![Alice Huang sits alongside Jensen Huang. [Reuters-Yonhap]](https://wimg.heraldcorp.com/news/cms/2026/11/10/news-p.v1.20261110.6e01fcad881547638fc29b94e80f11f2_P1.jpg)
"Even Jensen Huang can't escape the 'You Quiz curse.'"
That was the reaction circulating in one online community following the recent controversy surrounding Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang's private life.
The "You Quiz curse" is an internet meme referring to a pattern in which guests on the tvN variety show "You Quiz on the Block" find themselves embroiled in controversy after their appearances.
The meme has resurfaced after Huang acknowledged a romantic relationship with a woman suspected of being a spy for Chinese intelligence.
The Financial Times reported Saturday (local time) that US intelligence officials had determined Huang was in a romantic relationship with Alice Huang — known in Chinese as Huang Le — a businesswoman suspected of being an agent of China's Ministry of State Security.
Alice Huang, a former executive at Singapore-based data center company Megaspeed, is alleged to have approached Huang to gather classified information on AI semiconductors and monitor developments within the US administration. Huang acknowledged the affair Sunday and apologized, and Nvidia's board launched an independent investigation.
What drew unexpected attention was the fact that Huang had appeared on "You Quiz on the Block" last June.
"You Quiz on the Block," which first aired in 2018, is a flagship talk show hosted by Yoo Jae-suk — widely regarded as South Korea's top TV host — in which he meets everyone from ordinary citizens to prominent figures from all walks of life.
Over the years, however, a string of guests have found themselves caught up in scandals after their appearances, giving rise to the "You Quiz curse" as a recurring online joke. The latest controversy has brought it back into the spotlight.
Online reactions ranged from "The You Quiz curse has gone global" to "They got Jensen Huang too."
Among the most frequently cited examples of the curse is a couple who ran an automotive YouTube channel under the name "Cargirl."
The pair, who had amassed 300,000 subscribers by sharing footage of supercars and a glamorous lifestyle, appeared on "You Quiz on the Block" in August 2020. Afterward, they faced criticism for presenting cars owned by others as their own and for using their TV appearance to promote artwork sales by a well-known automotive designer. That same month, the couple acknowledged they had allowed exaggerated claims and misunderstandings to go uncorrected, issued an apology, and made their YouTube videos private.
Volleyball players Lee Jae-young and Lee Da-young, sisters who appeared on the show in April 2020, were swept up in school bullying allegations the following year. Both acknowledged past wrongdoing and apologized, and the show removed their episode.
Prominent figures celebrated as success stories in the business and financial worlds were not spared either.
Kang Young-kwon, the former chairman of Edison Motors, appeared on the show in October 2020 and spoke about his success in the electric vehicle business. He was later indicted on charges of manipulating the share prices of affiliated companies by dangling the prospect of acquiring KGM — then known as Ssangyong Motor — and was sentenced in the first instance to three years in prison and a fine of 500 million won ($369,000). Kang Bang-cheon, a pioneer of value investing in South Korea who shared his investment philosophy on the show that same year, was later caught up in allegations of investing under borrowed names. The Financial Services Commission handed him a heavy disciplinary sanction equivalent to a six-month suspension from duties, along with a fine, in 2023.
Among political figures, former President Yoon Suk Yeol is regularly invoked in the same breath.
Yoon appeared on "You Quiz on the Block" in April 2022 as president-elect, but the booking drew controversy over fairness and political neutrality after it emerged that the show had previously turned down approaches from the camps of former President Moon Jae-in and former Prime Minister Kim Boo-kyum.
Yoon declared emergency martial law on Dec. 3, 2024, and was removed from office the following April after the Constitutional Court upheld his impeachment. He was subsequently sentenced to life in prison in the first instance on insurrection charges and received a confirmed seven-year prison term on charges including obstruction of an arrest warrant — cementing his place as a fixture on the "You Quiz curse" list.
The phenomenon of weaving a string of scandals involving guests on a popular program into a "curse" meme is not new in South Korean broadcasting.
KBS's long-running variety show "2 Days & 1 Night" earned its own "curse" label after cast members including MC Mong, Jung Joon-young and Ravi became embroiled in successive controversies. The concept also exists abroad: Hollywood has long spoken of the "Oscar curse," a superstition that actresses who win the Academy Award for best actress tend to divorce or break up with their partners afterward.
The "Oscar curse" originated with actress Luise Rainer, who won the Academy Award for best actress in consecutive years for "The Great Ziegfeld" (1936) and "The Good Earth" (1937), only to suffer a severe career decline. The superstition took hold as a Hollywood fixture as more best actress winners — among them Sandra Bullock, Reese Witherspoon, Halle Berry, Hilary Swank and Kate Winslet — went through divorces after receiving the award.
Experts agree that more rigorous vetting of guests on popular programs is desirable, but note there are practical limits to predicting controversies that arise after a broadcast.
Yoo Hong-sik, a professor at Chung-Ang University's School of Media and Communication, said producers should put greater effort into vetting guests, but acknowledged that without the powers of an investigative agency, access to personal information is inherently limited. He added that it would be wise to avoid booking guests who stand to gain financially — beyond mere exposure — from a television appearance.
Yoo also said the "You Quiz curse" meme appears to be a kind of price of fame that comes with the show's wide popularity, and suggested the phenomenon could serve as a positive pressure on producers to exercise greater care in selecting guests.
husn7@heraldcorp.com
