Chef Sui Bian MCN’s Self-Destructive Gamble: How Promoting Him Became Their Downfall

You have a million-follower account cultivated by an MCN, you’re on-screen talent, your content frequently goes viral, and median viewership hovers around 800,000 per episode.

So, how much do you personally pocket per brand collaboration deal?

In the age of social media millionaires, we’d expect headlines suggesting $30,000, $10,000, or at minimum $5,000 per deal. The standard 50-50 split with MCNs would supposedly leave creators with $25,000 per campaign, right?

Wake up. The reality? RMB 500 ($70 USD).

Before dismissing this as nonsense, consider the saga of Chef Sui Bian, the viral culinary critic whose conflict with his MCN company became internet legend…

Master Sui, a protégé of banquet legend Zheng Xiusheng and former executive chef at Hilton and other five-star establishments, built his reputation through technical mastery. His on-camera evaluations deconstructed dishes with professional precision – ingredient ratios, cooking sequences, even heat control.

Unlike typical food influencers, Sui transformed complex recipes into accessible “foolproof formulas” for home cooks. This practical value created unexpected engagement metrics: while comment sections stayed quiet, viewers flooded platforms with photographic evidence of their replication successes, spanning from Dongpo pork to Kung Pao chicken.

This technical gravitas combined with approachable humor. Whether evaluating Michelin-starred establishments or street food, Sui maintained consistent standards while adapting criticism style – ruthlessly dissecting premium dining while offering constructive feedback for budget eats.

By early 2025, with over a million followers across Bilibili and Douyin, Sui’s renewal negotiations with his MCN collapsed. He exited to launch “Chef Sui Po,” while the company ran a million-follower count down metric on the vacated account. The creators’ new channel reached milestone viewership in record time.

The ensuing public feud featured unprecedented levels of MCN self-sabotage. The corporate accused their former talent of:
1) Being fabricated entirely through MCN resources despite his pre-existing culinary credentials
2) Breaching contract by filming only 16 versus the required 30 monthly restaurant visits
3) Developing competitive content within contractual non-compete periods

Reacting to these claims, social media platforms exploded with memes questioning the company’s definition of “never having been a chef” when Sui’s resume already included stints at global hotel chains. The situation reached peak absurdity when the MCN released “unedited footage” supposedly demonstrating content-coaching, which netizens interpreted as standard production practices.

The plot twist? Earnings disclosures revealed Sui’s rumored RMB 500 ($70) per collaboration cut, shocking viewers accustomed to headline sponsorships ranging 48,000-85,000 RMB ($6,500-12,000 USD). Industry analysts raised eyebrows at the 16-video monthly quotas mandated in the contract.

This conflict exposes fundamental tensions in creator-MCN relationships. Unlike mass-market influencers, specialized content creators like Sui face limited monetization options – declining category-specific ads preserves credibility but constrains revenue potential.

Industry precedents warn of structural fractures: Li Ziqi’s three-year hiatus following MCU Network disputes, and similar breakups involving top food content creators highlight recurring value mismatches. The crux lies in evolving contribution ratios: While MCNs provide initial infrastructure support, superstar talent inevitably dominates long-term brand equity.

The true PR disaster lay in the MCN’s tactics. Public discrediting campaigns typically reserved for white-collar legal battles backfired spectacularly in this creator economy era. With public sympathy firmly behind the authentic talent, the corporation’s aggressive litigation strategies now jeopardize future partnerships across the entire market.

This saga underscores distributional challenges in creator capitalism. As industry participants recalibrate partnership frameworks, survival belongs to MCNs offering tangible value-adds like cross-category commercial pipelines and strategic storytelling upgrades rather than passive revenue extraction.