The Dark Side of K-pop Survival Shows: Why They Do More Harm Than Good

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[MidnightTheories]

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[Markydarling]

I felt so bad when Seungri spoke on Sori’s age, but look how karma works because now he’s going to jail for 3 years 😂

[avsambart]

The age thing really grinds my gears across ALL of kpop. I'm still waiting for it to change. Debuting 24-30 should be normal. And having a 10-15year+ career should be normal. Basically I wish JPop standards were also KPop standards *cries*

[MissTrish]

I'm not very familiar with K Pop survival shows or the culture of K pop in general so this video was a great introduction. Can we get a round of applause for the two female judges shutting down the guy belittling a female contestant for being 28 and "too old to debut". Seeing the little kids on a show like that should have raised all kinds of red flags, and that girl dancing to Ariana Grande's "Side To Side" when she was a literal minor at 13! Why did no one at any point step in and put a stop to that?

[bryanna]

that note from the producer from produce 101 about wanting to create healthy porn shocked me so much..i had to pause and take a second cause wtf 😭

[Cookie-jlst]

I feel so bad for the contestants of GP999
More specifically for the Chinese and Japanese girls 😢.

[bsc]

I remember watching Produce 48 and thinking how rude the judges were to most of the Japanese idols who auditioned. It was like one after the other of all the Japanese girls were getting terrible rankings with the exception of Sakura. It was really disheartening to see how awful they were treated on the show

[jasperthecrab]

we also need to acknowledge how no matter how many times editing/issues with survival shows are brought up/discussed, that the reason companies can still create so many of these programs is that people keep buying into the hype and allure of it

it's probably unfair to put the blame on the general public, but think about it. an equal amount of scrutiny has to be put on how viewers and fans fall for tactics like evil editing and how it's affected a lot of trainees' mental wellbeing, how entire hate mobs form around contestants making it or not making it to the final lineup, directed at young people who are pretty much still vulnerable to promises of fame and are exploited and scrutinized while being made to think that this is all part of the process. the fandom created around these programs are just as toxic to these trainees and idols, just in a different way

[shrimpified]

this is also why i dont want to watch any survival show if there are underage contestants.. like it breaks my heart seeing them being exhausted in any way when they should be out in the real world to enjoy their child/teen years before adulthood.. and the parents that allow them to go on such shows should understand how damaging it can be for a young mind still developing

[annie_xo]

Honestly I don’t understand parents who allow their young children to take part in these competitions/shows. It’s incomprehensible to me that anyone would allow a 12 year old (or even younger, wtf) to participate. I think there should be an 18+ age limit.

[newjeansfan]

I saw this extract of YG in Mixnine who talked so much about the age of female idols and what you said is so true about asking female idols age but not male idols! Super Junior is still active and they are in their 40 years age, when female idols are too old in just their 25 years to debut and except BoA there is no old female group

[stephi]

the women going off at 18:23 - chef's kiss.

[GrizzlyNextDoor]

You should have mentioned the possibility of the Survival Show being a big FLOP like The Unit or not even debuting a group (*cough* mixnine *cough*). Basically giving the final participants hope for nothing. Making them being abuse in pain and stressed for nothing. (They should never be treated like that!)
Also, you forgot to add that these shows can easily be rigged like Produce 48, Produce X 101 and Idol School.

[shakibaraki]

fans always complain how awful survival shows are but then completely forget about the whole discussion when the next one comes along and the cycle keeps going 🤥

[TheAkumaChan]

I was 20 when I started dancing, including heels, burlesque, femme hip hop, basically all the overtly sexy styles. I don’t think many people who don’t dance realize how much confidence you need to have to have a healthy relationship between yourself and this type of dance. I never thought too much of young idols debuting and dancing until I started to notice some of the moves and looks they would have mimicked the ones I had in the dance studio. It made me so uncomfortable, and a bit nauseous. I have the luxury of dancing for myself, but what about those 14 year old kids, omg, what a horrible thought to have. Even more so when you realize they are most likely aware of who are watching their videos 🤢🤮

[foreveryoung]

Oh my I still have PTSD with Girls Planet 999. 😢 I remember how badly the Chinese group were treated plus evil editing and favored this member so she’ll debut.

[kristi]

Truthfully…these shows just need to stop. Everything these kids are going through are just getting worse and worse: no food, no sleep, evil editing, language barriers, better-than-you judges and mentors. Since I know this crap will never stop, I’d prefer to see no male judges on the female shows and vice versa. One of Asia’s biggest problems is sexualizing kids, and these shows don’t help when an old ass man like YG is making age comments😵‍💫

[gwenmloveskpopandmore]

Yes even as a 24U I feel sorry for the current members especially Xiwoo and their Japanese members Yuma and Takekuru they need to know they shouldn’t be in that group. 24K debuted in 2012 Same year as Exo and Btob but were always blacklisted in the industry.

[HorrorHound]

Survival Shows through the years through their deceptions and toxic drama making have shown themselves to be out of touch, abusive, exploitive affairs that if they had their way would turn the genre we love K-Pop into a Legitimate Joke.

[galaxy_kitten]

The whole topic on agism really makes my blood boil to no end.
Why should age be such a factor in rather or not a female idol should debut? Can they keep up as just much as their youngest counterparts? Do they have the skills and stamina? I am sure they so, otherwise they wouldn't auditioned in the first place. That fact that it is ALWAYS men making such a statement, yet they don't say anything towards older male contestants. Bigotry and double standards at its finest.
If you're going to talk crap, at least be fair and consistent. Shouldn't be brought up in the first place, but still.