[Dispatch=Park Hye-jin Reporter] (Jeon Hyun-moo) Spontaneous travel. Jeon Hyun-moo went on a "spontaneous" trip. However, the production team had already "planned" the program's direction. While claiming to be an impromptu trip, it was a pre-prepared project.
MBC-TV entertainment program "I Live Alone" became embroiled in manipulation controversy. Jeon Hyun-moo's Kazakhstan travel episodes (14th, 21st) are suspected of having been carried out within a plan, contrary to what was described in the broadcast.
"I Live Alone" aired Jeon Hyun-moo's 29-hour spontaneous Kazakhstan trip. It captured him heading to the airport without a plan, issuing tickets on the spot, and heading to his destination. The production team even displayed a subtitle saying "the choice of destination was also spontaneous."
According to Dispatch's confirmation, it was a trip mixing unplanned and planned elements. It is true that Jeon Hyun-moo went on a one-night, two-day trip without a plan. It is also true that the production team had prepared the trip in advance as a broadcast item.
The "I Live Alone" production team grasped Jeon Hyun-moo's schedule and planned the spontaneous trip. They prepared with candidates including Qingdao, Shanghai, Tokyo, Osaka, and Taiwan—destinations that could be reached in one night and two days. Kazakhstan was also one of the candidate destinations.
An MBC official explained to Dispatch, "Even if (Jeon Hyun-moo) takes a spontaneous trip, the production team must prepare the broadcast considering multiple scenarios. There needs to be a rough conception of what picture will be created on site."
According to the production team, from Jeon Hyun-moo's perspective, the trip was spontaneous. He arrived at the airport, checked flight availability, and headed to his destination. The production team added, "If there had been no Kazakhstan flights available at that time, he would not have been able to go there."
The official stated, "It seems we emphasized 'spontaneous trip' too much in the broadcast, and viewers likely felt it was a 100% unplanned trip from beginning to end. That is our oversight."
However, the "I Live Alone" side asked to distinguish between the production team's advance preparation and the cast member's actions. The official said, "(The production team) was prepared for multiple scenarios, and Jeon Hyun-moo responded according to circumstances on site. That is a fact."
The production team also stated their position on the rental car privilege. They rented the vehicle from a private rental company using only an international driver's license and passport. The production team said, "We confirmed belatedly that a separate notarization procedure was necessary."
"I Live Alone" also drew a line regarding claims of support from Almaty Tourism Bureau. The official said, "Since there was no predetermined destination from the beginning, consultation itself was impossible." In response, MBC is known to have requested the Kazakh Embassy in Korea to delete the post.
<Photo Source=MBC>
