Kim Da-hye breaks into tears as 'Blind Date Stay at Home 2' viewership lingers in 1% range

'Blind Date Stay at Home 2' is struggling to find a rebound, remaining in the 1% viewership rating range for three consecutive weeks. However, in episode 7, held just one day before the final selection, the emotional intensity spiked as the participants' conflicting feelings collided with the intervention of their parents. In particular, Kim Da-hye eventually broke into tears while candidly revealing her true feelings.

Episode 7 of SBS's 'Children's Release Project: Blind Date Stay at Home 2' (hereafter 'Blind Date Stay at Home 2'), which aired on the 6th, recorded a nationwide viewership rating of 1.6%. This marks the third consecutive week the figure has hovered in the 1% range.

The broadcast featured the participants engaging in free dates to confirm each other's sincerity just one day before the final selection. However, the direction of mutual interest rarely aligned, and as the judgments of family members intervened, the participants' emotions became even more complexly intertwined.

Among them, the relationship between Kim Da-hye and Kang Shin-woo ultimately missed its mark.

During a conversation with Kang Shin-woo, Kim Da-hye cautiously revealed her criteria, stating, "I want to meet someone with the same religion." This was essentially a way of expressing her feelings indirectly. However, Kang Shin-woo could not easily accept this. He failed to properly read her intentions, saying, "Isn't the fact that the person I'm interested in is non-religious perhaps the Lord's plan for us to coordinate well?"

Furthermore, Kang Shin-woo sought the reason why Kim Da-hye was distancing herself from him in her mother. At his remark, "Your mother never chose Da-hye even once," frustration erupted in the studio.

Seo Jang Hoon summarized the situation, saying, "Shin-woo has lost his reason," followed by a firm analysis: "It's simply that Da-hye is not romantically attracted to Shin-woo."

The most difficult moment in a blind date format is accepting that the other person did not choose you. Especially when the other person does not reject you clearly but expresses it through various roundabout reasons, the person who still holds interest can easily interpret those signals in their own way. Kang Shin-woo also tried to understand Kim Da-hye's rejection as an external issue rather than his own, and in that process, the gap between the two widened further.

On the other hand, the love line surrounding Choi Jung-yoon was the exact opposite.

As three men—announcer Lee In-kwon, lawyer Kwon Ye-chan, and professional golfer Moon Seong-mo—simultaneously expressed active interest, Choi Jung-yoon demonstrated a presence worthy of the program's 'most popular woman.'

Lee In-kwon expressed his feelings through morning coffee and a handwritten letter, while Moon Seong-mo conveyed his emotions specifically, saying, "I wrote in a notebook why I like Jung-yoon." Kwon Ye-chan also showed his determination to convey his heart until the end, stating, "My conclusion is to try my absolute best."

A situation where three people's hearts converge on one person is an interesting spectacle for viewers, but it is not necessarily a happy thing for the person involved. This is because the person making the choice must also disappoint someone's expectations.

In another love line, Ahn Do-yoon shed tears.

Ahn Do-yoon, an employee at Samsung Electronics, gathered the courage to ask Lee In-kwon, who had remained on his mind, out on a date. However, Lee In-kwon had already decided to focus on Choi Jung-yoon. Ultimately, he drew a line with Ahn Do-yoon, citing the age difference.

After finishing the date, Ahn Do-yoon wept, saying, "I felt overwhelmed by the fact that I keep being pushed away just because I am young."

This scene was a moment that showed 'Blind Date Stay at Home 2' as more than just a simple dating competition program, revealing the raw human desire to be chosen. Being chosen by someone is linked to self-esteem, but the process of convincing oneself of the reason for not being chosen is much more painful than expected.

With the addition of parental judgments, the tension of the program became even more complex.

Yang Ha-yoon clashed with her mother, who opposed Kim Dong-young. When Yang Ha-yoon retorted, "Does it make sense to dislike him just because he is a pharmaceutical sales representative?", her mother maintained a firm stance, saying, "I just don't like him." With the comment, "I won't do the final interview," a tense atmosphere flowed between the mother and daughter.

Ultimately, the core conflict of 'Blind Date Stay at Home 2' was not just the interest between men and women. The clash between children trying to decide their own lives and parents trying to judge their children's spouses also permeated the program.

And the moment all those emotions were most clearly revealed was Kim Da-hye's tears.

Kang Shin-woo's mother expressed her honest feelings to Kim Da-hye during the final interview, saying, "You are my first and second choice." However, Kim Da-hye had already made up her mind.

She said, "I had already made up my mind. I am so sorry for the last day," and eventually broke into tears.

For Kim Da-hye, those tears were not merely about feeling sorry. They were a mixture of the difficulty of rejecting someone whose sincerity she knew, the burden of disappointing someone's expectations, and the emotion of having to stand by her own choice.

Kang Shin-woo's mother also could not completely give up on her son's feelings. She asked Kim Da-hye, "I support the relationship between Shin-woo and Da-hye. Can I think positively about the two of you?" To this, Lee Yo-won remarked, "It seems Shin-woo's mother did her best for her son until the very end."

However, sincere feelings do not always guarantee a relationship. Liking someone sincerely and having an obligation to respond to those feelings are two different matters. In the unique setting of a blind date, the greater the sincerity of the other person, the greater the guilt felt by the person doing the rejecting. This is why Kim Da-hye's tears resonated so deeply with viewers.

Despite these emotional scenes, the program's viewership ratings have not moved much. The show has reached a point where it needs narrative strength that makes viewers follow the participants' relationships long-term, rather than relying on one-off viral moments.

'Blind Date Stay at Home 2' differentiates itself by combining the perspectives of the parental generation with the meetings of young men and women, but that very distinction may make the program's emotional lines overly complex. Dating should ultimately be the choice of the individuals involved, but as parental judgment intervenes more strongly, the audience's ability to empathize with a single subject becomes divided.

Nevertheless, the emotions of the participants ahead of the final selection remain unpredictable. Whether Choi Jung-yoon, who is receiving interest from three men, will choose one of them; what decision the wounded Ahn Do-yoon will make; and what conclusion the relationship between Kim Da-hye and Kang Shin-woo—who have already moved on—will reach, are the key points to watch.

Even amidst the cold reality of three consecutive weeks in the 1% range, the emotions of the participants are growing increasingly intense. Attention is now focused on whether 'Blind Date Stay at Home 2' can win over the hearts of viewers through its final selections.