'Culinary Class Wars' Triple Star under fire after allegations from 'exes'

Triple Star, a participant from the Netflix cooking competition “Culinary Class Wars,” is currently facing multiple allegations involving two women from his past — a woman claiming to be his ex-wife and another claiming to be his ex-girlfriend.

Chef Triple Star [NETFLIX, WE START]

Triple Star, a participant from the Netflix cooking competition “Culinary Class Wars,” is currently facing multiple allegations involving two women from his past — a woman claiming to be his ex-wife and another claiming to be his ex-girlfriend.

Local news outlet Dispatch reported on two different allegations surrounding Triple Star, whose real name is Kang Seung-won, on Wednesday.

A woman who claimed to be Kang's ex-wife said he used her connections to advance his career. She claimed in an interview with Dispatch that she gave a restaurant owner a luxury handbag to aid Kang's employment prospects and that he was offered an interview at a Michelin-starred restaurant because of her network.

She claimed they met in 2014 while studying at a culinary school in the United States. They married in 2022 but separated just three months later. Since they hadn’t officially registered their marriage, they did not go through a formal divorce process.

In response, Kang denied securing employment through lobbying efforts. “I interned at the restaurant for three months without pay, gained recognition from the head chef and was hired as a full-time employee within a month,” he was quoted as saying by Dispatch.

The woman who claimed to be his ex-wife also raised concerns about Kang's behavior during their relationship, citing a collection of over 40 letters in which he expressed remorse. These included admissions of secretly watching certain guests via CCTV.

She further revealed a critical incident from 2016, while they were in a long-distance relationship, in which Kang allegedly wrote in one of his letters, “I selfishly asked you to sleep with another man for my own pleasure.”

Chef Triple Star [NEWS1]

She shared a text message from last August, a year after their separation, in which Kang reportedly reacted with violent anger upon hearing that she had a new boyfriend, allegedly saying, “I want to stab him to death.”

The star chef has also been accused of dating two women at the same time.

Another woman, who claimed to be his ex-girlfriend, elaborated on how Kang ended their relationship abruptly and without explanation, only to later hear rumors about his marriage.

“I’d heard rumors about his issues with women,” the woman told Dispatch. “I never expected to be one of them. We dated like any normal couple, then one day he ghosted me without any warning. I later found out he was doing double-duty.”

“I hope the truth about his double life eventually comes to light," she added. "This is a chance for him to realize how many women he’s hurt and how wrong his actions have been all along.”

BY YOON SEUNG-JIN [yoon.seungjin@joongang.co.kr]