspicion video' currently shared in the community has been confirmed to be a video that has been artificially sped up in editing, not on the voting page. Ads that are not viewed for more than 10 seconds do not count as votes. We have not found any evidence of voting through technical hacking or macros exceeding four times a day by account for each Popularity Award, nor evidence of fast-forwarding advertisement videos. PRIZM recognizes the concerns regarding the alleged macro voting very seriously and is strengthening the response system. During the remaining time until the voting deadline (May 2), we will further enhance our operation policies to prevent any unfair voting, including macros, and are operating a more stringent vote counting process. For past voting data, we plan to totally invalidate any votes found to have any suspicion of technical macros after precise analysis."
Byun Woo-seok and Kim Hye-yoon, who have already achieved victory with the Popularity Award, are also nominated for the best acting award in the highly anticipated television sector.
Byun Woo-seok from tvN's "Lovely Runner" will compete for the trophy against senior actors such as Park Bo-gum (Netflix's "When Life Gives You Tangerines"), Lee Joon-hyuk (Tving's "Good or Bad Dong-jae"), Ju Ji-hoon (Netflix's "The Trauma Code: Heroes on Call"), and Han Suk-kyu (MBC's "Intimate Betrayer"). Kim Hye-yoon from "Lovely Runner" will also compete fiercely against Go Min-si (Netflix's "In the Woods Without Anyone"), Kim Tae-ri (tvN's "Retirement Age"), IU (Netflix's "When Life Gives You Tangerines"), and Jang Na-ra (SBS's "Good Partner").
The tvN Monday and Tuesday drama "Lovely Runner," which ended last May, started weakly at 3.1% (Nielsen Korea nationwide), but the final episode achieved an average rating of 7.2% in the metropolitan area, with a peak of 8.7%, and an average rating of 5.8% nationwide with a peak of 6.9%, setting its own record high. The target viewership rating for both men and women aged 20-49, which is the target for tvN, was 4.4% on average in the metropolitan area, with a peak of 5.2%, an average of 3.9% nationwide, with a peak of 4.5%, achieving first place in terms of ratings across all channels for eight consecutive weeks including terrestrial broadcasting.
Thanks to the syndrome-like popularity of the drama, Byun Woo-seok and Kim Hye-yoon have also risen as top actors. The two leads have enjoyed their highest popularity since their debut, and above all, Byun Woo-seok has emerged as the "trendiest of the trend" and captured the hearts of women in South Korea. Ticket sales for fan meetings attracted over 700,000 simultaneous access users, making it an incredibly competitive situation for tickets. Fan cafes for wrap-up interviews have been inundated with fans eager to see him. Kim Hye-yoon is also receiving plenty of love calls, including casting in the upcoming SBS drama "From Today, I Am Human" and the movie "Sal Mok-ji" (working title).
If Byun Woo-seok and Kim Hye-yoon win the best acting awards, it will mark the first time in three years since Lee Junho and Kim Taeri won both the Popularity Award and Best Actor at the '58th Baeksang Arts Awards' as the "leading couple".
As the popularity of "Lovely Runner" remains even a year after its conclusion, expectations are high for it to win over strong contenders such as "When Life Gives You Tangerines" and "The Trauma Code: Heroes on Call."
[Photo] Poster of "Lovely Runner," SNS
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