Produce 101

RPF Fandom
Name(s):	Produce, Produce 101, Produce 101 Season 2, Produce 48, Produce X 101, Chuang (franchise), Produce Camp, Produce 101 China, Produce 101 Japan, Idol Producer, Youth With You
Scope/Focus:	fandom for the Korean survival show to produce idols and the various idols and trainees on the show
Date(s):	2016-present
See also:	I.O.I, Wanna One, Iz*One, X1 (band), JO1, INI, Me:I, Rocket Girls 101, R1SE, BonBon Girls 303, INTO1, Nine Percent, UNINE, THE9, IXFORM, Kpop
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Produce 101 is a televised reality competition (a survival show) in which kpop trainees compete to debut, created by South Korean entertainment conglomerate CJ E&M. There are no judges; the public votes determine who debuts.

There were 4 seasons of the Korean original: Produce 101, Produce 101 Season 2, Produce 48, and Produce X. After a year or two as a debuted group, the group disbands and the trainees return to their original entertainment companies.

There are also a lot of franchise shows and spin-offs as the format became very popular throughout Asia.

Needs Updating: This page is out of date. Editors are encouraged to add more recent information.

Format

Produce 101 was a large-scale reality television talent competition franchise created by South Korean entertainment conglomerate CJ E&M, based around the formation of a K-pop girl group or boy group. The show was produced in collaboration with at least 40 entertainment companies per season from both inside and outside of South Korea. At about four billion won (approximately $3.33 million), the first season had the second-largest budget out of all Mnet TV programs at the time. The format is noted for having no panel of judges, employing audience participation to make decisions, as well as for starting with a very large number of competitors, in the original format 101 competitors, narrowing that number down to the final 11 (the numbers however sometimes vary, but it's usually not the case, for example Produce 48 debuted 12 out of 96 trainees). The franchise began in 2016 and has since expanded to other Asian countries, China, Thailand and Japan. The franchise has attracted a wide following in the world. More than 10 million people cast votes during the finale of Season 2 in 2017, equivalent to a fifth of South Korea's population. In 2018, the eight episodes of Produce 101 China attracted more than 4.3 billion views on Tencent Video.

The show's concept hinged on audience participation: the viewers got to choose the final group's members, concept, debut song, and name. Out of the 101 contestants, they could select eleven girls to debut. The resulting unit would promote together for a certain period of time, at least one year, and after their contract period ended, the members were allowed to join any girl groups or projects that their agencies were planning. There is always one presenter, a known celebrity, of each season supported by a cast of mentors/judges who are also celebrities. Sometimes guest mentors will appear as special panelists.

Each season also has a signature song the first one being "Pick Me".

During the show the trainees have to pass a certain amount of challenges to make it to debut. As the trainees want to gain attention from fans the episode will usually show the groups assigning roles of the 'leader', 'center', 'main vocalist', 'sub vocalists', and 'rappers' through debate as some positions are more sought after than others. After each challenge the group with the highest overall points would usually later perform on M! Countdown.

The first two episodes are always for introducing the audience to the trainees and for evaluating the trainees through self-chosen performances. The contestants enter the studio where 101 seats are arranged in a pyramid, with the seat for the number one trainee at the top. The trainees are grouped together by their agencies and introduced. Every contestant then gets to choose one of the seats according to which rank they expect themselves to achieve. Afterward, they are asked to perform with their group, and each individual trainee is judged by the mentors based on their overall talent and assigned a class; A being the highest and F the lowest. Some participants are asked by the mentors to showcase any dancing, singing, or rapping skills for individual evaluation. After each trainee has been assigned a grade, the presenter announces that they will be performing the season's song. The A group trainees will receive the most screen time, while the F group trainees will merely serve as backup dancers. They are informed that they will have three days to practice, after which the trainees film themselves individually performing the song while their fellow grade members watch. Each video will be re-evaluated and re-assigned their final grades by the mentors. Usually, at the end of episode 2, the trainees are given their new grades and asked to move to their respective new practice rooms. After the announcement of the new batch of A ranked trainees, A rankers are given an hour to prepare a stage to appeal to the other trainees. The trainees, including those in the A group, have to vote for who they believe would be the best for the center position.

After the performance, the next evaluation in episode 3 and 4 is announced: the Group Battle. The trainees will form an even number of teams (for example twenty) and perform one (out of half the number of teams) song in front of a live audience, with two rivaling teams competing against each other with the same song. Each trainee will get voted on separately by the live audience and the members' combined scores will determine the winning group, which will receive a benefit. The live votes will also be added to their online votes before the first elimination. Depending on the season either A trainees or random trainees get to choose their teams. The trainees compete for their preferred song through a race. The faster teams also get to choose their opponents. Once the teams are formed, the trainees are shown rehearsing for their stages and eventually also performing on stage. The fifth episode is usually for announcing the eleminations, only 60 trainees will remain, and showing fun background stories/challenges/events leading up to the elemination surrounding the trainees.

In episode 6 the next challenge is announced and the trainees are tasked to perform live in groups based on positions they want to debut in: vocal, dance, or rap. Each position will have a certain amount of songs while each song has a member limit and would be picked by each trainee based on their ranks while not seeing what the others have picked until they have picked themselves. Only 35 trainees will remain in the next round and the winner from each category will receive 100,000 votes. The vocal teams are the first to perform and after each performance, they are ranked in their groups first and then overall in the category.

The beginning of the next evaluation in episode 8 is prior to the second round of eliminations, meaning that all trainees that have survived so far will continue to practice for the performances, but not all of them may get to perform. The evaluation is revealed to be a concept evaluation, and the trainees are given original songs to choose from. The winning team to receive a benefit of 150,000 votes. The trainees choose their teams based on their category and individual ranking from the last evaluation. However, as only 14 people can be on one team (twice the amount that will be on the team after the elimination occurs), the first trainee to have chosen a concept is given the right to kick out any extras, thus forcing them to choose another song. After practicing for the new songs, the trainees undergo the second elimination. In episode 9, following eliminations, the teams are reorganized; groups with more than 7 members voted on whom to send to groups with less than 7 members. Afterwards, the performances are shown.

In episode 10 another elimination happens with only 22 trainees advancing to the final stage. The trainees will be split into two groups (depending on the season they will also either perform two songs or they will be put together again for one song). In episode 11 reminiscent videos of the trainees' days on the show like audition tapes and final interviews/dreams will be shown. The group name will be revealed. The finale performance will be shown allowing the fans to vote for one last time. The top 35 perform with the winning team at a finale concert. Afterwards, the final ranking will be revealed and the group will perform their signature group with the chosen line-up again.

South Korea

Produce 101

Produce 101 (Korean: 프로듀스 101) was a large-scale girl group unit project produced by CJ ENM and Signal Entertainment Group for Mnet. The show was produced in collaboration with 46 entertainment companies from both inside and outside of South Korea and started the Produce 101 franchise. The show aired from January 22, 2016, to April 1, 2016. The show's concept hinged on audience participation: the viewers got to choose the final group's members, concept, debut song, and name. Out of the 101 contestants, they could select eleven girls to debut as female trainees competed. The resulting unit would release their debut extended play under Stone Music Entertainment and promote together for a year being co-managed by YMC Entertainment. After their contract period ended, the members were allowed to join any girl groups or projects that their agencies were planning. The MC of the season was Jang Keun-suk, a popular singer and actor who would be "acting as a messenger and a representative of the viewers" while being supported by five vocal, dance, and rap mentors, the most recognizeable to K-pop fans being Brown Eyed Girls' JeA, Kahi, and Cheetah. The contestant appeared for the first time performing their popular song Pick Me at the M COUNTDOWN chart show EP.453 on December 17, 2015. This song is arguably the most popular song of the franchise among the general public (maybe because it started it all) even though it might not be the best liked and was covered a lot, especially by fans.

The winners debuted as the girlgroup I.O.I (아이오아이).

Rank	Episode 11 (Total votes)
	Name	Votes	Company
1	Jeon So-mi	858,333	JYP
2	Kim Se-jeong	525,352	Jellyfish
3	Choi Yoo-jung	438,778	Fantagio
4	Kim Chung-ha	403,633	MNH
5	Kim So-hye	229,732	RedLine
6	Zhou Jieqiong	218,338	Pledis
7	Jung Chae-yeon	215,338	MBK
8	Kim Do-yeon	200,069	Fantagio
9	Kang Mi-na	173,762	Jellyfish
10	Lim Na-young	138,726	Pledis
11	Yoo Yeon-jung	136,780	Starship

Most memorable moments

The first season definitely had the most memorable and iconic audition performances. Fans favorites are Chungha's freestyle to Beyoncé, Jellyfish trainees' Something New, CUBE trainees' Crazy of 4Minute, Pledis trainees' Bang! of After School (which Kahi was a member of), Starship trainees' I Swear of Sistar, Somi's Lips are movin' by Meghan Trainor, MBK trainees' Bad Girl Good Girl by Miss A and Heo Chanmi's Don't Stop The Music by Rihanna. In general the trainees of the first season were perceived as being very talented (sometimes fans even claimed that they were more talented compared to other seasons by some disappointed fans).

Fans instantly recognized Somi because she participated from May 5, 2015 until July 7, 2015 in Mnet reality survival program "Sixteen", where she was pitted against fifteen other trainees from JYP Entertainment to secure a spot in its first girl group in five years (now Twice) after the debut of Miss A. She was in the major group 5 out 7 weeks. However, Somi was eliminated in the final round and continued as a trainee. JYP Entertainment founder Park Jin-young stated she had star quality but lacked preparation which is why he sent her to Produce 101 in January 2016 as the only representative of JYP. Because it hadn't been a long time since Sixteen had aired and because she was from one of "the Big 3", she was very popular and loved among fans never falling out of the top 4. Fans knew that she was still friends with the Twice members as they were label mates and Twice even reacted to Produce 101. Because of the high expectations stemming from her Sixteen days some fans were initially underwhelmed by her Lips are movin' performance, but later she managed to convince everyone of her skills.

Heo Chanmi was also very recognizeable to fans as she had already debuted. She got to retell her story in the show as well which is why fans quickly dubbed her as "the unluckiest idol" missing out on popular groups and felt very bad for her. She was a former SM Entertainment trainee where she almost debuted with Girls' Generation (which was proven by pictures of her and the members pre-debut as there were a lot of those claims back in the days much to the annoyance of SONEs), but was removed from the line-up due to being too young, and later she also almost got into the line-up of f(x), but didn't make it. In 2010 she joined Core Contents Media, the label of T-ara, who had debuted just a year prior, now known as MBK Entertainment. She made her debut on October 11, 2010 as vocaliat of the group Co-ed School. The group debuted with a single "Too Late". However, by mid 2011, Co-ed School split into two sub units: Speed for the boys and F-ve Dolls for the girls due to scandals. The group would release more songs before Chanmi got into her own bullying scandal which really tainted her image and because of which she announced her departure from the group and Core Contents Media in 2012. Chanmi joined Pledis Entertainment as a trainee for a brief period of time in 2013 where she even filmed a performance video with later Pristin members who also participated in the show. Afterwards, she joined the show. In the first episodes she talked a lot about her regrets of missing out on Girls' Generation and her opportunities in general. Fans were also very impressed by her initial audition saying that this is the difference between someone who already debuted and a trainee. The good faith of the fans didn't last long though. In the first challenge she became part of the "avengers" team with all the popular trainees to perform "Into the new world", the debut song of Girls' Generation. She managed to convince her team to be the main vocal saying that it was her chance to relive her dream. However, in the actual performance she messed up the high note. According to fans this team only won because of Somi because the other team did way better. Chanmi was probably also a case of Mnet's "evil editing" while having a "resting bitch face" as fans started to hate her even though fellow participants seemed to like her afterwards. All in all, her popularity drastically dropped landing her in 26th place as she was perceived to be kind of arrogant and highly competitive. Overall, she was seen as having an unlikeable personality.

The performance of "Into the new world" by the team against the "avengers" however started Yoo Yeon-jung's popularity as fans loved her high notes and the performance as a whole, especially in contrast to the other team. Throughout the show she would be able to prove her singing talent even further and eventually becoming one of the eleven I.O.I members.

The arguably best "avengers" performance of all seasons which fans loved and is to this date the one of the most iconic Produce 101 stages would be later performed by Choi Yoo-jung (3rd), Jeon So-mi (1st), Kim Do-yeon (8th), Kim Chung-ha (4th), Kim Dani (24th), Kwon Eun-bin (35th), and Kim Seo-kyung (30th) with the song "Bang Bang" by Jessi J feat. Ariana Grande and Nicki Minaj. It was choreographed by Chungha who initially got instantly recognized by fans for her talent and dance skills because of her audition making her a fan favorite. This performance cemented her populartiy even further.

Choi Yoo-jung of Fantiago could also establish her popularity through this performance even further. At first she couldn't convince judges with her initial audition performance with Fantiago trainees receiving a D, but later got recognized as talented in the re-evaluation. As she performed better than some of the A trainees she instantly became popular and the "center" of the first performance "Pick Me" making her a beloved underdog story and because of this surprise her re-evaluation became the most popular among fans. She was also loved as a center. Because of her great stage presence (she had great facial expressions) she remained popular throughout the whole season and eventually was able to debut.

Kim Sohye's audition with Somehow by DIA was perceived as shockingly bad. She got an F for her audition also stating that her specialization was acting. This however made her relatable and cute as she was willing to improve and in fact improved a lot. Everyone loves a good underdog story. Throughout the entire show, she made noticeable improvements and she never gave up. She won the viewers that way. She became popular among the fans. She later also revealed that she never knew what Produce 101 Season 1 was until it all was revealed to her. Despite that she also received a lot of hate because people didn't believe that she belonged in the top 11. Kim Sejeong probably also received a lot of her popularity because of her. She obviously also had a phenomenal audition with the other Jellyfish trainees and she could prove her amazing vocals throughout the entire show for example in her "Let's Be Happy" performance by Zion.T, but her helping Sohye for their "Irony" performance (by Wonder Girls) skyrocketed her popularity. After episode 3 she was seen as an amazing leader as she was able to win with a group of D and F trainees. She was seen as kind hearted and capable in addition to her talent which is why she would be rank one for a couple of weeks. On top of that, she was a contestant on competition show K-pop Star 2 in 2012 where she gained recognition prior to the show.

Another performance which stood out to fans was the "Hot Issue" by 4Minute performance, especially Hwang Soo-yeon (39th) ("OMG the shirt lifting and body role just killed everyone. i was not readyyyy. i love the blond girl she got so much charisma, no wonder she had the most individual votes out of everyone from both hers and the other team."; "My gosh I can't handle that rapper's hotness!!!!!!!")

The DIA members were also instantly talked about in fan spaces. They were heavily criticized for joining because they were probably just there to promote the group. Despite the initial negative reception Chaeyeon managed to debut with I.O.I which is probably also because of her looks while Cathy who got also popular due to her "Rhythm Ta" performane by iKON managed to come in19th place.

DSP's Yoon Chaekyung (16th) was also very popular from the beginning as she began her career as a member of Puretty under DSP in Japan during 2012. The group later disbanded in January 2014. Following the disbandment, she also appeared as a contestant in Kara's reality show in 2014 searching a new member called "Kara Project". Similar to that, MBK's Kim Dani (24th) was also known to fans as was a former member of the girl group T-ara and its sub-unit T-ara N4, however, she never actually debuted with either group.

Kim Ju-na (34th) gained popularity due to her singing abilities which she showcased since the beginning and due to her being the younger half-sister of South Korean actor Kim Soo-hyun, one of the highest-paid actors in South Korea. She ultimately didn't make it into the group, but fans would claim to be okay with it as she has an outstanding voice and they would love to hear her sing ballads and she also wouldn't fit into the group according to fans.

Pledis Nayoung got popular due to her "Stone Buddha" image making her stand out. Han Hyeri got popular because of her general aegyo.

Doyeon was always fairly popular, but managed to cement her populartiy as the "At The Same Place" center, this season's most popular song of the concept evaluation.

Park Soyeon (18th) was in the Top 10 in K-Pop Star in 2012 which made her popular. She gained more popularity as the leader of the infamous "Growl" performance by EXO.

Jeon Soyeon (20th) initially got popularity due to her amazing rapping skills as shown in her audition with the CUBE trainees where she also had to freestyle. She was recognized as one of the best rappers in the show. Her friendship with Somi was also popular. After some time however, she received a lot of comments throughout the show calling her "talented but ugly" to the extent that she agreed to kick herself out of a team.

Fans also claim that this season had the most iconic finale with the performance of "Crush". Fans claim that they were willing to stan 22 girls and that this song is better than the debut and later finale songs as it wasn't separated into two songs. Fans love this stage.

