K-netizens Complain About Age Gap Between Leads Yoona and Lee Chae Min in Bon Appétit, Your Majesty Raining on the Buzz of the Newly Premiered Drama
Here comes the K-netizen perfection police lol. I think it must be exhausting trying to find reasons to nitpick but here we are again. tvN premiered new weekend drama Bon Appétit, Your Majesty to a very promising start, good opening ratings close to 5% and then going up nearly 2% to high 6% range. But this week there are rumblings with some K-netizens complaining about the age gap between the leads, Yoona is 35 years old and Lee Chae Min still a comparatively young 24 years old. Based on the first impression reviews the two have great chemistry and are performing their respective roles well, so the complaint is purely based on the principle of a big age gap. Thankfully other same K-netizens are pushing back hard against this contingent for making a mountain out of a mole hill saying age gap onscreen couplings are a dime a dozen in K-dramas and way more frequent with older actor-younger actress anyways. I’m glad this nonsense is getting swatted away and the drama can air on its own merits.
Lee Chae-min was such an odd choice that I believe they just offered it to him because he was the best of whatever they could scrounge for a last-minute casting, but he has been such a pleasant surprise. What a relief! I’m glad people are pushing back hard against the age gap criticism for this.
I think Yoona can pass for late 20s. And too young, it’d be sort of unbelievable that she’d be a head chef at a 3-Michelin star restaurant instead of a sous chef or line cook. And the real life king that the ML is based on succeeded the throne at 19 and then started his first purge.
Lol, K netz at it again. Mamono had a 17 year age difference between the leads, the actress being the older one.
Eh, honestly the age gap actually makes sense with the premise of the story, no? Yoona plays the FL, a modern successful chef, so it fits that she’s in her 30s. Meanwhile, the ML is a young emperor from the Joseon era so it makes sense he’s in his 20s, since people back then reached positions of power and maturity much earlier… it actually adds more realism for me
I have same thoughts. Plus their visuals also fits as CP also their characters.
FL is meant to be 27 in the show. I do like how they highlight how ridiculous people are about age in this time by underlining how absurd it was back in the day: everyone horrified she’s unmarried at 27!
I don’t mind it. The only thing I will mind of the show insists on “she’s reminding him of his mother”. There were a couple of instances in episode 2 where the king is reminded of his adored mother the way Yoona talks to him, and I hope they will stop doing that, because although it is not unrealistic (it is often said that men are looking for women like their mothers), it is definitely un-sexy.
The king in the drama is Yeonsangun (the drama adaptation changed his name along with other key people to avoid comments about historical discrepancy), and he was recorded to like being babied by his favorite concubine, Jang Nok-su because he lost his mother at a young age, and he never really got over her dethronement and passing. Still I do agree that motherly and romantic don’t mesh together in courtship. This is like the ending in Moon Lovers like how the writer tried to explain the real-life affair between Wang Uk (Baek-ah, played by Nam Juhyuk in the drama) and his niece Queen Heonjung by making her reminiscent of his late love Woo-hee!
Korean Netizen is hypocrite
In real world, who care?
They want the idol to be perfect model
As the result many idol have to fake it
Why not making AI idol then, it will be perfect
Naggier than grandma
But it fits the story, the context matters. Knetz need to quit it.
What is icky is what one of the posters above mentioned, the mother recalls. But overall, I am really enjoying it.
If people didn’t mention their age, I wouldn’t know their age gap was that big. She looks too young for her age.
And let’s be real here, people have a warped expectations of what 30+ women should look like. If they’re taking care of themselves and not abusing their body with drugs, alcohol, unhealthy diet, and unprotected sun exposure, most people in their early to mid-30s can still pass as mid-to late 20s. Especially if you’re rich and famous like Yoona, who can afford top of the line cosmetic/skin procedures to maintain her youthful looks. It’s not like a woman would suddenly turn into a wrinkly swamp creature once the clock turns 12 and she turns 30 lol, that’s Red Pill/incel BS propaganda and it’s sad how so many women are falling for it
Makes sense. Modern women to be at her level had to be that age whilst olden days kings can be way younger. No issue.
Kang Hanna is the king’s concubine and she’s a year older than Yoona. Obviously the ladies were both already cast when Lee Chae Min was substituted for Park Sunghoon, who is older than both of them, but the effect is it’s pretty clear the tyrant (who has huge mommy issues) is into older ladies. They’re both extremely beautiful and the chemistry is working, so why not? Diane de Poitiers was beloved by a king and 20 years his senior.
Nobody cared about the age gap or the historical figure the king was inspired by before it came out: everyone just talked about how Lee Chae Min would be lousy. But now he’s good and people lurve him, so certain people search for a problem. It’s just a reaction to the show’s unexpected popularity: the dogs bark as the caravan goes by.
LOL Yoona looks younger than 35 anyway, and both are consenting, grown-ahh adults, so literally what’s the problem? These KNetz didn’t complain when actual teenage/underage girls like the three Kim girls (Sohyun, Youjung, Saeron) were being paired with grown-ahh men who are pushing 30s or are already in their 30s, it was only the international audience who were speaking out about how problematic those pairings are. And now these KNetz are complaining about this non-problematic pairing when it’s the woman who’s older? I already expect men to be ageist towards women as they like claiming that women “expire” at age 30. But it’s so freakin sad when it’s women who are perpetuating ageism towards fellow women. The female KNetz complaining about this definitely have some serious internalized misogyny and I hope they heal
real. in some posts on this blog, for example, it’s women who are commenting stuff like, “isn’t she too old to be wearing something like that?” or “she’s trying so hard to look young” under the comment sections of posts about 30-40+ female celebrities (i.e. song hye kyo?). now i’m not absolving men of ageism, they’re definitely ageist towards women too, but so many women are sadly internalizing all those ageist and sexist messaging from men 💔
Who cares about the age gap? I didn’t notice that at all when watching the drama. Yoona looks young while LCM doesn’t look that young as his real age LOL. It’s the K drama in 2025 I have enjoyed the most so far. The age-gap ruckus is much ado about nothing again.
I’m looking forward to upcoming eps.
Just watched all 3 eps and its really an enjoyable watch that I cant wait for ep4.
Sorry, but men naturally prefer younger women. A balanced couple usually works when the woman is the same age or up to 5 years younger. The FL being 11 years older? Big no.
Women, on the other hand, rarely see younger men as men—they feel like kids.