Choi Hyun-seok, a straight ball to the employment fraud controversy “Chef X-Friend...” (Peruvian Rice)

SBS ‘Peruvian Rice’ announced a pleasant start with the high-quality jungle cooking of Ryu Soo-young and Choi Hyun-seok.

The first episode of SBS ‘Jungle Rice 2 - Peruvian Rice’ (hereafter ‘Peruvian Rice’), which aired on the 27th, recorded a peak viewership rating of 4.5% (Nielsen Korea, metropolitan area, household standard), taking first place in viewership ratings among terrestrial entertainment shows in the same time slot. Ryu Soo-young, Choi Hyun-seok, Choi Daniel, and Kim Ok-bin showed off a unique ‘tasty earning’ travel story in Peru, and Jeon Hyun-moo, DinDin, and Heo Young-ji joined as studio MCs.

The ‘employment fraud’ controversy erupted from the start of the broadcast that day. Chef Choi Hyun-seok said, “When I was contacted for the program, I said it was a ‘gourmet trip’” and complained, “It wasn‘t about being self-sufficient, but it was an ’experiencing Peruvian life on site‘”. Jeon Hyun-moo teased him, saying, “Your face doesn’t look like that of a fine dining chef”, and DinDin responded by saying, “It looks like you came to throw a tantrum”, causing everyone to laugh.

After many twists and turns, Choi Hyun-seok and Ryu Soo-young headed to Peru and chose ‘giant squid’ as their first long-awaited ‘taste maker’ ingredient card. They went out to the Pacific Ocean at 2 AM and tried fishing themselves, but Choi Hyun-seok suffered from severe seasickness. The two‘s ’opposite opposites‘ chemistry also caught the eye. Ryu Soo-young’s endless chatter continued to increase Choi Hyun-seok‘s ‘fatigue’ as he suffered from seasickness, and Choi Hyun-seok stuck out his tongue, saying, “I’ve never seen anyone talk more than I do.”.

The local sailor who went squid fishing with them made them mackerel ceviche with roasted corn. Ryu Soo-young smiled with satisfaction, repeatedly saying, “It‘s delicious.” However, when the sun rose, the sailors decided to return to port, and when one of them said, “There’s giant squid at the market,”, the two couldn‘t hide their disappointment. DinDin, who was watching this from the studio, joked, “Why don’t you just take a deep sleep and go to the market?”.

In the end, the two had a full-scale cooking competition using the 11kg giant squid they airlifted from the market as their ingredient. Ryu Soo-young finely chopped the squid body to make gochujang fish cake and mild fish cake respectively, and then presented fried squid and seafood tteokbokki.

Choi Hyun-seok, who combined giant squid with fine dining cuisine, completed giant squid vongole with chewy sujebi. In addition, Choi Hyun-seok completed ‘Peruvian-style braised mullet’ using ‘liza’, a Peruvian fish. Jeon Hyun-moo, who saw Choi Hyun-seok trying a new dish through improvisation, exclaimed, “I think ‘Peruvian rice’ Choi Hyun-seok is cooler than ‘Black and White Chef’ Choi Hyun-seok”.

Actors Kim Ok-bin and Choi Daniel followed suit and enjoyed Ryu Soo-young X Choi Hyun-seok‘s first dinner. When Kim Ok-bin, who saw Choi Hyun-seok’s sujebi vongole, teased Choi Hyun-seok for leaving out the garlic in ‘Black and White Chef’, Choi Hyun-seok made fun of himself by saying, “Is there a crazy chef in the world who leaves out the garlic?”, making the set burst into laughter.

‘Jungle Bob 2 - Peruvian Bob’ airs every Thursday at 9 p.m. on SBS.

Jung Hee-yeon, Donga.com reporter shine2562@donga.com

This article is automatically translated using Google AI. If you notice any inaccuracies, please let us know at allkstar@donga.com.