The cast of Netflix’s show “Single’s Inferno” drew criticisms from overseas viewers for Koreans’ beauty standard of skin color, “Koreans only like white skin?”

Netflix’s entertainment show “Single’s Inferno” has been embroiled in controversy over casting based on skin colors.

Netflix’s entertainment show “Single’s Inferno (Solo Hell)”, which was first released on December 18th, is a dating reality show in which singles are taken to a deserted island “Hell Island”. By forming a couple, they can escape from this island and be able to enjoy “Heaven Island”, which has a luxury hotel suite.

The scene that caused a backlash from overseas viewers was when a male cast Moon Se-hoon made an “evaluation” on the skin of one of the female cast members – Shin Ji-yeon, saying that she had white skin.

He said, “She seemed to look so white and pure That’s my first impression of her” and subtitles were also added. In response to the scene, numerous overseas viewers left comments complaining about their discomfort.

One netizen posted, “They keep saying how much they like ‘light’ and ‘pale’ skin and it’s making me very uncomfortable”. Subsequently, a series of criticisms were poured out, such as “They commented on skin colors so many times in this program”. A person pointed out a controversial line in the show, which was “I like her skin color to be white”, and criticized it, saying “It’s already 2021 now.”

Such criticisms are still mounting and have caused controversy over racism as overseas viewers expressed their discomfort about Koreans’ beauty standard, in which they tend to “prefer people with white skin”. Some foreign viewers posted on SNS, saying “I have just started watching Single’s Inferno but it seems like all the men here are obsessed with white skin. Please stop. I have Korea beauty standard.”

Meanwhile, “Single’s Inferno” is a dating program produced and aired on Netflix and has been drawing keen attention as soon as episodes 1 and 2 were uploaded.

At the press conference held earlier on December 20th, PD Kim Jae-won said, “It’s not the director’s intention to show a lot of physical contacts, that’s just the cast members’ choice”, adding, “This show is released due to the nature of OTT. There are also some kinds of skinship that have not been seen in existing dating programs.”