Concept
Produce 101 Season 2 consisted of 101 male contestants, who were trainees under company labels, debuted idols, or individual trainees in South Korea. Though most contestants were Korean, there were some Chinese, Japanese, and Taiwanese participants In addition to those from other nations. 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. The group will promote for two years (ending December 31, 2018) under YMC Entertainment (also the label of I.O.I from Produce 101 Season 1). The top 35 performed with the winning team at a finale concert. The group will disband after their contracts end, allowing the members of the final lineup to return to their respective agencies.
Bigger agencies, including S.M., YG, and JYP chose not to send trainees to participate in the second season. [2] YG Entertainment was, however, represented by four models under their subsidiary YGKPlus. [3] The first season's main director Han Dong-chul also withdrew from the show due to other commitments. [4]
For the boys' training, several artists were recruited for the show. Singers Lee Seok-hoon and Shin Yoo-mi were in charge of vocal training. Rappers Cheetah and Don Mills oversaw rap training. Kahi and Kwon Jae-seung oversaw dance training. [5]
On February 23, Mnet announced that BoA would be taking the MC role for this season, replacing Jang Keun-suk. She would be "acting as a messenger and a representative of the viewers". [6] Later on the same day, the trainers were also announced. [7] Mnet announced the official broadcast of the show, which would replace High School Rapper's time slot, on March 8. [8]
AKATV, a production company founded in 2015 by some of the former production staff of the first three seasons of Mnet's Show Me the Money , [9] was given the production duties for the season, replacing Signal Entertainment Group from Season 1.
Soon after they had moved to their dorms on February 26, the participants started filming. [10] A teaser video of who would be taking "center" (or lead role) for the first song was later revealed. [11]
The contestants of Produce 101 Season 2 appeared for the first time on Episode 514 of M! Countdown on March 9, 2017. The group was presented by BoA, and the members performed the EDM theme song "나야나 (Pick Me)". [12] The "center" role was given to Brand New Music's 이대휘 (Lee Dae-hwi). Some participants had previously debuted through NU'EST, JJCC, HOTSHOT and Topp Dogg. [13] [14] Other participants also gained attention from National Producers such as ONO Entertainment's Jang Moon-bok, Maroo Entertainment's Park Ji-hoon, Fantagio's Ong Seongwoo and the youngest participant from Media Line Entertainment's Lee Woojin. [15]
On March 31, the participants performed their single "나야나 (Pick Me)" at the Gocheok Sky Dome ahead of a baseball game between the LG Twins and the Nexen Heroes. In addition, Lee Dae-hwi threw the ceremonial first pitch to Brave Entertainment's Kim Samuel, at bat. [16]
Episodes
Episode 1 (April 7, 2017)
The trainees from each company enter the studio, where seats are arranged in a pyramid with chairs numbered from 1 to 101. Each contestant chooses his preferred seat. Then contestants perform in a group or individually according to their company for evaluation. Some participants are asked to showcase any dancing, singing, or rapping skills for individual evaluation. Each trainee is judged on his potential and judges grade and assigned them into temporary groups for training: A, B, C, D, and F (with A being the highest and F the lowest). At the end of the episode, the popularity vote revealed Maroo Entertainment's Park Ji-hoon at 1st place who became popular after a gif of his wink at the end of the "나야나 (Pick Me)" performance went viral. [17]
Episode 2 (April 14, 2017)
After a few more evaluations, the trainees are assigned to dorms by their evaluation grades, and BoA announces that they will be performing on M! Countdown with their single "나야나 (Pick Me)"; they introduce the lyrics and choreography, and are told that they have three days to memorize the choreography and lyrics for a video evaluation. Line distribution and stage placement are determined by their final letter grade; A will have the most lines while F will be backup dancers who stand on the floor by the stage. The trainees film themselves individually performing the song while their fellow grade members watch. Each video is evaluated by the mentors. After the re-evaluation, they are given their new grades and are asked to move to their new rooms by rank. Four F ranked trainees moved up from their grade: Jellyfish Entertainment's Yoon Hee-seok, HF Music Company's Jung Won-chol and Pan Entertainment's Lee Ji-han are moved to B rank while The Vibe Label's Kim Tae-dong moves to the A rank.
