The News
A shaman, a singer with 27 million social media followers, and an entirely silent character are among the contestants locked in a battle for attention in a new Korean reality show landing on Netflix this week. The latest in South Korea’s wildly popular “survival show” format, The Influencer pits TikTokers against YouTube stars in a popularity contest; their follower counts are displayed on electronic collars as they dole out likes and dislikes to their fellow contestants.
There are “fascinating hierarchies at play,” The Guardian observed: The YouTubers look down on their TikTok peers, while actual celebrities are disdainfully regarded as out of touch. “It offers a bleak assessment of the future of the human psyche and it is horribly compelling,” the reviewer wrote.