Actresses to show their bare faces in 'Guesthouse Daughters'

Lee Mi-suk poses at the press conference for “Guesthouse Daughters,” Tuesday. / Yonhap

By Park Jin-hai

What would it be like if popular actresses showed their faces without make-up and revealed their daily lives?

Viewers are about to find out.

“Guesthouse Daughters,” a new reality show on KBS, which premieres Tuesday, features veteran actresses Lee Mi-suk, Park Si-yeon, Jang Shin-young, Lee Da-hae and Yoon Soy and male entertainers Park Soo-hong and Lee Su-geun.

The show will present daily life involving Lee Mi-suk, a guesthouse owner and mother of four daughters, her son, played by Lee Su-geun, and Park Soo-hong, who lives in the house. It is expected to reveal the actresses talking straight with their faces free of make-up.

“The most often asked question has been if it is a drama or a sitcom,” the show’s producer Jung Hee-seop said during a media event at the broadcaster’s headquarters in Seoul Tuesday. “I guess it was because actresses make up the majority of the cast members. I wanted to show that actresses cannot only do well on variety shows, but also can be funnier than any other entertainers.”

He said since actresses tend to avoid realty shows to protect their images, he used the word “high-quality boutique talk show” to entice them.

Lee Mi-suk said she has always had a great interest in appearing on variety shows, but a reality show has been a challenge. “The fear of showing myself, oftentimes not with my best looks, makes it difficult for actresses to accept the offer to appear on realty shows,” she said. “After my long career, I thought that it is another genre that I can challenge. These days, hiding from the public eye is not considered a virtue. Before it is too late, I made up my mind to challenge this new genre.”

Since actresses are accustomed to following scripts, Lee said how they react when they are ordered to “have it their own way” will attract viewers. “The way of living life is not different,” she said. “But we are the ones whose lives have been wrapped in pretty packages. When those packages are unwrapped, revealing what is inside will be fresh and funny for the viewers, I think.”