What a view | Youn’s Stay: Parasite’s Choi Woo-shik joins the cast of charming Korean reality show spin-off
- When Covid-19 put paid to the third season of Youn’s Kitchen, Youn Yuh-jung decamped to a hanok homestay
- With the help of some famous friends, she hosts foreign guests already in South Korea
Travel may still be more vicarious than existential in these challenging times. But for a lucky few the pandemic has meant a more exclusive, personalised experience than they might otherwise have sampled – plus supporting roles in a reality-television show.
Youn’s Stay (Now TV, channel 155, Wednesdays at 11pm) offers foreign guests already in South Korea the comforts of a bona fide hanok (traditional Korean house) homestay in rural Gurye county, west of Busan – albeit one in which they’re followed around by cameras.
The new series is a spin-off from abandoned show Youn’s Kitchen (Covid-19 filming difficulties put paid to its third season) but it retains much of the cast, including Youn Yuh-jung, who has now become a guest house boss. Newcomer Choi Woo-shik (of Parasite fame) here functions as a sort of English-speaking liaison officer for visitors.
Although it might look like a walk in the park, Youn’s Stay ends up being anything but for the actors, who have to muck in and tackle the real work of running the homestay. Cleaning, cooking, collecting guests and explaining the niceties of Korean culture to Dutchmen, Australians and Ukrainians are all part of the “job”.
As for the walk in the park, well, that’s currently being enjoyed by the hanok owners – already inundated with reservations enquiries.
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