Aftermath and voting manipulation

I.O.I released its debut EP Chrysalis on May 4, 2016. "Dream Girls" gained wide popularity. On August 9, 2016, the sub-unit released a single titled "Whatta Man (Good Man)". This left many fans disappointed as some members were preparing to debut/promote with their respective groups (DIA, Cosmic Girls and gugudan) as it wasn't stated in the contract that they can't. Fans felt sad that not the whole group was present. In later shows it also wouldn't be allowed anymore because of that. The group disbanded on January 29, 2017 after the release of their final single titled "Downpour". After their disbandment fans felt sad especially since their following activities wouldn't be nearly as successful as their days in I.O.I. After IZ*One debuted many fans felt that it was unfair as I.O.I did not get promoted nearly as much as IZ*One and other Produce 101 groups. On top of that, I.O.I had a much shorter lifespan and not nearly as much music, tours and promotions in other markets. Therefore, I.O.I had domestic popularity as a group amongst the general public, but not enough for the gp to keep up with them afterwards which is why a lot of the groups of the girls failed according to fans.

On July 1, 2019, Studio Blu confirmed that the group would return in October 2019 with nine members, excluding Yoo Yeonjung and Somi. On September 6, 2019 the planned comeback was postponed to December. On October 29, 2019 the comeback was canceled due to scheduling conflicts between the members and the ongoing Mnet vote manipulation investigation. On May 4, 2021, the 5th anniversary of the group's debut, the group (except for Mina and Jieqiong) held a reunion livestream. Jieqiong managed to join the livestream via video calling.

Several members of I.O.I resumed activities for their respective agencies:

• Chaeyeon (7th) (alongside label mate Ki Hee-hyun (Cathy, 19th)) returned to DIA for their first EP Happy Ending on June 14, 2016.
• Kim Sejeong (2nd) and Kang Mina (9th) would debut (alongside label mate Kim Na-young (14th)) as members of gugudan on June 28, 2016. The group officially disbanded on December 31, 2020. Kim Sejeong established a successful solo career though while being a sought after actress. Mina also established an acting career having participated in dramas like Hotel del Luna. In 2023 she left Jellyfish Entertainment.
• Yoo Yeonjung (11th) was announced as the newest member of Korean-Chinese girl group Cosmic Girls and released their 2nd EP The Secret on August 17, 2016.
• Zhou Jieqiong (6th) and Lim Nayoung (10th) debuted as part of girl group Pristin alongside fellow label mates Jung Eun-woo (21st), Park Si-yeon (25th), Kang Yae-bin (29th), Kim Min-kyeung (42nd), and Gang Gyeong-won (48th) and released their first EP Hi! Pristin on March 21, 2017 with the lead single "Wee Woo". Pristin officially disbanded on May 24, 2019. Zhou Jieqiong stayed with Pledis Entertainment while making her solo debut in China with the single "Why" on September 6, 2018 and also being a coach on the Chinese show Idol Producer, while Lim Nayoung departed from the label.
• Somi (1st) signed an exclusive contract with JYP Entertainment in January 2017 for solo activities and participated in variety shows like Sister's Slam Dunk. She left JYP in August 2018, and signed with The Black Label in September 2018. She debuted as a soloist on June 13, 2019 with single "Birthday".
• Chungha (4th) appeared in soundtrack Strong Woman Do Bong-soon OST part 5 on March 17, 2017 and solo debuted EP Hands on Me on June 7, 2017 with title track "Why Don't You Know" featuring Nucksal. She left MNH Entertainment after seven years with the company on April 30, 2023.
• Yoojung (3rd) and Doyeon (8th) (with label mates Lee Seo-jung (85th) and Jung Haerim (47th, she also participated in Queendom Puzzle)) debuted with girl group Weki Meki and released their debut EP Weme on August 8, 2017.
• Kim Sohye's (5th) family decided to buy out her contract with RedLine Entertainment, and then set up a new agency, S&P (Shark & Penguin) Entertainment. She also opened a coffee shop, Penguin's Café. Nowadays, she is an actress.

Han Hye-ri (12th), Lee Su-hyun (13th), Kim So-hee (15th), Yoon Chae-kyung (16th), and Lee Hae-in (17th) formed I.B.I, which was known as I.O.I's "sister group" under LOEN Entertainment. They released their first single "MOLAE MOLAE" on August 18, 2016. Sohee and Chaekyung later debuted in the project group C.I.V.A, with Sohee joining Nature on October 8, 2019. The group disbanded in 2023. Chaekyung joined April on November 11, 2016. The group disbanded on January 28, 2022. On May 12, 2023, it was reveiled that Lee Haein would be the creative director for S2 Entertainment’s new girl group Kiss of Life.

Jeon So-yeon (20th) released her debut single "Jelly" under Cube Entertainment on November 5, 2017, participated in the Mnet reality rap competition show Unpretty Rapstar 3 and later debuted with (G)I-DLE under Cube Entertainment on May 2, 2018. She is believed to be the most successful contestant of Produce 101 Season 1.

Kim Si-hyeon (40th) participated in Produce 48 alongside future group mate Wang Yiren and Choi Yena where she placed 27th and later debuted with Everglow under Yuehua Entertainment on March 18, 2019.

Kim Seo-kyoung (30th) debuted with GWSN under Kiwi Pop.

Kim Tae-ha (50th) joined Momoland under MLD Entertainment on April 4, 2017. She left the group on November 30, 2019.

Kim Su-hyun (69th) debuted with Billlie under Mystic Story.

Kwon Eun-bin (35th) officially joined CLC in June 2016. According to Cube Entertainment, Kwon was originally due to debut with CLC in 2015, but her debut was postponed after the release of the group's third EP was delayed. On May 12, CLC opened their V Live channel, this was followed by a live broadcast with the whole group, including Kwon. She began full promotional activities as a member of the group with the release of Nu.Clear in May 2016. CLC's activities were officially ended in May 2022.

Ng Sze Kai (23rd), Park Hae-young (38th), Lim Jeong-min (57th), Kang Si-hyeon (61st), Kim Si-hyeon (69th), and Kim Yun-ji (84th) joined the JTBC and YG Entertainment reality competition show Mix Nine. Lee Soo-min (31st) participated in the sixth and final season of K-pop Star. She also appeared on the JTBC and YG Entertainment reality competition show Mix Nine, where she finished 2nd. She later left the entertainment industry after failing to debut under several companies and is pursuing a university degree instead.

Huh Chanmi would return to her label MLD Entertainment (formerly known as Duble Kick Company) and would go on to be quite unlucky. In 2016, her label announced the reality show Finding Momoland to debut Momoland and fans expected her to participate, however many were shocked when the label stated that she would not participate as she is preparing to debut in a vocal group. Many fans stated that they feel bad for her. Additionally some speculated whether it is even possible anymore for her to debut in a girlgroup as she is quite old now. In 2016, she debuted in the four-member group High Color. The four-member group joined YG Entertainment's survival show Mix Nine the following year where she recorded a song produced by MC Mong titled "Like a Star" and was eliminated in the 13th episode with her final rank at 20th place. After the show ended, she left High Color. In 2020, Huh Chanmi made her solo debut on July 23, 2020, with the single album "HIGHLIGHT" and its lead single, "Lights." From 2020 to 2021, Chanmi competed on "Miss Trot 2" after releasing a trot album. During the show, she released several songs and ultimately ranked in 11th place. Afterwards, she appeared in variety shows like episode 345 of "The King of Masked Singer" on March 6, 2022. She performed under the alias "New Student" and was ultimately eliminated in the second round of the episode. In February 2023, Huh announced through her SNS account that her contract with FirstOne had expired.

Park Min-ji (71st) participated in Produce 48 where she landed in 53rd place.

Lim Hyo-sun (99th) who left the show due to unknown reasons participated in The Unit where she placed 19th.

In July 2019, during the final episode of the Produce 101 series' fourth season, Produce X 101, several viewers suspected that the total votes were manipulated after noticing numerical patterns. On November 18, 2020, the court revealed the show was manipulated. The trainees Kim Suhyun of Mystic Entertainment (69th) and Seo Hyelin of SS Entertainment (65th) were eliminated in the 1st elimination despite having originally passed. Mnet had changed their ranks/votes to eliminate them. It is neither known what their true rank was supposed to be when they were eliminated nor who got in instead.

Produce 101 Season 2

The second season, Produce 101 Season 2 (Korean: 프로듀스 101 시즌 2), aired on Mnet from April 7, 2017, to June 16, 2017. The difference to the previous season was that male trainees competed. In the final episode, 11 out of the top 20 contestants were chosen to form the show's "project group" through a national fan voting system during which more than 16 million people cast their votes, equivalent to around 30% of South Korea's population. Bigger agencies, including SM, YG, and JYP chose not to send trainees to participate in the second season, merely YG's subsidiary YGKPlus sent four models. BoA was taking on the MC role during this season and would be "acting as a messenger and a representative of the viewers". The contestants appeared for the first time on Episode 514 of M! Countdown on March 9, 2017 performing the EDM theme song "나야나 (Pick Me)". The "center" role was given to Brand New Music's Lee Daehwi. Some participants had previously debuted through NU'EST, JJCC, HOTSHOT and Topp Dogg. Other participants quickly also gained attention from National Producers.

The winners debuted as Wanna One. The public was also able to chose the group's concept, debut song and group name.

Rank	Episode 11 (Total votes)
	Name	Votes	Company
1	Kang Daniel	1,578,837	MMO Entertainment
2	Park Ji Hoon	1,136,014	Maroo Entertainment
3	Lee Daehwi	1,102,005	Brand New Music
4	Kim Jae Hwan	1,051,735	independent
5	Ong Seong Woo	984,756	Fantagio
6	Park Woo Jin	937,379	Brand New Music
7	Lai Guan Lin	905,875	CUBE
8	Yoon Ji Sung	902,098	MMO Entertainment
9	Hwang Min Hyun	862,719	Pledis
10	Bae Jin Young	807,749	C9 Entertainment
11	Ha Sung Woon	790,302	Ardor & Able

Memorable Moments

Fans were very excited for another season especially after the success of I.O.I. Early recognition amongst fans after their first performance received mainly the early center Daehwi, ONO Entertainment's Jang Moon-bok with his long hair (although over time some fans found him quite irritating), Maroo Entertainment's Park Ji-hoon with his wink, Fantagio's Ong Seongwoo, Kang Daniel with his pink hair, Bae Jinyoung (also nicknamed "the grumpy kid" as a popular picture of him started to circulate), Joo Haknyeon, the Chinese trainee Justin and the youngest participant from Media Line Entertainment's Lee Woojin as well as the trainees who previously debuted under different groups. Especially Jihoon managed to steal the spotlight from Deahwi with his wink in the "나야나 (Pick Me)" performance at around 5:04 minutes. He instantly became popular among fans of the show for his wink and cuteness and set a lot of "cute trends" during the show even though he didn't have a lot of screen time. His cute image was perceived by fans as being very unproblematic. After the first episode the "CUBE twins" also got quite popular despite their F ranks because of their cuteness.

NU'EST in contrast was especially in the beginning heartbreaking for fans to watch (it got better since the NU'EST members were quite successful). Fans hated that all of them except for Aron had to participate for the survival of the group and really felt for them. They were coming from the most popular group among the trainees who had previously been idols which is why some fans of the show also claimed that it was unfair for NU'EST to participate since they already had a fanbase and on top of that their own group to fall back on. They received a lot of hate. Fans of NU'EST (called ㄴㅇㅅㅌ (also stylized as LOVE or L.O.Λ.E)) mourned their unsuccessful career despite their good songs blaming it on mismanagement by Pledis. Everyone was shocked that they felt the need to participate. Dance trainer Kahi being formerly part of the Pledis group After School was quite close with NU'EST during their early days which was an open secret amongst fans. She started crying during their first performance in Episode 1. Most fans felt for both parties since the boys were obviously affected as well, but a few fans blamed Kahi for the badly received performance since she affected them so much. They received the grades D except for Minhyun who managed to get a C (which also led to some fans questioning their talent). Most of the fans were also heartbroken over the comments NU'EST made in the interviews during the show stating they wanted to "be like Seventeen". This was especially heartbreaking for fans as they are from the same company (Pledis) and their more successful juniors. Seventeen would later share their affection for NU'EST and Samuel in an interview. After episode 1 it was also clear to fans that Mnet was "evil editing" Dongho. He got the image of a "badboy" even though fans claimed that he was a sweetheart. It didn't sit right with fans. Despite that, Dongho managed to become quite popular among Produce 101 fans while adopting the nickname "Sexy Bandit". His scary tough guy persona made fans worry in the end though if he would mix well with the members if he were to debut. On top of that, fans felt that their first performance was overcriticized (as Dongho's mistake was replayed over and over again) and that they deserved better grades. Jonghyun soon became dubbed as "Angel leader" and "the Nation's leader" by fans, a role he first didn't like since he thought that he failed NU'EST as a leader and felt uncomfortable as a leader. However, he displayed outstanding leadership qualities (called "leader charms" by fans) during the show which made a lot of fans fall in love with him. Even intially in his first class with all Ds he filled the role as a leader for the class. Afterwards, he became consistently the leader for all the challenges he participated in as the trainees trustworthyly voted for him. Through their seemingly infinite trust it seemed like Jonghyun managed to become more confident in his role as a leader again which made fans happy. Fans initially believed that the only reason he didn't make it in the final group was that Mnet showed the pictures on facebook before the voting of who supposedly made it and everyone thought they didn't have to vote for him anymore since he was "safe" especially because he received high rankings during most of the show. Later, fans started to believe rumors that NU'EST needed him as a leader more than Wanna One needed him which is why Pledis asked Mnet for him not to debut with Wanna One. Pledis however stated that they were just as shocked. To support Jonghyun and give him strength post Produce 101 fans ran bus advertisements. He was later spotted leaving post-it notes on his ads. Minhyun got the nickname "nation's CEO" since he consistently managed to create popular teams. It started with the infamous performance of Super Junior's "Sorry Sorry". He got to be the second after Deahwi to create his team afer him. While Daehwi picked all the trainees which were popular at that time (there were articles about them), Minhyun picked a cohesive team which managed to grab the attention of fans even more than Daehwi's self-proclaimed "avengers" team and helped Jonghyun to shine as a leader even more. All the members of his team became really popular among Produce 101 fans and the Sorry Sorry performance is to this day the most popular of this challenge. Fans claimed that Minhyun has an amazing sense for spotting trainees and talent. Minhyun also managed to grab fan's attention because of his looks and his vocals. Minki also managed to get quite popular among Produce 101 fans being called "Lady Gaga's #1 fan". Throughout the show NU'EST therefore became more and more popular and fans started to recognize the talent of the members. Most fans were really bitter that only Minhyun made it and heartbroken when videos started to surface of him crying at the reveal of the votes. At first fans were also claiming that Wanna One doesn't feel right without Jonghyun (who sat on the #1 spot the previous weeks, it was considered a "big plot twist") and that they would stan individually/be a casual fan. Despite that Wanna One developed a huge fandom.

A reoccurring theme during that season is also that the supposed "avengers" teams initially never became the most popular performances among fans. Sorry Sorry was significantly more popular than BTS' Boy in Luv by the "avengers". In the end, the team of Park Wodam with Seventeen's Mansae managed to score the special stage though. Park Wodam's elimination (35th) also angered international fans leading to them claiming that Korean fans would always eliminate talent while keeping trainees only for their looks. After the second challenge fans also talked a lot more about the "Fear" performance as the lyrics (especially Jonghyun's) really touched the fans. Nowadays, the "Get Ugly" performance of the "avengers" team of which the creation was hilarious according to fans is more popular. Probably because almost all of the members managed to debut in Wanna One. At the time the episode first aired "Shape of you" was also more popular than "Get Ugly" as fans claimed it was the more cohesive dance. "Shape of You" ranked highest among all performances. Another performance which stood out to fans was the vocal performance of Blackpink's Playing with fire. In the third challenge the "Never" performance also didn't win the special stage over "Open Up" which consisted largely of trainees who were the "left overs" of their former groups. (Fans were also heartbroken when the final results were revealed as they wanted the whole of the Never team to debut, however Jonghyun didn't debut making him the only exception from that team. Nowadays, Never is also definitely more popular) The only exception to that is the last challenge as most of the trainees who made it into Wanna One also were in the "Hands On Me" team. A lot of international fans though prefered the "Super Hot" performance as it had the better dance with "more character". The trainees managed to include a lot of easter eggs for fans in the choreography and fans thought the dance and song was overall more fun. This team also consisted of a lot of trainees which were "wronged" according to international fans as they were fan favorites of them (e.g. Kim Samuel who international fans loved or Kim Jonghyun who was beloved by everyone).

