If you’ve been in the K-pop fandom for a while now, then you’ve probably heard about survival shows. You might know I-Land (where Enhypen formed from), maybe Girls Planet 999 (where Kep1er formed), or the most recent survival show, Boys Planet (where ZeroBaseOne was announced).
While these shows are often an escape from reality and entertaining for almost everyone, there are deeper consequences that come from these. Survival shows are lighthearted and inspiring, but they often result in conflict.
While these shows are often an escape from reality and entertaining for almost everyone, there are deeper consequences that come from these. Survival shows are lighthearted and inspiring, but they often result in conflict.
Background Information
K-pop survival shows are competitions where aspiring idols, known as "trainees," have a chance to show off their talents and debut. The only downside: it's a battlefield. In many survival shows, there are easily over 100 trainees, and that's not counting the thousands of aspiring idols who didn’t make it through the preliminaries to qualify for the show. Survival shows are no joke: they are insanely competitive.
Throughout this article, I’ll mostly be referencing Boys Planet. Boys Planet was a survival show produced through MNET, a South Korean music television channel, where 98 contestants poured their souls out onscreen in hopes of making the final debut lineup, with only 9 spots in the final group
K-pop survival shows are competitions where aspiring idols, known as "trainees," have a chance to show off their talents and debut. The only downside: it's a battlefield. In many survival shows, there are easily over 100 trainees, and that's not counting the thousands of aspiring idols who didn’t make it through the preliminaries to qualify for the show. Survival shows are no joke: they are insanely competitive.
Throughout this article, I’ll mostly be referencing Boys Planet. Boys Planet was a survival show produced through MNET, a South Korean music television channel, where 98 contestants poured their souls out onscreen in hopes of making the final debut lineup, with only 9 spots in the final group
|
|
It really is a love hate relationship with survival shows. It’s a constant give and take, and they take more than they give.
To start off, let me describe the cons about them.
To start off, let me describe the cons about them.
Evil Editing
Evil editing is probably the most well known form of favoritism in almost every survival show. Evil editing is, well, what it sounds like. It’s where editors aim to make a trainee seem worse than they actually are. This is usually done through editors taking out clips and editing them together out of context where the trainee looks like a terrible person. For example, in Boys Planet, editors aimed to make trainee Ricky seem like a selfish rich kid who was only in this for fame. This isn’t the only instance.
Evil editing is probably the most well known form of favoritism in almost every survival show. Evil editing is, well, what it sounds like. It’s where editors aim to make a trainee seem worse than they actually are. This is usually done through editors taking out clips and editing them together out of context where the trainee looks like a terrible person. For example, in Boys Planet, editors aimed to make trainee Ricky seem like a selfish rich kid who was only in this for fame. This isn’t the only instance.
|
|
In one of the first few stages of Boys Planet, Jiho’s reaction to an act of affection between another two trainees was aimed to make him look homophobic. But in reality, the scene they used was reversed. Initially he went from a stoic face to smiling, and in the version MNET posted, he went from smiling to stoic. It happens to so many other trainees that we as the viewers don’t know what to believe anymore. There really is no way to tell who is going to be evil edited next. But something we can do as viewers is look at them through different lenses before we decide to judge someone.
|
|
A previous trainee from I-Land, K, was also a victim of evil editing. Throughout the show, he was depicted to be this bossy man who always put himself first. He had been edited countless times where his quotes were taken out of context and put together to make him seem remorseless. But through the new show, The Howling, which was a J-pop survival show, K was able to show his true colors and debut, finally showing the world who he really is.
|
|
Evil editing is something no trainee can escape, because they literally have no idea how they’re going to be shown next. It happens to so many other trainees that we as the viewers don’t know what to believe anymore. There really is no way to tell who is going to be evil edited next. But something we can do as viewers is look at them through different lenses before we decide to judge someone. The only thing they can do is be on their best behavior, or be the crowd favorite.
Favoritism for Pretty Faces
Favoritism in survival shows is not anything new since the whole premise is to literally pick your favorite members to debut. But what really grinds my gears is when people vote for trainees on groundless statements. Their only defense is their pretty face.
This happened in Boys Planet with Lee Daeul. (Disclaimer: I am not hating on him! He seems genuinely nice and has so much potential in the future) Lee Daeul was ranked 4th in the first fan voting. The first signal song (the song all 98 trainees participate in) stage was the first one we got to see his dancing skills. I’m not speaking as a professional, but compared to other trainees, he was really behind on his dancing. Most people noticed this and didn’t think he would make it past the first round of eliminations, but everyone was surprised when he ranked 4th out of 98 trainees. Throughout the other episodes it was thought he would improve or at least give it his best. But that wasn’t really the case. On social media, Daeul supporters were saying that they wanted him to debut because he was handsome and he would be able to improve, but the more we got to see of him, the more voters got discouraged. He is in no way terrible, he just needed to improve more. In fact, when he was singing on his own, he showed just how good of a singer he was when his voice wasn’t strained for songs that were too high pitch for him. He will definitely make an amazing idol in the future.
Favoritism in survival shows is not anything new since the whole premise is to literally pick your favorite members to debut. But what really grinds my gears is when people vote for trainees on groundless statements. Their only defense is their pretty face.
