Culinary Class Wars winner apologizes for remarks made during show: 'I saw a lot of my arrogance and shortcomings'

In a post on his Instagram page on Tuesday evening, Kwon wrote that instead of expressing his joy, he wanted to express his apology and gratitude.

“Although I'm not young, I think I acted and thought a little young. As a result of the show, I received a lot of advice from those around me to be humble, and I also saw chefs bigger than me – including Chef Edward, Triple Star and Cooking Maniac, who were my final opponents – always humble and not condescending.

“When those three people were left at the end of Tofu Hell, I honestly thought that they were all opponents that I would have a hard time defeating, so I bluffed even more so as not to be intimidated or scared.”

Apparently, Kwon was referring to his seemingly arrogant comments in the confessional segments of recent episodes.

He added: “As I watched myself through the show, I saw a lot of my arrogance and my shortcomings, and it became an opportunity for me to reflect on that.”

He then apologized to Edward Lee and revealed that most of his comments about the latter had been edited out of the show.

“In one of the interviews, I said that I was impressed by Chef Edward's crazy tofu competition, his creativity and his challenging spirit, which I personally saw from above.”

Kwon added that he wanted to give him words of support and a “welcome” to compete against him in the finals by heading to the challenge area at the end of the Endless Cooking Hell challenge.

“The remark 'I'll step on you little by little' was intended to encourage them not to give up and gain strength until the end, since it was the last meal at which everyone was exhausted, but contrary to the intention, it seemed that way a very arrogant and careless comment. I would like to apologize again.

Kwon ended his post by thanking Lee and everyone involved in the production of Culinary Class Wars.

Lee then responded in a comment: “Chef, you deserve to win and never lose your confidence. It's a competition and we're all vying to win. An apology is never necessary. Congratulations!”

The success of the show has resulted in the restaurants run by Culinary Class Wars contestants experiencing a rapid rise in popularity. For example, Trid – the restaurant owned by fan favorite Triple Star – is reportedly fully booked until the end of the year.