Oh Jong Hyuk's Cigarette on "Law of the Jungle" Causes Yet Another Controversy

SBS’s survivor format reality show “ Law of the Jungle”  is swept up in yet another controversy and this time, it’s because one of the show’s cast members was caught holding a cigarette during broadcast.

On August 2, “Law of the Jungle” aired its Caribbean episode where singer and actor Oh Jong Hyuk was captured with a cigarette.

Airing footage of someone holding a cigarette without a mosaic or blur is a problem but the bigger issue is that the particular scene where Oh Jong Hyuk was seen with a cigarette was when the cast members were trying to make a fire from scratch. This led viewers to think, “If someone is able to smoke a cigarette, why couldn’t they make a fire,” causing doubts over the authenticity of the program to rise up once again.

On August 4, the “Law of the Jungle” staff made an official statement through the SBS homepage by saying, “Airing the footage of a cast member holding a cigarette on the August 2 broadcast was an accident. This is an editing mistake and we give our deepest apologies to the viewers,” and “We will be more careful so this doesn’t happen again.”

They continued, “‘Law of the Jungle’ is a program that was created to show viewers how to survive in the wilderness,” and “When the cast members were trying to make a fire, they were following the program’s intentions. They voluntarily used the fire stills and did not use any other method,” putting the doubts to a rest.

While many have been criticizing Oh Jong Hyuk for smoking, many have been defending him as well. A large group of netizens have been defending Oh Jong Hyuk, saying that he shouldn’t be criticized as harshly since he is one of the celebrities who served the military as a regular soldier and not as a celebrity PR soldier. These opinions seem to be gathering even more because of the recent celebrity military scandals.

Previously, “Law of the Jungle” faced many controversies, especially regarding the credibility of the show. For the New Zealand special, Park Bo Young‘s director posted negative things about the show, which caused netizens to doubt the program’s true nature.