Produce 101 (series)

Produce 101 (프로듀스 101) is a survival competition television series on Mnet. Idol trainees from all different agencies compete to form a project group that promotes for a limited period. The show has the second-largest budget of all shows produced by Mnet at about four billion won (approximately $3.4 million).

Process

Voting

The public (called "national producers") chooses the ultimate line-up of the group through voting. There are two types of voting that national producers have in the show. The first type is online voting. People from all over the world can register with Mnet to vote for their favorite contestants on a daily basis. The second type is on-scene voting. This voting is done by the audience present at performances. All online and on-scene votes, along with any benefit votes received for performance wins, are tallied to determine overall contestant rankings.

Ranking

The overall ranking for each contestant is shown at the end of each episode (usually with the exception of elimination episodes). This ranking is determined by online voting and on-scene voting.

Eliminations

There are generally four eliminations throughout the show. The amount of contestants eliminated varies, but generally starts in the 30s the first round, 20s in the second, teens for the third, and teens to single digits for the final.

Performances

There are a total of six performance categories throughout the show.

Prepared

The contestants have worked on performances beforehand at their respective agencies which they perform for the judges.

Solo

Contestants are given the main theme song for the show to learn in the following days, which includes both the lyrics and dance. They then are given one shot to record their performance for the judges to evaluate.

Group Battle

Contestants are given pre-selected songs to choose from, forming groups of five, six or seven. The audience votes for each member in each group, the sum of which is the group's total votes. The group with the highest total receives benefits.

Position Battle

Contestants are once again given pre-selected songs to choose from in three categories: vocal, dance, and rap. Each group in each category faces off to collect on-scene votes. The contestant with the highest amount of votes in each category receives benefits.

Concept Battle

Contestants are shown five different newly produced tracks of different concepts to choose from. The team with the highest on-scene votes receives benefits.

Debut Song

The remaining contestants decide their line distribution in two different teams. This performance is not voted on.

Grade Evaluations

Each contestant has a total of two grade evaluations. Based on their on their overall talents, the contestants are graded and organized into classes; A being the highest and F the lowest. The first evaluation is for their prepared performances for the judges. The second evaluation is for their solo performances. The final grade group determines their placement in the M Countdown performance of the show's main song, with group A having the most spotlight and group F performing as backup dancers.

Seasons

Produce 101

Produce 101 (Season 1)

The first season of the survival competition show premiered on January 22, 2016. 101 female trainees from all different labels competed to form the 11-member girl group I.O.I. They promoted under CJ E&M Music's YMC Entertainment for one year before disbanding.

• Host: Jang Geun Suk
• Vocal Trainer: Kim Sung Eun, JeA
• Rap Trainer: Cheetah
• Dance Trainer: Kahi, Bae Yoon Jung

Produce 101 Season 2

Produce 101 (Season 2)

The second season of the survival competition show premiered on April 7, 2017. 101 male trainees from all different labels competed to form the 11-member boy group Wanna One. They group was signed to CJ E&M Music's YMC Entertainment and promoted until December 2018.

• Host: BoA
• Vocal Trainer: Lee Seok Hoon, Shin Yu Mi
• Rap Trainer: Cheetah, Don Mills
• Dance Trainer: Kahi, Kwon Jae Seung, Jang Hyun Seung

Produce 48

Produce 48

The third season of the survival competition show premiered on June 15, 2018. This season was a joint survival competition between Japanese pop group AKB48 and Korean pop trainees. 96 trainees from Korea and Japan competed to form the 12-member girl group IZ*ONE. The group will promote for two years and six months.

• Host: Lee Seung Gi
• Vocal Trainer: Lee Hong Ki, So Yu
• Rap Trainer: Cheetah
• Dance Trainer: Bae Yoon Jung, May J Lee, Choi Young Joon

Produce X101

Produce X101

The fourth season of the survival competition show premiered in April 2019. 101 male trainees from all different labels competed to form the 11-member project boy group X1. The group was set to promote for five years, however they disbanded in early 2020 due to Mnet's voting manipulation.

• Host: Lee Dong Wook
• Vocal Trainer: Lee Seok Hoon, Shin Yu Mi
• Rap Trainer: Cheetah
• Dance Trainer: Kwon Jae Seung

Official Spin-Offs

Produce 101 China

Produce 101 Thailand

Produce 101 Japan

Produce 101 China

The first season of the Chinese survival competition show premiered on April 21, 2018 on the Tencent network. 101 female trainees from all different labels competed to form the 11-member girl group Rocket Girls.

• Host: Huang Zitao
• Vocal Trainer: Ella Chen, Jason Zhang
• Rap Trainer: Tiger Hu
• Dance Trainer: Show Luo, Wang Yi Bo

Produce 101 Thailand

The first season of the Thai survival competition show was set to premiere in September 2018 on the True4U network, however, it was cancelled.

Produce 101 Japan

The first season of the Japanese survival competition show premiered on September 25, 2019 on the TBS network. 101 male trainees from all different labels competed to form the 11-member boy group JO1. Unlike previous iterations of the series, the group created is permanent and is handled by Lapone Entertainment.

• Host: NINETY-NINE (Okamura Takashi & Yabe Hiroyuki)
• Vocal Trainer: Sugai Hidenori, Yasukura Sayaka
• Rap Trainer: Cypress Ueno, Bose
• Dance Trainer: A-NON, WARNER

External Links

• Official Websites: Main | Produce 48