Wanna One, I.O.I, IZ*ONE, Twice, Stray Kids, Treasure, iKON, Winner, Monsta X, NiziU, fromis_9, Pentagon, VIXX and AKMU.
You probably know a few of these names even if you're a new fan, because some of these groups are very successful and it's almost impossible to get past them if you follow K-pop regularly.
If you're now wondering what all these groups have in common, this article gives you a detailed answer.
The Most Important Points in Brief
- Korean survival shows are basically nothing more than casting shows, although some of them differ quite a lot from the programs we know.
- Entertainment companies like JYP, YG and Starship produce their own survival shows in which their trainees fight for a debut.
- Successful groups like Twice, Stray Kids and IZ*ONE were formed in survival shows.
- On August 6, the first episode of the new show “Girls Planet 999” will air.
What Is a Survival Show?
We all know casting shows: programs in which individual contestants or groups compete against each other and are eliminated bit by bit until one or more winners remain. Korean survival shows are basically nothing more than casting shows, but some of them differ quite a lot from the programs we know in Europe. So that you know what they're really all about, here are a few examples.
K-Pop Star
In general, the concept of K-Pop Star is very simple. Anyone who wants to can go to an audition and sing for the judges. The show's production team decides whether the hopeful applicants are admitted to the main casting, the first round that is broadcast on television. There they meet the three-person jury, which consists of none other than Yang Hyun-suk, the founder of YG Entertainment, Park Jin-young, the founder of JYP Entertainment, and BoA, a successful singer from SM Entertainment.
The applicants have to convince at least two of the three jury members to advance to the next round. From here on it gets exciting: the contestants choose one of the jury members from whom they would like to receive advice and help before the next round. This concept runs through the whole season, and in the casting round the jury itself decides whom they want to “cast” and keep training, while those who are not cast are eliminated automatically.
When only 10 contestants are left, the live shows begin, as we know them. From this point on, the viewers get to vote on who advances, and the jury vote still plays a role as well.
In an earlier round, all contestants form groups to show how well they can work with others. It can happen that in this round the jury decides to advance a group of contestants only as a team, which from then on competes together against the others. Of course, it also happens that contestants already apply as a team at the casting, and sometimes only part of the team survives the round and continues alone from there on. The winner of the last live show receives a cash prize, a brand-new car and a contract with an entertainment company of their choice.
The first season of the popular survival show aired in 2011. In the third season, BoA is replaced by You Hee-yeol, the founder of Antenna Music. This jury line-up stays in place until season 6, which aired in 2016 and was announced in advance as the final season.
Here, even trainees and already debuted singers were allowed to take part, and the winner was supported by all three entertainment companies together.
The best-known winners of K-Pop Star are the sibling duo AKMU (Akdong Musician), made up of Lee Chan-hyuk and his younger sister Lee Soo-hyun, who won the second season.
Some fans will probably also know Lee Hi and Bang Yedam in particular, who each came in second place. Yedam debuted in 2020 as part of the boy group "Treasure" from YG Entertainment.
Survival Shows Run by the Entertainment Companies Themselves
Over the years, there have always been entertainment companies that had their trainees compete against each other in a survival show to decide who will debut in the new group. In some cases there were live shows and viewer voting, but in general the entertainment companies have the final say.
Sixteen contestants with Park Jin-young
JYP Entertainment is a very good example, because founder Park Jin-young has formed three groups through survival shows. Twice was formed through “Sixteen”, Stray Kids through a show of the same name, and NiziU through “Nizi Project”. Nizi Project differs from the other two shows because here no trainees competed against each other, but talents selected through castings. Just a week ago, a second season of Nizi Project was officially announced, in which members for a boy group are being sought.
YG Entertainment has also produced several survival shows of its own in recent years. For example, the boy group Treasure was formed through “YG Treasure Box”.
In “WIN: Who Is Next”, two trainee groups, Team A and Team B, competed against each other and fought for a debut. Team A won the show and later debuted under the name “Winner”. The six members of Team B were joined by three more trainees in another survival show called “Mix & Match” and competed individually for a place in the boy group “iKON”, which debuted in September 2015 with seven members.