Episode 3 (April 21, 2017)
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. [18] Brand New Music's Lee Dae-hwi of group A is voted to be the center with Lee Woojin received the second most votes. After their live performance, BoA announced the departure of 3 trainees from the show and that the 37 contestants who would receive the lowest ranks would be eliminated in the first elimination.
The trainees started their second mission: group performances in front of a live audience. 16 teams are formed to compete for 8 songs given: Super Junior's "Sorry Sorry", Shinee's "Replay", 2PM's "10 out of 10", B2ST's "Shock", Infinite's "Be Mine", EXO's "Call Me Baby", BTS's "Boy in Luv", and SEVENTEEN's "Mansae". Being the center, Lee Dae-hwi chooses his team first. Following the finalized picks for his team, by random draw, Lee Dae-hwi picks Hwang Min-hyun to choose his team. The remaining 14 team founders are also chosen by random draw. Each group consists of 5-7 members. The team founders then compete for songs individually through a race: only 8 can secure their desired songs and choose their opponent from the remaining 8 teams who lose in the race. The episode later showed the groups rehearsing and assigning roles of the 'leader', 'center', 'main vocalist', 'sub vocalists', and 'rappers'. Each song is then performed live by the two groups and each member is voted on separately by the live audience. The winning team among the two is determined by combining the individual scores. Members of the winning group would gain an extra 3000 points each, to be included into the ranking announcement of the week after. The group with the highest overall points would later perform on M! Countdown. Only four teams covering "10 Out of 10" and "Call Me Baby" were covered this week. [19]
Episode 4 (April 28, 2017)
The remaining 12 teams performed their respective songs and rehearsals for the groups are shown. After the last performance, the contestants are shown their ranking based purely on individual live votes and the additional 3000 points for the contestants of the winning teams: Park Woo-dam takes the 1st place. His "Mansae" group (composed of Park Woo-dam, Ju Won-tak, Kim Yeon-kuk, Woo Jin-young, and Kim Tae-dong), also score the highest, and are able to perform a special stage on M! Countdown. [20]
Episode 5 (May 5, 2017)
For this episode, contestants from Produce 101 Kim So-hye, Choi Yoo-jung and Kim So-hee appear as special panelists. The episode opens with the remaining 98 contestants entering the main studio by company. In between announcements of each trainee's ranking, events leading up to the elimination are shown, such as their dorm life, exercise and a hidden camera prank. I.O.I's Kim Do-yeon and Choi Yoo-jung met with the trainees and hosted a dance battle among the trainees, in which Hong Eun-ki was crowned "Dancing King". A poll for 'Top Visual' was also conducted, in which Park Ji-hoon was ranked 1st. Park Ji-hoon also retained his first place in the rankings announcement. First center Lee Dae-hwi was ranked 7th, the shocking fall in his rank surprising everyone. After announcing the top 59 trainees, BoA announces that the last trainee to be saved from elimination is Kim Sang-bin, ranking 60th. At the end of the episode, BoA announces that the team formation for the 4th mission, which is position evaluation, will be decided by online voting. This is a major difference to that of Season 1, where trainees got to choose the song they want. [21]
Episode 6 (May 12, 2017)
BoA once again meets with the trainees to announce the next challenge. The trainees are tasked to perform live in groups based on positions they want to debut in: vocal, dance or rap. There are five songs for vocals (I.O.I's "Downpour", BTS's "Spring Day", BoA's "Amazing Kiss", Blackpink's "Playing With Fire", and Jung Seung Hwan's "If It Is You") four songs for dance (Jason Derulo's "Get Ugly", NSYNC's "Pop", Ed Sheeran's "Shape of You", and Flo Rida's "Right Round") and four songs for rap (Mino ft. Taeyang's "Fear", iKON's "Rhythm Ta", Zico's "Boys and Girls", and Simon Dominic, G2, BewhY, and One's "Who You"). Each song has a member limit and would be picked by each trainee based on their ranks: Park Ji-hoon who ranked 1st (center) from the first elimination round would have the privilege of choosing the song he wants to perform first. BoA also announces that only 35 trainees will remain in the next round and that the winner from each position category will receive 100,000 votes while the winner from each group will receive 10,000 votes. After each performance, they are ranked in their groups first and then overall in the category. On the day of the stage performances, Super Junior's Leeteuk substituted BoA to host the show due to the latter's prior commitment. Only six groups are covered this week, with "Shape of You" group (composed of Roh Tae-hyun, Park Sung-woo, Kim Tae-dong, Justin, Kim Dong-han, and Lee Jun-woo) receiving the show's first-ever encore call. [22]