Daehwi, the early center in the very first performance, was quite the controversial character. While he was very popular in Korea, international fans were unsure about him often calling him overhyped. He was definitely not as popular among them. Many thought he was too competitive always wanting to recreate the popular Bang Bang performance of Season 1 as "avengers" which made him unlikeable in the eyes of some fans (he picked all the popular members during the first challenge which was regarded as an unfair advantage, but others argued that this is indeed the point of the competition and Daehwi was being smart). Others felt that he wasn't pretty enough for the center position. After debuting with Wanna One he became a beloved figure though. During the show it was revealed that Daehwi and Somi of the first season are actually old friends as the two used to be trainees together under JYP Entertainment.

Kim Samuel was also instantly loved by fans as they recognized him from the first three seasons of Seventeen TV which shows the band Seventeen pre-debut in the entertainment industry. He was also a member of the disbanded duo 1Punch. To some however he seemed to desparate and "hogged" a lot of screen time. Still, fans were heartbroken when he didn't debut, but he also definitely had a bigger following internationally than in Korea which could be the reason he didn't make it. Soon fans would start to compare his case to that of Heo Chanmi of season one as they are both quite unlucky. He trained with Seventeen, but didn't make the lineup being called to young, the hip hop duo 1Punch he debuted with got disbanded after eight months, he lost his father at a young age, he missed the debut with Wanna One and would then proceed to sue his company Brave Entertainment and the Brave brothers themselves after his debut under the label which he at least won.

Hotshot's Noh Taehyun (25th) and Ha Sungwoon (11th) received first recognition after their first evaluation performance where they both received rank A showcasing their talents. Especially Taehyun could shine with his krumping. Fans compared them to NU'EST's performance and were quite impressed (and in return even more disappointed by NU'EST. They claimed that this was the performance a veteran idol should strive for while some tried to defend NU'EST by saying that they were very discouraged and insecure because of their lack of achievements as a band). Fans recognized the talent of the two and were saddened because of the lack of success of their band. BTS' Jimin who is friends with Sungwoon (as Sungwoon is part of the friend group which includes the two of them, EXO's Kai, SHINee's Taemin, VIXX' Ravi, Hotshot's Timoteo and a non-celebrity friend callend the "Padding Friends") also asked Army to support him. After the finale, Jimin and Ravi also wrote supportive messages for him. In the end, after only Sungwoon debuted, fans felt like Taehyun got underappreciated as had so much dancing talent as shown in his evaluation performance and through him choreographing the famous "Shape of You" performance.

B.A.P's Daehyun also asked his fans on social media to support his friend Choi Tae-woong of MMO Entertainment. He ended up placing 71st being eliminated in Episode 5 after being the leader for one team to perform SHINee's "Replay".

Toppdogg's Kim Sanggyun (former stage name A-Tom) ranked 26th in the end while JJCC's members got eliminated in episode 5 ranking 78th (Kim Chan-yul) and 85th (Choi Ha-don). While both groups didn't receive nearly as much screen time as the NU'EST or even the Hotshot members, Kim Sanggyun still became decently popular among fans. He was known for his rap skills especially after performing Simon Dominic, G2, BewhY, and One's "Who You" and became later apart fan project group JBJ and afterwards of the duo JBJ95 with Kenta.

Some other trainees had also already been exposed to the spotlight before participating in Produce 101 Season 2 such as Kim Jaehwan (4th) who was part of the second season of Korea's Got Talent, Lee In-soo (57th) who was part of the group A6P and the competition show Boys24, Lee Gwang-hyun (44th) and Kim Tae-dong (30th) appeared on that show as well and Lee Eui-woong (23rd) appeared on Hello Counselor. Others appeared on various other singing shows such as I Can See Your Voice and Superstar K2, however it didn't seem like it was as huge of an advantage as Samuel's to most of them.

Fans were very commited throughout the season going as far as buying subway ads for contestants. The season was a lot more popular than the last (which is probably also thanks to the success of I.O.I). Fans loved the goofiness of the contestants. However, the first Pick Me song charted better than this season's.

Other memorable moments during the show include the friendship of Kang Daniel and Lee Woojin (little Woojin). Fans also started to notice a lot of hilarious, but also unfortunate coincidences between the two first seasons, for example the cursed 14th place of Kim Nayoung and Kim Jonghyun or that the center will debut (some of these would even be true to the reast of the Korean produce series).

Fans of The Boyz are enraged when being confronted with the show due to feeling that Joo Haknyeon has been wronged. He was initially very popular, despite seemingly lacking skills/screen time. Mnet decided to "evil edit" him, and he was very quickly bombarded with a mass amount of hate like death threats and threats against family members which broke fan's hearts even more since he is a beloved The Boyz' member. At one point a lot of his fans even stopped voting for him so he would get eliminated due to the hate he was getting being too severe. Even after The Boyz had debuted there were still obsessed Haknyeon haters trying to start shit to damage the group with rumors and similar things for the longest time.

Controversies

International fans were quite upset that they couldn't vote again. Oftentimes, their opinion would differ quite drastically from the opinion of Korean fans, but they couldn't do anything about it which frustrated a lot of them. Some even accused the Korean fans of sabotaging the ranking.

Ilgan Sports reported that trainees encountered discrimination, such as level-determined permission to go to the bathroom and eat different meals. Also, there are issues about boys who bullied other students and plagiarism of choreography.

Maroo Entertainment's Han Jong-youn left the show due to a serious bullying and sexual assault scandal. An alleged former classmate accused Han Jong-youn of making him masturbate in front of his friends, forcing him to fight with his friends, and locking him in the cleaning equipment room.

YGKPLUS's Kwon Hyun-bin (22nd) deleted all of his Instagram posts after they were flooded with negative comments. This was in response to the show's fourth episode, in which he was seen as unmotivated and received harsh criticism from the trainers for a lack of practice (which NU'EST's Jonghyun took responsibility for as he was the Sorry Sorry team's leader), but despite this his team won the live performance battle and he received the highest score out of both teams.

Vibe Label's Ha Min-ho allegedly tried to engage in sexual relationships with minors. Screenshots of Instagram and Facebook conversations between him and minor fans were posted online, and he was also accused of sexually harassing and bullying an ex-girlfriend in middle school. After discussion with Mnet, he left the show and canceled his contract with his label.

In the concept song round of the show, four contestants were accused of cheating by trying to manipulate a vote to determine which song they would perform. Mnet decided to penalize the trainees that failed to follow the rules by banning them from choosing the songs in question. Kang Daniel (1st) reportedly indicated which song he preferred by altering the number of cat emojis in his Instagram biography at the request of a fanpost on a community site. Kim Dong-bin's (58th) father asked his fanclub's president to promote "Never" or "Open Up" as the concept song for him. Lim Young-min's (15th) brother had asked his friend to inform the fans in the chatroom that Lim wanted the songs "Never" and "Oh Little Girl" for his concept song. As this incident was not caught until after the recording of concept evaluation, Lim was penalized with a different penalty during the following evaluation. Lee Ki-won (53rd) was accused of hinting at his song preference by posting on Instagram which led to him being banned from social media until the show was over.

Jeong Joong Ji (64th) took his own life on September 9, 2022, just 4 days after his 30th birthday. Fans blamed his company for making up a fake sexual harassment story in 2017. After he fought back and said that it was indeed made up by the company nobody believed him. He claimed that the company ruined his life with their "noise marketing" strategy. The company said that he is lying.

Lee Jihan (98th) passed away due to the Itaewon Tragedy on October 29-30, 2022.

Voting Manipulation

Director Ahn Joonyoung admitted during questioning of the police investigation in 2019 to also having swapped rankings for two trainees from Produce 101 Season 2 in addition to his other manipulations, all of whom had originally passed the specific elimination. After Ahn Joonyoung admitted the first two seasons of the show were rigged, an image that Mnet had posted on their official Facebook account coinciding with the finale of Produce 101 Season 2 went viral. The image had originally included Kang Dong-ho, Samuel Kim, and Kim Jong-hyun as the winners of the show instead of Yoon Ji-sung, Kim Jae-hwan and Ha Sung-woon, but Mnet had stated it was a mistake and deleted it shortly after posting it. The court commented, “The harmed trainees being revealed through a fair criminal trial can be the starting point towards them receiving true compensation for damages.” It was revealed that Seong Hyunwoo wasn't supposed to be eliminated in the first round. Kang Dongho wasn't supposed to be eliminated in the final round. The benefitting trainees were not revealed due to them not knowing the manipulation was happening and it causing unnecessary harm to them.

Fans believe to this day that not everything was revealed and that more trainees were "rigged out", for example Jonghyun and Samuel.

Aftermath

Wanna One debuted on August 7, 2017, became hugely successful (the group was also chosen as Best K-pop Artist of 2017) and disbanded on January 27, 2019 after a 4-day final concert at Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul. Despite knowing that the band would disband fans were still heartbroken. Some even tried to have them stay together. The band reunited in a reunion stage at the 2021 Mnet Asian Music Awards except for Lai Guanlin on on December 11, 2021 which made fans very happy and nostalgic. Ha Sungwoon later debuted as solo artist after the disbandment of Hotshot. Minhyun returned to NU'EST for the release their sixth EP in April 2019. NU'EST disbanded on March 15, 2022 as well to mark the group's 10-year anniversary turning Minhyun into a solo artist. Ong Seongwoo and Park Jihoon both became actors as well as solo artists. Lai Kuanlin as well. Woojin and Daehwi debuted on May 22, 2019 as AB6IX alongside fellow trainees Youngmin (15th, he later had to leave the band following his DUI) and Donghyun (28th) of Brand New Music. Bae Jinyoung debuted on July 23, 2019 with the group CIX. Jisung also debuted as solo artist before enlisting into the military. Jaehwan also became a solo artist. Daniel also became an actor and solo artist while establishing his own company. He also had a dating scandal with Twice's Jihyo.

JBJ was formed by fans of the show and debuted on October 18, 2017 with six members: Kim Yong-guk (21st, later solo artist), Kwon Hyun-bin (22nd, later solo artist), Kenta Takada (24th, later duo with Kim Sang-gyun, JBJ95), Noh Tae-hyun (25th, later solo artist after the disbandment of Hotshot), Kim Sang-gyun (26th, later duo with Kenta, JBJ95), Kim Dong-han (29th, later solo artist and member of the group WEi). The band disbanded on April 30, 2018. As they were made up of fairly popular members the group received a huge amount of recognition and received a music show win. Their fans loved them dearly. Kim Yongguk later got into a controversy though which made many despise him. Noh Tae-hyun later participated in the South Korean dance competition show Street Man Fighter (Korean: 스트릿 맨 파이터), the second season of the Street Woman Fighter franchise which revolved around eight male dance crews fighting for the position of Korea's best male dance crew to represent street dance in the country, as part of the team Mbitious along former INFINITE member Hoya where his crew came third. Fans are saddened as they feel like he is underappreciated.

NU'EST formed sub-unit Nu'est W (W as in "waiting for Minhyun") and became highly successful. They had revived their career. After Minhyun's return the band found even more success. In the end NU'EST disbanded on March 15, 2022 to mark the group's 10-year anniversary. Fans were very saddened by the disbandment of the group especially after their recent success.

Rainz was formed by 7 eliminated trainees and released their EP Sunshine on October 12, 2017. They actively promoted for over a year and disbanded on October 28, 2018. Rainz however never got as popular as JBJ which made fans quite sad.

FNC Entertainment's Yoo Hoe-seung (39th) joined N.Flying.

RBW's Lee Keon-hee (33rd), Yeo Hwan-ung (41st) and Lee Gun-min (94th) (after changing his name to Lee Seo-Ho) debuted as a members of ONEUS on January 9, 2019 with a release of their EP "LIGHT US" and went on to be quite successful.

Kim Samuel became a solo artist. He would go on to sue the company.

Kiwi Media Group's Kim Dong-Bin (59th) joined Produce X 101 after signing with MLD Entertainment. He finished #42 in the show.

HF Music Company's Woo Jin-young (40th), Banana Entertainment's Yoon Yong-bin (73rd), HF Music Company's Jo Yong-geun (93rd), RBW's Lee Gun-min (94th) and Maroo Entertainment's Han Jong-yeon joined Mix Nine, where only Woo Jin-young make it into debut group. The group's debut was cancelled in May 2018.

Produce 48

The third season, Produce 48 (Korean: 프로듀스 48), aired on Mnet from June 15, 2018, to August 31, 2018. The all-girl season's contestants were a mix of Korean trainees and Japanese members of the J-Pop group AKB48 (and sister groups) as it was a collaboration of Mnet and the J-Pop band. Another difference was that there were only 96 trainees competing, but 12 trainees would debut in the temporary group which would promote for two and a half years because the promotions would be global this time. The concept for Produce 48 was revealed at the 2017 Mnet Asian Music Awards in Japan on November 29, 2017, following a joint performance by AKB48 and South Korean artists Weki Meki, Chungha, Pristin, Idol School and Fromis 9. Mnet stated: "48 female trainees from Korea and Japan will compete within their own countries respectively. The debut team will consist of 12 members with a combination of six members from each country. Voting rights for the Japanese members will only be given to Koreans. Likewise, voting rights for the Korean members will only be given to Japanese." In the end, only Koreans were allowed to vote and the debut team would consist of 12 trainees regardless of their nation which was caused by and caused a controversy. Noteable mentors of the season were F.T. Island's Hongki and former member of Sistar Soyou. The first teaser for the show was released on April 11, 2018. On April 22, the series' theme song "Nekkoya (Pick Me)" (내꺼야 (Pick Me)) was recorded by the contestants of the show with HKT48's Sakura Miyawaki and Lee Ka-eun as center. The winners of the previous series, I.O.I and Wanna One, made appearances at the recording. Produce 48's contestants performed the theme song on Episode 570 of M Countdown on May 10, 2018.

The 12 winners debuted as Iz*One.

Rank	Episode 12 (Total votes)
	Name	Votes	Company
1	Jang Won-young	338,366	Starship
2	Sakura Miyawaki	316,105	HKT48
3	Jo Yu-ri	294,734	Stone Music
4	Choi Ye-na	285,385	Yuehua
5	Ahn Yu-jin	280,487	Starship
6	Nako Yabuki	261,788	HKT48
7	Kwon Eun-bi	250,212	Woollim
8	Kang Hye-won	248,432	8D Entertainment
9	Hitomi Honda	240,418	AKB48
10	Kim Chae-won	238,192	Woollim
11	Kim Min-ju	227,061	Urban Works Media
12	Lee Chae-yeon	221,273	WM Entertainment

Controversies

The show was controversial before it even started airing. The franchise has always drawn controversies and criticisms, but this season, it seemed that the controversy was amplified due to the format of having Korean trainees with Japanese members of AKB48 and its sister groups. PD Ahn Jun Young tried to adress some of the controversies before the show aired, the first thing he said being "I didn't even think that a day like today would happen. Making a program with a different country is hard. But regardless, the trainers and trainees are working hard to realize a common goal.

Months before the first episode of the show the narrative that AKB48 are right-wing because of an alleged World War II glorifying performance in which one member had a rising sun patch on her shoulder arose again. In 2016, a Korean netizen site, Pann, had a post about an AKB48 concert. The post was titled "Legendarily right-wing idols". The post contains photos from their concert while the group performed the song "Bokutachi wa Tatakawanai" (僕たちは戦わない). The performance referenced World War II. The assumption being that she was rocking that patch because the group were glorifying Japan's imperial past. Pann also tried to link the performance to the 106th anniversary of the execution of An Jung-geun. He was a Korean freedom fighter who assassinated former Japanese prime minister/former Resident-General of Korea Ito Hirobumi. Comments underneath that article already stated things like "I used to find AKB48 likeable… bye. One of the members is said to like Korea but they’re throwing away their Korean fans like this ㅋㅋ I don’t want to see them anymore" and "In Korea, AKB48 was only known by fans, weren’t they? Now they’re nothing but an unlikeable group in Korea… Gross". The tensions became high in the months before the show as South Korea-Japan ties have always been plagued by history. Comments like "Mnet needs to die for putting some right-wing b*tch in the center"; "You'd have to be insane to not want this season to flop"; "Mnet's PD is infamous for living off of starting controversies... he's probably happy about this right now" and "The Japanese are going to be so cocky if this season does well.. they're going to start claiming that Japan is taking over the Korean entertainment industry" were common. Some articles tried to dissect the performance and most came to the conclusion that it was actually an anit-war perfromance. They were claiming that given that the song translates as "We Will Never Fight" and has a message of peace ("We won’t fight, because we believe in love, if we just exchange blows, nothing will be settled. We no longer wish to entrust it all, to a single button, sorry for all the trouble I’ve put you through, let’s forgive each other. We won’t fight, because we believe in love. Even those fists raised high, will be brought down someday."), the use of WWII imagery makes sense as a contrast to show what the world should be. Furthermore, apparently only one member wore that rising sun flag patch, and it wasn't anybody on the show, but Yokoyama Yui, the general manager of the group, and it was during a "Mae Shika Mukanae" performance with a retro concept. The article claims that there is no defending wearing the rising sun flag in a vacuum, but the whole problem is that this isn't necessarily recognized as right wing. Outside of Asia, and especially in Japan, the rising sun flag generally doesn't carry the same connotation as the Nazi flag, even if the two can be justifiably compared. Nevertheless, the damage was already done. Especially Korean netizens weren't happy about the inclusion of Japanese trainees or more specifically AKB48 and its sister groups. Another problem many netizens had with the group on top of that was that the center of the single, Shimazaki Haruka, a member of AKB48's Team A, has also been promoting the JSDF which made the group political in their eyes regardless of the performance. Koreans hated the idea of Japanese idols on the show so much that they were trying to get it cancelled, especially after Sakura was revealed to be the center, and begun to file petitions. Overall Koreans hated the whole thing (even if it wasn't necessarily the singers they hated, but the extremists and political people who tend to favor some musicians). Even after the debut of Iz*One the Japanese members were still called right-winged as a petition arose: "AKB48 has been involved in right-wing activities and some members of IZ*ONE took part in a right-wing related concert." Over 18,600 people have supported the petition. PD Ahn Jun Young tried to adress the controversies before the show aired stating: "We've looked into the various controversies, and we’ve confirmed that there is no political undertone."

