Recently, controversy arose when it was alleged that the music management company ATTRAKT failed to provide their group FIFTY FIFTY with adequate meal allowances and forced the group's members to dispose the home-prepared food brought in by their families.

However, recent discoveries revealed that both ATTRAKT and The Givers staff members were present at the infamous 'food dumping incident.'

According to exclusive documents obtained by Ten Asia on August 22, ATTRAKT reported that they had financially supported FIFTY FIFTY with meal expenses from June 2020 to March 2023. The agency reported that it had spent a total of 7.26 million KRW (~5,416.82 USD) over the span of 33 months. On average, this amounted to approximately 220,000 KRW (164.15 USD) per month. Despite the changes in the number of members over the years, each of the four members would have spent an average of 55,000 KRW (41.04 USD) per month.

Shockingly, during 12 out of the 33 months, ATTRAKT reported providing zero financial support for meals. Furthermore, starting in October 2022, when preparations for their debut intensified, the manager began providing meals, but the accounting records do not differentiate between staff and members' meal expenses. In reality, ATTRAKT did not bear these costs, as they had distributed the 7.26 million KRW expense evenly among the members.

Common meals supplied by the company were mainly comprised of slimming-oriented food selections like chicken breast and butter coffee. This scant diet persisted from June to September 2020. The agency estimated that the cost of this diet plan was around one million KRW per month.

Over the three months, the cost of chicken breast and butter coffee reached 1.72 million KRW. In March 2021, the cost of the staff's meals (36,000 KRW) was also included in the members' expenses. In May 2021, they spent 1.02 million KRW on detox ingredients.

Members of FIFTY FIFTY and their families expressed concerns about the inadequate diet, fearing it would adversely affect the members' health. 

In fact, feedback from the trainer during the second half of 2021 highlighted issues such as "insufficient protein and vegetables," "please have breakfast," "lack of nutrient supply," and "konjac jelly should only be consumed as a snack, not as a meal replacement." 

Members and their families continuously raised concerns, leading to a consultation with a nutritionist in June 2022. Subsequently, from August 2022 to February 2023, members were able to dine at a nearby salad restaurant. However, each member was limited to a daily allowance of 10,000 KRW (7.46 USD). In 2023, the cost of staff meals was transferred to the artists from the artist's meal expense account.

FIFTY FIFTY's legal representative, Attorney Yoo Young Seok of the law firm Barun, stated, "The management company only provided meal schedules to the members. The members largely handled the purchase, preparation, and consumption of meals themselves and reported to the company through photographs."

Additionally, the incident in which the food given by FIFTY FIFTY's family members was thrown away garnered attention. On August 19, an episode of 'Unanswered Questions' covered the story of the recent FIFTY FIFTY controversy.

The episode of 'Unanswered Questions' raised new allegations regarding ATTRAKT's mistreatment of the FIFTY FIFTY members. The show claimed that ATTRAKT threw out the food the members' parents brought them and made the members pick them up from the floor while using harsh language.

The program maintained that ATTRAKT discarded the food brought by the parents and subjected members to dishearteningly harsh language. It was subsequently confirmed by Dispatch that The Givers' staff was the actual party responsible for discarding the food, with both ATTRAKT and The Givers' staff present during the incident.

Based on further investigation, this incident occurred on July 6, 2021, at ATTRAKT's Gangnam training center. The company staff found food in the members' personal belongings and spread them out on the floor.

An official from FIFTY FIFTY's side explained, "July 2021 was a time when ATTRAKT and The Givers were operating as a single entity, so the members didn't even distinguish between the two companies. It's meaningless to distinguish the two labels and compare which one was worse. Both staff members from ATTRAKT and The Givers excessively controlled the members."

The official added, "If you look at the photo, there are a lot of surveillance cameras installed. There are surveillance cameras installed even in their dorms. This is from the surveillance footage on July 6, 2021, but they kept the record even now. It appears everything was recorded for the purpose of keeping watch and control. It can't be considered to have been installed for ordinary purposes. Also, it is known that these surveillance footages can be monitored directly from ATTRAKT CEO Jun Hong Joon's office."

Another representative from a small-mid-sized entertainment company commented on such an issue saying, "In a small-mid-sized company, it's difficult to manage idols individually, and there's a strong perception that giving them too much freedom leads to poor management. From the company's perspective, if idol management isn't done properly, it increases the likelihood of failure, considering the substantial costs and resources invested in nurturing idols. Dietary management is something that the agency should definitely handle, but the approach that doesn't consider the artists' health is a typical outdated management style."