Series of Netflix successful Korean reality Culinary class wars It is at the center of a dispute on plagiarism after a surprisingly similar show made its debut on the Chinese Video Tencent platform.
Culinary class warsPreviewed in December 2024, it presents 100 competitors, exchanged between famous chefs (“white spoons”) and loser chefs (“black spoons”) – fighting with culinary showdowns who challenge the boundaries of the classes through taste. With star chefs like Baek Jong-Won, Ahn Sung-Jae, Choi Hyun-Seok, Edward Kwon, Jung Ji-SunAND Trad-The show gained explosive popularity. It has become the first series of Korean varieties for Netflix’s global non -English global TV for three consecutive weeks.
Among the preparations for its long -awaited season 2, the controversy broke out when the Ott Chinese Tencent video platform launched a show entitled Yi Feng Shen (a letter to God) on July 17th. The new program presumably borrows heavily Culinary class wars—Frime the structure of his team and the design set in missionary format, celebrity evaluation panels and the inclusion of public evaluators.
While Yi Feng Shen It is marketed as a culinary battle in honor of traditional Chinese cuisine, its competitive structure reflects that of the Korean original, especially the comparisons 1: 1 between “black” and “white” chefs and public tests of the taste tests held in pop-up restaurants.
Critics both in Korea and China have called the similarities, with some Chinese netizen who comment Weibo, “The set is identical and the format is a complete copy”, AND “Have they just stolen everything?”
In response, a Netflix representative told Osen “We did not sell the rights of the format to the manufacturers of the Chinese program”, And he confirmed that internal discussions are underway regarding potential legal actions.
In the meantime, Season 2 of Culinary Class Wars 2 It is scheduled for the first half of 2025.
Nate
