Kim Min reveals daily life in a 90-year-old house... 'I Live Alone' directing controversy with a 6.0% viewership rating

After the broadcast of actor Kim Min’s life in an old house in Dongducheon on MBC’s entertainment program ″I Live Alone,″ some viewers raised suspicions of staging. The controversy was sparked by comparisons between the house shown on the program and a road view photo dated July 2026, focusing on differences in the yard’s maintenance, structural elements, and the method of using the generator. On the broadcast aired on the 2nd, Kim Min revealed his life in a roughly 90-year-old old house in Dongducheon. He demonstrated a unique lifestyle by personally operating a generator to use electricity and repairing the worn floor with cement. The house belongs to an acquaintance Kim Min has known for a long time through his family, and he explained that he uses it while traveling abroad. Although Kim Min mentioned living in the UK, New Zealand, and Australia for about eight years, he did not specify when he started residing in this house. After the broadcast, a road view photo of the house, claimed to be the same as the one shown on the program, was shared on online communities. Some netizens questioned whether the production team had separately maintained or staged the space, pointing out differences in the yard’s condition and spatial structure between the road view and the broadcast footage. Additionally, various opinions arose about why a generator was used despite the presence of utility poles around the house. In response, counterarguments were raised that the presence of utility poles does not necessarily guarantee electricity supply, and since Kim Min did not introduce the house as his permanent residence, it is difficult to conclude staging based solely on differences between the road view and the broadcast. Opinions such as ″If even tidying up the yard is considered staging, what can we believe?″ and ″It is unreasonable to suspect without verified facts″ were expressed. Some also pointed out that suspicions of staging are excessive given the nature of entertainment programs. This broadcast recorded a nationwide household rating of 6.0% according to Nielsen Korea, rising 2.5 percentage points from the previous episode. The scene where Kim Min teaches children as a hapkido instructor reached a peak rating of 8.4%. Some viewers responded that Kim Min’s unpretentious daily life reminded them of the early days of ″I Live Alone.″ Given the recent controversy over the difference between impromptu travel and actual preparation in the Kazakhstan travel episode of ″I Live Alone,″ discussions about the boundary between program staging and real daily life continued with this Kim Min episode as well. Meanwhile, Kim Min has continued his activities appearing in films such as ″The Outlaws 3,″ ″Smuggling,″ ″Middle Realm,″ and dramas including ″Casino,″ ″Killers’ Shopping Mall,″ ″Study Group,″ ″Fragmented City,″ and ″Four Hands.″