‘Kim Seon-ho who ate 60 bowls of malatang’: Culinary Class Wars S1 winner begs fans to stop comparing him to actor

Chef Kwon Seong-jun, winner of Netflix’s Culinary Class Wars season 1, is pleading for netizens to stop comparing him with South Korean actor Kim Seon-ho.

Seon-ho gained major attention recently for his performance as a multilingual translator in the streaming service’s new drama series Can This Love Be Translated?, and fans worldwide have found an uncanny resemblance between the two.

The 31-year-old chef and restaurant owner, who is also known as Napoli Matfia, wrote in an Instagram Story yesterday (Jan 22): “Everyone, please stop sending me messages saying I resemble Kim Seon-ho! I’m going to be cussed at. Where do I look like Seon-ho? This is seriously a problem. Please don’t put Seon-ho and I together.

“If you keep saying things like ‘Napoli-style pizza looks like Kim Seon-ho, so he keeps coming to mind every time I watch the drama’, how upset would he be?… I really like Seon-ho, but please don’t ever make jokes like ‘Napoli Kim Seon-ho’ or ‘Kim Seon-ho who ate 60 bowls of malatang’.”

Seong-jun also shared that he supports Seon-ho in his new drama, apologised for the inconvenience caused and invited him to visit his restaurant if he sees his post.

Seon-ho, 39, reposted his Story on his Instagram, with the caption: ‘I’m the one who’s honoured. I’ve been supporting you since the tiramisu [you made during the competition].”

In episode eight of the first season of Culinary Class Wars (2025), Seong-jun impressed veteran restaurateur and celebrity chef Paik Jong-won and Michelin three-star chef Anh Sung-jae, both judges of the competition, with a chestnut tiramisu made from convenience store ingredients.

The friendly exchange ended with Seong-jun thanking Seon-ho for his kind words, adding that he would be inviting him to his restaurant for a meal.

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yeo.shuhui@asiaone.com

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