This happened in Boys Planet with Lee Daeul. (Disclaimer: I am not hating on him! He seems genuinely nice and has so much potential in the future) Lee Daeul was ranked 4th in the first fan voting. The first signal song (the song all 98 trainees participate in) stage was the first one we got to see his dancing skills. I’m not speaking as a professional, but compared to other trainees, he was really behind on his dancing. Most people noticed this and didn’t think he would make it past the first round of eliminations, but everyone was surprised when he ranked 4th out of 98 trainees. Throughout the other episodes it was thought he would improve or at least give it his best. But that wasn’t really the case. On social media, Daeul supporters were saying that they wanted him to debut because he was handsome and he would be able to improve, but the more we got to see of him, the more voters got discouraged. He is in no way terrible, he just needed to improve more. In fact, when he was singing on his own, he showed just how good of a singer he was when his voice wasn’t strained for songs that were too high pitch for him. He will definitely make an amazing idol in the future.
|
|
Korean Fan Favoritism
Korean fans have had a history of being unfair to global idols, especially trainees. Throughout Boys Planet, G-group (Global Group) trainees were constantly placed incredibly low due to Korean voters only voting for K-Group (Korean Group) trainees. This was most noticeable with one of Boys Planets most popular trainees, Jay Chang.
Jay Chang is a trainee who is an exceptional entertainer. Not only is he hilarious, but he is also an amazing performer, his vocals are outstanding, and he was an All Star (Boys Planet way of ranking, All Star being the highest) throughout the entire show. But even with all that, and his exceptional ratings from the judges, he didn’t make it to the final debut line up. This is just proof that most Korean fans don’t pay attention to someone if they don’t meet the Korean beauty standard. Jay has very western looking features which to most make him handsome, but to many fans from Korea, they are used to every idol meeting the beauty standards from Korea. (Jay is planning his debut with his company so more to come on that later!)
Korean fans have had a history of being unfair to global idols, especially trainees. Throughout Boys Planet, G-group (Global Group) trainees were constantly placed incredibly low due to Korean voters only voting for K-Group (Korean Group) trainees. This was most noticeable with one of Boys Planets most popular trainees, Jay Chang.
Jay Chang is a trainee who is an exceptional entertainer. Not only is he hilarious, but he is also an amazing performer, his vocals are outstanding, and he was an All Star (Boys Planet way of ranking, All Star being the highest) throughout the entire show. But even with all that, and his exceptional ratings from the judges, he didn’t make it to the final debut line up. This is just proof that most Korean fans don’t pay attention to someone if they don’t meet the Korean beauty standard. Jay has very western looking features which to most make him handsome, but to many fans from Korea, they are used to every idol meeting the beauty standards from Korea. (Jay is planning his debut with his company so more to come on that later!)
|
|
Failure to Recognize Amazing Talent
Fans being unable to recognize amazing talent usually isn’t their fault. It's sometimes due to the editors not giving certain trainees enough screen time where fans can properly see everything they have to offer. But in some cases, it's their failure to see what's in front of them. This happened to a team in Boys Planet that performed Super Charger. The stage was amazing to say the least. The vocals, the dance, and the energy this team brought to the stage was astronomical, but each and every member got eliminated. I’m not really sure what made this happen, maybe it was the fans' votes not being enough, or maybe it was that they weren’t given the recognition they deserved. But regardless, the entire Super Charger team was robbed.
Fans being unable to recognize amazing talent usually isn’t their fault. It's sometimes due to the editors not giving certain trainees enough screen time where fans can properly see everything they have to offer. But in some cases, it's their failure to see what's in front of them. This happened to a team in Boys Planet that performed Super Charger. The stage was amazing to say the least. The vocals, the dance, and the energy this team brought to the stage was astronomical, but each and every member got eliminated. I’m not really sure what made this happen, maybe it was the fans' votes not being enough, or maybe it was that they weren’t given the recognition they deserved. But regardless, the entire Super Charger team was robbed.
|
|
The Good Part
Survival shows aren't all that bad even though I only talked about the bad parts. Boys Planet brought so many smiles to my face and laughs that made me cry. It also made what's possibly going to be the biggest 5th generation boy group, ZeroBaseOne. I’m so excited to see what this group has to offer and how their debut will be. Regardless, so many talented trainees who didn’t debut gained incredible amounts of popularity and fans. So once they do decide to debut, they won't have a shortage of fans.
Survival shows aren't all that bad even though I only talked about the bad parts. Boys Planet brought so many smiles to my face and laughs that made me cry. It also made what's possibly going to be the biggest 5th generation boy group, ZeroBaseOne. I’m so excited to see what this group has to offer and how their debut will be. Regardless, so many talented trainees who didn’t debut gained incredible amounts of popularity and fans. So once they do decide to debut, they won't have a shortage of fans.
Final Thoughts
The main reason I wrote this was to discuss the many things that grind my gears about survival shows, especially now since Boys Planet just finished. I just wanted to bring to attention that they aren’t always sunshine and rainbows in these shows.
The main reason I wrote this was to discuss the many things that grind my gears about survival shows, especially now since Boys Planet just finished. I just wanted to bring to attention that they aren’t always sunshine and rainbows in these shows.
Eli Torres