Episode 7 (May 19, 2017)
The remaining seven teams perform their respective stages and rehearsals for the groups are shown. After the last performance, the contestants are shown their overall ranking based on their positions. The additional 10,000 points are given to 12 contestants for receiving the highest points on their respective group and the extra 100,000 points to Lee Gun-hee, Roh Tae-hyun, and Kim Jong-hyeon for receiving the highest points in vocal, dance, and rap position respectively. [23]
Episode 8 (May 26, 2017)
The episode opens with BoA treating the contestants to pizza before she temporarily goes overseas during the Position Evaluation filming. Sometime after the performances and before the ranking announcement on May 12, BoA gathers the boys informing them about the coming elimination round (where contestants ranking 36 onwards would get eliminated). She then introduces the next challenge: Concept Evaluation. She introduces the five songs: Hyuk Shin's "I Know You Know" (Synth-pop/Funk), Veethoven, Oh Sunghwan, Kiggen and ASSBRASS's "Oh Little Girl" (Hip Hop), ASHTRAY & KINGMAKER's "Show Time" (Nu-disco), Devine-Channel's "Open Up (열어줘)" (Future EDM), and Triple H's "Never" (Deep house). Group formations are based on the viewers' poll which was first introduced at the end of Episode 5. The top 12 trainees voted for each song are assigned to the songs first. Due to voting manipulation controversies, however, Kang Daniel, Lee Ki-won, and Kim Dong-bin are banned from their alleged preferred songs. After they are given their designated songs, the formed groups started to rehearse.
The second elimination round takes place during the second half of the episode with the remaining 58 contestants from each company are seen entering the main studio by company. Names of the top 35 trainees are called by BoA one by one starting from rank 34. In between the second elimination round, a mini contest of who punches the strongest is conducted. Kang Dong-ho is given the title "Punching King". Kim Jong-hyeon receives the 1st place in the ranking announcement while Kim Dong-han ranks 35th, just escaping elimination. [24]
Episode 9 (June 2, 2017)
BoA announces that since there is an uneven distribution of members after the last elimination, groups with more than 7 people need to vote on who stays. The remaining groups, which have less than 7 people after the elimination, pick from the members who were voted out. All the composers for the concept evaluation songs visit the trainees and they perform in front of the composers. This episode shows the live performances for all five concept evaluations. "Open Up (열어줘)" group (composed of Kang Daniel, Kang Dong-ho, Kim Yong-guk, Joo Hak-nyeon, Yoo Seon-ho, Kenta Takada, and Lim Young-min) received an encore call and afterwards was also declared the winner of the concept evaluation, resulting in at least 20,000 benefit votes for each member, with the person from that group with the most votes, winning 100,000 benefit votes, to be revealed in the next elimination (Kang Dong-ho and Kang Daniel are the two candidates for 1st place). In addition, the group will also perform on M! Countdown.
Episode 10 (June 9, 2017)
The episode opens with the remaining 35 contestants from each company entering the main studio. Amidst the eliminations, the trainees participate in a question relay and a team game event where "Open Up (열어줘)" group emerges as the winner. They are also asked to vote for the top 6 pick for the debut team in the trainees among them, with MMO Entertainment's Yoon Ji-sung taking 1st place and Kang Daniel, Jung Se-woon, Park Ji-hoon, Ong Seong-woo, and Park Woo-jin taking 2nd to 6th place respectively. At the elimination, BoA reveals that only 20 trainees will advance to the final stage. Kang Daniel is announced as the overall winner of the concept evaluation, winning 100,000 benefit votes. With ranks 19 to 3 revealed, Kang Daniel and Park Ji-hoon are called up as the contenders for 1st place, with Kang Daniel revealed to be 1st in the overall rank as well. The contenders for 20th place are then called up, Choon Entertainment's Kim Yong-guk and Cube Entertainment's Lai Guan-lin, with Lai Guan-lin, whose massive rank drop surprised everyone, surviving the elimination.
