What Korean Celebrities Saw in Ethiopia Left One Hospitalized

Not every travel show dares to send its cast to the edge. MBC Every1's "The Great Guide 3" does exactly that — and the first teaser footage from the show's Ethiopia leg already has viewers wondering whether what they are watching is a travel program or something closer to a survival documentary.

The third season of the popular reality travel series premieres on June 9, and the production team recently dropped a first-look teaser that left absolutely nothing to the imagination. Hosts Park Myung-soo, Kim Dae-ho, Choi Daniel, and Lee Mu-jin took on Ethiopia — described by the production as "genuine Africa" — and the preview footage suggests they were not prepared for what they found.

A Teaser That Sets the Tone Immediately

The teaser opens with Kim Dae-ho's narration: "There is no trace of human presence anywhere." It is the kind of line that usually appears in nature documentaries, and the visuals that follow back it up completely. Sweeping plains packed with goat herds, skies darkened by enormous flocks of birds, and bubbling, heat-distorted lava fields fill the screen in quick succession, making it immediately clear that this is not a tour of five-star resorts.

Park Myung-soo, the veteran comedian and entertainer who has been part of Korean variety television for decades, watches the footage and says he feels as if he has stepped into "a place you only see in movies or documentaries." That reaction — from someone who has seen just about everything on Korean TV — says more about the scale of this adventure than any production note could.

The teaser then cuts to the four men actually inside that landscape, and what follows is a parade of moments that range from exhilarating to genuinely nerve-wracking. They come face-to-face with a massive crocodile, get their faces painted in the style of local tribes, sling enormous snakes around their necks, wade into rivers for open-air baths, and balance on stilts alongside the communities they visit. The Ethiopian people they encounter throughout the footage give the trip a warmth and texture that sets it apart from the typical "foreigners react to exotic food" format.

Kim Dae-ho's Hospital Visit and Choi Daniel's Tears

The teaser also reveals that the journey pushed at least two of the four men past their physical and emotional limits in very different ways. Kim Dae-ho, the popular KBS news anchor who has become one of Korea's most beloved variety personalities in recent years, reportedly became ill during the trip — severe enough to require a hospital visit after vomiting. It is a stark moment in what is otherwise a visually thrilling preview, serving as a reminder that this is an extreme environment, not a set.

Choi Daniel's breakdown tells a different kind of story. The actor and singer, known for his laid-back personality and easy humor, is shown in tears at some point during the Ethiopian trip — though the teaser deliberately withholds the context, leaving viewers to speculate about what moved him so deeply. Whether it was the sheer weight of the experience, a human connection made along the way, or something more personal, the image of Daniel openly crying is the emotional anchor of the entire teaser.

Together, these two moments — one physical, one emotional — give "The Great Guide 3" a quality that goes beyond entertainment. They suggest that what viewers will actually be watching is four men confronting something genuinely unfamiliar, and responding in ways that feel completely unscripted.

The Cast: Four Men, One Shared Mission

The chemistry between Park Myung-soo, Kim Dae-ho, Choi Daniel, and Lee Mu-jin is a central part of what makes the show work. The four represent very different corners of Korean entertainment — veteran comedy, mainstream media, acting and music, and the younger singer-songwriter world — and watching how their personalities interact under pressure is part of the appeal.

Park Myung-soo brings the experience and the wisecracks. Kim Dae-ho brings an unlikely everyman quality — an anchor who became a household name partly because he seems like a genuinely decent person trying his best in situations he did not sign up for. Choi Daniel carries a warmth that makes him easy to root for, and Lee Mu-jin, one of South Korea's most prominent ballad singers, adds a sincerity that grounds some of the more chaotic moments.

The group was spotted departing Incheon Airport for Ethiopia earlier in the spring, and those departure photos already hinted at the combination of excitement and barely-suppressed anxiety that tends to define the show at its best. At Morocco, the group's second destination, a similar dynamic reportedly played out — though the production has been careful not to reveal too much ahead of the June 9 premiere.

What to Expect When the Show Premieres

"The Great Guide" franchise has built its reputation on putting well-known personalities in genuinely challenging situations rather than curated adventures. The first two seasons earned loyal audiences by presenting travel not as escapism but as an experience that changes people — sometimes uncomfortably. The Ethiopia footage in this teaser suggests that Season 3 is leaning further into that philosophy.

The show premieres June 9 on MBC Every1, a cable channel known for its variety programming that tends to run slightly edgier and more unfiltered than its broadcast counterparts. For international fans of Korean variety television, "The Great Guide" is the kind of show that travels well — it does not rely on jokes that require cultural fluency to land, and the emotional moments are universal enough to cross language barriers without subtitles doing the heavy lifting.

If the teaser is any indication, this season will be worth watching closely. Ethiopia is not a destination that many Korean variety shows have visited, and the production's commitment to actual immersion rather than surface-level tourism could give "The Great Guide 3" a visual and emotional depth that sets it apart in a crowded landscape of travel programming. June 9 cannot come soon enough.

For Lee Mu-jin in particular, this season offers a chance to show a side of himself that music performances rarely allow. Known primarily for his vocals and emotional songwriting, seeing him navigate crocodile encounters and tribal ceremonies alongside three very different personalities may be one of the more unexpectedly compelling threads in the show. Korean variety television has a long tradition of singers discovering new dimensions of their public persona through reality programming, and if the teaser is any guide, Lee Mu-jin's Ethiopia experience gave him plenty to work with.