Revealing the 'huge' salaries of Vietnamese stars sitting in the 'hot seat' of game shows

The price of artists sitting in the hot seat of game shows is also quite unpredictable, from a few tens of millions to billions of dong and depends on many factors.

Game show boom and "thirst for judges"

Currently, Vietnamese showbiz is in the booming period and the development of reality TV game shows is extremely prosperous. Television is not like before but game show production is a field that is developing quite strongly. In all entertainment fields, even in the life field, there are some corresponding game show programs to serve the appropriate audience.

Singer Dam Vinh Hung sat in the hot seat of Cat Tien Sa for many consecutive seasons even though the value of his salary when participating in the programs was not small.

In addition to the most famous programs in the world, major producers have spent a lot of money to buy copyrights to produce in Vietnam, such as:The Voice, X-factor, Idol, Next top, Dad, where are we going...Producers who do not have enough initial financial resources also develop their own program formats based on the audience's needs and preferences, such as:Laughter Across Vietnam, Bolero Love, Comedian Reunion...

In Ho Chi Minh City alone, there are dozens of large producers with the ability to produce game shows at a huge level, including: Dat Viet with 2 houses: M&T and Dong Tay, Cat Tien Sa, BHD, Khang Media, Sen Vang, Vietcom, Tincom, Dien Quan, CJ Blue... Each producer has 4-5 programs available to air each week, many programs are also continuously filming to rest afterwards.

And when the game show boomed, the demand for artists for the programs was quite high, especially the role of "judge" was indispensable. Along with that, the invitation of judges and the salary for judges at the programs were also of interest to the audience. The most prominent faces - A-list stars of each field were the first choice of the producers - of course the accompanying cost was also a not small number.

Ho Ngoc Ha is one of the female singers who receives the highest hot seat fee today. She is also quite selective when accepting to be a judge.

Depending on the show, the production unit, and how many judges there are, but the general formula for the salary for artists participating in the program will be around 10%-20% of the total production cost.

“Sometimes for one episode we have 500 million for hardware (stage, lighting, sound) and software (staff), then the salary for the judges is about 100 - 150 million, the cost usually takes up to 150 million when there are 3 judges or there are additional artists participating in other roles,” a representative of the producer who asked to remain anonymous shared.

Artist salary as judge – How much is reasonable?

A producer representative said that when it comes to the cost of inviting judges for game shows, there is usually a common basis (word of mouth from producers). It is difficult to say whether it is high or low because the value of the artist's name placed on the program is different. For example, an artist who used to be an MC but has the ability to be a judge will receive a higher fee when sitting in the hot seat.

“Usually we base on the program criteria: broadcasting channel, target audience, artist ranking to come up with a suitable salary, of course it must be balanced with production costs. As for price negotiation, each producer will have a different way (trade secret) but most of it is through referral relationships. And most importantly, we have to show the artists what else they get besides the salary when participating in the program!”, this representative shared more.

Hoai Linh is an artist with the highest salary in the top 1 of the hot seat positions.

Judges' salaries vary depending on their level of fame, so A-list stars like Hoai Linh, Ho Ngoc Ha, My Tam,... can be paid up to 1 billion VND for a show as the main judge.

The price that Cat Tien Sa company paid for singer Ho Ngoc Ha to sit in the hot seat a few years ago, when she first started as a judge, was about 800 million. Currently, the salary for the former model from Quang Binh is of course much higher.

“Hoai Linh now has to deal in packages, maybe he can save a little. But Anh Bon has to pay more than 150 million/1 episode. Currently Anh Bon's salary is the highest,” said the producer representative.

My Tam is one of the judges with the most demanding requirements when accepting to sit in the hot seat, so the producer who wants to have My Tam, in addition to spending a lot of money, also has to meet many other accompanying requirements.

“There is also a difference for artists who only accept to be guest judges for one night. For young or old stars, the price can be from 7-8 million, the highest price is from 30-50 million, depending on the popularity and the relationship of the artist with the producer. The average price for an artist to be a judge ranges from 15-20 million for one night,” said Ms. H, who works at a media company.

Ms. H. also added that for other artists, the average price is 300-400 million for a package deal program.

Currently, the salary of artists serving as judges can vary from a few million to hundreds of millions. But to reach 100 million/night is very rare while game shows are produced so much that artists also chase quantity.

Artist salary when participating in game show?

The price of an artist participating in a program as a contestant is also quite uncertain but still depends on the program, the popularity of the artist and the salary calculation method of each producer.

For example, contestants of the show “Perfect Couple” will receive a salary for participating in the show, plus a salary for performing in each performance. But usually around 10-20 million for each night. In addition, the artists also receive bonuses from the voting performances if they win, also around several tens of millions for each episode.

Singer Lan Nha once participated in the game show "Unexpected Change" and most recently he won 5 consecutive weeks in "Star Mask" with a total prize of 250 million.

Singer Lan Nha normally doesn't have many music shows, but when he participates in game shows and wins, he receives a large amount of money.

Lan Nha shared that because he rarely sings, the money he receives from participating in the program helps him a lot in his work. But for artists who sing a lot, this salary is not high. The male singer also said that he does not set high standards, just join if he finds it suitable.

In addition, the MC's salary when participating in game shows also has its own scale, also arranged in alphabetical order. Usually, big games will range from 15 million to 30 million, while regular games will be around 10 million.

According to the producer, the highest MC price the unit has ever paid is 35 million/show. And the highest MC salary currently is still MC Thanh Bach. Besides, Tran Thanh and Truong Giang are also 2 MCs with quite high prices. "Tran Thanh is also easy to influence because he likes which program, I can negotiate a good price. Of course, it cannot be less than 20 million. As for Truong Giang, he always has a ready budget."

Tran Thanh is both an MC and judge on comedy game shows.

Sharing about the fact that the artist's salary has been pushed up quite high, this person said that part of the reason is that the program producers want to spend a large amount of money to win artists when the market is extremely competitive, so they have to offer a good price. This also invisibly causes "chaos" in the game show market and pushes the judge's salary up.

“In addition to the joy of a significant salary, the greatest joy of an artist is standing on a big stage, reaching out to a television audience. And when participating in programs, you have to accept the loss of time. But in return, you will meet more audiences. I see many positive points of reality game shows,” Lan Nha shared.

He affirmed that the most important thing is not the award but being warmly welcomed by the audience, that is what makes Lan Nha extremely happy.

According to Dantri