MBC‘s ‘Oh Eun-young Report - Marriage Hell’ features a husband who holds all the financial power as the head of the household and a wife who is miserable because of her husband who tries to rule the family with money, a ‘strong couple’.

The wife shows an extraordinary spirit of service, saying that her favorite thing is donating her talents and helping people in need. As such, the reason the wife decided to get married was because she wanted to help her husband for the rest of her life. However, the wife now feels like a ‘servant’ rather than a ‘wife’, and she wishes to get away from her husband. The husband complains that the husband is self-centered and tries to rule the family with money. However, the husband says that his wife’s claims are exaggerated, saying that she drives him like a dictator. He honestly confesses his feelings, saying that he wanted to go home without consulting her because he feels wronged. Even after agreeing to appear, the husband refused to film while filming their daily lives, saying, “Turn off the microphone, I want the broadcast to stop.” This caused the production team an unprecedented difficulty. The MCs were anxious, saying, “This is not ordinary, this is a really strong husband,” and “Filming itself must not have been easy.” Will the Don-Dok couple be able to finish the consultation safely?

The Don-Dok couple are farmers who grow peaches in an orchard of about 10,000 pyeong. The husband has been farming for 40 years, and the wife has worked alongside him for 32 years, not only farming peaches but also taking responsibility for the care of numerous workers. Although the couple worked together in the peach orchard, the husband was always the one who held the financial power. The wife says that it’s “our money” that they earned together, but the husband thinks of it as “his money,” and she doesn’t understand. Also, the wife expresses her frustration, saying, “My husband is obsessed with money and thinks he can rule the family only if he holds the money.” She then confesses that the most miserable time is when she gets a credit card from her husband. When the limit of the credit card for living expenses that her husband sets is over 100,000 won when going grocery shopping, her husband nags her and even checks the receipt himself. She is even frustrated when she has to return the card to her husband after using it. However, the husband says, “I am the head of the household, so I hold the financial power.” The husband then says, “Honestly, I may feel cowardly from your perspective,” and seems to understand her, but she says that she doesn’t want to spend money when things are not going well between them.



The husband’s feelings of “I don’t want to spend money when things are not going well” are no exception in his relationship with his children. The eldest son, who currently suffers from renal failure, needs to receive hemodialysis three times a week. The wife asks her husband to pay the hospital bill for her eldest son. However, the husband leaves the room as soon as the topic of “money” comes up, even though it is about the son’s hospital bill. The wife, who has always had a hard time communicating with her husband, eventually asks to talk again, saying, “Why did I apply for the “marriage hell”?” The wife says that what is most disappointing is her husband’s words and actions that seem to be pointing arrows at his family. In response, the husband says, “Are there any children who have approached me affectionately?” and insists that the children should come to him first if they want something. The wife vents that the husband’s attitude of not making any effort to find out what the family wants is the problem because he only tries to solve the family relationship with money. However, the husband currently feels betrayed by his eldest son and their relationship is uncomfortable. What will Dr. Oh Eun-young say to her husband, who is so upset that he even refuses to pay his son‘s hospital bill?

The next day, the wife, who finally gets permission to use her husband’s card, heads to the hospital with her first son. After a long period of hemodialysis, her first son wants to eat lunch. The wife suggests to her husband that they eat out for her son who suffered from dialysis, but he immediately declines. When the wife suggests again, he spits out barbs, saying, “My child? Your child!”, which surprises the MCs. In the end, it‘s just the first son and the wife eating out. The mother and son order sweet and sour chicken for the first time in a while. The mother and son feel sorry for each other because they have been so frugal in their lives that it is their first time eating sweet and sour chicken with their family. After the meal, the husband receives a text message saying, “Payment for eating out.” As soon as his wife returns home, the husband asks her why she would spend 40,000 won at a Chinese restaurant. When his wife said she ordered sweet and sour chicken, he said she was eating jajangmyeon but ended up eating sweet and sour chicken, and he said, “This is why you don’t trust me.” The wife is frustrated and asks what trust has eating out got to do with it, and the MCs also question it, saying, “Is it something that requires trust?” However, the husband says that he lost trust in his wife after a huge fight over money four years ago. What on earth happened that made him control his wife‘s spending so much?

Meanwhile, the husband continuously avoided talking to his wife during the daily filming and requested that the broadcast be stopped. Even though he agreed to filming, the husband refused to talk, and when the production crew approached him to hear his story, he avoided the production crew throughout the filming, saying, “You keep nagging me” and “The PD is really persistent.” The husband finally opened his heart after the production crew persuaded him to resolve his marital conflict. It arouses viewers’ curiosity about what the husband‘s true feelings were.

A husband who holds financial power as the head of the household and the head of the family, and a wife who seems to value money more than her family, are upset. Dr. Oh Eun-young’s healing report for a ‘strong couple’ who lost trust due to financial issues can be seen on MBC‘s ‘Oh Eun-young Report - Marriage Hell’ Episode 99 on Monday, November 18 at 10:45 PM.

Choi Yoon-na, Donga.com Reporter yyynnn@donga.com