April 2015
Jung Il-woo participated in Season 2 of this Chinese TV program. It is an absolute delight to watch. Here is Jung Il-woo doing something he loves… and even though his knowledge comes primarily from his mom and grandmother, he wanted to feel better prepared for this program, so he took a lesson with a chef on basic procedures like cutting and cooking. This is how hard he works all the time. He always does the best that he can. And doing the best you can in life is one of the secrets of success.
Luckily and thanks to a fan called Didi Xiaoyu we can enjoy all of the episodes in YouTube. I think she even translated the first episode to English. So thank you so much!!!
I will start this post with writing from the man himself about the show in Starcast. Then I will share all the videos including links to the “Chinese YouTube” IQIYI. I have to thank another Fan, IG ‘Forever_raindrop’ for sharing the name of this Chinese Video Platform. I think I had seen it before but had not really paid real attention to all its possibilities. So now let’s delight with this lovely man in an apron…
[STARCAST] I’m Jung Il Woo, my hobby is cutting food ingredients and specialty is peeling onion.
This man, who is causing women’s pulse beat faster with his ‘single gesture’ , now is shaking a whole continent of China with his great cooking skill. Do you wonder who he is? It’s Jung Il Woo!
He is showing off his cooking skill as being invited as a Korean actor for the first time to Jiangsu Satellite TV’s ‘Star Chef Drive To’ season 2 which was premiered on April 8th. Since he is the only Korean among a total of 10 outstanding stars to participate in cooking competition, he surely will feel enormous pressure! The story of Chef Jung Il Woo struggling to win the competition is now begins through STARCAST!
“Hey, Il Woo, you look most handsome when you are eating something.”
It’s 0 kcal if the food is delicious! The guy who strongly believed these words is here.
It is indeed yummy food that is with me whenever I am sad or happy!
As he saves the information about famous restaurants all over the country in his mobile phone and he visits there at all costs , food itself is the ‘love’.
He was so confident on this entertainment program about cooking, as the one who tasted tasty food also makes great food but…!
Shall I make some food to get ready for the actual one?
His confidence takes its place beside Chef Choi Hyun Suk, the bluff, but the reality is …he cut the vegetables unevenly …!
I guarantee the great taste but not the cutting… I think I’ll lose first round in the competition.
D-7 for shooting He started his training, practicing for, <Cooking beautifully>
Knock and the door will be opened to you-!
He started to look for the master chef with his ability of finding good restaurants and… put into practice in the face of shame.
This is the chef’s blog that I found after thousand hours of searching!
I blindly send a message to the chef and I could receive a special training for a week as the chef gladly accepted my request.
First, starting with the most important thing, cooking utensils
I’m holding a knife! Got different kinds, the knives are ready~
6 days before the show The first day of real cooking class! I am fully ready with knives so…
I went there with high expectation as imagining myself being a king of cooking but…
The result was not as good as I dreamed about.
As a result of visiting the chef’s workroom every day and continually shredding onions, cucumbers and radishes, I finally mastered cutting! Not to lose the sense of chopping, constantly imagined myself cutting something before I went to bed and chopped to the groove with my wrist ! Dear Chef, I would like to take this chance to say thank you!
A day before the show
I am a guy who knows that cleanliness is the most important basic as well as practicing hard!
“Style~ I won’t miss it~” I got ready for the first round of ‘Star Chef Drive To’ with excitement, packing different kinds of aprons that my sister made for me.
The day, the first day of shooting
Hmm~ will I be okay to be really good from the first day?
What if they all get so surprised by the good taste?
Me? 0_0
Today’s first mission is to chop onions a lot and also well.
I expected to make a delicious food but… its onions… cutting onions… I am so depressed…
Though I got little shocked it was a good chance to show my cutting skills that I mastered in Korea~
settle down and get ready for the first found.
An awful amount of onions… They are piled up high like a mountain~ The onion mountain (!)
This is the first time in my whole life that I saw this many of onions… my eyes are burning just looking at it.
But! There is no time to suffer. I put the onions in my apron pocket and carried them to the cooking table and started cutting.
My eyes are hurting ~ onion one, two, three, seven, nineteen, twenty five…
Twenty seven, thirty, thirty one,,, thirty two…
An hour passed!
I chopped onions for the whole hour.
I peeled and chopped as many as 32 onions.
And that’s me in the waiting room. The first round made me pass out.
But the shooting went on~
I prepared for the next round, encouraging myself saying “cheer up super power~”.
I wore the apron filled with my sister’s love and sincerity~
When the competition starts, everyone not only work earnestly but also enjoying the long hours of shooting despite speaking different languages . I also gave aprons as gifts of love to others! “Let’s wear it together~”
Had fun filming the show~~
Also doing my best for the warm up!
Is it because the purpose of this program is to express love with delicious food, or is it just because I am good at cooking? Though I got really exhausted and got hurt a lot, I enjoyed every minute of the show.
Let me see, what if she makes them more delicious than me…?
Pit-a-pat, I am going to hand in my dishes for evaluation
Do you wonder what comments I’ve got?
And you want to know what I made, huh? There are different dishes that I made for each round but I’m sorry I can’t tell you guys about it since the show didn’t get on air yet. What is that food on the white plate?
Which round will I make it till? Please look forward to Jiangsu Satellite TV’s ‘Star Chef Drive To’ Season 2 till the end~
Do you like to see my amazing cutting skills?
Written/Photo/Video=Jung Il Woo & the official homepage Jungilwoo.com
These are other photos that were taken at the poster photo shoot:
One thing he did on the filming of the third episode, was give candy to all the ladies as it was “White Day” on that day of filming… here is a video of him happily passing out his candy and then some photos. He is sweeter than those candies he was passing out! Also I believe that on his last day, he gave all contestants aprons that were designed by his sister!
Videos: Cr. Star Chef and Didi Xiaoyu
Complete Trailer:
Episode 1 (and the only one available in English so far…)
Episode 1 Behind the Scenes:
Episode 2 Trailer:
Episode 2 Jung Il-woo Cut
Episode 2 Behind the Scenes:
Episode 3 Jung Il-woo Cut
Episode 3 Behind the Scenes:
These are links to Episode 4 at IQIYI. I don’t speak Chinese, but I think they are from Episode 4 because of his clothing!
Episode 4 (1) HERE
Episode 4 (2) HERE
This is really sad… this is when he get eliminated… sniff Episode 4 (3) HERE
Jung Il-woo was eliminated in this episode…
Then there is this jump to Episode 13… I think it was probably the last episode and they invited everyone back? It may be a looking back at the season or something of the sort…
Photos:
I found so many photos! Click on the links by episode below and you will be taken to a separate page of just photos for that episode. I think this post is long enough!
LINK Episode 1 Black shirt with 4 white stripes in one sleeve.
LINK Episode 2 Pink/white striped shirt.
LINK Episode 3 Black shirt.
LINK Episode 4 Black shirt/white polka dot sweater.
LINK Airport Fashion while traveling to Star Chef.
No more… Jung Il-woo was eliminated in Episode 4… sniff
Update November 25, 2018 I found a comic like story made with photos of Il-woo from Star Chef. HERE.
WITAT
It is such a delight to see him cook but the part where he melted my heart was when he walked around giving candy on White Day. Such a kind spirit. Caring. Loving. My dream come true of a man…
And I hope someday he publishes his very own cookbook! I would cook every single recipe!!!