According to Nielsen Korea, the drama The Government of the Brutes achieved an average nationwide rating of 15.405% when it aired episode 8 on tvN on the evening of September 14, with real-time ratings reaching 32.28%.
This achievement helped the drama break the record of Buried Hearts starring Park Hyun Sik, to become the highest-rated Korean drama of 2025 to date.
At the same time, "The spearhead of the tycoon" entered the Top 10 of the chart of the films with the highest ratings in tvN history.
The entire episode 8 revolves around a cooking competition between Joseon's actresses played by Ji Young (played by YoonA) and actresses in the Dai Minh message group played by Duong Bach Long (played by Jo Jae Yoon). The results of the competition will determine the number of Joseon's sewers for Dai Minh.
The episode opened with excitement when Ji Young and King Lee Heon (Lee Chae Min) returned just in time for the competition to start, after escaping from liking customers.
According to regulations, the two countries compete in 3 rounds: round 1 is for cooking meat dishes that have never been seen before, round 2 is for cooking dishes from the host country, round 3 is for cooking soup with ginseng.
However, Ji Young's team faced many difficulties due to the obstacles of powerful forces with plots to create a counter-attack, hoping Joseon would lose.
In round 1, Ji Young's unique chili powder was stolen by Dai Minh's female lead A Phi Tu, forcing her to suddenly change to another dish. A Phi Tu thanks to this ingredient has created a new spice for the dish and gained an advantage.
But in the end, both sides accepted the draw in round 1, because of their refusal, Dai Minh used tricks to steal the opponent's raw materials. The head of the village, Duong Bach Long, admitted that this was an unpleasant act by the chef and scolded his assistants.
In round 2, Ji Young continued to face a storm because the "female" infamous player Mok Joo forced a high-class striker to leave the team. Fortunately, the female lead Gil Geum was taught how to use a skillful knife to replace high-level self-defense, helping Ji Young while her hand was injured.
On his opponent's side, Bach Long made lotus rice and vegetables, created from dishes from pagodas in Joseon and was highly praised.
But Ji Young's Beijing- filmed duck even made Dai Minh's ambassador delegation leader cry. He admitted that the duck made by Ji Young has a very unique flavor compared to the original dish.
Episode 8 ended right before the moment the two teams announced their scores, making the audience even more excited about the next episode.
Right after the episode aired, many comments praised the competition of the actresses in the film for being professionally filmed, attractive and thrilling, not inferior to famous culinary competition programs in real life.
Many viewers compared the show to Netflix's hit variety show "Culinary Class Wars".
In addition, the scenes of King Lee Heon and the head of the Dai Minh mission enjoying the dish were used by the film's producer with vivid graphic effects, reminiscent of Japanese cooking anime works, quickly creating a storm on social networks.
