"2 Days 1 Night" cast and crew members recently welcomed Jung Joon Young back to the KBS travel variety program. With the singer's return to the show, TV ratings reached an impressive level and even bested competitors such as SBS' "Running Man" and MBC's "Secretly Greatly."
The latest episode of "2 Days 1 Night" marked Jung's return to the KBS program following a quick hiatus after being acquitted from a sexual assault claim. Aired on Jan. 15, Sunday, the said episode posted viewership ratings of 20.3 percent, according to Nielsen Korea, as cited by Insight.
Compared to the show's previous week TV ratings, the viewership share for the said episode is higher by 1 percent, as indicated in the same report. Given the impressive ratings, the KBS program also retained its top spot among competitor variety programs in the same Sunday timeslot.
MBC's "Secretly Greatly" landed on second place with TV ratings of 8.6 percent. At third place is the long-running SBS variety program "Running Man" with viewership shares of 8 percent.
Meanwhile, the Jan. 15 episode of "2Days 1 Night" featured two separate missions for Jung and the rest of the cast members. The musician was tasked to climb South Korea's second tallest mountain, namely Jirisan, and can only rejoin fellow cast members after his name is mentioned a specific number of times.
However, the task appears to be a daunting mission since the cast members drew the number 30 from a paper lottery. Moreover, the cast members had no idea of the details of Jung's mission and participated in the usual games without mentioning the singer.
The episode ended with the five-member team heading to their base camp for the night without any sign of Jung. It appears that the singer will make a surprise appearance as the cast members continue completing challenges for indoor sleeping arrangements and dining privileges.
In other news, Kim Jong Min shared in an earlier interview that Jung's sudden appearance during the KBS show's Jan. 6 filming activities took him and other cast members by surprise. He told local reporters that the production team kept details of Jung's return a secret, All Kpop quoted Kim as saying.
"2 Days 1 Night" airs every Sunday on KBS. Watch a clip from one of the show's episodes below: