Mukbang YouTuber “Eat With Boki” Under Suspicions For Spitting Out Food After Chewing Due To Over-Editing
Mukbang YouTuber, Moon Bok Hee who operates under the channel, Eat With Boki, has been accused of editing her videos for the purpose of hiding the fact that she spits out her food after chewing them for show. While this has been bubbling under the surface for awhile, netizens only took to seriously exposing her after she was revealed to have done under-the-table deals for sponsored videos.
Many of her watchers have now turned to commenting on her videos with timestamps to point out the edited portions. They have deduced that she uses a secret signal, holding up one finger, to indicate a stopping point for editing to the next clip.
This is a different moment from the same video. Netizens have pointed out that although her position has not shifted, the rice on the plate has, indicating that the scene was edited after she does the signal.
The finger sign can be seen in other videos as well although she does it rather naturally. People have pointed to the shift in the purple taro drink, despite her skills in not shifting her own position.
Netizens also compared her first few videos, where she seemed to eat regular sized meals, to her later ones where she started to get into the mukbang culture and increased her meal size. An earlier video of hers features a pretty normal meal of one serving of donkatsu along with sides such as pickles, kimchi, cabbage and fried ebi prawn. In her earlier videos there is little to no editing, proving that she changed tactics to down more food.
They also slowed down a clip from her mukbang, showing that she keeps the food in her mouth until she finds a time to spit it out.
This was compared to the way she normally eats with her mouth shut, something that she was originally popular for, as she ate in a clean and pretty way compared to many other mukbang YouTubers.
On a particular video of a mukbang vlog in a restaurant, viewers pointed out that she did not eat much, perhaps as she was not able to conceal her habits as well as she can from the comfort of her home. A netizen timestamped where she reused clips of her eating, using different angles, when in fact, she did not eat much that day.
The full video can be seen here.
Although many netizens have gone with the same opinion that they feel that Bok Hee editing her videos is a lie to her many viewers, some have pointed out that there is no specific law that says mukbang YouTubers are not allowed to edit. Others have also pointed out that by framing herself in a certain way, Bok Hee may have set up unrealistic expectations and ideals for her viewers, of someone who eats all she wants but does not gain weight.
Perhaps the main crux of the debate is whether or not it is against any sort of unspoken social contract between the YouTuber and the viewers, to fully disclose the process of filming the content. The mukbang culture has escalated past simply sharing how one eats, to gorging on insane amounts of food for the vicarious pleasure of others. If the latter has now become the intent and definition of such content, it begs the question of if mukbang YouTubers are obliged to ingest all the food, or if simply showing how they eat it, and the chewing ASMR process is enough.