K-pop fans also dragged the Japanese trainees a lot because they were "not skilled enough to debut". The structure of idols in Japan and Korea is totally different and the industries have different standards and appeal differently to different types of audiences. In Japan idols are cute, normal girls who are meant to be attainable role models, and seem kind of childlike to K-pop fans. They develop their skills after they debut so their fans can watch them grow and improve while Koreans want their idols to be perfect the moment they debut. So in Japan there is almost no training period, but Korean idols get on average at least 2 years of training. In the show the girls themselves say any training is done by themselves. There is no real institutional structure in place. The Japanese contestants excel at stage presence/charisma/charming the audience, whereas the Korean contestants had more technical skill. When the judges ranked them, the Korean trainees overwhelmed the Japanese ones. This caused split opinions among fans. Many were not happy with the skills of the Japanese girls. A lot of comments read like "I just don't get why we're doing a Korean show with Japanese kids. Their singing and dancing are hopeless." and "She can't sing or dance, how did she become center??????? What about the other Korean trainees? ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ Unless they purposely put a Japanese as the center for the attention it’d garner", and also a lot of International fans were dragging them "I can't wait to see the huuuge difference of skill between the Korean trainees and the Japanese trainees... The Japanese idols are cute and all but they really can't sing" while some tried to defend the Japanese girls and felt sorry for them. When they performed with audience votes, it was more even as the Japanese trainees could display their stage presence. The rankings changed because the Korean trainees lack experience during solo performances/recordings while the Japanese idols have been doing that very thing for years. Still, a lot of favoritism controversies arose. In the end however, it didn't seem to matter for a lot of fans as most are content as long as the girls are pretty.

The voting system also caused a huge amount of controversy. Mnet had stated earlier: "48 female trainees from Korea and Japan will compete within their own countries respectively. The debut team will consist of 12 members with a combination of six members from each country. Voting rights for the Japanese members will only be given to Koreans. Likewise, voting rights for the Korean members will only be given to Japanese." Many netizens complained that this would lead to unfairness. AKB48 was an already established group with established trainees while the Korean trainees didn't have any public exposure beforehand. The Japanese trainees had past videos and performance which was seen as a huge advantage as one could get to know the character of the trainees even if they didn't get that much screen time. AKB48 are big in Japan, and many of the popular members have been in the show business for many years with a fairly big following inside and outside of Japan. Even in Korea where AKB48 isn't that popular, there is still a dedicated fan base. Many claimed that although they are small in numbers, their dedicated voting would be enough to change rankings. The Japanese trainees were also able to use SNS and Showroom while Korean trainees were not allowed to use any form of SNS during the show. On top of that, the population of Japan is 127 million people while South Korea has a population of 50 million people which would overwhelm the Koreans. Netizens were scared that this would lead to a Japanese versus Korean voter rivalry with people feeling competitive and inclined to vote for their own countries as both countries can be quite nationalistic. They also pointed out that the Korean laws make it easier to verify voters and if the Japanese could vote, tons of International fans would find a way in through the Japanese voting system. Many were scared that this would end up as an uneven playing field which is why there was huge public backlash against this seeming unfairness. Others pointed out that this wouldn't matter if it would turn out as a group of six members of each country and if you are only allowed to vote for the other nation. On top of that, it was always an uneven playing field as the Korean trainees being focused (also in earlier seasons) happened to belong to the companies with close business ties to Mnet, the show owner and broadcaster. This led to the battle line being drawn between Mnet and AKB otakus versus Korean general viewers. Interestingly, the biggest beneficiaries of this backlash were not the Korean contestants but the Japanese ones who have been perceived to be shunned by both Mnet and AKB otakus. However, PD Ahn Jun Young decided to adress this controversy and stated: "We have a slogan saying to become one through music. Rather than just Korea and Japan, we wanted something that could reflect a common dream across the globe. We hope that this show isn't seen as a competition between Korea and Japan." For Produce 48, though both Korean and Japanese trainees are participating, voting will only take place in Korea. Kim Yong Beom said, "Because the AKB48 members are incredibly popular in Japan, we determined that the gap is just too large with the Korean trainees. Of course, there are some Korean participants that have already debuted, but generally, the Korean trainees are starting with no fan base, so voting will be done exclusively in Korea." There will be no set number of Korean and Japanese trainees in the final group. Kim Yong Beom said, "We know that there are going to be rumors about this, but regardless of nationality, the 12 that are most loved by the nation's producers will make up the final group." The fact that only Korean citizens were allowed to vote made many fans of the Japanese contestants upset. This was amplified by the fact that only three Japanese trainees made it into the final group and that Sakura wasn't the center despite Sakura's immense popularity from beginning to end but Wonyoung. Especially many International fans were upset with the final line-up calling the final line-up "racist" (they pointed out that for example Twice is more international which is ridiculous as Iz*One is claiming to be international and this feels like Koreans feat. a few Japanese friends), "only looking for visuals instead of talent", "failure", "a waste of time" and "rigged" ("What's funny is that the trainers and Lee Seunggi are just as weirded as we are. They knew who deserved to debut."). Many were very upset saying that this was more like AKB48 in Produce 101 rather than a collaboration and that very little of the show had any AKB48 theme to it, especially not the final line-up. However, many fans eventually came to terms with the line-up as Iz*One went on to become a beloved group among K-pop fans.

Many netizens had also been scrutinizing Produce 48 for making adult women wear school uniforms to participate on the show, accusing Mnet of utilizing a "lolita" concept. The PD responded by saying that he doesn't call them school uniforms but uniforms which are for adults and have ability to show their girlish and student-like features. Even the males wore them and there are no problems with the uniforms themselves.

Favoritism uneven screen time

Memorable Moments

Jurina left

rescue plan for Sakura and Wonyoung

Lee Ka Eun - loved by fans, kept smiling in the final episode which hurt fans

F.T. Island's Hongki saving the program by being the mentor able to speak Japanese and being amazing at teaching the trainees

Voting Manipulation

"Do you understand? Where is Ka Eun???" Lee Ka Eun Chowon

actual line-up - the current IZONE group is better and successful than what the actual girl group would have ended up to be from the actual rankings in PRODUCE 48 - PRODUCE 48 being voted entirely by the public is a terrible basis of judgment to decide a group due to favoritism

Aftermath

Iz*One released their debut extended play (EP) Color*Iz on October 29, 2018. Since then, they became hugely successful and have released two studio albums (one in Korean and one in Japanese), four EPs and three Japanese singles. After two and a half years of activities, Iz*One disbanded on April 29, 2021, following their contract expiration. Fans were devastated when the group disbanded. The careers of the members after the disbandment of Iz*One are generally regarded to be more successful than those of the former members of I.O.I.

• Hitomi Honda returned to activities with AKB48.
• Nako Yabuki returned to HKT48 until her graduation on April 1, 2023, to focus on her acting career.
• Kwon Eunbi debuted as a soloist on August 24, 2021, with her first EP, Open.
• Jo Yuri debuted as a soloist on October 7, 2021, with her first single album, Glassy.
• Kim Minju and Urban Works announced in October 2021 that she would focus on her acting career. She later left Urban Works and signed with Management SOOP in September 2022.
• Jang Wonyoung and An Yujin debuted in Starship Entertainment's new girl group Ive with their first single album, Eleven, on December 1, 2021.
• Kang Hyewon debuted as a soloist on December 22 with her first extended play, W. She also debuted as an actress in the third season of web drama Best Mistake, which began airing on December 28.
• Choi Yena starred in the second season of the web drama The World of My 17 and hosted several variety shows. She debuted as a soloist on January 17, 2022, with her first mini-album, Smiley.
• Sakura Miyawaki and Kim Chaewon (alongside former Pledis Entertainment trainee #26 Huh Yunjin) signed with Hybe and Source Music and debuted in their new girl group LeSserafim on May 2, 2022, with their first mini album, Fearless. Sakura had graduated from HKT48 and held her graduation concert on June 19, 2021, while Chaewon had left Woollim Entertainment. Although their signing was reported by external outlets in mid-2021, their status as Source artists was confirmed in March 2022.
• Lee Chaeyeon competed on Street Woman Fighter as part of the WANT dance crew. She debuted as a soloist with her first EP, Hush Rush, on October 12, 2022. She then competed on Queendom Puzzle but withdrew before the show's premiere.

#14 Lee Gaeun left After School and Pledis Entertainment and released her final single under Pledis, "Remember You," on July 12, 2019. Lee then signed a contract with High Entertainment.

FNC's #19 Park Haeyoon debuted in girl group Cherry Bullet on January 21, 2019. The group disbanded in April 2024.

Yuehua's #27 Kim Sihyeon and #28 Wang Yiren debuted in girl group Everglow on March 18, 2019.

Woollim's #43 Kim Sohee & #47 Kim Suyun, and former AKB48 member #16 Juri Takahashi debuted in girl group Rocket Punch on August 7, 2019.

Individual trainee #69 Park Jinny joined Vine Entertainment and debuted in girl group Secret Number on May 19, 2020.

RBW's #29 Na Goeun and #80 Park Jieun debuted in girl group Purple Kiss on March 15, 2021. Ji-eun left the group on November 18, 2022.

#13 Han Chowon debuted in Cube Entertainment's girl group Lightsum alongside former Banana Culture trainee #21 Kim Nayoung, and former CNC Entertainment trainee #51 Lee Yujeong on June 10, 2021.

Stone Music's #25 Jang Gyuri returned as a member of Fromis 9 for their first single album From.9 on October 10, 2018 & departed from the group after her original contract with Off The Record Entertainment expired on July 31, 2022.

ZB Label's #82 Alex Christine debuted as a soloist under the moniker AleXa, and released her debut single Bomb on October 21, 2019.

#23 Kim Doah and #70 Kim Dayeon participated in the audition program Girls Planet 999. Kim Da-yeon placed fourth, making her debut with Kep1er under Wake One Entertainment and Swing Entertainment. #56 Wang Ke particiapted in the Chinese survival show Produce Camp Asia: Thailand. She placed 6th in the finale and debuted as part of Gen1es.

A lot of Japanese trainees returned to their respective groups after participating in the show. As of 2024, a lot of them have graduated.

Produce X 101

Produce X 101 (Korean: 프로듀스 X 101)

Male contestants competed. The winners were due to debut as X1 (Band). However, the group disbanded before releasing any music after it was uncovered that the votes had been manipulated.

Rank	Episode 12 (Total votes)
	Name	Votes	Company
1	Kim Yo-han	1,334,011	OUI Entertainment
2	Kim Woo-seok	1,304,033	TOP Media
3	Han Seung-woo	1,079,200	Plan A Entertainment
4	Song Hyeong-jun	1,049,222	Starship
5	Cho Seung-youn	929,311	Yuehua
6	Son Dong-pyo	824,389	DSP Media
7	Lee Han-gyul	794,411	MBK Entertainment
8	Nam Do-hyon	764,433	MBK Entertainment
9	Cha Jun-ho	756,939	Woollim
10	Kang Min-hee	749,444	Starship
X	Lee Eun-sang	689,489	Brand New Music

Common tropes/coincidences in the Korean seasons according to fans

Not all the tropes and coincidences apply to all the seasons, but netizens still thought it was hilarious to point them out. Especially since Mnet seems to go for certain narratives.

Tropes Mnet creates according to fans

Topes	Produce 101	Produce 101 Season 2	Produce 48	Produce X 101
Besties		Bae Jin Young and Lee Dae Hwi	Chaeyeon and Sakura
The god leader	#2 Kim Sejeong	#14 Kim Jonghyun		#14 Lee Jinhyuk
Hyung/Unnie and Dongsaeng or father-son/mother-daughter relationships		#1 Daniel and #34 Lee Woojin	#8 Kang Hyewon and #39 Sato Minami	#14 Lee Jinhyuk and #22 Lee Jinwoo / #3 Han Seungwoo and #6 Son Dongpyo
Avengers team that does great	"Bang Bang" dance performance (#3 Choi Yoojung, #1 Jeon Somi, #8 Kim Doyeon, #4 Kim Chungha, #24 Kim Dani, #35 Kwon Eunbin, #30 Kim Seokyung)	Super Junior's "Sorry Sorry" (#4 Kim Jaehwan, #9 Hwang Minhyun, #1 Kang Daniel, #22 Kwon Hyunbin, #5 Ong Seongwu, #14 Kim Jonghyun) - though they were called Justice League "Get Ugly" dance performance (#18 Kim Samuel, #2 Park Jihoon, #5 Ong Seongwu, #1 Kang Daniel, # Ahn Hyeongseop, #6 Park Woojin)	"Sorry Not Sorry" dance performance (#7 Kwon Eunbi, #5 Ahn Yujin, #4 Choi Yena, #12 Lee Chaeyeon, #31 Go Yujin) I.O.I's "Very Very Very" (#4 Choi Yena, #29 Na Goeun, #20 Miru Shiroma, #9 Hitomi Honda, #5 Ahn Yujin, #1 Jang Wonyoung)	NCT U's "Boss" (#1 Kim Yohan, #X/11 Lee Eunsang, #14 Lee Jinhyuk, #3 Han Seungwoo, #6 Son Dongpyo, #9 Cha Junho) EXO's "Love Shot" (#5 Cho Seungyoun, #7 Lee Hangyul, #51 Hong Seongjun, #19 Lee Sejin, #2 Kim Wooseok, #17 Keum Donghyun, #27 Kim Sihun)
Avengers team where the wheels come off	Girls' Generation's "Into The New World" (#26 Huh Chanmi, #19 Ki Huihyeon, #1 Jeon Somi, #7 Jung Chaeyeon, #21 Jung Eunwoo)	BTS' "Boy in Luv" (#23 Lee Euiwoong, #18 Kim Samuel, #19 Joo Haknyeon, #11 Ha Sungwoon, #3 Lee Daehwi, #10 Bae Jinyoung, #2 Park Jihoon)	I.O.I's "Very Very Very" (#12 Lee Chaeyeon, #7 Kwon Eunbi, #2 Sakura Miyawaki, #52 Aoi Motomura, #11 Kim Minjoo, #50 Kim Choyeon)
The reject team		Seventeen's "Mansae" (#56 Kim Yongjin, #78 Kim Chanyul, #91 Jo Sungwook, #64 Jeong Joongji, #85 Choi Hadon, #88 Cho Gyumin)	Hellbayah (Blackpink's Boombayah - #8 Kang Hyewon, #33 Erii Chiba, #39 Minami Sato, #13 Han Chowon, #42 Nanami Asai, #85 Yuka Asai) "Instruction" dance performance (#32 Son Eunchae, #48 Lee Haeun, #37 Chiyori Nakanishi, #56 Wang Ke, #46 Kim Hyunah, #47 Kim Suyun)	"Monday to Sunday" concept performance (#24 Lee Hyeop, #12 Kim Minkyu, #19 Lee Sejin, #20 Tony, #23 Kim Dongyoon, #8 Nam Dohyun, #29 Joo Changwook)
Great trainee stuck in a rather poor team	Sejeong in the Wonder Girls' "Irony" performance		Chowon in Hellbayah
Evil edits: The greedy vocalist/the greedy one that tries for almost all positions, and may be genuinely ambitious but comes across as an a**hole because of the editing	#26 Huh Chanmi (a little bit: #11 Yoo Yeonjung)	#19 Joo Haknyeon #16 Ahn Hyeongseop #3 Lee Daehwi #13 Kang Dongho (a little bit: #22 Kwon Hyunbin)	#26 Huh Yunjin #25 Jang Gyuri	#2 Kim Wooseok #16 Ham Wonjin #27 Kim Sihun
The pretty but untalented trainee	#5 Kim Sohye	#7 Lai Guanlin	#8 Kang Hyewon	#12 Kim Minkyu
The trainee who Mnet mostly ignores because they're probably gonna get in no matter what	#8 Kim Doyeon	#2 Park Jihoon	#10 Kim Chaewon
The last-minute panic-pushed vocalist	#11 Yoo Yeonjung	#4 Kim Jaehwan, #11 Ha Sungwoon	#3 Jo Yuri
Trainee who was lowballed in first evaluation so they could artificially rise in the next one
Trainee who was overrated in first evaluation so they can be brutally humbled in the next one
Trainees who were robbed		Kim Jonghyun, Kim Samuel	Lee Ka Eun

A lot of the coincidences were disproven by Produce X 101, but some also held the test of time. Coincidences which are true for all seasons are bold while coincidences which are only true for three seasons are italic. Fans also tried to apply these to the Japanese seasons.

