Jinny's Kitchen

Jinny's Kitchen (also known as Seojin's or its full title Seojin's Korean Street Food; ) is a South Korean television reality show that premiered domestically on cable channel tvN and its platform streaming service TVING on February 24, 2023, and internationally on Prime Video. It is the first Korean entertainment show distributed worldwide by Amazon Prime. The first season comprises eleven episodes. The second season aired on June 28, 2024.

It is the second spin-off of Youn's Kitchen (2017) after Youn's Stay (2021), with the goal of forming a franchise.

A two-episode spin-off special, named Jinny's Kitchen: Team Building, was later released on Amazon Prime.

Premise
The show is a spin-off of the television reality show Youn's Kitchen (2017), as Lee Seo-jin finally becomes a restaurant owner after working as a manager under Youn in the previous series. He opens Jinny's Kitchen in the small town of Bacalar, located in southeastern Mexico, to introduce Korean street food to customers.

In season 2, the cast flies to the capital of Iceland, Reykjavík, to serve warm and spicy Korean dishes. The store sign is thereby replaced by "Seojin Ttukbaegi" (Jinny's Kitchen hot pot). Seo-jin change back his attitude and put the customer first before the revenue. Meanwhile, the head chef changes every day.

Casting
The original cast of Youn's Stay, minus Youn Yuh-jung, who chose to focus on other projects, returned for Jinny's Kitchen. Lee Seo-jin is promoted as restaurant owner in the show while Jung Yu-mi becomes the executive. This new promotion is considered as key to the new season as the new owner's philosophy is all about revenue. Youn's Stay cast member Choi Woo-shik and Park Seo-joon also joined the cast.

Singer V of BTS, who is also known in the entertainment industry as part of a group of friends - with actors Park Seo-joon, Choi Woo-shik, Park Hyung-sik and rapper Peakboy-called the "Wooga Squad".

On February 20, 2024, SPOTV News revealed that the actress Go Min-si was offered to replaced BTS's V in the new season, absent due to mandatory military service. Yet, they also add that CJ ENM official declined to confirm it. On March 18, Go Min-si is spotted filming with the rest of the cast. It is revealed that she did various jobs, including as a wedding planner and part-time jobs at a barbecue restaurant and a cafe, before becoming an actress which comforted Na PD in his decision to have her join the show. She also played in the film The Witch: Part 1. The Subversion alongside Woo-shik and in the drama Live with Yu-mi.

Filming
While the TV show was filmed in Bacalar in Mexico, the special episode "Jinny's Kitchen Director's Cut with Na PD" took place in Itaewon-dong, Seoul in South Korea. The special episode reunites cast members to recall and talk about the memorable moments of the show and was filmed around May, about two months after the pre-recording of the press conference for Jinny's Kitchen. It aired as the 11th episode.

Pero, the stray dog that suddenly came to the restaurant during the filming of the show, has been adopted by one of the crew members living in Mexico, after paying for vaccinations and treatment for his sore leg.

On February 15, 2024, tvN informs through various medias that a second season is in the process. However, the filming location is kept secret like season 1 for safety and filming reasons, as well as the cast members. On the same day, according to SPOTV News, it is announced that the cast is scheduled to leave for Iceland in mid-March and begin filming Season 2. The filming started on March 18 in Reykjavík, Iceland, confirming the presence of Go Min-si and that the filming was not affected by the ongoing series of volcanic eruptions in the Reykjanes peninsula. Season 2 was set to be broadcast on June 28, 2024 with a goal to attract viewers before the Paris Summer Olympics.

Promotion
In early February, the cast featured in a special episode of The Game Caterers, Na Young-seok PD's YouTube variety show to promote Jinny's Kitchen.

In April 2023, Kim Tae-hyung group's BTS channel shared part of the Jinny's Kitchen Press Conference and of Tae-hyung's appearance in the Game Caterers. The press conference for season 2 has been shared on both Na PD and CJ ENM Global YouTube channels on June 28, 2024, the morning of the release of the first episode.

In a video filmed in the end of 2023 and posted on June 17, 2024 on Na PD's Youtube channel, Tae-hyung advices Go Min-si to be fast in her tasks and be ready for when he comes back from his military service. In July 2024, productor Na commented the first episode of the second season in a live YouTube broadcast alongside productor Park Hyun Yong and writer Kim Dae-joo which have both worked on Jinny's Kitchen. In this live, Na PD confirmed wanting Tae-hyung to rejoin the cast after his military service but the hierarchy in the restaurant still have to be determined.

