Mnet is facing backlash from K-Pop fans after the latest episode of BOYS II PLANET following their claim about top-tier contestant Lee Sangwon.
Earlier this week, the final 16 contestants were announced on episode 10 of BOYS II PLANET, ahead of next week's highly anticipated live finale. Unsurprisingly to many viewers, the top ranking once again went to controversial trainee Lee Sangwon, a former member of BIG HIT Music's canceled group, Trainee A.
From the start of the competition, Lee Sangwon has dominated the rankings. He placed first among the "Planet K" contestants from the very first two episodes, continuing to take the top spot overall in four subsequent rankings.
This week, when Lee Sangwon's first-place position was announced, the English captions on Mnet Plus made a bold claim: "The only participant who never missed Rank 1 in the history of survivals."
The title immediately sparked outrage among fans, who pointed out that the statement "erased the history" of a female idol who already accomplished the same feat over seven years ago: ITZY's Ryujin.
Before her debut under JYP Entertainment, Ryujin appeared on the 2017 YG Entertainment survival show MIXNINE, where she consistently ranked first in all seven interim rankings as well as the show's finale. Many have now hit out at Mnet for "disrespecting" her historic achievement.
Even more surprising, TO1's J.You (who is currently inactive following the group's disbandment in 2023) also achieved unwavering first place rankings in every episode of World Klass in 2019 -- one of Mnet's own survival shows.
Others have criticized the network for ignoring survival shows outside of Korea too, including iQIYI's Idol Producer, which saw contestant Cai Xukun take the top spot every time.
For now, it remains to be seen whether Lee Sangwon will hold his first-place title in the last episode of BOYS II PLANET given the finale of the survival show's previous iteration. Despite ranking first in every episode of the original BOYS PLANET, ZEROBASEONE's Hanbin ultimately lost the top spot to fellow member Zhang Hao in the final ranking.