The producers of the Disney+ fortune teller survival show Battle Of Fates are facing backlash for using the story of a deceased firefighter in a competition round where shamans were asked to predict his fate.
In the series, South Korea’s “top 49 fate readers” – supposedly experts in tarot-reading, shamanism and saju (a traditional Korean system of fortune-telling) – go head to head in a set of challenges designed to test their talents and prove if they are the real deal.
In the episode in question, participating shamans were presented with details of real people and asked to infer their cause of death. The late Kim Cheol-hong, who died in 2001 while responding to a fire in Seoul’s Seodaemun district, was among them.
After the show aired on Feb 11, a social media user identifying himself as a member of Kim’s family stated that the producers did not clearly explain the nature of the programme.
“They said a shaman would appear on the show, but that they would use saju to talk about what kind of person he was and honour his noble sacrifice,” the commenter wrote.
“But when I watched the show, the shamans were guessing how he died, and the hosts were reacting with amazement and even laughing. I honestly don’t understand how that is in any way honouring my uncle’s sacrifice.”
The controversy centres on the first-round segment, where contestants, including shamans, were asked to deduce the causes of death of deceased individuals. Participants viewed the firefighter’s photograph, birth details and time of death to make their inference.
The producer team, however, have denied the claims.
“We informed them of the show’s format and concept as a competition featuring fortune tellers, and obtained consent to use related information and images,” the production team said in a statement released on Feb 18. – The Korea Herald/Asia News Network
