Culinary Class Wars 2 Chef Im Sung-geun Admits Past Drunk Driving

Chef Im Sung-geun, who rose to prominence following his appearance in Netflix’s Culinary Class Wars 2, has publicly admitted to three drunk driving convictions in the past. On Sunday (Jan 18), the chef confessed to the convictions in a video uploaded to his YouTube channel Imjjang TV. He revealed that he had been convicted on three separate occasions over the span of 10 years. According to Im, he had a habit of sleeping in his car after drinking. In the video, he said: “I’d drink and sleep in my car, and the police caught me. They told me I needed to turn the engine off to just sit there. That was 10 years ago. And the most recent time I was caught was about five or six years ago.” Im’s confession comes shortly after his breakout success on Culinary Class Wars 2, where he received widespread attention for his sharp wit and cooking skills. He then received a wave of casting offers from various Korean variety programmes. However, following these revelations, some of his television appearances have been cancelled. On Monday, a JTBC representative confirmed that Im would no longer be appearing on popular Korean variety show, Knowing Bros. Chefs Cheon Sang-yeon, Lee Moon-jung, and Yoon Na-ra will appear on the episode as planned. Filming and broadcast are expected to take place in February. KBS2’s Fun-Staurant has also confirmed that while discussions for Im’s participation were ongoing prior to recording, his appearance has now been cancelled. It remains unclear whether Im will participate in other potential appearances, including MBC’s Hangout With Yoo and The Manager, as well as comedian Jang Do-yeon’s YouTube talk show Salon Drip. Discussions are reportedly underway.