"The cast members of 'You Have to Pay for Your Meal' reported extreme difficulties in their situation."
On the morning of the 23rd, at the two IFC building in Yeouido, Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul, the production presentation for the new variety show 'You Have to Pay for Your Meal with Choo Sung Hoon' by ENA and EBS took place. Choo Sung Hoon, Kwak Jun Bin, Lee Eun Ji, Producer Song Jun Seop, and Producer Ahn Je Min attended to share their thoughts.
'You Have to Pay for Your Meal with Choo Sung Hoon' is a real survival travel documentary where 'Uncle' Choo Sung Hoon challenges the world's extreme jobs and enjoys the fruits of his labor.
That day, when asked about the moment when chemistry began to develop during filming, Lee Eun Ji candidly revealed, "As the program's name suggests, it was really a situation where we couldn't personally spend our own money or production costs. In the morning, we needed to take probiotics, L-carnitine, magnesium, and calcium, but they didn't even give us a sip of water. I was very angry at that time. At that moment, we were putting in the work, but was the production team doing the same? As those feelings built up, I pondered if this was right. It's just my thought, but I feel that perhaps we had a bit of chemistry when we were talking behind the production team's back," causing laughter.
He said, "Personally, I think the chemistry among the three of us resembles a group project. We fought, laughed, cried, and various emotions were exchanged, but in the end, we accomplished our goals, like a group project." He added, "I'd give it an 80 out of 100. A grade, approximately. For the remaining 20 points, I'd like to see it grow, and if the opportunity arises, I hope to carry it into a season 2." When asked about his willingness to participate in season 2, he quipped, "If they give us just water, I would!"
When asked about the toughest crisis moment he faced, Choo Sung Hoon said, "When we were going to China, I didn't speak English that well, but generally, if you can use English a little, you can communicate. There was no help for anything like that, and we had to manage somehow. If we were to take a taxi, we couldn't use Google Maps. We had to follow various apps there, and fortunately, since I knew some Chinese characters, I used that to communicate, but I wasn't even sure if we were getting where we needed to go. We tried talking to the driver, but he couldn't speak English. We struggled to communicate. Fortunately, Kwak Jun Bin could say a little, so that helped," he shared.
He said, "Other broadcasts provide assistance. While helping, they take staff transportation to the site, but we had to take taxis. They didn't give us water. If we wanted to get some, they wouldn't hand it over. We had to buy it from the money we earned, but the water there was priced at about 3,000 won for a small bottle. We debated whether to buy it, and if we were in Korea, we would have bought it immediately, but there, without money, we ended up not being able to. I remember a lot of those things. We struggled, but we still managed to have fun while filming."
Kwak Jun Bin also said, "I couldn't even buy a bottle of water. The first time we could buy water was after completing our duty. After working really hard, we needed to drink water, but the available bottles were the expensive ones. The salary wasn't large. It wasn't like we were working all day. So splitting the little money we had to buy expensive water was stressful, and looking back, it brings back memories of when I worked part-time during college weekends and managed to save some money for travel and pocket money. We often used the production team's card for travel programs, so I lost sight of money distribution, but while doing this program, I thought that in the past we used to split expenses and I realized I had forgotten that, which led me to reflect on my original intention," he reminisced.
Lee Eun Ji noted, "Every moment was tough and challenging, but I remember the moments when we talked together after work. It seems we had a fun and meaningful experience."
When asked how he communicated with other staff while doing work, Producer Song Jun Seop said, "We used public transportation when moving around, but while working, I was in a learning position, so I provided help. However, that doesn't mean we were 100% closely involved, so there was chemistry created due to language barriers. During those times, Eun Ji used body language to communicate." Then Lee Eun Ji added, "It wasn't as smooth as I had thought. China has various ethnic groups, doesn't it? In those situations, since everyone used their dialects, we faced instances where we couldn't understand each other, which was confusing, but we managed to overcome the crisis well with our gestures, sense, and body language."
Producer Ahn Je Min said, "That part made post-editing difficult. I don't know Chinese, but on-site, Eun Ji communicated well. But during the editing process when we saw the translated work, it turned out that the two were not saying the same thing. They were speaking differently, so editing posed challenges in figuring out how to convey and clarify the communications properly."
Meanwhile, 'You Have to Pay for Your Meal with Choo Sung Hoon' will premiere on the 26th at 7:50 p.m.
[Photo] OSEN Reporter Park Jun Hyung
[OSEN]