Critical response
Popular culture critic Kim Heon-sik analysed the anticipation of Jinny's Kitchen ' s international success by referring to BTS V as "a leading figure in K-culture" and pointing out that, if it is difficult for entertainment shows to be a global hit since it has to be based on cultural understanding, "the 'food' code is also advantageous from a multicultural perspective" and with the rise of interest in Korean culture, "[Jinny's Kitchen] doing business as K-food will be of interest to overseas viewers and will have points of empathy. [...] The appearance of V, a leading figure in K-culture, and the Hallyu craze with K-food and other things, combined with PD Na Young Seok's witty entertainment will create a synergy effect." With the same anticipation, the BBC cited Jinny's Kitchen while predicting Korean reality shows as "the next Korean cultural trend".

On March 26, 2023, Jinny's Kitchen ranked 15th in the "Most Watched TV Shows" category on Amazon Prime Video worldwide. It also entered the top 10 in 12 countries and regions, including Hong Kong, Singapore, Thailand, and Indonesia. It is stated by Manila Bulletin that FlixPatrol recorded that Jinny's Kitchen placed in the top 10 in 14 countries and territories on April 22, 2023, reaching number one in 8 of them. It remained the most watched TV show for the first half of 2023 on TVING, CJ ENM's streaming platform, as reported by India Today.

Reviews for the show have been mainly positive. To Philiana N. from TheWrap, Jinny's Kitchen stands out because of "how wholesome and unpretentious it is", the complicity between the cast and the appetizing food. She also describes it as "a refreshing reminder that there is value and joy to be had in a reality show that isn't loud or over-the-top, and instead celebrates the small, seemingly inconsequential wins that may be boring on paper but are extremely relatable to the everyday person." On IMDb, the series has a rating of 8.9 on 10 based on 3 800 critics.

According to Na PD during a YouTube live broadcast, the crew had to mention BTS V and the program's streaming platform Amazon to prove their credibility to the house owner for season 2 in Reykjavík (Iceland). While the owner was unaware of the show's popularity, the season 1 success led to the restaurant being fully booked in less than half an hour after the opening. Moreover, the new JTBC variety show My Name Is Gabriel originally scheduled to air every Friday at 20:50 (KST) was moved to 22:30 slot starting from the third episode (July 5) to avoid competition with Jinny's Kitchen. Ilgan Sports reminds us however that this mechanical evaluation solely based on viewership ratings isn't enough to correctly report the situation. Indeed, Jinny's Kitchen is a franchise entertainment program with a first season highly watched, broadcast on a channel (tvN) generally more viewed than JTBC and on a streaming platform (TVING) which has a much higher number of domestic subscribers than Disney Plus, where My Name Is Gabriel is released. The change of schedule has resulted in an increase in viewership ratings for both programs. Jinny's Kitchen ' Season 2 Episode 2 went up 1.2% leading to 8.1% while My Name Is Gabriel ' s third episode went up 0.3%, bringing it to 1.4%. Overall, the combined viewership ratings of the two programs went up 1.5 points from 8% on June 28 to 9.5% on July 5, 2024.

Ratings

 * In the tables below, the blue numbers marks the lowest ratings in each season and the red numbers marks the highest ratings.
 * This show airs on a cable channel/pay TV which normally has a relatively smaller audience compared to free-to-air TV/public broadcasters (KBS, SBS, MBC & EBS).

Jinny's Kitchen: Team Building

 * Note: While season 1 episodes were all 1st place in the top 10 cable programming in terms of ratings, Team Building episodes dropped to 2nd place.

Spin-off
The same cast returned for a two-episode special titled Jinny's Kitchen: Team Building (also known as Visiting God of Communication: Jinny's Kitchen ). The episodes premiered on tvN in Korea on October 12 and 19, 2023, respectively, and on Amazon Prime internationally on November 12. Following an anonymous complaint, Producer Na, the God of Communication, organizes a retreat to improve teamwork and communication through various games. The first episode consists of a competition between the executives and interns, while in the second episode both sides play as a unified team.