As the dispute over the truth between comedian Park Na-rae and her former managers continues, the MBC variety show I Live Alone held on to the top spot in variety show brand reputation for December.
On the 7th, according to the Korea Corporate Reputation Research Institute, based on big data analysis of variety show brand reputation for Dec. 2025, I Live Alone ranked first, Running Man was second, and The Wonder Coach ranked third. This survey analyzed about 96.99 million brand big data items from 50 variety shows that drew public interest over the one-month period from the 7th of last month to the 7th of this month. This figure represents a decrease of about 6.14% compared with the previous month.
I Live Alone recorded a participation index of 849,486, a media index of 1,368,228, a communication index of 1,246,417, a community index of 1,502,844, and a viewing index of 593,126, bringing its total brand reputation score to 5,560,101 and placing it first. However, this is about a 19.31% decline compared with November; although the numbers fell, the ranking was maintained.
Koo Chang-hwan, director of the Korea Corporate Reputation Research Institute, said, "In the December analysis of variety show brand reputation, overall variety big data slightly decreased, but I Live Alone still maintains a high positive ratio," and explained, "'to challenge', 'to appear', and 'to reveal' were analyzed as major related words, and the positive ratio recorded more than 87%."
Coincidentally, these results emerged while controversy over Park Na-rae, a core member of the program, was at its peak. Recently, former managers came forward alleging that Park Na-rae forced them to run personal errands, kept them on standby for frequent drinking gatherings, verbally abused them — in other words, engaged in power harassment — and even raised suspicions of improper prescription and proxy prescriptions.
In response, Park Na-rae's side rebutted that the former managers made excessive profit-sharing and financial demands during the resignation process, and when she did not comply they continued to make false claims. They said the controversial drug prescriptions were also a legal procedure in which a medical professional made a house call due to a busy schedule, and they explained that the so-called "injection aunt" was also a medical professional. The controversy appears to have spread to surrounding figures after it was revealed that Park Na-rae's mother delivered a settlement payment and later received it back.
As the dispute over the matter shows signs of prolonged contention, the possibility that the conflict will lead to courtroom battles is increasingly being mentioned. Because the person at the center of the controversy is one of the symbolic cast members of I Live Alone, industry attention is focused on whether the program will continue to embrace Park Na-rae or make changes to its cast lineup.
I Live Alone retained the top brand reputation spot despite the controversy. However, depending on how the situation unfolds, the program's image and viewer response could also change, so attention is on what ripple effects this controversy will leave across the variety show scene.
[Photo] 'OSEN DB'
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