A variety show featuring single middle-aged stars shot up to No. 1 on a TV popularity chart early this month after revelations of that two of its stars were dating.

For the week of Aug. 1-7, the SBS TV show “Burning Youth” scored 256.8 points on the Content Power Index (CPI) as two of its cast – comedian Kim Gook-jin and singer Kang Soo-ji – revealed that they had been dating in real life.

The 51-year-old Kim and 49-year-old Kang have been called the “chihuahua couple” because of their large eyes and other supposedly dog-like features.

As a leading comedian of the 1990s, Kim is best remembered for his catchy phrases. Kang shot to stardom with her debut single “Violet Fragrance” in 1989.

CPI measures TV show popularity based on the number of views of related news stories, keyword searches and mentions on social media. It was developed by the entertainment company CJ E&M and the media ratings company Nielsen Korea.

In second place was the SBS TV series “Doctors” with 244.7 points, followed by the variety show “The King of Mask Singer” with 241.7 points.

“Infinite Challenge,” an all-time favorite variety show featuring top comedians Yoo Jae-seok and Park Myeong-soo, fell one place to No. 4, while the rival TV dramas “Uncontrollably Fond” and “W” took the fifth and the sixth places, respectively. (Yonhap)