‘Youth Over Flowers’ men take on Iceland

Following its wild adventures to the mountaintops of Peru and the Buddhist monasteries of Laos, this time around the newest stars of the hit TV reality series “Youth Over Flowers” are taking viewers to the glacier-filled, vast snowy wilderness of Iceland.

Popular on-screen and musical stage stars Jung Sang-hoon, Jo Jung-suk, Jung Woo and Kang Ha-neul are the members of the latest series of tvN’s “Youth Over Flowers,” which has been labeled by producer Na Young-seok as the “funniest” series yet. 

“I’m not sure about its other aspects, but after putting the show together, I think in terms of its humor, it’s definitely the funniest (of the ‘Over Flowers’ series),” said Na at a press conference held at the Imperial Palace Seoul hotel in Gangnam-gu, Seoul, Tuesday.

“It’s a program we made for people to watch wrapped in a warm blanket during the cold winter, and just laugh comfortably,” the producer added.  

The premise of all the spin-off “Over Flowers” series is simple -- a group of local celebrities team up for a fun-filled overseas adventure as run-of-the-mill tourists. 

The third season of “Youth Over Flowers,” which is set to premiere on New Year’s Day, has the four new costars under aurora-filled skies and attempting to keep warm in the country’s notorious arctic temperatures.

However, it turns out it wasn’t the frigid weather that had the men unnerved: Rather, the costars admitted, it was their many communication hiccups while struggling to speak English that constituted their biggest struggle, and naturally resulted in their most memorable laughing moments.

“I think when we got to Iceland we all just turned dumb,” Jo, who was nicknamed “the brain” of the trip, shared at the press conference. “The one time where I thought I was really dumb was when I was driving and pulled into a gas station. I realized it was a self-pump station and I wasn’t sure how to work it. So I kept asking around, ‘Can I help me?’ ‘Can I help me?’ and no one understood me.”

“Some ‘brain’ I was,” he added as his fellow costars burst into laughter. 

The members went on to share numerous laugh-out-loud moments involving their many English communication blunders, including using a smartphone verbal translation application while trying to purchase a hot dog and pleading with a local bus driver multiple times to “open the door!” when they really meant to inform the driver that the back door was open and needed to be shut.

The first episode of “Youth Over Flowers” will air Jan. 1 at 9:45 p.m.

By Julie Jackson (juliejackson@heraldcorp.com)