The live ceremony, broadcast from SBS Prism Tower in Sangam, Mapo-gu on the evening of the 30th, saw Lee crowned with the night’s top honor.
Stunned when his name was called, Lee looked around the room as if to confirm it was real, while fellow nominees Ji Seok-jin and Seo Jang-hoon offered heartfelt congratulations.
Struggling to get through his remarks, Lee reflected on how it all began with "My Little Old Boy." “Our very first shoot happened the day I moved into a place with no air conditioning―rent was cheap for a reason,” he said. “From then on, I just showed my real life. I never imagined people would embrace me―this guy scraping by―as much as they did.”
He continued, “I thought I’d never escape my debts, but through broadcasting―and by living as earnestly as I could―I realized I might actually pay them off.”
Calling the show “an archive of my second life,” Lee said, “'My Little Old Boy' let me start over. My beloved mother passed away, I closed some of the hardest chapters of my life, and this year, I even got married.”
He thanked the teams behind "My Little Old Boy" and "Invitation from Bachelor Again": “Thank you for giving me this chance. SBS has shown me more love than I could ever repay.”
Name-checking Ji Seok-jin and Seo Jang-hoon again, he added, “Part of me wishes the three of us could’ve shared this. I never imagined someone like me would get the Grand Prize. Among legends like Shin Dong-yup and Yoo Jae-suk―who’ve carried Korean television for two, three decades―I never once dreamed I’d be up here.”
Lee also shouted out his wife. “Right after we married, we started trying for a baby, so I haven’t done anything for her―no ceremony, no honeymoon. She stayed by my side and loved me anyway. If anyone deserves this award, it’s the greatest gift of my life: my wife.”
Anticipating questions about his win, he said, “You might wonder why I got the Grand Prize. But I really did give my all at SBS. 'My Little Old Boy' gave me a shot, and I did everything I could with it.”
He closed with a promise to fans and viewers: “I’ll honor this grace to the end. My entire life is archived at SBS, and I won’t be a burden to the network. I’ll live better than I do now―work harder, be more grateful, and give back everything I received this year. Happy New Year.” He then bowed deeply to the audience.
Finally, Lee looked to the sky and said, “Mom, I won the Grand Prize,” a line that left the room visibly moved.
(SBS Entertainment News | Kim Hyo-jung)
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