Coincidences according to fans

Coincidence	Produce 101	Produce 101 Season 2	Produce 48	Produce X 101
The center for the season's title song will debut	#3 Choi Yoojung (Pick Me)	#3 Lee Daehwi (Nayana)	#2 Miyawaki Sakura (Naekkoya)	#6 Song Dongpyo (X1-MA)
The centers for the season's title song manage to bring at least one labelmate with them into the final group	Yoojung brought #8 Doyeon from Fantiago	Daehwi brought #6 Woojin from Brand New Music	Sakura brought #6 Nako from HKT48	Dongpyo's the only DSP trainee
The agency that produced the final center in one season, will not produce any debut members in the next season of Produce	#1 Jeon Somi was from JYP Entertainment. JYP did not send any trainees to Season 2.	#1 Kang Daniel was from MMO Entertainment. The highest ranked MMO trainee ended up #92 in P48.	#1 Jang Wonyoung is from Starship. Two trainees of Starship (#4 Song Hyeong-jun, #10 Kang Minhee) debuted in PX101.
There are always father-son/mother-daughter relationships shown. The parents will make the debut team, the children will not (or at least the parents will rank higher)		#1 Kang Daniel (#34 Lee Woojin)	#8 Kang Hyewon (#39 Sato Minami)	#14 Lee Jinhyuk (#22 Lee Jinwoo) / #3 Han Seungwoo (#6 Son Dongpyo)
The trainee that was on the cut line (the last position in the debut line aka 11 or 12) during the 3rd elimination will debut	#8 Kim Doyeon	#9 Hwang Minhyun	#7 Kwon Eunbi	The trainee at #10 in episode 11 is Keum Donghyun. He ended up in #17
The centers for the final evaluation song(s) will debut	#1 Jeon Somi and #7 Jung Chaeyeon (dual centers for "Crush")	#10 Bae Jinyoung ("Hands on Me") #11 Ha Sungwoon ("Super Hot")	#4 Choi Yena ("You're in Love Right") #12 Lee Chaeyeon ("We Together")	#18 Hwang Yunseong ("To My World") #15 Song Yuvin ("Boyness (소년미/少年美)")
If Bae Yoonjung cries for you, you will debut	#5 Kim Sohye	Was not a judge	#12 Lee Chaeyeon	Did not cry
The trainee who sits in the number 1 seat in their first evaluation will get eliminated (#1 seat curse)	#26 Huh Chanmi	#27 Jang Moonbok (#37 Hong Eunki and #39 Hwe Seung also sat down)	#55 Park Seoyoung	Yoon Seobin (got kicked out of the show for part taking in underage drinking and smoking)
The final center of the group is a dancer during the position evaluation	Somi was a dancer in the "Bang Bang" performance	Daniel was a dancer in the "Get Ugly" performance	Wonyoung was a dancer in the "Side to Side" perfromance	Yohan was a vocal in the "Me After You" performance
Each debut team has no members one grade (based on re-evaluation grades, not auditions)	No D class trainees in I.O.I	No C class trainees in Wanna One	No D class trainees in Iz*One	No X class trainees in X1
Trainees that "lip sync" the high note during position evaluations will debut	#1 Jeon Somi (Bang Bang)	#5 Ong Seongwoo (Get Ugly)	#5 Ahn Yujin (Sorry Not Sorry) - though #37 Chiyori Nakanishi (Instruction) did not debut	#7 Lee Hangyul (Finesse)
In the debut team, there will be a trainee from Gangnam-gu in Seoul	#5 Kim Sohye	#3 Lee Daehwi	#10 Kim Chaewon	#5 Cho Seungyoun
From agencies that sent only 1 trainee to the Produce season, 2 of those will appear in the debut team	#1 Jeon Somi (JYP) #5 Kim Sohye (Redline)	#5 Ong Seongwoo (Fantagio) #10 Bae Jinyoung (C9)	#8 Kang Hyewon (8D) #11 Kim Minju (Urban Works)	#1 Kim Yohan (OUI) #19 Lee Sejin (iMe Korea) got eliminated
The main vocal of the vocal position song that originated from a Produce group will debut		#4 Kim Jaehwan ("Downpour" by I.O.I)	#3 Jo Yuri ("Energetic" by Wanna One)	#15 Song Yuvin ("Day by Day" by Wanna One) got eliminated
The agency that the leader of the final group is from will also have another trainee in the group	#10 Im Nayoung (L) #6 Joo Kyulkyung (Pledis)	#8 Yoon Jisung (L) #1 Kang Daniel (MMO)	#7 Kwon Eunbi (L) #10 Kim Chaewon (Woollim)	#3 Han Seung-woo (L) There was no other Plan A Entertainment trainee in X1
The debut team will include trainees that were released from their original song during concept evaluations	#6 Joo Kyulkyung ("Fingertips" to "24 Hours")	#11 Ha Sungwoon ("Never" to "Showtime")	#2 Miyawaki Sakura ("To Reach You" to "Meet Again") #11 Kim Minju ("To Reach You" to "1000%") #12 Lee Chaeyeon ("I Am" to "1000%")	#8 Nam Dohyun ("U Got It" to "Monday to Sunday")
An agency that is making its second appearance on Produce will have trainees that make it to debut		Fantagio	Urban Works	Brand New Music, MBK, OUI, DSP Media, Woollim
The final center has not been able to debut under their original agency (after the Produce group ends) aka "curse of the final center"	Somi moved from JYP to YG Black Label	Daniel moved from MMO to form his own agency	Wonyoung debuted under Starship in the group IVE	Yohan debuted under OUI in the group WEi
The trainee ranked #5 in the finale will be an active actor, majored in acting or has experience acting	Kim Sohye	Ong Seongwoo	Ahn Yujin acted in commercials	Cho Seungyoun has had cameos in Chinese movies
Trainees who had a ranking of #1 and #3 at the end of the first episode will debut	#1 Jeon Somi #6 Joo Kyulkyung	#2 Park Jihoon #3 Lee Daehwi	#2 Miyawaki Sakura #1 Jang Wonyoung	#12 Kim Minkyu (did not debut) #1 Kim Yohan
The debut team always has a member with the last name 'Kang'	#9 Kang Mina	#1 Kang Daniel	#8 Kang Hyewon	#10 Kang Minhee
Out of all the tall participants, the youngest will debut	Jeon Somi (born 2001, 168cm)	Lai Guanlin (born 2001, 181cm)	Jang Wonyoung (born 2004, 169cm)	Nam Dohyun (born 2004, 180cm)
At least 3 members that were in the same dance team during position evaluations will debut	"Bang Bang" - 4 members #1 Jeon Somi, #3 Choi Yoojung, #4 Kim Chungha, #8 Kim Doyeon	"Get Ugly" - 4 members #1 Kang Daniel, #2 Park Jihoon, #5 Ong Seongwoo, #6 Park Woojin	"Sorry Not Sorry" - 4 members #7 Kwon Eunbi, #5 Ahn Yujin, #4 Choi Yena, #12 Lee Chaeyeon	"Finesse" - only 3 #10 Kang Minhee, #4 Song Hyungjun, #7 Lee Hangyul
The trainee that ranks #4 in the final as that ranking as their best ranking throughout the show	Kim Chungha	Kim Jaehwan	Choi Yena	Song Hyeongjun was #2 in Episode 6 and #3 in Episode 5
The main vocal of the final line-up will rank within the top 4	#2 Kim Sejeong	#4 Kim Jaehwan	#3 Jo Yuri	#3 Han Seungwoo
In the debut team, there will be trainees that have appeared on survival shows before	#1 Jeon Somi (Sixteen) #2 Kim Sejeong (Kpop Star S2, Superstar K5)	#4 Kim Jaehwan (Korea's Got Talent 2, Vocal War: God's Voice)	#3 Jo Yuri (Idol School) #12 Lee Chaeyeon (Kpop Star S3, Sixteen)	#7 Lee Hangyul (The Unit) #8 Nam Dohyun (Under 19)
In the debut team there will be at least 1 member that has already debuted before	#7 Jung Chaeyeon (DIA)	#9 Hwang Minhyun (NU'EST) #11 Ha Sungwoon (Hotshot)	#2 Miyawaki Sakura (HKT48) #6 Yabuki Nako (HKT48) #7 Kwon Eunbi (Ye-A) #9 Honda Hitomi (AKB48)	#2 Kim Wooseok (Up10tion) #3 Han Seungwoo (Victon) #5 Cho Seungyoun (UNIQ) #7 Lee Hangyul (IM66)
If we exclude trainees that ended up withdrawing from the show, the #24 during the first ranking ceremony will debut	#10 Im Nayoung	#6 Park Woojin	#8 Kang Hyewon (#25 but Matsui Jurina ended up withdrawing), the original #24 is #33 Chiba Erii	not true: #14 Lee Jinhyuk (#25 but Choi Byungchan ended up withdrawing), the original #24 is #28 Choi Suhwan
The member at the cut line in the debut team (last position in the debut team) have all been main vocals during Produce	Yoo Yeonjung (Into the New World, At the Same Place, Crush)	Ha Sungwoon (Boy in Luv, Super Hot)	Lee Chaeyeon (Very Very Very, 1000%)	#X/11 Lee Eunsang was no Main Vocal (Kang Minhee as #10 was Main Vocal in Pretty Girl)
If the song that won the concept evaluation and the song that did the best on streaming sites is different, the final center comes from the song that won the concept evaluation	Doesn't apply for Season 1 because At the Same Place won the concept evaluation and performed the best on streaming sites, but final center Jeon Somi performed in Yum Yum during concept evaluations.	Kang Daniel (Open Up)	Jang Wonyoung (Rollin' Rollin')	Kim Yohan performed U Got It, which won the concept evaluations (however it is also doing the best on streaming sites)
The members in the debut team will come from a total of 8 different companies	8	8	8	9
Out of the visual top 11, at least 5 members will be in the debut team (rankings shown here are their places in the visual ranking)	#1 Joo Kyulkyung #2 Jung Chaeyeon #3 Kim Doyeon #4 Kim Sejeong #11 Jeon Somi	#1 Park Jihoon #2 Bae Jinyoung #3 Lai Guanlin #4 Hwang Minhyun #10 Ong Seongwoo	#2 Kim Minju #4 Jang Wonyoung #5 Ahn Yujin #6 Kim Chaewon #7 Miyawaki Sakura #8 Kwon Eunbi	#2 Kim Wooseok #3 Kim Yohan #4 Cha Junho #7 Song Hyungjun #8 Lee Eunsang
If there is a Royal F in the debut team, they will have a single digit ranking	#5 Kim Sohye	No Royal Fs in the debut team	#8 Kang Hyewon	No Royal F or Royal X in the debut team
The debut team always includes a trainee in F class during pre-evaluation	#5 Kim Sohye	#8 Yoon Jisung	#8 Kang Hyewon #6 Nako Yabuki	#4 Song Hyungjun #10 Kang Minhee
The debut team always includes B class and during girls' seasons the final center is from B class	#1 Jeon Somi	#4 Kim Jaehwan #2 Park Jihoon	#1 Jang Wonyoung #4 Choi Yena #10 Kim Chaewon	#5 Cho Seungyoun
A class has the most members in the debut team	8/11	5/11	5/12	3/11; D Class has 4/11
Final line-up has at least one trainee who stays in A class for both evaluations	Kim Se Jeong, Kim Chung Ha and Kang Mina	Lee Dae Hwi, Ong Seong Woo, Ha Sung Woon, and Park Woo Jin	Sakura Miyawaki and Lee Chae Yeon	Ha Seung Woo
The main vocal in the concept evaluation song that performs best on streaming sites will debut	Yoo Yeonjung (At the Same Place)	Kim Jaehwan (Never)	Kwon Eunbi (Rumour)	Han Seungwoo (U Got It)
The trainees with the highest average ranking will rank #2 in the final	#2 Kim Sejeong (1.625) vs. #1 Jeon Somi (1.875)	#2 Park Jihoon (1.75) vs. #1 Kang Daniel (9.375)	#2 Miyawaki Sakura (3.125) vs. #1 Jang Wonyoung (3.875)	#2 Kim Wooseok vs. #1 Kim Yohan was the highest rated throughout the show
The trainees' top pick for the debut team will debut	#6 Joo Kyulkyung	#8 Yoon Jisung	#4 Choi Yena	#18 Hwang Yunseong did not debut
The center for the special song in the finale will debut	#7 Jung Chaeyeon (When the Cherry Blossoms Fade)	#9 Hwang Minhyun (Always)	#1 Jang Wonyoung (While Dreaming)	#12 Kim Min Gyu didn't make it
The first member that the center picks for their group battle team will debut with the center	No other trainee of Yoojung's team debuted	Daehwi chose #11 Ha Sungwoon first	Sakura chose #12 Lee Chaeyeon first	Dongpyo chose #1 Kim Yohan first
Trainees that have been on the same team the whole season will debut together		#4 Jaehwan and #9 Minhyun		#1 Yohan, #3 Seungwoo and #9 Junho
Final line-up includes at least two pairs from same company	Fantiago, Jellyfish, Pledis	MMO, Brand New Music	Woollim, Starship, EMI Records	MBK, Starship
Final center surname is "J" or "K"	Jeon Somi	Kang Daniel	Jang Wonyoung	Kim Yohan
At least four trainees of the Avengers team will make it to the final line-up	Jeon Somi, Choi Yoo Jung, Kim Do Yeon, and Kim Chungha	Lee Dae Hwi, Park Ji Hoon, Bae Jin Young, and Ha Sung Woon	Sakura Miyawaki, Lee Chae Yeon, Kwon Eun Bi, Kim Min Joo	Kim Yo Han, Lee Eun Sang, Ha Seung Woo, Son Dong Pyo and Cha Jun Ho
Trainees ranked 3rd, 4th and 5th in the 1st elimination will debut in the final line-up	Choi Yoo Jung, Kyulkyung, and Kang Mina	Yoon Ji Sung, Ong Seong Woo, and Kang Daniel	Jang Won Young, Sakura Miyawaki, and Kwon Eun Bi	Song Hyeong Jun, Kim Woo Seok and Lee Eun Sang
Trainees who appear in previous season won't debut in the final line up			Kim Sihyeon and Park Minji	Kim Dong Bin
The final line-up has a foreign member	Kyulkyung and Somi	Lai Guan Lin	Sakura, Nako, and Hitomi	NONE

Chuang franchise

Idol Producer

Idol Producer

Idol Producer (simplified Chinese: 偶像练习生; traditional Chinese: 偶像練習生), is a 2018 Chinese reality boy group survival show, which premiered on January 19, 2018, on iQIYI and was presented by Lay Zhang of EXO. The program boasted some of the biggest names in Chinese entertainment among its judges/mentors, including two Chinese-born K-Pop stars, Jackson Wang of Got7 and Zhou Jieqiong (Kulkyung) of I.O.I/Pristin. Jackson was unable to shoot the final episode because he was hospitalized due to exhaustion.

The show was seemingly heavily inspired by Produce 101, but not part of the franchise, which caused plagiarism accusations: The show took 100 trainees from 87 entertainment agencies all over Asia, which represented their companies and 8 of whom were independent trainees. The trainees were evaluated multiple times throughout the show by the audience's votes with trainees being eliminated (even the voting system was similar to the one of Produce 101). In the final episode, the nine most-voted-on trainees got to debut as a boy group and were set to promote for 18 months. The group that debuted was called Nine Percent. On top of that, the show also had a theme song that the trainees would perform as first mission called "Ei Ei" which reminded people of the Produce 101 songs as it looks and sounds the same (it hinges on the line: “Hey You, Hey You, Hey, Pick Me, Ei Ei.”).

