South Korean YouTuber Oh Byeong-min, popularly known as Oking, won Netflix’s reality series The Influencer in 2024. However, Netflix announced on August 22 that Oking will not receive the 300 million won (approximately RM980,000) prize due to a breach of confidentiality. Before the show aired, Oking reportedly disclosed his win, violating the contract terms that require participants to keep the outcome confidential.
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The Influencer is a seven-part series that premiered on August 6 and featured 77 prominent South Korean content creators from platforms like YouTube, Afreeca TV, and TikTok. These creators, including well-known figures such as singer-actor Jang Keun-suk and influencer Jung Ji-woo, who is the older sister of BTS member J-Hope, competed in various challenges to earn the title of the final winner. Oking was announced as the winner in the final episode released on August 13.
Netflix emphasized the importance of maintaining confidentiality to protect the integrity of the show and the efforts of all those involved in its production. The platform stated, “To maintain the programme’s credibility and fairness among participants, the winner of The Influencer who violated the confidentiality obligation in their contract did not receive the prize money.”
The streaming giant declined to comment on whether Oking would face further penalties for the contract breach. The leak came to light in May when Choi Seung-jung, the former representative of Winnerz Coin—a blockchain sports platform—claimed in a now-deleted social media post that Oking had informed him of his victory. The two had been engaged in a feud over allegations of cryptocurrency fraud, with Choi criticizing Oking for his portrayal of Winnerz Coin in connection with a scam.
The situation remains unresolved, with Winnerz Coin facing accusations of defrauding investors by preventing them from withdrawing their funds after investing in cryptocurrency.
