Singer helps 'Three Meals a Day' end with success

Eric in "Three Meals a Day" / Courtesy of tvN

By Yun Suh-young

Producer Na Young-seok has created yet another success to add to his filmography of reality TV shows.

His latest reality cooking show, "Three Meals a Day" on tvN, ended with an 11.4 percent viewer rating for the last episode on Dec. 23. The highest viewership during the show's run was 13.3 percent. A two-digit ratings number on cable TV is considered a huge success.

With the 11th episode as the finale for the sixth season of the series, "Three Meals a Day" has ended its three-month journey that began on Oct. 14. Na has been producing the series since 2014 in different locations across the country. He has filmed three in inland regions and three in coastal areas. The recent season, dubbed "Three Meals a Day — Fishing Village 3," was the third filmed in a remote fishing village. It was on Deukryang Island in South Jeolla Province.

Despite initial doubts on whether the new cast — Eric Mun of the boy band Shinhwa and actor Yoon Kyun-sang — would harmonize well with existing member, actor Lee Seo-jin, the show was a success, with the cast blending well together and creating harmonious scenes. Lee is the only continuing cast member of Na's show since the initial season.

Compared to the rating for a previous season finale filmed in Jeongseon County, which marked 9.6 percent, the show garnered far more popularity this time, thanks to singer Mun, who proved himself a good fisher and cook. His surprisingly sophisticated cooking skills grabbed the attention of female viewers, catapulting his popularity, and his expertise in fishing made him perfect for the season in the fishing village.

As the purpose of the show is to plant, harvest and fish the ingredients for the cast's own three meals every day, the three members smoothly grew and gathered these raw ingredients that Mun turned into beautiful dishes.

When asked why he creates cooking reality shows based on harvesting in rural areas, Na said it was to help people remember how difficult it is to prepare a proper meal while living a slow lifestyle, during a press conference in October when the new season began.

As difficult as it was, Mun came up with 96 delicious dishes for this season with the help of his two colleagues, Lee and Yoon, and the scene that grabbed the most attention on the finale was when the final dishes for the last episode — fried pork, tofu and mussel soup — were revealed.

The show will air an additional producer's cut on Friday as a special episode to cap the season.

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