Siren: Survive the Island director Lee Eun Kyung explained why the show didn’t have a cash prize for a winner.
Na Young Seok met up with Director Lee Eun Kyung and Writer Chae Jin Ah of Netflix’s Siren: Survive the Island on his YouTube “Channel Fullmoon” on the 6th.
Regarding the enthusiastic response to Siren: Survive the Island, Lee expressed her surprise, “I’ve been part of many great shows that received positive feedback, but I’m stunned by the level of enthusiasm for this one. It’s overwhelming to only hear positive things.”
When asked about the absence of prize money for the winner, Lee explained, “The participants are public servants who have staked their professional honor on this competition. From the start, they didn’t come to fight for money but for the honor. That’s why there’s no cash prize.”
The director also clarified, “For many shows, the appearance fee is paid per episode, and typically, in survival shows, there’s no fee for participants who are eliminated after the first episode. However, we value the time and courage of everyone who participated in our show, so we decided to give an equal fee to all for the seven days.”
Na Young Seok echoed this sentiment, “That’s the right approach. Participants don’t come thinking, ‘I’ll probably get eliminated and go home tomorrow.’ They’ve emptied a week or ten days schedule, giving up everything else. It’s not right to tell those who get eliminated early, ‘You won’t be on the show anymore. Then no money for you.’ That’s just unfair.”
Lee added, “Although there’s no prize money, and there’s a limit to how much public servants can receive due to the civil service law, we aim to give all 24 contestants an equal amount within those boundaries.”
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