A lot of these issues were raised before the show even premiered. Mnet made a statement about the plagiarism: "iQiyi’s show Idol Producer closely resembles Produce 101 in ideology, composition, system, visual design and more. It caused a lot of misunderstanding and speculations among the Produce 101 fans and viewers. With this in mind, Mnet did not take part in producing iQiyi’s Idol Producer in any way. We are making it clear that we didn’t cooperate in any form. At the same time, we are saddened by the fact that Mnet’s intellectual property rights have been infringed." The Format Recognition and Protection Association revealed results of its comparative analysis of Idol Producer and Produce 101. The analysis concluded that the Chinese show scored 88% on FRAPA's scale of infringement when compared with the Korean show – it was the highest score ever recorded for an alleged infringement.

Some fans were actually shocked that the show wasn't part of the franchise as it was so similar to the original and also because especially Zhou Jieqiong of the first season of Produce 101, but also Lay were part of the cast. Nevertheless, fans loved the show especially because there wasn't much "evil editing" and was overall a more wholesome show ("Nothing could ever come close to Idol Producer’s impact. The show had minimal evil editing and good trainee-mentor relationships. You could see both the struggles and the breakthroughs of numerous trainees and almost everyone had screen time." "Idol Producer was honestly amazing in terms of talent, stages, and friendships. Lay was a fantastic MC, I adore Jackson from GOT7, there was a big emphasis on dance but also there were phenomenal singing performances because You Zhangjing is an amazing singer. Highly recommend!") Fans claimed it was compelling to watch, some even calling it the most fun trainee survival show they have ever watched. During its run, the idol trainees received over 100 million votes, as fans attended the show’s live concerts and bought sponsored items in order to support their favorite participants. The first place Cai Xukun received 47.64 million votes by the show’s finale. Other fans however didn't care for the wholesomeness/the trainees and couldn't connect with the Chinese program as they covered a lot of Chinese songs which they didn't know and always felt like the stages of the show were somehow lacking. The censoring also turned some fans off. (see also: Chinese ban on idol shows) Others claimed that those trainees are the first Chinese trainees they are invested in.

Fans loved the show creating a lot of edits like "Idol Producer in A Nutshell.", "Idol Producer is weird." and "idol producer moments that make me laugh" where they would lovingly put their favorite moments of the show together. Lay who was initially remarked for his scrutiny and strictness towards the contestants would soon be seen having a good trainee-mentor relationship with the trainees which fans loved. They also loved his relationship with Jackson. He would also become one of the memes of the show ("Balance"). Jackson himself was also beloved for his funny relationship with fellow rapper MC Jin. Fan favorite Cai Xukun (1st) would also become a meme with his audition as he performed a self-composed song with cringey lyrics ("My baby girl you already know if you call me baby I will come so fast if you need me baby I will be your side [...]") after stating that he wrote the song when he was in a dark place (Lay answered that he could tell that he was in a dark place which was hilarious to fans). It didn't take away from his popularity though as he was already known to the public beforehand and everyone seemed to think that he is hot. Dong Yanlei's (37th) audition was also hilarious to fans. Fans also recognized Justin (4th, Huang Minghao) who had participated in Produce 101 Season 2 for Yuehua Entertainment at the age of 15. His notable stages include "Replay" and "Shape of You", with him taking the center position on the stage of "Replay". He was eventually eliminated on episode 8 placing 43rd. He would end up debuting in Nine Percent. Zhu Zhengting (6th, Jungjung) shared the same fate, he placed 51st in Produce 101 Season 2. He is currently the leader and main dancer of Yuehua's NEXT in which Justin also is a member and Bi Wenjun (10th). Xiao Gui's (8th, Lil Ghost) audition also gained wide recognition as he participated in the iQIYI Hip-Hop music audition show "The Rap of China" in 2017, won the top 70 in the country, and officially entered the entertainment industry. Throughout the show he was perceived as one of the best rappers of the show. The other trainees which debuted in Nine Percent were Chen Linong (2nd), Fan Chengcheng (3rd), Lin Yanjun (5th), Wang Ziyi (7th) and You Zhangjing (9th, Azora Chin). Qian Zhenghao (11th, Jefferson) was also known to the public as he participated in China's New Voice Generation Season 2 in 2014 at the age of 13. His first performance was a cover of "City of Stars", receiving a "B" in ranking evaluation and impressing the judges with his vocal skills. The trainees of Qin's Entertainment (aka BC221) also gained attention, especially Bu Fan (12th), because of their reactions being hilarious and relatable in episode 1. Bu Fan would go on to be loved by fans for being hilarious and unbothered. Jeffrey Tung (17th) also managed to gain recognition despite not revealing that he is the nephew of Jackie Chan. There were also former The Legend, 24K and M4M members participating. Some trainees had to leave due to controversy.

Nine Percent debuted on April 6, 2018 with "Rule Breaker" and was hugely popular during the band's 18 months of promotions. Their first album To the Nines (name of their fans) earned more than 10 million RMB in China alone. In August and October 2018, many netizens criticized iQIYI for failing to provide more opportunities for the group. The lack of group performances, as well as the members' tendency to work on their own, led fans to suspect that the group Nine Percent might exist in name only. Although they were incredibly popular in China, the total number of days they worked as a group calculated by fans was only about 60. Most fans blamed the company for mishandling the group's activities. The group "disappeared" after promoting one album and practically didn't promote for one year. Others claimed that it was hard to promote them in the first place as solo stan culture is very prominent in China and group fans are kind of rare which is why solo activities are to be expected. And the reason why not so many groups can perform as a group and could only go to variety shows is that there is almost no music show in china except for "Idol Hits" (which doesn't exist anymore). Fans were devastated after the disbandment of the band on October 6, 2019. Everyone was shocked about the early disbandment, especially since they basically had done nothing as a group. The group held a farewell concert on October 12, 2019 called Limited Memories. After the split, the band’s former members posted a group selfie on Weibo with the text “Forever?,” while the group’s official Weibo account posted a “graduation photo.” Many fans took to Weibo to post tributes to their beloved boy band and express sorrow over the breakup. Nowadays, most members of the group are fairly popular in China.

Cai Xukun, the most popular trainee of the season who ranked 1st who would go on being the MC of Youth With You Season 2 and become overall very popular in China would also become one of the most controversial characters of the show. After the show Cai was extremly popular in China, but also very polarizing (as he was kind of more feminine and loved aegyo). Basically anything he touched turned to gold. His fanbase was known to be extremly hardcore. On February 10, 2017, Kun filed a lawsuit against his then-company, Shanghai Yihai Entertainment, for poor treatment and the right to terminate his contract. Yihai responded with filing another case in March 2018 to countersue him for breach of contract soon after the broadcast of Idol Producer. In October 2018, the Court of First Instance rendered a decision favouring Kun, prompting Yihai to submit an appeal. In January 2019, a second trial was held. The court didn't announce the verdict until February, with the final ruling issued on February 19, 2019. iQiyi released an exclusive report stating that the two-year dispute between Kun and Yihai has finally been settled, with Kun winning the case, hence being free from his contract. On January 18, 2019, the NBA announced that Kun would be their first Chinese New Year greeting ambassador and released a holiday commercial featuring him as a basketball fan alongside three NBA star players which led to subsequent rumours, including a false claim that Kun was appointed the Ambassador of the NBA. This enraged a lot of people who are dubious about his celebrity status. He was a young celebrity, his singing and dancing skills were dubious in many people's eyes, he had a band of fanatic followers and always took the spotlight, thus he represented what many Chinese think is wrong with being a celebrity. Basketball fans also felt insulted as he basically has no relations to basketball. Such shitposts are so hilarious people joined in and started a festival of editing such clip and making fun of Cai. Parody videos based on an earlier basketball clip from Kun's time on Idol Producer circulated in response while his song Just Because You are Beautiful (只因你太美) with lyrics the same lyrics plays in the background, but he sang “只因 (zhǐ yīn)” too fast that everyone mistakens it as “鸡(jī)”(chicken) which is why it sounds like ‘chicken you are so beautiful’ creating the meme. They even created their own video game character. Most videos of the shitpost festival were originally posted on the Chinese video website Bilibili, to which Kun's Studio subsequently issued a legal notice to facilitate the possibility of legal recourse against the creators of the videos, arguing that they amounted to harassment, defamation and an infringement of Kun's rights. However, the legal threat escalated the controversy; the seriousness in the response spurred further memes and shitposts such as ‘warning, lawsuit submitted(律师函警告)’ and further shitpost creation and real-life enactments; "to issue a legal notice" quickly became a popular internet meme on Chinese social media sites. There was also a controversy regarding Jay Chou, a legendary Chinese celebrity. This tarnished his image with the general public and cemented the image of his fanbase as being toxic. On June 26, 2023, a user on Baidu alleged that Kun had sexual intercourse in 2021 with an adolescent female called "Ms. C". She reportedly aborted their baby several months later, with Kun paying her 500,000 Yuan (approximately 70,000 USD) in compensation. The same user also accused Kun's mother of hiring a private detective to stalk Ms. C for fear of her blackmailing Kun, and the matter was settled only after Ms. C found out and called the police. Following the leak, Kun's videos were removed from China Central Television's streaming platform. On July 3, 2023, Kun posted a message on Weibo, stating that the relationship was between two consensual adults and that the abortion was voluntary. He then apologised to fans and the public, and promised to practice self-discipline in the future. On the same day of the statement, Kun was accused of sleeping with a fan when she was still 17. He denied the allegation and lodged a police report. His lawyers said they would hold slanderers accountable. The fan, whose photograph with Cai had been circulating online, later stated that the rumours were false and spread by paparazzi, which used "fake" information despite her objections. Online discussions in China have drawn heated comparisons between the Cai controversy and another scandal involving Chinese-Canadian superstar Kris Wu, who was sentenced to 13 years in jail last year after being found guilty of date rape. His popularity dropped over night. His first performance of the self-composed song in Idol Producer also didn't sit right with fans anymore.

Youth With You

Originally called Idol Producer Season 2 before filming, the show changed its name to Youth With You (Chinese: 青春有你), also known by its Chinese title Qīng Chūn Yǒu Nǐ or simply QCYN, but kept the same producers, competition and voting system. It was therefore the second edition of the 2018 male competition show Idol Producer, and the first edition of the survival show Youth With You. Youth With You would go on to have 3 seasons airing in 2019, 2020 and 2021 respectively. The first season of Youth With You was still presented by Lay Zhang of EXO, with Seventeen's The8 (Xu Minghao) and others serving as the coaches. On April 6, 2019, the final nine contestants debuted as the boygroup UNINE. UNINE shared the same controversy of no promotions as Nine Percent. Another similar controversy was the cencorship of the show because of the restrictions of the Chinese government.(see: Chinese ban on idol shows) The second season of Youth With You featured female trainees. The show was presented by Cai Xukun, the winner of the first Idol Producer season, with Blackpink's Lisa (Lalisa Manoban), Jony J and Ella Chen of the Taiwanese girlgroup S.H.E serving as the mentors. Lisa became soon known as a tough mentor which was widely discussed among fans as some believed that she is too strict while most people argued that it is the right amount as a mentor. Nevertheless, she made the show fairly popular among K-pop fans. The Top 9 trainees with the most votes in the final episode debuted in the Chinese girl group THE9. Lisa would return as dance mentor for season 3. The finale was cancelled after an order from Chinese media government bureau, as the show was embroiled in the milk-wasting controversy. (see: Chinese ban on idol shows) The group with the top 9 lineup was alleged to have been formed, but iQIYI denied the allegations in May 2021. Nevertheless, the boygroup IXFORM formed in season 3 officially debuted on July 25, 2021.

Chuang Series China

Produce 101 China

Soon after Idol Producer, iQiyi's competitor Tencent released a similar idol show, Produce 101 (Chinese: 创造101), bearing the same title as its Korean counterpart while being part of the overall franchise. The show was a massive success, even beyond what was experienced by "Idol Producer." It totaled 4.3 billion views and received over 90 million mentions on the popular Chinese social media platform Weibo. To this day, it is still one of the most watched shows on Chinese television. The show managed to fill a void in the Chinese entertainment industry. Since Super Girl airing from 2004 to 2006, there has been a lack of girl groups in the Chinese speaking world. The biggest girl group in the early 2000s was S.H.E and since then, there has arguably been a lack of well-known cohesive girl groups that have been as successful. The show aimed to create a brand new "it" girlgroup that represents modern women while appealing to all genders for the new generation. The show is the official Chinese spin-off of the show and aired from April 21, 2018, to June 23, 2018. The show featured female contestants. The winners debuted as the 11-member girlgroup Rocket Girls 101. The MC of the season was former EXO member Tao. Other notable mentors were Wang Yibo of UNIQ (Wang Yibo is the most successful out of his group and a big star in China. He is a contrast to his members who participated as contestants in other Produce shows. Li Wenhan participated in Youth With You, finished in 1st place and debuted in UNINE and Cho Seung-youn participated in Produce X 101, finished in 5th place, debuted in X1 and started a successful solo career under the name Woodz.) and Ella Chen of S.H.E. Unlike the original Korean version, Produce 101 China has a number of different rules and challenges introduced beginning in episode 2. One such example is the inclusion of "knock-out" challengers who can take the place of a 101 member in the original "auditions" based on mentors discretion of the challengers' skills in comparison to the original trainees. In the first elimination, certain members who had highest votes could also choose to save a member who was up for elimination as a second chance "intern." The signature song of the season was "Produce 101 Girls/创造101" (Pick Me).

K-pop fans complained, similar to Idol Producer, about the fact that they didn't know a lot of the songs the Chinese trainees would perform as they performed songs catering to a Chinese audience. In contrast to Idol Producer though, the show seemed to create as much drama as the Korean original. K-pop fans recognized Meng Meiqi (1st) and Wu Xuanyi (2nd) of Korean and Chinese girl group Cosmic Girls of Yuehua Entertainment as well as Li Tianyun (81st) who was a previous contestant on Korean survival show The Unit among the trainees. Rocket Girls 101 managed to have a very successful run as an idol group even though the general public in China doesn't care for idol music and the band had to avoid crisis right in the beginning of their career as they were on the verge of disbanding just 16 days after their debut as some companies wanted to pull out the girls for individual performances during the run of Rocket Girls 101. They were always trending for whatever they were doing, products they were promoting always sold out. Yang Chaoyue and Meng Meiqi were always very popular. But the girls were more popular as individuals than the group itself because of the solo stan culture in China. However, even the girls who went for solo projects afterwards were still on top of the charts with their own projects. Meiqi for example managed to kick start a successful solo career of the show and the band. During the run of Rocket Girls 101 K-pop fans were debating the whole time if Meng Meiqi and Wu Xuanyi would return to Cosmic Girls considering their individual popularity in China as many wanted them to go back at least part-time. As fans had predicted, after being on hiatus since 2018, the two girls departed from the group on March 3, 2023.

Some of the other contestants would go on to participate in other Produce shows afterwards like Produce Camp 2020, Youth With You Season 2 or Girls Planet 999.

Produce Camp 2019

The second season of the Chuang franchise called Produce Camp 2019 (Chinese: 创造营2019), or alternatively known as CHUANG 2019 aired from April 6, 2019, to June 8, 2019. The final 11 members debuted in the boygroup R1SE. As neither mentors nor contestants were very known to K-pop fans, the season isn't the most popular among fans. R1SE did well in China even though they weren't as popular as Rocket Girls 101 or Nine Percent (similar to UNINE).

Produce Camp 2020

Produce Camp 2020 (Chinese: 创造营2020), officially known as CHUANG 2020, is the third season of Produce 101 China. It is also the only edition in the series to only have 7 winning contestants, instead of the usual 11. The show aired from May 2, 2020, to July 4, 2020. On July 4, 2020, the final seven contestants debuted as girlgroup BonBon Girls 303 (硬糖少女303).

At the time, K-pop fans and especially EXO-Ls were overjoyed as the whole EXO lawsuit line (Tao, Luhan and Kris Wu) was together again because Tao was MC of the season, Luhan was mentor and Kris Wu was a special mentor. As fans didn't think they would see them together again fans were yearning for interactions. Victoria of f(x) is also a former SM Entertainment idol which is why the former EXO members also knew her creating cute interactions. Fans loved the dynamics creating a lot of video compilations (Tao x Luhan moments, Tao, Kris and Luhan, Tao and Victoria). Nowadays, the series is overshadowed by Kris Wu's rape allegations. In 2021, after rape allegations emerged on the Chinese social media, Wu was investigated by the Chinese authorities. He was subsequently sentenced to 13 years of imprisonment for forcing three intoxicated women to have sex with him on November 25, 2022, by the Chinese courts, and was separately fined CN¥600 million (US$84 million) fine for tax evasion. In November 2023, he lost an appeal of the rape trial.

