FIFTY FIFTY provided with only 55,000 won per month for meals, “Attrakt & The Givers staff witnessed the throwing food incident”
Attrakt and The Givers staff were confirmed to be at the scene when food from FIFTY FIFTY’s parents was thrown away.
According to documents exclusively secured by Tenasia on August 22nd, Attrakt provided food expenses to FIFTY FIFTY for 33 months, from June 2020 to March 2023. The food cost a total of 7.26 million won, so the food expense for one member per month was about 55,000 won. The company did not pay for any meals out of that 33 months.
The food provided by Attrakt mainly consisted of chicken breast and butter coffee from June to September 2020. In March 2021, the cost of meals for photo staff (360,000 won) was also included in the members’ food expenses. In May 2021, 1.02 million won was spent on detox ingredients. At that time, there were 5 trainee members.
FIFTY FIFTY and their families were concerned that such menus would harm the members’ health. Looking at the feedback from trainers in the latter half of 2021, there were mentions of protein and vegetable deficiencies and an emphasis on the need for essential nutrients. The feedback also highlights that konjac jelly should only be consumed as a snack, not to replace meals. The members and their families had a consultation with a nutritionist in June 2022. After then, the members were able to use food at a nearby salad restaurant for 7 months but the budget per member was limited to 10,000 won per day.
FIFTY FIFTY’s lawyer claimed, “The agency only gave the members the menu, and they have to buy food, prepare and eat by themselves then reported to the company through proof photos”.
The controversy over staff throwing away food FIFTY FIFTY parents sent to the members arose after it was mentioned in a recent broadcast of “Unanswered Questions”. A family member FIFTY FIFTY appeared on the program and confessed, “Surveillance and control in their dorm were severe with CCTVs everywhere. The members felt very pressured. They did not provide proper meals but threw all the side dishes sent by the members’ parents on the floor in the living room. The staff also insulted the members by saying things like ‘Pick them up and quickly throw them away in the trash can’.”
Earlier, there were reports that the person who threw the food away was Baek from The Givers, the outsourcing company in charge of music production. However, it has been confirmed that staff from both the agency Attrakt and The Givers were present at the scene. The incident involved The Givers director Baek, Attrakt manager Kim, Attrakt manager Choi A, and Attrakt manager Choi B.
According to investigation results, the incident occurred on July 6, 2021 at Gangnam Training Center. The staff brought FIFTY FIFTY’s personal belongings and the trash cans to the training center then spread them out on the floor and called the members over to scold them.
FIFTY FIFTY’s side said, “At that time, Attrakt and The Givers were both managing the members. It is meaningless to separate them and blame who did worse. The members were excessively controlled by both The Givers and Attrakt”, adding “CCTV cameras were installed both at the training center and in their dorm. As far as I know, CCTV could be monitored directly from Attrakt CEO Jeon Hong Joon’s office”.
A CEO from a small and medium-sized agency that also raises girl groups said, “It is difficult for small and medium-sized companies to manage idols’ daily life. But if you give idols too much freedom, it would be very hard to manage them”, adding “Diet management can be done by the agency but not considering health is an outdated management approach”.
Source: Daum
