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| ▲ This photo, provided by Mnet, shows a scene from 'Boys Planet.' (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap) |
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| ▲ This photo, provided by Mnet, shows the poster for the final episode of 'Boys Planet.' (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap) |
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| ▲ This photo, provided by Mnet, shows the Jamsil Indoor Stadium where the final episode of 'Boys Planet' was live-streamed. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap) |
SEOUL, Apr. 21 (Yonhap) -- South Korean reality competition show “Boys Planet,” created by local cable channel Mnet, has revealed the nine finalists after months of intense competition.
Contestants Zhang Hao, Sung Han-bin, Seok Matthew, Ricky, Park Gun-wook, Kim Tae-rae, Kim Gyu-vin, Kim Ji-woong, and Han Yu-jin -- from the first to ninth place in order -- have been named the winners of this K-pop audition show, which live-streamed its finale at 8:50 p.m. Thursday. The winners will go on to debut as members of the project group ZeroBaseOne.
The finalists have been announced by adding up the tallies from the first round of voting accumulated over the course of a week from April 13 to 20, and from the second round of voting that was conducted on Mnet’s official voting app. A total of 8,177,501 votes from about 184 countries were cast in the first week of voting.
This cable channel has aired several hit audition shows over the past few years, including the four seasons of the “Produce” franchise, by which it showcased a number of temporary project K-pop groups, such as I.O.I and IZ*ONE as well as boy bands Wanna One and X1. While maintaining its original audition format by which viewers participate in selecting the members of the project group, Mnet had several changes made to this brand-new audition show, which it produced for the first time in a long time: With its previous “Girls Planet” getting embroiled in a controversy over vote rigging, the channel had the entire process, from counting votes to announcing the final tally, verified by an independent agency.
However, some fans yet filed complaints with the Korea Communications Standards Commission, raising suspicions over repeated ballot rigging.
In the meantime, the show also recorded a relatively low average national rating over its 12 episodes with the younger generation -- the age group of the show’s viewers -- being accustomed to watching the show on online video streaming services. The live-streamed finale scored a rating of 1.2 percent.
Nevertheless, contestants, who showed off their charms and skills, caught many viewers’ eyes and hearts: The final episode, during which the finalists were announced at Jamsil Indoor Stadium Thursday, gathered more than 6,000 audiences. Under such circumstances, the cable channel was once again caught up in controversy by forbidding fans who initially won seats from entering the Stadium.
Mnet explained, “The average rate of those who did not show up at the recorded episodes for the first three missions was about 20 percent,” adding, “We distributed tickets based on such data but far more audiences actually showed up than we had expected.”
(This article is translated from Korean to English by Ha eun Lee)
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