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The contestant on "Jjak (The Mate)" was found dead recently during a week-long production shoot at a guesthouse in the southern island of Jeju.
The 29-year-old, Chun hanged herself to death with a hair dryer cord, and left a note that says she didn’t want to live anymore.
The police read the note: "I can't stop crying. My life has been full of drama and I want to end it here."
The SBS show puts 10 men and women in the same guesthouse, which they called "Lovetown", for one week. There they are filmed for everything they do.
Like any other competition, the contestants must overcome any challenges to win a prize. A date with one of their fellow contestants before the show ended, wherein they need to make a final choice.
The show started back in 2001, and since then the show has been known for putting participants into emotional stress because of how they deal with their contestants. The contestant that didn’t win the heart of their crush will have to eat alone outside while they are being filmed in that awful situation.
A local newspaper noted that most of the time, participants ended up in tragedy based on their interview with past contestants of the show. The participants felt that they are being bullied and humiliated after they left the show.
According to Chun's mother, her daughter told her that she couldn’t live anymore if the show will be aired.
Seoul's top daily, the Chosun Ilbo, claimed that in one text messages, Chun said that the producers ordered the camera man to get a shot of her while she is eating alone in order to highlight the matched couple.
Because of the tragedy, SBS cancelled the scheduled screening of the show on Wednesday. Also issued an apology to viewers and Chun's family, but claimed that they didn’t have anything to do with her committing a suicide.
Police claimed that the show is under investigation. They want to know if the show and the producers have something to do with the incident. They are using the video footage of the show to find anything that would connect the show with the suicide incident.
At the start of the show, Chun immediately got the attention of three of the male contestants, but all of them change their mind and replace her with another girl.
South Korea's vibrant and highly competitive TV industry has no shortage of reality shows, which involves everything from singing auditions to plastic surgery.
In another reality show, "Let Me In," two female contestants compete against one another to get the chance of getting a plastic surgery for free.
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