However, overall some fans were very disappointed with the season. Most of all, they criticized the poor editing, the favoritism, especially biased screentime and the heavy inclusion of the mentors. Fans were claiming that this season has been poorly planned and executed, that there is no actual competiton in these shows anymore and that this was the most predictable season so far. ("Style without any substance. Nothing makes sense and all of the decisions, rules, and critiques seem to serve no other purpose than to redirect focus back on to Tencent's favorites. We're almost halfway through and I feel like I'm watching two separate shows: Mentor Camp 2020 (although even that's been biased towards Tao, Luhan and even Kris when he was a guest) and Tencent's Favorites 2020. Seeing the mentors compete with each other adds nothing to show for me and splitting up the mentors in the last round robbed the girls on the opportunity from learning from all the mentors who have different strengths and skills. Anyone that isn't one of Tencent's favorites or their friends basically doesn't exist at all for the show's editors and despite claiming that screen time would be fair and based on rank, it's still the same 10-15 girls that we constantly see. It's as rigged as it can be without Tencent actually just changing the vote count and putting their favorites in the top 7[...]")

The reduction of Bonbon Girls 303 to a group of seven members instead of the usual eleven also caused a scandal after it was announced in the press conference. Fans were speculating that the reason was to lessen the expanses while being able to better compete with other idol groups. At first, there were rumors that 4 members of Rocket Girls 101 were supposed to join Bonbon Girls 303 which was they cut it to 7 members, but that rumor has since been proven to be false as that didn't happen. Other rumors included that the mentors would each pick a trainee to "save" in the final episode which also didn't happen.

Bonbon Girls 303 wasn't able to recreate the success of Rocket Girls 101 and R1SE. THE9 as their direct competitor was also more successful because their show was more successful, had more viewers and the attention of Blinks because of Lisa being a mentor even though some people initially predicted that Bonbon Girls 303 would be more successful as Tencent has more ressources.

Produce Camp 2021

Apparently, Tencent learned from their mistakes and took the criticism of fans into consideration as Produce Camp 2021 (Chinese: 创造营2021), officially CHUANG 2021, as the fourth season of Produce 101 China is arguably the most loved season among K-pop fans. The show brought 90 male trainees from different countries and agencies, to form an 11-member international boy group through global viewers' votes. The final 11 trainees debuted as INTO1. The show aired from February 17, 2021 to April 24, 2021. Among others Amber Liu of f(x) and Zhou Zhennan of R1SE were mentors of the show while Nene/Zheng Naixin of BonBon Girls 303 served as international assistant. Jackson of Got7, Liu Xiening of Bonbon Girls 303, Meng Meiqi of Cosmic Girls/Rocket Girls 101, R1SE and Bonbon Girls 303 were guest performers on the show. It was first rumored that the fourth season will be a co-ed of male and female trainees, but the official Sina Weibo account rejected the rumor.

Lelush (利路修), a Russian model and contestant, became a short-lived internet phenomenon because he so clearly did not want to be on the show stating things like "F means freedom". Netizens kept voting for him and clowned him by saying "F now means forever". He was eliminated during the finale, at the rank of 17 as fans decided to keep him on the show because they loved him, but took pity on him and granted him his wish not to debut with the group in the end. The reactions of the other trainees to him advancing made fans love the situation even more as the other trainees clowned him a lot. Initially, he was supposed to teach the two trainees #24 Amu and #63 Yuu Mandarin and act as a translator, but because the show didn't have enough contestants he was last minute recruited by the director of the show. Lelush had no interest in becoming an idol and no background in performing, so he initially rejected their offer. But because the producers kept asking, he eventually agreed to compete on the show as one of King Holdings’ trainees not expecting to become that popular. Many international contestants could not make it onto the show because of Visa and age restrictions (e.g. they were not considered adults in Thailand). Some local contestants also dropped out of the show before filming. To fill up the slots, the producers reached out to whoever they could get. Other trainees that got roped into the show at the last minute include #43 Li Luoer (who applied for an internship to do music arrangement), #66 Cao Zuo (initially applied to be a dance mentor on the show) and #56 David (another translator). Lelush decided to sing "Jackpot" for his audition, a not very exciting Russian song that encapsulates his thoughts on the show (the lyrics include "home is more important than my dreams" and "bro, what is the meaning in this"). ("Due to his 代购 business, he is extremely well versed in most Chinese social media platforms and he knows China pretty damn well. He even acted as a tour guide for Ivan when Ivan was visiting mainland China and  taught Ivan how to use Alipay(a mobile phone paying platform). On Chuang, he is pretty good at pretending that he is not good at Chinese by using an accent. However, when he teaches his roommates Chinese (or when he talks about going home), his Chinese pronunciation is very accurate (I know this because I'm a native Chinese speaker).") As the show continued, the practice sessions became more exhausting, and the model quickly realized that he wanted to leave the show. Unfortunately, given the contract he'd signed, Lelush couldn't simply leave the show; he needed to place low enough in the rankings to be kicked off. So he began to implore the public not to vote for him and showed his dislike of the competition during broadcasts: "Being in a boy group isn't my dream. I don't want founders to vote for me."; "Don't love me, you won't end up well." But ironically, Lelush's clearly apathetic attitude towards the show only earned him more favor from fans. The more Lelush showed his desire to be voted off, the more fans liked him. In fact, Lelush was one of the highest-ranked competitors up until the final episode of the show. Lelush's ironic success in Produce Camp 2021 is primarily attributed to China's "Sang culture."

For fans the show also had a lot of other memorable moments. For example Oscar Wang (13th) (born Wang Zhengxiong (Chinese: 王政熊)) also known as Oscar (Chinese:奥斯卡) Oz, or Øzcar Wang born in Brazil and a native of Chengdu managed to gather the attention of fans even though he ultimately didn't make the group. He was trained at Cube Entertainment in Korea for three years. In 2020, he gained popularity by participating under the name Oscar in the Youku idol group casting show "We Are Young" (Chinese:少年之名) before joining CHUANG 2021. In August 2022 he signed with Ryce Entertainment and started a successful solo career. Produce Camp 2021, in particular, attracted viewers from all over the world because of its diverse contestant pool, with trainees hailing from Russia, the United States, and Brazil. INTO1, although classified as C-pop, was ultimately an 'international' group with members from China, Japan, and Thailand.

Unfortunately, INTO1 was not very successful. Some fans even considered the group to be a flop.

Chinese Bans on Idol Shows

On September 2, 2021, China banned some reality talent shows and ordered broadcasters not to promote "sissy" men, in an attempt to intervene in idol fan culture and reshape the culture of the country's huge entertainment industry that authorities believe is leading young Chinese people astray. "Broadcast and TV institutions must not screen idol development programmes or variety shows and reality shows that feature the children of celebrities," China's broadcast regulator, the National Radio and Television Administration said, in new regulations. The regulator also ordered broadcasters to resist "abnormal aesthetics" such as "sissy" men, "vulgar influencers", stars' inflated pay and performers with "lapsed morals". The Chinese government completely banned "niang pao"(娘炮), an insulting slang word/derogatory term for men perceived to be effeminate. Cai Xukun, winner of Idol Producer, was one of the individuals specifically given as an example of the look. According to the regulator, the new rules are designed to rectify the supposed problems of artists' violation of law and morality and chaos in the "fans community", and to create an atmosphere of love for the party and the country, and respect for morality and art.

There had been some controversies associated with these popular reality shows and ardent supporters who follow other celebrities, the authorities believe. This is not the first time the Chinese government has stepped in to rein in competitive reality shows. Back in 2006, China's pioneering singing idol show Super Girls was canceled after its fan voting system was determined to have negative impacts such as "overly hyping fan culture" and manipulating people to spend money supporting their idols.

Idol development shows such as Youth With You and Produce 101 had become a huge phenomenon in China transforming trainees – mostly young Chinese people from ordinary backgrounds – into celebrities through fierce competition and rigorous mentorship. According to the top 10 data compiled by the Maoyan Research Institute – a spin-off of a local entertainment service provider – Produce 101 is one of the most-watched shows in China. As much as 52% of the audience for Produce 101 were born after the 1990s, the research found, adding that young male viewers also paid great attention to this talent show, which produces girl groups. The Chinese term fanquan refers to highly organized fan groups loyal to their chosen idols. Most of the members of these fan groups — 81.6% — are born after 1995, according to state-backed media Jiemian. Among them, nearly half are students with no stable income. In the past, celebrity fans did many things to support their idols, including buying giant billboards to celebrate their idols' birthdays and purchasing products endorsed by their heroes. The super-intense fan culture currently in the spotlight in China first emerged in South Korea where celebrity stalkers are called sasaeng fans, while in China, they are dubbed sisheng fans, meaning 'private life fans.' So-called private life fans have been behind several cringe-worthy incidents in recent years. In 2016, Jackson Wang, a member of popular Korean idol group Got7, was injured in a car crash in Xiamen caused by fans chasing his car.

The first cencorship hit the Produce shows throughout the run of Idol Producer. Netizens noticed blurred orbs over the trainee's earlobes, an editing technique typically reserved for the profane. It seems that China's conservative media regulator—the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film, and Television of the People's Republic of China—took issue with the use of earrings by men, and mandated action post-production. This left a bad taste in some of the international fanbase at that time because it showcased how closely the Chinese governement was involved in the shows. In September 2018, there had been a nationwide discussion about a perceived emasculation of men in China. State media Xinhua had some scathing remarks, calling the stars "effeminate" and declaring a masculinity crisis. The shift in the aesthetics of the younger generation in China shown in the massive popularity of androgynous looking singers such as Li Yuchun didn't sit right with the older generation. Only a year later, in 2019, fans of Youth With You found an episode's release delayed with no explanation besides the supposed implementation of "better stage effects." When the episode was eventually released, all contestants with dyed hair were either cut out or were edited to have black hair. Throughout the season, the show also tried to promote "social responsiblity". It no longer focused only on the competition - it also emphasises the character development of the trainees and showed trainees doing volunteer work. The production crew made no acknowledgement of the changes in hair color. This practice of editing dyed hair occurred before in 2017, but the decision in 2019 was still sudden and seemingly isolated to Youth With You. Both moves seem consistent with the CCP’s attempts to construct an ideal image of its men, related to their own conceptions of masculinity. Another popular competition produced by iQIYI, "The Rap of China", originally featured a style associated with rap culture. When a new season arrived, contestants rapped about love, dreams and family, while the show's name changed to "China's New Rap". It showcased the Communist Party's renewed focus on "core socialist values", that frown on individualism and capitalism. Censorship increased.

Idol survival shows took another hit in 2021 as China cracked down on fan behavior. In August, the National Radio and Television Administration launched a review of variety shows, promising reforms including "strictly restraining idol trainee shows." The programs had become infamous for some of the irrational behavior of its "super fans." Large fan clubs operate like for-profit companies, generating publicity, taking photos, and paying for subway advertisements in order to support their favorite trainees. One of the most important tasks of these groups is sourcing funds to buy extra votes. These extra votes come with the purchase of goods from sponsors, often leading to waste. The third season of Youth With You was canceled halfway through at the request of the government after videos of individuals pouring out yogurt drinks into street gutters went viral. The cartons came with QR codes for consumers to support their favorite idol trainees, but when fan bases bought the drinks in bulk for the sole purpose of buying votes, the perishable items went to waste quickly. Much of the millions of bottles and boxes of milk products were resold and donated. But in extreme cases, they were reportedly poured down the drain. The excesses have prompted criticism by Chinese state media as the government has campaigned to ban food waste. It turned into a million dollar industry as it was reported that for example during CHUANG 2020, the top contestants received votes that were worth at least 48 million yuan ($7.4 million) of yogurt. "This is seeking profits and attention through waste and squander, a lack of respect for labor, and a contempt and breach of the law," a Chinese article said, citing an anti-food waste campaign endorsed by Chinese President Xi Jinping. "The consequence is to mislead youths and erode their pursuit and values." This led to the government ordering the suspension of the filming. iQIYI issued an apology. Waste was not the only harmful manifestation though. Accounts dedicated to idol trainees sometimes began controversy for the sole purpose of gaining social media traction for the idol. Considering the importance of social media control for the CCP's agenda, the purposeful instigation of controversial discourse was an especially important factor in its crackdown. Hacking was not an uncommon practice. Fights were frequent among different fan groups and even within them. The very format of the shows manipulated young girls for profit. By the end of filming CHAUNG 2021, over 100 million yuan had been spent supporting the top eleven trainees. The Chinese government condemned the programs for neglecting their social responsibility, and advocating inclinations such as "money worship, hedonism, quick success, and instant benefits."

After the Canadian-Chinese pop star Kris Wu was detained on rape allegations in July 2021, many of his loyal fans reportedly designed a "prison break" to "save" him. Comments appeared on social media like "let's break into prison to rescue Kris Wu," and some fans allegedly made plans to organize "rescue groups" and "prison visiting team," China Youth Daily reported. He denied the claims, but it added fuel to the fire. People were discussing celebrities again as Kris Wu's incident is not the first case of chaos in fan culture. The authorities then vowed to curb the behaviours of China's "chaotic" fandoms, such as what they deem to be irrational celebrity worship ("We must work together to establish rules for celebrities' words and deeds, keep the influence of capital in check, curb the barbaric growth of pan-entertainment, strengthen industry self-discipline, and urge entertainers to establish correct professional values."; "The culprit of the chaotic fan culture lies in an entire gray industrial chain with a clear division of labor, mature organization, and capital participation. They earn profits by taking advantage of the immature minds of minors and misleading fans to spend money for their idols. They find excuses for their idols, even for their criminal behaviors."). The regulator appears also to be concerned about the broader societal culture shaped by young Chinese people's consumption of celebrity news and entertainment shows, and its potential to run against the current value promoted in China. In the announcement, the regulator asked Chinese media to "resolutely resist showing off wealth and enjoyment, hyping up gossip and privacy, negative hot topics, vulgar 'internet celebrities', and the bottomless appreciation of ugliness, and other pan-entertainment tendencies". Coinciding with this announcement, the regulator also released a list of 24 what they considered to have been the best programmes in the first quarter of this year. The titles included a number of programmes related to China's leader, Xi Jinping, as well as one called "revealing how the BBC produces anti-intellectual reports". "The CCP has always had a complicated relationship with popular culture," said Michel Hockx, director of the Liu Institute for Asia and Asian Studies at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana. "On the one hand, the party represents the people and wants culture to be popular. On the other hand, they really don't approve of what the people seem to like. They consider much of popular culture to be 'vulgar'. The problem is that the popular culture industry also makes an important contribution to the economy, creates jobs, etc. And a lot of people like it, so it's not a question of just banning everything and replacing it with things that the party likes." According to the accounting firm PWC, China's entertainment and media industry is expected to bring in roughly $436.8bn (£316bn) in revenue by 2025. The figure for this year is expected to be approximately $358.6bn. Celebrities had been increasingly caught up in the changes. In August 2021, the Chinese actor Zheng Shuang was fined $46m for tax evasion. Around the same time, the actor and Fendi brand ambassador Zhao Wei appeared to have been deplatformed, with her name removed from all works on major entertainment platforms, including the popular Chinese TV show My Fair Princess.

The announcement had become one of Weibo's hot topics at that time, with the related hashtag being viewed at least 240m times. Opinions are divided. "I support it firmly, the regulator should have done that earlier. I never understood why some people who are nondescript, difficult to detect whether they are men or women, all of a sudden became popular, and how they earn 1bn yuan for a year," said one. "Why does National Radio and Television Administration have to regulate personal aesthetics? Isn't it discrimination? How do you measure masculinity?" asked another. "Is it that you are only masculine if you look like the security guard in the subway in Xi'an?" International fans were also split about this development mostly leaning to not liking the development while some said that the obsessive fan culture indeed needs to be reigned in.

The idol era was forced to meet its end. According to the announcement, idol survival shows are getting the axe, and no more will be made in the future. The administration also said that it would continue to crack down on celebrity culture and toxic fandom and strive to cultivate a patriotic atmosphere in the entertainment industry.

INTO1 officially disbanded on April 24, 2023, marking the end of an era for China's entertainment industry. This is why the disbandment has been particularly somber for C-pop fans, as the 2021 ban on all future idol survival shows means there won’t be a similar idol group to look forward to in the foreseeable future. "The story of INTO1 is coming to an end. But we believe this is by no means the end for our members, but rather a new beginning. We will definitely meet again in the future," the group's official account posted on Weibo, China's top microblogging platform. Many commented: "I do share the hopes of many here that this period will result in a major overhaul and upgrades in the idol industry." which is a sentiment echoed by Chinese netizens.

