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Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang's appearance on tvN's "You Quiz on the Block" pushed the show to its highest ratings of the year.
tvN said the episode that aired Wednesday, which featured Huang as a guest, drew a nationwide viewership rating of 5.7 percent, according to Nielsen Korea — the program's best figure this year.
In the Greater Seoul area, the rating climbed to 5.9 percent, the strongest number recorded across all episodes aired last year and this year combined.
The milestone surpasses the show's previous high, set in May last year when Microsoft co-founder and Gates Foundation chair Bill Gates appeared on the program and drew a 4.3 percent rating — a gap of 1.4 percentage points.
The episode also drew attention as the first variety show appearance Huang has made anywhere in the world.
Jensen Huang: 'Korea has always been close to my heart'
Dressed in his signature black leather jacket, Huang spoke on the show about his ties to Korean business leaders, his upbringing and his vision for the age of AI.
When asked which of Samsung Electronics Executive Chairman Lee Jae-yong, Hyundai Motor Group Chairman Euisun Chung or SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won he felt closest to, Huang deflected. "That's too easy. I want everyone to succeed," he said. "All three are incredibly great global leaders. Their companies are very fortunate to have them."
Huang also spoke warmly about South Korea. "Korea has always been close to my heart," he said, adding that Nvidia's technology might never have become a global phenomenon without the country's passionate gaming community.
He recalled washing dishes and cleaning bathrooms at a restaurant after immigrating to the United States at age 9. "Whatever I did, I gave it 100 percent," he said. "It doesn't matter what the job is — when it's done, it represents me."
On resilience and ambition, Huang said: "To be great, you have to go through pain and failure. Failing and coming back, failing and coming back — that experience builds resilience and character."
On the AI era, he offered an optimistic take. "AI is easy; computers are hard," he said. "In the past, only people who learned programming could use computers. Today, computers are so smart that you just tell them what you want. AI will close the technology gap."
Huang called his host Yoo Jae-suk the "MC champion," while Yoo addressed the Nvidia CEO as "hyung" — an informal Korean term for an older brother figure.
yul@heraldcorp.com
