New KBS2 drama Pump Up the Healthy Love premiered its first episode last night to the lowest ratings for a first episode of a Wednesday/Thursday drama this year so far.
Disappointingly low too, considering it is the only drama airing on Wednesday evenings in South Korea.
That rating, according to Nielsen Korea, was 1.8 percent nationwide, a low starting-out viewership, and one making it the 26th most-watched show of the day.
KBS2 Wednesday-Thursday dramas struggling in 2025
Then again, KBS2 has been struggling with the dramas it is releasing in that Wednesday/Thursday time slot, with predecessor Villains Everywhere beginning with a 2.7 percent rating and ending with an audience share of just 1.4 percent.
Previous to that, the absolutely disastrous Kick Kick Kick Kick began with a 2.1 percent rating and ended with a 0.3 percent viewership — earning it the title of the lowest-rated drama of all-time on a free-to-watch network.
In fact, the only KBS2 Wednesday/Thursday drama this year that hasn’t been a flop is Who is She?, and even that started out with a 3.9 percent audience share, and ended with a lower 3.4 percent of the viewership.
In other words, how long do you think it will be before KBS2 decides a different type of programming may perform better in that time slot?
International response to Pump Up the Healthy Love
Interestingly, even though viewers on My Drama List (MDL) often downgrade the first few episodes of a new drama, Pump Up the Healthy Love is currently earning a solid 8.2 out of 10, and comments are positive as well.
Of course, there are the usual woke lunatics whittering on about the “body shaming” in the episode, while the drama itself simply promotes being healthy and in shape (there’s nothing healthy about being 200lbs and “celebrating your body”, sorry).
Ignore that, though and Pump Up the Healthy Love, so far at least, is earning a great response from many international viewers.
The Korean drama is also streaming internationally on Viki, although it hasn’t as yet received enough ratings to have the site list one.
Pump Up the Healthy Love stars Lee Jun Young (When Life Gives You Tangerines) and Jung Eun Ji (Miss Night and Day).
Its next episode hits KBS2 in South Korea and Viki internationally later on tonight.
Update: Episode 2 of Pump Up the Healthy Love was able to hold onto its ratings — meaning the folks who watched its first episode enjoyed it enough to watch its second. Yay!