In addition, Cube Entertainment, among others, formed the boy group “Pentagon” with “Pentagon Maker”, Jellyfish Entertainment formed the boy group “VIXX” with “MyDol”, and Starship formed the boy group “Monsta X” with “No.Mercy”.
The examples listed here are only a fraction of the survival shows run by the entertainment companies that have already aired, and new ones will definitely be added in the future.
Produce Series
In 2016, “Produce 101” aired, the start of a successful series of survival shows produced by the entertainment and mass media company CJ E&M and broadcast on the channel “Mnet”, which belongs to CJ E&M. Produce 101 is the first survival show in which trainees from different entertainment companies come together to form a project group. 101 female trainees fight for their debut in various missions.
A special feature of the show is that there is a team of trainers who teach the trainees singing and dancing, but no jury. Which trainees advance to the next round and ultimately get a place in the final group is meant to be decided 100 percent by the viewers.
It is known right from the start of the show that the final girl group will have eleven members and will only exist for a temporary period. Out of Produce 101 comes the girl group “I.O.I”, which debuts in May 2016 and disbands as planned in January 2017 after nine months. After the end of I.O.I, the members returned to their entertainment companies and debuted there as solo singers or as part of a new group.
I.O.I
Due to the enormous success of Produce 101 and I.O.I, the show returned in 2017 with a second season: “Produce 101 Season 2”.
This time, 101 male trainees fought for their debut. Again a temporary project group with eleven members was formed, this time under the name “Wanna One”. Wanna One debuts in August 2017 and ends its activities after 18 months in January 2019.
In 2018, the third season aired under the name “Produce 48”. This time, the 101 contestants were not made up of trainees alone, but were joined by members of the Japanese girl group AKB48. (AKB48 consists of around 100 rotating members who are divided into many different teams.) Out of this season came the twelve-member girl group “IZ*ONE”, made up of nine Korean and three Japanese members and active in both Korea and Japan. IZ*ONE debuted in October 2018 and disbanded after two and a half years in April 2021.
In 2019, the fourth and last season aired under the name “Produce X 101”. The eleven-member boy group “X1”, which was supposed to be active for 5 years, disbanded after less than five months, however. The reason was that it came to light that the show's producers had rigged the viewer votes in all seasons. The producers had decided before the finale which members would end up in the group.
X1 had only just debuted when the scandal broke, and they disbanded as a result.
IZ*ONE, who were still active at the time, put their activities on hold for 3 months.
Because of the scandalous end of the Produce series, the upcoming survival show “Girls Planet 999”, which will also air on Mnet, is being viewed very critically by some fans.
Besides the examples listed here, there are also shows like “Kingdom” and “Queendom”, in which already debuted groups like Ateez, Stray Kids and The Boyz compete against each other to show a new side of themselves and ultimately crown a winner.
In 2017, “The Unit” even aired, a show in which exclusively former idols or ones who are not particularly well known got a new chance at success. Out of the show came the temporary boy group “UNB”, whose members included Chan from A.C.E and Jun from U-KISS, and the temporary girl group “Uni.T”, whose members included Yebin from DIA and Euijin from Sonamoo.
As you can see, survival shows are very popular in Korea.
With all these shows, it's no wonder that some idols have gone through several competitions on the way to their debut or afterwards.
Chaeyeon from IZ*ONE, for example, took part together with her younger sister Chaeryeong, who is now a member of ITZY, in season 3 of K-Pop Star in 2013 as well as in JYP's survival show Sixteen, in which Twice was formed. Without her sister, she also competed in “Produce 48”, where she reached twelfth place and thereby won a spot in IZ*ONE. This year, “Street Woman Fighter” follows, a dance show in which 8 teams fight for the win, and whose first episode will air on August 24.
Have you ever watched one of these survival shows? If not, do you plan to? Let us know in the comments! ^-^
