While rumours continue that Vietnamese celebrities are paid hundreds of millions of VND to take part in popular reality TV shows, many have denied the claims.

Dam Vinh Hung and Ho Ngoc Ha acted as judges on The Voice Vietnam programme

While foreign countries make public payments for renowned celebrities who act as trainers and juries on reality TV shows, these figures are often concealed in Vietnam. As a result, it has stirred public curiosity.

It is said that payment for such posts could range from VND100-VND500 million (USD4,770-USD23,854). Payments for The Voice Vietnam programme are regarded to be the highest with singers Ho Ngoc Ha and Dam Vinh Hung earning good salaries.

Singer My Linh admitted she received a “huge” payment in the second series but refused to clarify the exact figure.

Musician Quoc Trung said, “The pay must reflect the efforts I’ve put into the show.”

Sometimes high payments alone aren’t attractive enough to invite such famous artist like Ho Ngoc Ha. In order to have Ha acted as a judge for the Centaur Dance Showdown, the organisers were said to have paid the model-cum-singer billions of VND for the role.

However, several celebrities have spoken about the rumours, saying that their payments are much lower and that they joined such programmes not only for the pay cheque.

Director Le Hoang said, “My payment for a reality TV show is less than a half of the VND300 billion (USD14,312) figure as rumoured. However, I think that no matter how a celebrity is paid, they should be dedicated.”

He claimed that if it’s true that Dam Vinh Hung is paid VND500 million (USD23,854) for being a jury for 20 shows of The Voice Vietnam, but it means he earns only VND25 million (USD1,192) per show which is equivalent to one fifth of his charges for a music performance.

Dam Vinh Hung said his payment was not as high as rumoured. “I didn’t accept to become a judge for money as it takes a lot of my time. Sometimes I have to skip my performances,” he said.

Musician Quoc Trung said he joined Vietnam Idol and The Voice due to wanting to promote his image and help other amateur performers. “I want to contribute to developing new generations of Vietnamese artists,” he said.

Singer Thu Minh claims she is a judge on the show in order to help find new singers.