Where Is My Friend's Home

Background

The show follows South Korean and foreign cast members of the South Korean television Non-Summit as they experience cultures of various countries through homestay, meeting the locals, and experiencing a better understanding of multiculturalism.

The show, a spin-off of Non-Summit, is less formal, with the cast from the original talkshow panel, now relaxing casually, as "friends", to visit one another's homes. The humor continues; the teaser video for the first episode, a trip to China, was entitled "Steal Things in Zhang Yuan’s House". The show's posters, entitled "Global friend’s house attack project", showed some of the cast's casual activities, like eating ice cream and jogging.

And although somewhat like a travel show, producers said Where is My Friend's Home trips would "not be typical." The show also candidly addresses common misperceptions and prejudices about the countries visited.

Cast

Through the fourth trip, the cast was made up entirely of Non-Summit cast members, current and past. After that, some new cast members were added, including South Korean television personalities and K-pop idols; who, in some cases, played host in their respective countries, augmenting the list of foreign cast members and countries visited. The first instance was the fifth trip to Canada which visited Henry Lau's home in Toronto, as well as Non-Summit cast member Guillaume Patry's home in Quebec.

1st trip - China

The first country visited was China, the home of Zhang Yuan, a foreign representative on the Non-Summit show, including Zhang's home city of Anshan, and other tourist areas, for six days and five nights. Along for the trip were "Visitors", South Korean Non-Summit presenter Yoo Se-yoon, and Non-Summit foreign representatives Guillaume Patry from Canada, Alberto Mondi from Italy, Julian Quintart from Belgium and Tyler Rasch from the United States.

2nd trip - Belgium

The second trip was to Julian Quintart's home country of Belgium, with the same cast and an additional seventh member, Nepal's Sujan Shakya. They visited the city of Brussels and Quintart's home in Aywaille in Liège, and other tourist areas.

3rd trip - Nepal

The filming of the Nepal trip was done subsequent to the April 2015 Nepal earthquake, which occurred on April 25, the day of the second episode of the trip's airing, show Episode No. 12, (and the following May 2015 Nepal earthquake). The station and show's responses are noted in the episode summaries.

The travel agenda announced added a surprise cast to the third trip in April 2015, to Sujan Shakya's home country of Nepal, to visit the "mysterious ancient ruins" and Shakya's large extended family. The cast included Shakya as the country host, Yoo, Zhang and Mondi, as on the previous two trips, and added current Non-Summit cast member, Germany's Daniel Lindemann and the United States intern, Mark Tetto, who appeared on Episode 24 of Non-Summit. The surprise revealed was British mountain climber and adventurer, United Kingdom's James Hooper, who appeared on the original cast of Non-Summit, Episodes 1-4.

4th trip - Italy

The fourth trip was to Alberto Mondi's home country of Italy, with the same cast that visited Nepal; Yoo, Zhang, Lindemann, Hooper and Tetto. Shakya was scheduled to take the trip, but due to the earthquake in Nepal and his concern for it, he was replaced by another of the younger representatives, France's Robin Deiana.

5th trip - Canada

The fifth trip went to Guillaume Patry's home in Quebec, Canada, with cast Yoo, Zhang, Shakya, and Patry's best friend John Riley. Riley is the Deputy Head of Mission of the New Zealand Embassy Seoul, first serving there in 2001. Riley speaks Korean, English, and Māori; his grandfather is Māori.

The trip included a visit to first time cast member Super Junior Henry's home in Toronto, to show the various cultures of the second largest country in the world.

6th trip - South Korea (Buyeo County)

The show's producer Bang Hyun-young said in order to give the cast a summer break, they would film the 6th trip locally in South Korea, as there were many great places to visit domestically. Professor Yoo Hong-jun, of Myongji University and former head of the Cultural Heritage Administration of Korea was a guest on the show. The trip also included presenters Yoo, and Jun Hyun-moo, his first time on show; representatives Patry, Mondi, Zhang, Lindemann, Rasch and first time with friends, ex-Non-Summit representative Blair Williams.

7th trip - Australia

The seventh trip was to Australia, to visit the home of ex-Non-Summit member, Blair Williams, from the 2015 cast. Ex-Non-Summit member from the 2014 cast, Japan's Takuya Terada, traveled with him as the newest cast member. Recurring cast members Yoo, Mondi, Zhang, Lindemann and Hooper were also on the trip.

8th trip - France

The eighth trip was to France, to visit the home of ex-Non-Summit member, Robin Deiana. Recurring members Tetto, Patry, Mondi and Zhang were along, as well as new cast member and Ghana representative on Non-Summit, Sam Okyere. This marks the first trip Yoo was absent, due to scheduling conflicts.

9th trip - Germany

The show's ninth trip will visit Germany and Daniel Lindemann's home in Cologne. The friends who will be joining him on this trip are cast members Yoo, Mondi, Zhang, Okyere and Williams, with the addition of Bulgarian chef Mihal Ashminov from JTBC's Please Take Care of My Refrigerator.

10th trip - New Zealand

The tenth trip of the show will be to New Zealand, the home of John Riley from the Canada trip. Joining him are recurring members Patry, Zhang, Shakya, Terada, and first time member on the show, singer Lee Jung. Yoo was expected to join this trip, but will be absent due to his maternal grandmother's funeral.

11th trip - South Korea (Jeju Island)

Show producer Bang Hyun-young announced the eleventh trip will see the cast visiting Jeju Island for the winter break, the second domestic trip in the show. For this trip, recurring members Yoo, Patry, Zhang and Mondi will be joined with Ashminov (from the Germany trip), Riley (from the Canada and New Zealand trips) and Lee Jung, who was on the previous New Zealand trip. First time cast member comedian Jang Dong-min will join them, as per the cast's live fan meeting on South Korea's Naver V-app before the Jeju trip.

12th trip - Thailand

The twelfth trip of the show will be set in Thailand, the home of new cast member BamBam of pop idol group GOT7. Recurring members Yoo, Mondi and Ashminov will be making trip, who will be joined with new cast members Jackson Wang from China, also from GOT7, and current Non-Summit cast member Andreas Varsakopoulos of Greece.

13th trip - United States

The show's thirteenth trip will be to the United States, the home of recurring member Tyler Rasch. Joining him will be recurring members Yoo and Patry, alongside new cast member and current Non-Summit cast member Nikolai Johnsen of Norway. The friends are set to visit Rasch's home state of Vermont for the trip.

Soundtrack

Yoo wrote and produced a song, "At Your House", which was part of the show's original soundtrack (OST) on February 7, 2015. It features vocal group Urban Zakapa and cast members Patry, Mondi, Zhang, Quintart and Rasch, speaking in their native languages. Yoo said he was inspired to write the song after the filming of the friends' bicycle outing (Episode 3) in China.

Another OST, "What Brings You Here", by Yoo and Eastbeam, was released by Sony Music Entertainment on April 25, 2015.

Ratings and scheduling changes

The show started airing on Saturdays in the JTBC scheduling, in February 2015, with average top ratings in the 3% range. After scheduling changed the show to Wednesday nights in October 2015, ratings suffered, and a third scheduling change to Sundays in February 2016, furthered the ratings drop. The thirteenth trip to the U.S. on April 8, 2016, changed the airing day to Fridays.