The Super Junior Star With 6 Fridges Who Turned Down Culinary Class Wars

Super Junior member Kyuhyun is stepping into the spotlight — not on a concert stage, but inside a kitchen. The acclaimed K-pop vocalist makes a long-awaited appearance on JTBC's fan-favorite variety show Please Take Care of My Refrigerator on March 29, and the reveal of his refrigerator collection has already left fans and professional chefs alike at a loss for words.

The reason? Kyuhyun, who lives alone in a bachelor apartment, owns six refrigerators. Yes, six. And that unusual number is just the beginning of a story that reveals a whole new side of the well-known singer.

The Man Who Said No to Culinary Class Wars

Before the episode even airs, one revelation has taken Korean entertainment circles by surprise: Kyuhyun was reportedly offered a spot on Netflix's hit competition series Culinary Class Wars (흑백요리사) — and he turned it down. For context, Culinary Class Wars became a cultural phenomenon in South Korea in 2024, turning professional chefs into celebrities and sparking a national obsession with fine dining. Being invited to that show is no small honor for anyone, let alone a pop star with no professional kitchen credentials.

Kyuhyun's refusal only deepens the mystery of just how serious his cooking hobby really is. According to show producers, the singer — affectionately nicknamed "조정뱅이" by fans, a playful mashup of his Korean name Cho Kyu-hyun and the word for "heavy drinker" — keeps not just food but an entire dedicated refrigerator for his extensive alcohol collection. One of the six refrigerators is devoted entirely to drinks.

Those familiar with K-pop will know Kyuhyun as the youngest member of Super Junior, the second-generation idol group that helped define the Hallyu wave in the mid-2000s. Super Junior debuted in 2005 under SM Entertainment and became one of the most influential idol acts of their era, pioneering fan culture practices that later groups would build on. Kyuhyun joined in 2006, and his voice — a rich, clear tenor capable of both gut-wrenching ballads and bright pop melodies — earned him a devoted solo fanbase that has followed him through military service, solo albums, and a long string of musical theater productions. Cooking, it turns out, has been a quieter passion hiding behind all of that.

The Chefs Taking On Kyuhyun's Challenge

The episode features two cooking battles, each themed around Kyuhyun's specific tastes and requests. The first match-up brings together Choi Kang-rok and Jung Ho-young — both alumni of Culinary Class Wars 2, with Choi having won the entire competition and Jung finishing in fourth place.

Choi Kang-rok's return to Please Take Care of My Refrigerator is his first appearance on the show in roughly a year, and he arrives carrying the confidence of a champion. "I'm not nervous today," he said ahead of the cook-off, a notable contrast to his earlier appearances. The theme for their battle is "recipes you can actually follow at home" — a nod to Kyuhyun's habit of learning from chef tutorial videos. Choi presented his dish in the style of an educational cooking program, while Jung went for a home-shopping channel aesthetic, both narrating their process in detail for Kyuhyun's benefit. The combination of competition and cooking instruction added an unusual educational dimension to what is normally a fast-paced contest.

Veteran chef Choi Hyun-suk joined as a five-minute check assistant, and his reaction after tasting Choi Kang-rok's dish reportedly left viewers with a deeply ambiguous expression — one that has already sparked debate online about what it might mean for the final outcome.

The second battle of the evening featured an unexpected rivalry: Son Jong-won versus Kim Pung, two chefs who, the show revealed, once won a "Best Couple Award" for their on-screen chemistry on a previous variety appearance. The theme this time was whiskey pairing dishes, a category that hit close to home for Kyuhyun given his well-documented love of spirits.

Kim Pung claimed to have attended whiskey appreciation gatherings in his younger years, while Son Jong-won arrived armed with a different kind of credential: he once served as a whiskey brand ambassador alongside actor Jo In-sung. Son's aggressive charm offensive during the episode — reportedly including outright lobbying directed at Kyuhyun to pick his dish — was unusual enough that host Kim Sung-joo commented he had "never seen Son Jong-won doing that before." In the end, Kyuhyun was so moved by one of the dishes that he announced he wanted to call the chef his personal teacher.

Why This Episode Matters Beyond Variety TV

Please Take Care of My Refrigerator has been a staple of Korean variety television since 2014, drawing celebrities from every corner of the entertainment industry to open up their refrigerators — and by extension, a window into their private lives. What guests keep in their fridges often says more about them than any interview could. For Kyuhyun, whose public image has long been shaped by his music and his idol career, the episode offers a rare glimpse into a hobby most of his fans never knew existed at this scale.

The show's format has evolved significantly over the years, and its recent seasons have benefited enormously from the Culinary Class Wars phenomenon. Chefs who previously cooked in relative anonymity now arrive at celebrity refrigerators carrying fan followings of their own. That dynamic — a K-pop idol whose cooking skills rival professional chefs, competing against chefs whose fame now rivals K-pop idols — makes this episode something of a cultural crossroads.

Super Junior has long had a reputation for members with unexpectedly diverse talents and passions off-stage. Leader Leeteuk is known for his sharp MC abilities, Heechul for his social media presence and variety show reflexes, and Shindong for his extensive dance instruction work. Kyuhyun's culinary enthusiasm adds another dimension to a group that has always been more than the sum of its idol parts.

What Fans Are Saying

Social media reactions in the days leading up to the episode have been equal parts disbelief and delight. Many fans expressed genuine surprise at the six-refrigerator detail, with comments ranging from curiosity about what fills them all to admiration for the level of dedication involved. The fact that he keeps an entire refrigerator dedicated to drinks struck many as both very on-brand and somehow still unexpected.

The revelation that Kyuhyun declined a spot on Culinary Class Wars has prompted considerable debate. Some fans argued he should have taken the opportunity, pointing out that his skills might have made for compelling television. Others insisted his modesty was entirely in character for someone who has always let his work speak for itself. Either way, the story has given the episode a layer of intrigue that goes beyond the usual variety show preview.

The episode's timing is also notable. Kyuhyun has been gradually ramping up public activity, and appearances like this one help rebuild a public presence that extends beyond his musical output alone. For Super Junior's youngest member, showing the world what's in his refrigerators may turn out to be one of the most talked-about moments of his 2026 so far.

Please Take Care of My Refrigerator featuring Kyuhyun aired on JTBC on March 29 at 8:50 PM KST. For international fans, the show has developed a following outside Korea, particularly among viewers who followed the Culinary Class Wars chef lineup and want to see those chefs in a different format.