0
President Lee Jae-myung and First Lady Kim Hye-kyung appear on JTBC’s Chuseok special of “Please Take Care of My Refrigerator,” which recorded its highest-ever rating of 8.9 percent nationwide on Oct. 6. / Source: JTBC

JTBC’s variety program Please Take Care of My Refrigerator (commonly known as Chef & My Fridge) recorded its highest viewership rating ever after President Lee Jae-myung and First Lady Kim Hye-kyung appeared on the show as part of a Chuseok holiday special.

According to Nielsen Korea on Tuesday, the episode aired the previous night scored a nationwide rating of 8.9 percent, marking the highest figure since the show’s debut in 2014 across both seasons. The previous record was 7.4 percent, set in 2015 when K-pop stars G-Dragon and Taeyang appeared.

The broadcast drew particular attention as it was President Lee and the First Lady’s first-ever variety show appearance since taking office.

The couple said they joined the program to promote K-food globally. Instead of revealing their home refrigerator, they showcased seasonal Korean ingredients such as Hanwoo beef, dried radish greens, deodeok root, and radish.

“Cultural exports like K-pop and dramas are important, but the real essence of culture is food,” President Lee said. “Food is not only cultural but also a major industrial force that can help drive Korea’s growth.”

During the show, Lee tasted chef Son Jong-won’s four types of traditional Korean snacks called Aja Aja Jat, praising the pine nut porridge as “the best I’ve ever had.”

He also tried webtoon artist-turned-chef Kim Poong’s “Lee Jae-myung Pizza,” made with dried radish greens, jokingly remarking, “The cooking looked playful, but the taste is no joke.”

The episode sparked political controversy ahead of its airing. Opposition lawmakers criticized the timing, saying it was inappropriate for the president and first lady to appear on entertainment TV amid public discomfort caused by a fire at the National Information Resources Service and the death of an interior ministry official overseeing the response to the national data system outage.

In response, the presidential office requested JTBC to delay the broadcast in consideration of the national mourning period. The network accordingly postponed the special from Oct. 5 to Oct. 6 at 10 p.m.