MEAWW.COM / ENTERTAINMENT / K-POP NEWS

'Street Man Fighter': Idols audition despite the flak IZ*ONE's Chaeyeon got on 'SWF'

Fans are worried the 11 male idols auditioning will be bullied the way Chaeyeon was for being an idol in a show focusing on professional dancers

It looks like we are getting closer and closer to the anticipated survival show ‘Street Man Fighter’. Mnet first announced its dance crew talent competition with ‘Street Woman Fighter’, the first survival show for female dance crews in South Korea. They provided a national platform for the backbone of the K-pop industry as dancers and choreographers were acknowledged for their skills and hardships. But due to its exclusivity, all idols participating in the capacity of a contestant or a judge did not get a positive reception.

Former IZ*ONE member Lee Chaeyeon was known for her dancing skills and joined ‘SWF’ as a competitor. However, she was used for clout as the other participants bashed her for being an idol and not being up to par with professional dancers. We also had idol judges BoA and NCT’s Taeyong who are impressive dancers in their own right but made biased judgments based on their own likes rather than the techniques used. Mnet resolved this issue by having the participants of ‘SWF’ themselves as judges for the next edition, ‘Street Girls Dance Fighter’. But it looks like ‘Street Man Fighter’ will be more inclusive with male idols auditioning.

READ MORE

'Street Woman Fighter': 8 viral moments and performances before the dance show finale

'Street Woman Fighter’ viewers slam Mnet over unfair voting process

Male idols auditioning for ‘Street man Fighter’

Audition tapes of several male idols looking to join ‘Street Man Fighter’ have gone public. If they get accepted they will participate in the prequel ‘Be Mbitious’ airing in May which is for solo dancers to form a dance crew and then participate as a group on ‘Street Man Fighter’ in August. We have till now, 11 male idols auditioning to Changmo’s ‘SMF’. They are all main dancers in their own group or talented dancers in general.

Baekjin had surprised viewers with his dancing on the survival shows ‘MIXNINE’ and ‘Produce X 101’.

BM is the main dancer of the co-ed group KARD.

Harry June, Heechan and Junseo are part of DKB, Brave Entertainment’s new boy group, home to Brave Girls.

Hoya was the main dancer of Infinite and was known as their ‘dance machine’ before he left the group.

Kino is Pentagon’s main dancer and has choreographed for many of their songs.

Moon Jong-up and Zelo were the main dancer and lead dancer respectively of the popular third-gen boy group B.A.P.

Noh Taehyun is the main dancer of the disbanded third-gen group HOTSHOT.

U aka Yuto is the main dancer and only active member of ONF since the rest of the group is currently in the military.

'Y'all aren't ready'

Some fans were excited as a B.A.P fan tweeted, “Give us JONGUP & ZELO for SMF please MNET, you will definitely gain views.” Another fan posted, “I remember how people were guessing for hoya to join smf, and he is really applying for it😭 the dancer choreographer hoya is back.” An ONF fan was excited, “IF YUTO GETS IN SMF WE'RE NOT GONNA BE JOBLESS ANYMORE LET'S F**KING GOOOOOOO.” Another commented, “I just know taehyun will slay every single freestyle dance battle in smf.” A DKB fan shared, “When I tell y'all y'all aren't ready for Harry-June if he gets on SMF. DKB viral era.”

However, with what ex-IZ*ONE star Chaeyeon went through, some are wary, “If idols appear on SMF and they don't get the shit Chaeyeon got on SWF for joining just because they're men, istg.” Another said, “On one hand, I really want to see all these guys in SMF, especially BM. On the other hand, I'm sure they will be slaughtered like Chaeyeon was, for being idols.” A Kino fan added, “I'm all for hyunggu chasing his dreams and dancing on smf or whatever its gonna be called BUT if he gets trashed by the other dancers for being ~just an idol dancer~ the way chaeyeon was i will actually cry.” Another was worried, “Ohhhh if baekjin is joining SMF… it’s kinda like a chaeyeon character but on another level(?).”

This article contains remarks made on the Internet by individual people and organizations. MEAWW cannot confirm them independently and does not support claims or opinions being made online.