Exes reconnect to find someone new in 'EXchange' season three

Would you be willing to watch your ex flirt with someone else and start a new relationship right before your eyes? Well, apparently 300 couples in Korea would.

A scene from the third season of ″EXchange,″ premiering on Tving on Dec. 29 [TVING]

Would you be willing to watch your ex flirt with someone else and start a new relationship right before your eyes? Well, apparently 300 couples in Korea would.

The third season of Tving original series "EXchange" is set to begin on Dec. 29 with its unique theme of showing former couples living together in a house on Jeju Island while they each look for their next partner among the other ex-couples.

As usual, the cast will be in their 20s and early 30s, but this season is different in that a more diverse range of couples have been recruited.

“We wanted to show a wide range of narratives and stories between the former couples and the would-be new couples who appear in the third season,” Kim In-ha, the main producer for the show's third season, said in a group interview with local reporters at a cafe in Jung District, central Seoul, on Thursday. “Each couple has a distinct and unique backstory and relationship. I hope that the viewers won’t just look at season three as an extension or continuation of the previous seasons, because we have a whole new group of people appearing, and diversity is what we focused on.”

New elements have been added to the show for the third season, such as the “breakup package” that is delivered to each former couple at the beginning of their stay.

Producer Kim In-ha [TVING]

“The breakup package is a package that is sent to the exes that contain objects that they couldn’t throw away after their breakup,” Kim said. “I hope that it will add a new angle to the show and entertain viewers further.”

The first and second seasons of "EXchange" succeeded in garnering much attention from viewers, ranking No. 1 on lists of shows that had gained public attention by data collector Good Data Corporation. Many memes were also generated from scenes from the show.

Producing the third season of “EXchange” meant that Kim and her team had to contact over 300 potential former couples to appear in the show and conduct just as many interviews to choose the final group of people.

“We sent out direct messages on social media platforms such as Instagram and street-hunted for people at university festivals and urban hot places,” Kim said. “The tone and atmosphere of the season are set by the couples who appear, so we had to get that right."

Amid the slew of dating reality television shows pouring out these days, there is still one reason to watch “EXchange,” and that is the courage that those who chose to appear in the program have shown, Kim said.

“If someone asked me to appear in ‘EXchange’ as one of the former couples, I wouldn’t be able to do it,” Kim said. “I think it takes a huge amount of bravery to decide to appear on our show because it’s not just you alone who appears, but also your ex, and you don’t have control over what they might say about you or how they think about you. That is a special element in our program.”

One of the most fickle things can be a person’s heart, and that shows again in the third season of “EXchange,” with people who had said that they would never get back together with their ex falling in love all over again for those very same people — and also the exact opposite, Kim said.

“It was entertaining for me also to watch how people who had sworn they wouldn’t harbor romantic feelings for their exes again couldn’t keep their word — it showed how love is something that is unpredictable for all of us,” Kim said. “I think viewers will enjoy the relationships that renew and those that begin afresh in this season of ‘EXchange.’”

It's not just excitement that the show wants to give, however. The producer hopes that what constitutes a truly good relationship will resonate deeper with the audience — not just how it begins, but how it ends.

“Making the third season of ‘EXchange’ made me look back on my own past relationships and think hard about what constitutes a good breakup with someone,” Kim said. “I think you need to consider what the other person is feeling and their situation in the breakup, not just your own convenience. A good and mature breakup is just as important as the relationship itself.”

BY LIM JEONG-WON [lim.jeongwon@joongang.co.kr]