Copying So Brazenly? Criticism Pours in China for 'Black and White Chef' Plagiarism Show

[Financial News] In China, a cooking competition show that seems to have copied Netflix's 'Black and White Chef' has emerged, causing controversy.

According to the broadcasting industry on the 24th, China's IT company Tencent's OTT platform Tencent Video released a new entertainment program 'Yi Pan Feng Shen' on the 17th.

The program is a cooking competition variety show where 16 industry-leading chefs compete against 84 street food masters.

However, immediately after its release, there are criticisms that the overall composition and direction are almost identical to the Korean original entertainment 'Black and White Chef', which was released on Netflix last September.

'Yi Pan Feng Shen' recruited participants ranging from unknown chefs to Michelin-starred chefs, featuring a structure where a few star chefs compete against many rookie chefs.

The 84 rookie chefs use nicknames like 'Molecular Cooking Maniac' instead of their real names. After all the rookie chefs appear, 16 famous chefs appear on stage.

In the first round, only the rookie chefs are eliminated. They showcase their specialty dishes within a limited time, which are judged by professional judges. The stage layout where 16 famous chefs watch from above is also identical to 'Black and White Chef'.

In the second round, a one-on-one battle between masters and rookie chefs unfolds. The participants are dressed in black or white outfits in a set designed to resemble chess pieces. There are even claims that the background music is similar, leading to reactions such as "Isn't this practically a copy?"

Local netizens who saw this showed critical reactions. Comments on Chinese online communities included "Did you buy the rights to make this?", "Copying so brazenly?", "Criticizing Korean entertainment and then plagiarizing it entirely?"

Korean netizens also reacted, saying "This is blatantly 'Black and White Chef'", "Making it so identical is too much", "Copying the entire program is absurd".

Netflix stated, "We have not sold the rights to 'Black and White Chef' in China" and "We are currently discussing internally how to respond."

moon@fnnews.com Moon Young-jin Reporter