With the top 20 confirmed, BoA announces the next and final mission – the debut song evaluation. She introduces "Hands on Me" (produced by The Underdogs and Deez) and "Super Hot" (produced by Ryan Jhun) as the final line-up's debut songs. She explains that they will be split into two teams of 10, each team composed of one main vocal, six to seven sub vocals, and two to three rappers. The trainees choose their positions beginning with rank 20 up to 1, with the higher ranked trainees being given the advantage of replacing the lower ranked trainees and bumping them into another position. Due to voting manipulation controversies, 17th place Lim Young-min had to choose his position first as a penalty. After positions are confirmed, the trainees begin practicing the choreography and memorizing the lyrics in preparation for the final stage.
Episode 11 (June 16, 2017)
The episode begins showing the boy's audition tapes, as well as their final confessional interviews. An announcement is then made that viewers will now be able to send SMS votes for one trainee only, which will be added to the online votes in order to determine the final line-up. The debut evaluation starts off with the eliminated trainees joining the top 20 trainees for a performance of "It's Me (Pick Me)". BoA then reveals that the debut group will be named Wanna One (Hangul: 워너원).
The episode cuts to the boys performing in two groups. "Super Hot" group (composed of Ha Sung-woon, Kim Samuel, Kang Dong-ho, Yoo Seon-ho, Ahn Hyung-seob, Lee Dae-hwi, Choi Min-ki, Lim Young-min, Kim Jong-hyeon, and Lai Guan-lin) performs first with Ha Sung-woon as the center of the group, followed by "Hands on Me" group (composed of Kim Jae-hwan, Kang Daniel, Ong Seong-woo, Bae Jin-young, Hwang Min-hyun, Jung Se-woon, Joo Hak-nyeon, Yoon Ji-sung, Park Woo-jin, and Park Ji-hoon) with Bae Jin-young as the center of the group. After the performances, a segment is shown during which trainees watch videos left by their families, some of which surprise the trainees by visiting them in person. The top 20 trainees also perform together a special song titled "Always (이 자리에)" as a commemoration of their time throughout the competition.
Voting comes to a close, and ranking announcements begin. Bae Jin-young, Hwang Min-hyun, Yoon Ji-sung, Lai Guan-lin, Park Woo-jin, Ong Seong-woo, Kim Jae-hwan, and Lee Dae-hwi are announced as 10th to 3rd place, respectively, confirming them for debut. The top 2 trainees are revealed to be Kang Daniel and Park Ji-hoon once again. Kang Daniel once again receives the most votes, confirming his position as the center for Wanna One, with Park Ji-hoon in 2nd place. Finally, 11th place Ha Sung-woon is announced as the final member.
Controversies
According to Ilgan Sports, the staff of Produce 101 Season 2 have tried to find a trainee who talked to the media about discrimination of the trainees by grade 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. [35]
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. [36]
YGKPLUS's Kwon Hyun-bin 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 Kwon was seen as unmotivated and received harsh criticism from the trainers for a lack of practice, but despite this his team won the live performance battle and he received the highest score out of both teams. During the performance, the trainers commented that the group was "ready to debut". After the performance, Kwon Hyun-bin stated that "I'm here because I really want to debut as a singer" and "I've put everything on the line for this". Despite having received the most votes, netizens criticized Kwon Hyun-bin for his "lack of sincerity". [37]
The 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. [38] After discussion with Mnet, he left the show and canceled his contract with his label. [39]
Voting manipulation
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. MMO Entertainment's Kang Daniel 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. Mnet decided to penalize the trainees that failed to follow the rules by banning them from choosing the songs in question. [40]
2Y Entertainment's Lee Ki-won was accused of hinting at his song preference by posting "Oh Ki Won> Sa Ki Won Sam Ki Won Lee Ki Won" on Instagram. His agency released a statement saying that Lee would be banned from using social media until the show was over. A subsequent statement said that the posts in question were made by the agency in an attempt to increase Lee's popularity while he was allegedly sleeping and unaware. [41]
Kiwi Media Group's Kim Dong-bin was also involved, through screenshots of KakaoTalk messages in which Kim's father asked his fanclub's president to promote "Never" or "Open Up" as the concept song for Kim Dong-bin. [42]
Brand New Music's Lim Young-min was later implicated through screenshots of a KakaoTalk chatroom of fans, which revealed that Lim's 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. [43]
