Several high-profile stars, including Yang Dong Geun, Lee Yi Kyung and Kim Yuna, have reportedly gone unpaid for nine months after appearing on the music variety show House of Girls. The issue extends beyond the cast, affecting production staff, writers, and outside contractors who say they have not received payment for their work.
Ilgan Sports reported on March 18th that none of the show’s cast have been paid their appearance fees. This includes MC Lee Yi Kyung, judging mentors Yang Dong Geun, Kim Yuna, Soyou, Shin Yong Jae, and all 10 participating singers, none of whom have received their appearance fees for all episodes. Vendors involved in stage production and filming also say they are still owed significant sums. Even the show’s producers and writers were reportedly not paid.
In November, several staff members and participants filed a criminal complaint against the CEO of the production company behind the show, alleging fraud, breach of trust and embezzlement.
House of Girls followed 10 indie female singers over 100 days as they completed missions and released music together. The show aired on ENA from May 23rd to July 25th last year. However, staff say payments began to fall behind as early as May, and they had stopped entirely by June and July while the show was still airing. Despite this, many continued working without pay to finish the production.
According to staff members involved in the complaint, the company’s CEO initially assured them in September that partial payments would be made soon and that the rest would follow by October. Instead, they later discovered that the company had filed for corporate rehabilitation (a form of bankruptcy protection) at the end of September.
In response, staff and some participants moved forward with legal action. Many others have since filed claims in the rehabilitation process, though there is no guarantee they will recover their money. A creditors’ meeting is scheduled for later this month.
Industry insiders point to a common issue in Korean television production: multiple layers of subcontracting. In this system, broadcasters often outsource shows to production companies, which then subcontract various aspects of the work. When financial problems arise, payments to individuals further down the chain can be disrupted.
House of Girls was produced as “branded content,” meaning the broadcaster, ENA, aired the show but did not directly produce it. The production company secured funding independently, retained the intellectual property rights and handled all contracts with cast and crew.
Staff members say they agreed to work on the show based on the understanding that the production company had secured roughly 2.5 billion won ($1.9 million) in funding, including investment and music distribution revenue. They also claim the company received most of the production budget in advance from ENA before the show aired, but those funds were never distributed to the people who worked on the project.
Legal protections for unpaid workers are limited in situations like this. Contracts often do not include provisions allowing broadcasters to step in and pay staff directly if a production company fails to do so.
ENA stated that it fulfilled all contractual obligations, having paid the production company in full under the agreement. The network said it is aware of the situation and has notified the production company to resolve the issue.
ENA removed clips of the show from its official YouTube and Naver channels after the controversy surfaced. However, the show’s music and video-on-demand content remain available, as the production company still holds the rights.
The CEO of the production company declined to comment in detail, citing the ongoing rehabilitation process. The company’s legal representatives also said they could not provide further information at this time.
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