Mnet’s new spin-off to ‘Boys II Planet’ is drawing backlash.
Following the reveal of the top 8 winners during the final broadcast of ‘Boys II Planet’, Mnet announced a fresh survival show, ‘Planet C: Home Race’. The program will bring back eliminated contestants from ‘Planet C’ to compete again, this time for a spot in a global boy group set to promote in China. Contestants who originally auditioned for ‘Boys II Planet’ through ‘Planet C’ will be given another chance to audition.
However, viewers have responded with criticism. Some netizens went as far as calling Mnet’s move an “employment scam”, arguing that the sudden merge of ‘Planet K’ and ‘Planet C’ unfairly led to the early elimination of many ‘Planet K’ contestants.
Others commented,
“If there’s gonna be another survival with ‘Planet C’ contestants, then send the 3 Chinese in ALPHA DRIVE ONE over there and debut 3 Korean members!”
“It looks like CJ caught Lee Soo Man’s ‘China dream’ disease.”
“The Korean contestants were scammed right in the face, while the ‘Planet C’ contestants get twice as many chances.”
“It’s supposed to be ‘One China’ right… so send the 3 Chinese who made ALD1 back home too…”
“CJ = China Japan kekekekeke”
“Okay CJ really wants that China money.”
“There were so many Korean contestants who didn’t even get a few seconds of screen time because of the merger. It’s literally a scam.”
“Way to go CJ, here’s a list of everything you’ve achieved: you ruined Korea’s image, you tried to merge K-Pop with C-Pop and J-Pop, and you exploited Korean youths before tossing them out like garbage so you could give Chinese youths preferential treatment.”
“At this point anyone who is still watching and consuming these Mnet survival shows and stanning the groups is ruining K-Pop.”
“They literally just f***ed up from the beginning with whatever it was they were trying to do. It’s always the contestants who get treated like crap.”
“The ‘Planet K’ contestants were completely scammed TT.”
“It kind of looks like they’re trying to replicate what they did after ‘I-Land’ and copy the ENHYPEN-&TEAM relationship.”
At the moment, details about the format of ‘Planet C: Home Race’ remain unclear, including the number of contestants set to debut and the length of the winning group’s promotions.
In the meantime, Mnet’s ‘Boys II Planet’ wrapped up on September 25 KST, introducing the new 8-member project group ALPHA DRIVE ONE.