On Chimchakman’s YouTube channel, he uploaded a video titled How Good Is the Jjapagetti Made by Chef Hudeokjuk?
In the clip, Chimchakman told Hudeokjuk he’d heard the chef frequents popular spots and asked whether he was familiar with places like Dujjonku and the viral “butter tteok,” inviting him to weigh in.
Hudeokjuk laughed, saying he’d tried them several times but that the flavor changes each time. He mispronounced “Dujjonku” as “Dujinku,” drawing laughs, then offered a blunt tasting verdict: “The spring cabbage bibimbap was pretty decent, but the butter tteok wasn’t really my thing.”
Chimchakman then brought up the show 'Heukbaek Chef 2,' asking whether filming had been so grueling that Hudeokjuk wanted to quit—but the episodes kept airing anyway, creating an awkward situation. Hudeokjuk admitted that was true, recalling shoots that ran until dawn and admitting, “I thought, ‘This isn’t working—let me just show my face for a moment.’”
Chimchakman cracked up and asked whether there was a moment he seriously wanted to quit. Hudeokjuk recalled entering his first team showdown and later getting overtaken; a single judge’s call ended up determining who advanced.
He said the situation was nerve-racking, but he also thought that if someone had to be eliminated, it might be better if the whole team went down together—losing as a group, he joked, would at least preserve some face.
Chimchakman noted that when everyone goes out together, it’s easier to point fingers, saying, “If that had to happen, that would’ve been the timing.” But Hudeokjuk kept advancing and soon found himself thrown into what he called “Carrot Hell.” He described enduring one-on-one battles and repeated elimination rounds, each climb more exhausting than the last. Still, he said, “Once I’d come this far, I figured I’d go for the finals. I kept making dishes and conjuring ideas on the spot—I surprised myself.”
Chimchakman said many viewers were moved by Hudeokjuk’s journey, then expressed regret that the chef ultimately fell short of the finals: “Ironically, just as you got ambitious and went all in, the result turned out that way.”
Im Chae-ryeong, TenAsia reporter
