Michelle Topham 
Pump Up the Healthy Love is a Korean drama that is not showing on one of the smaller South Korean TV networks but, instead, is airing every Wednesday and Thursday evening on KBS2, one of the country’s oldest and most popular free-to-air TV stations.
Even so, it is still performing as poorly as predecessors Villains Everywhere (ended with a 1.4% viewership), and Kick Kick Kick (0.3% viewership for its series finale). Okay, maybe not as poorly as Kick Kick Kick.
In fact, if it wasn’t for the success of Who is She!, which premiered in the same time slot earlier in the year and earned between 3.40 and 4.0 percent for most of its run, you could be fooled into thinking it is the time slot that’s at fault.
It’s not.
Instead, it is that KBS2 is choosing to put dramas in that time slot that don’t suit the specific taste of what their audiences, who are desperate for a Wednesday/Thursday evening drama that is well-written, well-acted and well-directed, are looking for.
Pump Up the Healthy Love, Episode 6 still struggling in the ratings
Look at ongoing K-drama Pump Up the Healthy Love, for instance.
It premiered on April 30, 2025 on KBS2 to 1.8 percent of the audience share, which is the lowest first rating of a drama in that time slot in 2025, and then has done nothing but sink from there.
So much so, even though Pump Up the Healthy Love, Episode 6 grabbed a slightly higher nationwide rating last night (1.30 percent compared to its all-time low of 1.10 percent the night before), the Korean drama is still struggling to grab audiences’ attention.
Interesting international audience reaction to Pump Up the Healthy Love after EP 6
Interestingly, however, and even though the rating on My Drama List (MDL) is low (7.8 out of 10), the comments from viewers still watching the Korean rom-com are overwhelmingly positive.
Comments like:
What the wholesome. 😭 Why is this show so cute and fun? I love how supportive the members of the gym are. And Mi Ran’s boss is the cutest. Such a nice guy.
This week episodes were adorable. Love this show so much!!
and
I’m always so bummed when the episode ends because I want more. What the adultery! I couldn’t stop laughing at all the “What the..” and I even said “What the Gimbap” during lunch today when I was eating some.
How this show goes seamless between humor and emotional scenes is so good. One minute I was crying with the Ajumma because of her cheating husband, and the next second I’m laughing when she’s confronting him.
Even the short one liners make me wheeze (like when HJ muttered that the buff Navy guy would kill a ghost with his chest).
prove that the writer, director and actors are still pulling viewers in, and providing them with both emotional scenes and laughs.
In other words, while Pump Up the Healthy Love is definitely struggling on KBS2 to find much of an audience, it is still resonating with some in the international community.
Pump Up the Healthy Love is written by Kim Ji Soo (Missing Crown Prince), directed by Park Jun Soo (Gaus Electronics) and Choi Yeon Soo (Bad Prosecutor) and stars Lee Jun Young (Melo Movie) and Jung Eun Ji (Miss Night and Day).
Its next episode drops on May 21st, so let’s see how it fares in the ratings then.
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