'The Origin’: New release date, contestants, and all about the GOT7 JayB starrer survival show
Update: On February 22 it was announced that after multiple trainees from the show tested positive for Covid-19, the variety show will be first aired on a revised date instead of its original release on February 26.
Original Article: The K-pop industry is busy as ever as one more group is set to make their big debut using the format of survival shows.
IST Entertainment which is currently home to groups like Apink Victon and The Boyz recently announced the launch of their upcoming survival show, ‘The Origin’, which will be the base for a new idol group. While initial spoilers from the show reported that JayB of GOT7 will join the show as a mentor, more details are yet to be announced as the label recently revealed the names of all the contestants of the survival program.
In partnership with the production house MBN, as well as Kakao TV, the main network of the label, IST Entertainment has announced their upcoming survival show titled ‘The Origin - A, B or What?’ (also known as 'The Origin'), which will give the label their next big boy group.
The show is said to feature a total of 13 trainees who will compete in order to make their big debut as part of IST’s new boy group. It is reported that the boy group formed out of this survival show will make their debut in the first half of 2022 itself.
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Air Date
‘The Origin: A, B, or What?’ will premiere on March 19, 2022, at 5 pm KST (3 am ET).
Number of Episodes
Details about the number of episodes on ‘The Origin: A, B or What?’ have not been revealed so far but it is suspected that the show will have a total of 10 episodes in likeness with other survival shows.
Where to Watch
The IST Entertainment survival show will be telecast on MBN for Korean citizens. International fans will be able to watch the show on Kakao TV as well. The show will also be released on the YouTube channel - 1theK (Wonder K).
Contestants
The show has revealed all 13 contestants who will participate in the audition program. As per the revealed information, all the participants of ‘The Origin AB or What’ are born in the years 2002, 2003, 2004, and 2005, and are between 18 to 21 years old (Korean age).
The oldest trainee is a 2002 liner, Jeong Junho, while eight out of the 13 contestants on the show are 2003 liners - namely, Bae Hyunjun, Choi Jinwook, Kang Daehyun, Kim Minseo, Oh Junseok, Ryu Junmin, Seok Rakwon, and Yang Donghwa. ‘The Origin’ will also have three 2004 liners - Jeong Seunghwan, Kim Yeonkyu, and Won Bin, while the youngest contestant on the show is 2005 born, Park Jaehoon.
Judges Panel and Mentor Lineup
While the final judges panel for ‘The Origin: A, B or What?’ has not been revealed, a new promo introduced the mentor lineup for the show. The show, 'The Origin: A, B, or What?' calls their mentors 'Balancers' and the list includes veteran idols like GOT7's Jay B, 2NE1's Minzy, and Infinite's Sunggyu alongside choreographers Kwak Yoon-young and Hwang Gyu-hong. Makers of the show had revealed that the show will feature well-established K-pop idols that will help guide the contestants in their journey of becoming the future of K-pop.
The role of the 'Balancers' will be that of picking the 'ace' and 'death' trainees where the 'ace' trainee from the winning team brings the team various benefits and the 'death' trainee from the losing team will be sent home. ‘The Origin’ will be South Korea’s first balance survival audition show where the contestants compete to play the most challenging balance game. It is reported that fans who watch the show will choose the final contestants and those contestants that are not selected will have to go back to being trainees. According to the production team of the show, ‘The Origin’ will be an opportunity for labels like IST Entertainment to present a new paradigm for idol audition programs of the future.