Chuang Asia Series

In July 2023, it was announced that the Chuang (also known as Produce Camp) franchise would have seasons set in other countries in Asia under the name Chuang Asia, starting with the first season in Thailand. Chuang Asia: Thailand (Thai: ช่วง เอเชีย ไทยแลนด์), also known as Chuang Asia 2024 or Produce Camp Asia 2024 in China (Chinese: 创造营亚洲2024), is a Thai reality competition show by Tencent. It aired from February 3, 2024, to April 6, 2024 and is the fifth entry to the Chuang franchise, an idol survival series originally based in China, and also the first entry to the Chuang Asia series. The show brought 70 female trainees from different countries and agencies to form an international girl group through global viewers' votes. Jackson Wang of Got7 served as the lead mentor of the season. The other mentors were Ten of NCT/WayV, Mike Angelo of the Thai pop duo Golf-Mike, Nene of BonBon Girls 303 and Thai actor Jeff Satur who became famous in the Thai BL community for playing Kim Theeranpanyakul in the drama KinnPorsche: The Series. Two former members of INTO1—Santa and Nine—also appeared as guest mentors on episode six, and (G)I-dle’s Minnie, actor Wang Ziqi and Win Metawin, who also rose to fame in the Thai BL scene appearing as Tine in 2gether: The Series while also playing hetero roles like Kavin in F4 Thailand: Boys Over Flowers, appeared as guest mentors on episode eight. Jeff and Win's interactions were loved by fans as they were very flirty with each other. Many claimed that Win stole the show ("With Win there is no dull moment full of happiness and enjoyable good performance") stating that this was the best episode. Fans were commenting: "Call it flirt asia instead of #chuangasia". The final 9 contestants debuted as Gen1es as a multi-national girl group based in Thailand in 2024 being active for three years. Prior to the show, Xueyao (7th) competed on Chuang 2020 (2020), the third entry of Chuang, achieving #30. Ruan (2nd) competed on also competed on the South Korean idol reality shows Girls Planet 999 (2021) being eliminated in the third elimination round and Wang Ke (6th) competed on Produce 48 (2018) achieving #56. Qiao Yiyu (1st) gained some recognition in China for competing in the reality shows Great Dance Crew (2022) and Youth π Plan (2023). Pailiu (3rd) is a Thai-Vietnamese model under Miss Grand Thailand and was the fifth runner-up in the 2023 pageant. Yean (4th) debuted as a soloist in 2020 under Khaosan Entertainment, and Elyn (5th) was a child actress who appeared in the Malaysian drama Geng UPSR (2015–2016). The other two members of the line-up are Didi and Emma. K-pop fans were espcially happy for Wang Ke and Ruan as they loved them in their respective previous survival shows. Some other contestants were also previously part of idol groups or shows. For example, Duna (14th), Geumhee (58th), Seoyeon (51st), and Yeham (55th) are members of the South Korean idol group CSR. K-pop fans were very proud of Duna. Shye (61st), a Singaporean singer-songwriter, also managed to gather attention of fans. Some fans though complained that the production value and extra footage was missing this season making it harder to connect to the trainees of the season ("I feel like we don't get as much footage to get to know the trainees like in past seasons. For example before chuang 2021 we got chinese new years ep and theme song recreation before eliminations. We also got 3 different side shows at least. It has been mentioned in interviews that this season is cheaper the produce than previous, so maybe thats a reason they don't have it. i really wish they had gotten to vlog more. I could name almost 90 boys but this season I can barely name 20 girls because most of them don't get screentime. Also I wanted to know more on whoses friends with who not from eliminations.").

Japan

Produce 101 Japan

Produce 101 Japan was a Japanese spinoff of the show. Notable is that the winners debuted as a permanent group, JO1 ,rather than a temporary one. It featured all-male contestants.

all individual trainees, no company push for anyone

Produce 101 Japan Season 2

Rino Nakasone

Produce 101 Japan: The Girls

Hongki in Season 3

Voting manipulation controversy

It was later revealed that the voting was tampered with by the companies.

Fans believe that more trainees were rigged out than revealed (Jonghyun, Samuel, Japanese trainees)

other controversies: companies deciding to not participate in the show, favoritism

Produce curse vs Produce priviledge

Fandom examples

• Produce 101 on Ao3
• Produce 101(China) which has majority Chinese Language fic

Example Fanworks

Produce 101 Season 2, South Korea

• on the empty paper, just two of us (we are drawing together) by orphan_account (Hwang Minhyun/Kim Jonghyun | JR): "But it wounds us more, Jonghyun, when we see our leader suffering like this, blaming himself for things that are not his responsibility, but our own. Things as a result of our own incompetencies, born out of our own faults." It's difficult for Jonghyun to keep his head up when things look impossibly dreary. Nothing ever goes as he anticipates, especially on Produce 101.

• to survive by wildflower (bangtrashsyd): When Jonghyun hears about the company's new initiative to boost NU'EST's popularity, he thinks oh thank God then devises and plans. the problem is, Produce 101 is a reality show. and plans fall apart easily, under survival and under (he knows this too well) Mnet's editing. no matter. if he doesn't make it to the top eleven, one of his boys will. he swore it on his life.

• Always by miloron (dosalife) (Kim Jonghyun | JR/Park Jihoon): They had always been on different sides.

• the art of denial by byunderella (Park Jihoon/Park Woojin): Jihoon would like to think that he has his life together, but when a part of his past that he wants to forget shows up in front of him again, his impulsive decision sets him off on the biggest rollercoaster of his life or, alternatively in which denying his feelings seems much easier to jihoon than acccepting the fact that Woojin, his fake boyfriend, might become the subject of his epiphany
• your hand fits mine (perfectly) by minhyuned (kyoongs) (Ha Sungwoon/Noh Taehyun | Kid Monster): Sungwoon laughed. “Well, that’s one way to get your attention.” (Taehyun didn’t tell him that he didn’t even have to try – Sungwoon always had his attention.)
• your light stains me with a shadow by chanyous_height_difference (Lim Youngmin/Park Woojin): Woojin deserves someone extraordinary, someone amazing, someone incredible. He isn‘t all of that. He‘s just Youngmin.
• Playing With Fire by SingSangSungDD (Kang Dongho | Baekho/Lee Daehwi): When they chose to perform 'Playing With Fire', Lee Daehwi didn't expect to light a flame of feelings to Kang Dongho. He was supposed to be scary to him. But Daehwi has a thing with a gentle kind of scary. Something that feeds the burning feelings inside him.
• off book by polarities (Kang Daniel/Ong Seongwoo): Daniel and Seongwoo do a kiss scene for a friend's movie. It's awkward, but not as awkward as Daniel's newfound crush on his best friend.
• Didn’t Know I’d Ever Miss You by sfatka (Lai Guanlin/Yoo Seonho): Guanlin wants his boyfriend to pay attention to him. He gets confused and accidentally sabotages his own relationship.

• Roses are Red and Violets are Blue by AStarlightMonbebe (Hwang Minhyun/Kim Jonghyun | JR; Kang Daniel/Ong Seongwu; Kim Donghan/Kwon Hyunbin): When famous actor Hwang Minhyun ends up in the hospital, the person he leasts expect to be his doctor is Kim Jonghyun, his high school secret admirer. (fulfillment of prompt #15 for the Justice League Fic Fest)

Produce X 101, South Korea

• Attention by waitingforwonhui (Kim Wooseok | Wooshin/Lee Jinhyuk): Wooseok already regrets taking Chinese History this semester. But then he gets paired with popular campus playboy Jinhyuk for their class' presentation and suddenly, things look a bit brighter.
• House of Glass by orphan_account (Cho Seungyeon | Seungyoun/Kim Wooseok | Wooshin; Lee Jinhyuk/Lee Sejin (Produce 101)): Wooseok is a fashion model whose career hit a standstill, and having to pose for a painter symbolized rock bottom for him. Seungyoun is a talented but annoyingly cheerful painter, until he's so much more than that. During their two-month exhibition, they share music, dreams and fears, inspire each other to live and accidentally fall in love in the process.

Produce Camp 2021, China

• When Things Seem Wonderful by Qianchun (Gong Jun | Simon/Zhang Zhehan): Gong Jun came to Hainan to appear on an idol elimination show, not to be a part of Zhang-laoshi's "imperial harem." Or so he thinks. In which both Gong Jun and Zhang Zhehan guest on Chuang. Questionable singing, unexpected jealousy, and organized chaos ensue.

Idol Producer

• I Wanna Get Love by zhengxing (Cai Xukun/Zhu Zhengting | Jung Jung): Zhengting had always been taught from a young age that he should be nice to everyone. While Zhengting thinks he’s maintained this rule pretty well, he knows that there are always exceptions to every rule. This exception goes by the name of Cai Xukun.

External links

• Produce 101 on Wikipedia

Spin-offs

The format was so successful that other reality shows have become popular, especially since Mnet gave up on the franchise after the voting manipulation scandal. However, nowadays fans seem a little bit tired of survival shows, especially those where only a temporary group will be created.

Inspired shows include Idol Producer which was quite controversial as it plagiarized the format without asking Mnet and Youth With You which are the following seasons of Idol Producer.

Girls Planet 999 (GP999) was the first independent survival show Mnet aired after giving up on the Produce franchise the year before. The show aired from August 6, 2021 to October 22, 2021 and debuted the girlgroup Kep1er which debuted on January 3, 2022, with "Wa Da Da". Kep1er is scheduled to end their activities on July 3, 2024. Notable mentors called "K-pop Masters" were Tiffany Young of Girls' Generation and Sunmi. The shows signature song was "O.O.O". The show included known trainees such as Choi Yujin of CLC, members of Cherry Bullet, Sim Seungeun of BVNDIT, a member of AKB48 and contestants who already participated in other survival shows such as Produce 48, Produce Camp 2020, Produce 101 China, Youth With You 2 or Nizi Project. People noticed a lot of similarities between the two formats and a lot of tropes of Mnet's editing also resurfaced within the show. Netizens claimed that Mnet just wanted to get rid of the bad taste the voting manipulation left and just renamed the show as it is essentially the same show ("I feel like Girls Planet is Produce in everything but name"). Critics stated, "There's not enough differences from 'Produce' for 'Girls Planet 999' to escape the shadow of the former". The show initially gained attention due to the fact it featured 99 contestants from Korea, Japan and China - 33 hopefuls from each country - which reminded people of Produce 48. Both Mnet and viewers worried though that the show could easily spiral into controversy considering South Korea and Japan's shared colonial history, South Korea and China's cultural feuds and the touchy relationship between Taiwan and China. Mnet stated that they wouldn't air remarks about certain countries or images of national flags, nor any kind of "sensitive" words or symbolism. Produce 48 in contrast talked a lot about cultural differences. Some people thought at first it was a smart move as the Chinese government's restrictions and decisions riled up emotions on both sides to the point that the SBS series "Joseon Exorcist" (2021) was canceled after two episodes due to a backlash for misleadingly portraying 15th-century Koreans eating Chinese food. Most people though were rather upset about the decision, especially since Mnet seemed to pit the groups against each other. Another change was that viewers abroad could vote, too, but it seemed messy to viewers, especially the cell voting ("The voting was a mess. Perhaps not illegal this time, but hardly a reflection of performance, talent and popularity."). Unfortunately the show couldn't emulate the success the Produce franchise as the ratings were rather low and the reviews were negative. K-Netizens claimed that the reason for the shows failure was also the visuals of the trainees ("Doesn't it make sense ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ The kids in danger of being eliminated are pretty and more idol-like. "Girls Planet 999" is such a flop"; "Except for the title "Huening Kai's sister", is there any other point of Huening Bahiyyih that attracts attention? Neither appearance, charm nor ability. After all, why is she ranked so high?"). The show also wasn't able to recreate the success the groups of the show had. After debuting Kep1er had a steady but small fanbase and didn't come close to the big dedicated fanbases of I.O.I, Wanna One or Iz*One, also because "controversial" trainees ended up in the final line-up and because they debuted in the same year as a lot of more popular girl groups (IVE, NMIXX, Newjeans, Le Sserafim). Basically, the general public also lost faith in Mnet (because of the voting manipulations and because they promised not to make Produce seasons anymore) and survival shows in general and that is why many don't want to watch it anymore and why it isn't as successful anymore.

Boys Planet serves as the sequel to Girls Planet 999 and debuted the boygroup Zerobaseone (abbreviated as ZB1). The show's signature song is "Here I Am". The show aired from February 2, 2023, to April 20, 2023. While its predecessor, Girls Planet 999, limited applications to South Korea, Japan, China, and Taiwan, the regions were expanded this season to allow for international participation. 98 contestants from various backgrounds were selected for the show. They were then equally split into two groups: K-Group and G-Group. Notable mentors were Bobby of iKON and Solji of EXID. Instead of having one host present the show for its entire run, it was presented by so-called "Star Masters", which rotated with each round. Star Masters were usually experienced celebrities, who could give advice to and guide the trainees. The first round was presented by former NU'EST and Wanna One member Hwang Min-hyun, with Sunmi joining him in episode 2. Minhyuk of BtoB joined the show as the fourth Star Master for the second mission. SHINee's Key joined the show as the fifth Star Master for the third mission. In episode 10, 2AM's Jo Kwon became the sixth Star Master for a special "Musical Star Test". Somi hosted the 3rd Survivor Announcement Ceremony and also appeared in episode 11. Soloist and former Wanna One member Kim Jae-hwan served as the eighth Star Master for the final mission. Hwang Min-hyun reprised his role as a Star Master for the show's finale. At first, the boys season was seen as doing better than the girls season as the boys seasons always did better, but fans were quick to judge that the show also wouldn't be as successful as the Produce franchise. Viewers claimed that the combination of the Produce series rigging, the dissatisfaction with GP999, and Kep1er not performing under expectations because of Kep1er's management disasteer has turned off a lot of casual viewers. On top of that, survival shows aren't that popular domestically anymore, even Produce was losing popularity. Fans claimed that most of the people who are left are basically diehard fans of the idol survival show genre. However, they may not have been doing Produce's ratings in the beginning but the show definitely had the hype and a lot of dedicated fans. The ratings went higher and higher throughout the show. Critics claimed that the global cultural exchange because of the international trainees is sparking innovation, improvement, and excitement which is why the show could create the hype. In the end, Boys Planet was one of the hottest shows in 2023. The show also had some familar faces as contestants: Pentagon's Hui, Yeom Taegyun and Keita of Ciipher, Lee Dongyeol and Lee Hwanhee of Up10tion, and contestants who already participated in other survival shows among others Produce 101 Japan (Season 1 or 2), Youth With You (1 or 3) or Produce Camp 2021. Zerobaseone as a group seems to be very popular as well. They currently haven't surpassed the success of Wanna One, but fans think they could do that in the future as they shatter records already.

Mix Nine was also a show which seemed to be similar to the Produce concept. The show was highly controversial, for example because no group debuted and fans felt like they wasted the time of the trainees. The show aired from October 29, 2017, to January 26, 2018.

Another show which was created seemingly because of the success of Produce and survival shows in general was The Unit (The Unit: Idol Rebooting Project). The show aired from October 28, 2017, to February 10, 2018 on KBS2. The concept of the show is to form male and female unit groups of nine members each, among idols who had already debuted. The show was aiming to give them a fair chance to demonstrate their talents that they may not have been able to showcase before. Rain served as MC. Other notable mentors were Taemin of SHINee, HyunA and Hwang Chiyeul. The boys (UNI+ B) debuted as UNB and the girls (UNI+ G) debuted as UNI.T. In November 2017, it was announced that the winning groups will do promotions for seven months and if the winning groups gained success, their contract will be extended up to twenty-five months. Unfortunately and much to the dismay of fans, both groups failed to do so. The most memorable audition was that of Yang Jiwon who was originally part of the pre-debut lineups of Five Girls and T-ara, but later left the company and debuted as a member of Spica instead in February 2012, the group subsequently went on a hiatus in June 2017. Through the audition she managed to gain wide success and became beloved among the fanbase. Other members who debuted with UNI.T include members of Hello Venus, Dal Shabet, LABOUM, Sonamoo, The Ark, April and DIA. Another notable audition was that of Timoteo of Hotshot. He is a friend of Taemin as he is a former SM Entertainment trainee and managed to make Taemin cry because of his audition. In the end, his fellow band member Ko Hojung would debut with UNB, as well as members of Big Star, A.cian/Bigflo, Madtown, U-KISS and A.C.E. Ji Hansol also debuted with the band. He was also very known among fans as he was a former SM Rookies trainee who left the company in 2017 to sign with J-FLO Entertainment and ended up debuting with Newkidd. To this day NCTzens wonder why Hansol never got to debut with NCT and instead left the company because he was very famous among fans. A lot of fans complained throughout the show that it was a popularity contest instead of being fair. One example fans would mention is the performance of UNI+ B's Team Blue of Block B's "Her". According to fans, it is the best performance of that particular challenge ("This performance didn’t feel like a competition or contest etc, it felt like a they were just having fun/doing what they love with no stress. My favourite performance."), but because all the trainees weren't as popular as their fellow teams only Kanto managed to make it to the next round because he was already fairly popular.