On February 29, Jung Cheol Min, the producer and director of tvN‘s ‘Apartment 404‘ shared insights about the show and also opened up about BLACKPINK Jennie’s alleged profanity depicted on the show.
‘Apartment 404,’ is a mind-bending detective reality show set in a familiar environment—an apartment complex—with six tenants: Yoo Jae Suk, Cha Tae Hyun, Oh Na Ra, Yang Se Chan, Jennie, and Lee Jeong Ha, who must solve a mystery together.
In an interview uploaded on February 29 to the official tvN YouTube channel, producer Jung shared, “I’m intrigued by Yin and Yang, the five elements, and Chinese horoscope. The reason ‘Running Man’ has been long-running is there are different members of various elements together. ‘Apartment 404’ is based in the past, I think the members born in the 70s who know history well, the members in their 80s who are familiar, and members born in the 90s who are unfamiliar with the era create a good synergy. And they had excellent synergy from episode 1.”
Regarding Jennie, producer Jung explained, “I’m very fond of her. I’ve been contacting her since ‘Village Survival, the Eight.’ Her biggest charm is her innocence. She also takes good care of the staff.”Last month, a teaser for ‘Apartment 404’ captured widespread attention after a moment involving Jennie nearly uttering a profanity became a talking point. In the clip, Jennie begins to say “Sheeee…” but abruptly stops, her expression shifting to one of shock. This sparked speculation among viewers that she was on the verge of saying “Sheebal,” a word that translates to “F*ck,” leading to the viral spread of the teaser.
not jennie almost saying f*ck on national tv 😭 pic.twitter.com/TddHDGEFc4
— ً (@firejennie) January 25, 2024
In regard to this, host JaeJae asked, “Did Jennie really curse?”
Producer Jung explained, “The situation occurred during a game. Jennie could have felt uncomfortable with it and could have asked us to edit that part out, but she didn’t. We thought, does that sound like she cursed? But it’s funny, don’t worry. It’s going to be funny on the broadcast.”
Meanwhile, ‘Apartment 404’ had a strong start, ranking 2nd in Singapore, Indonesia, and the Philippines on Flixpatrol’s global OTT viewing ranking site, trailing only tvN’s ‘Marry My Husband‘ after its premiere on February 23. It also made it into the TOP 10 on Amazon Prime Video’s TV show category across 17 countries and regions, including Malaysia and Thailand.
