Bizarre reason why man's jeans are blurred out on North Korean TV as images went viral

When it comes to gardening shows, most of us can agree they’re relatively inoffensive.

Yet one British presenter recently went viral after clips of his gardening clothing resurfaced – and were deemed so unexpectedly scandalous by one nation, that they had to be blurred out on national television.

Alan Titchmarsh, a beloved gardening presenter in the UK, appeared on an episode of his show Garden Secrets, which had been syndicated to North Korea.

Yet in the show, which revolves around all things horticultural, Alan appeared on screen with the lower half of his body blurred out, after North Korean state broadcaster Korean Central TV (KCTV) deemed it too inappropriate to show on screen.

Now, before your imagination runs wild, it may surprise you to know that the ‘offensive’ item in question that had to be censored wasn’t anything out of the ordinary, as it was a simple pair of denim jeans.

Like many gardeners, Alan Titchmarsh is a fan of denim jeans... but that's a big no-go in North Korea (MEGA/GC Images)

It appears North Korea isn’t a fan of the denim staples that fill countless American wardrobes, and even considers them to be an example of 'bourgeois culture'.

So, what exactly is the big deal?

North Korea’s disdain for denim dates back to 1990, when the former dictator Kim Jong Il famously outlawed jeans and declared them to be a symbol of American imperialism.

Since then, no citizen has been permitted to wear them, and even images of others doing so have to be blurred out on national television, which is what happened in Titchmarsh’s case.

Under current laws, any North Korean citizen who is caught wearing the garments or any other piece of clothing that could nod towards Western ideology can be sentenced to a huge fine at best, or a stint in a labour camp at worst.

The gardener's jeans were censored in the North Korean broadcast (KCTV)

Reflecting on the unusual situation, Titchmarsh at least could see the funny side of being censored by a foreign government.

"It's taken me to reach the age of 74 to be regarded in the same sort of breath as Elvis Presley, Tom Jones, Rod Stewart... wearing trousers that are generally considered... rather too tight,” he told the BBC.

"I've never seen myself as a dangerous subversive imperialist. I'm generally regarded as rather cosy and pretty harmless, so actually it's given me a bit of street cred really, hasn't it?"

Garden Secrets first aired in the UK back in 2010, but was later syndicated to North Korea in 2022, allowing the country to edit, dub and amend the show to fit with accepted rules in-country.

Cut down to just 15 minutes in length, the series has proved popular with Korean audiences, despite the censorship of Titchmarsh’s outlawed denim attire.