Once the mysterious door to the set is opened, the inside is pitch black. Then, through fancy lighting, the entire thing is revealed. It’s very white, much like the Produce sets. Chairs are organized in groups of 3 with a member from each country sitting together.
The producers have grouped the girls based on similar interests, such as TWICE fans, actors, bendy bitches, babies, anime nerds, etc. However, the most exciting groups shown were those who almost debuted together and the dancers.
The group who almost debuted together were all JYP trainees but failed to debut. They were happy to be reunited to get another chance. The dancers, on the other hand, were full of confidence.
After a montage of many random groupings of girls, the All Rounders were presented. The Korean member Kim Su Yeon had many talents, including dancing, singing, rapping, guitar, piano, vocal, producing and composing. However, the Chinese contestant in the group threw some early shade at the Japanese contestant Shana saying she felt nothing when seeing her.
As the introductions dragged on, several established idols started to appear:
Choi Yujin from CLC
Kim Bora, Huh Jiwon and May from Cherry Bullet
Kim Doah from Fanatics
Established differences between the groups of girls started to be noticed as the set filled up. The Chinese contingent is all tall amazons with big eyes and small faces. The Japanese girls are sweet-looking, small, and precious. The Koreans are full of personality. Yup, that was it for them.
The grouping that brought the most attention was the pretty girls. They had everyone standing to look at them. The standout being Chen Hsin Wei, who appeared on a Chinese survival program and trended for her beauty.
For the final three girls, the top members were presented. They appeared to be the most charismatic of the girls, but who knows until they perform?
With all 99 girls on set, the K-Pop Master and mentors were introduced. First up was the Planet master actor Yeo Goo Jin who all the girls freaked out over. Well, except for Chen Hsin Wei, who didn’t have her glasses on. She called him ugly. Her bad Korean and poor eyesight failed her big time.
Once the producers explained to her what she said, she freaked out and asked not to use the footage on the show. Poor girl, too bad. You got more airtime because of it.
Next were the K-Pop masters Tiffany Young and Sunmi, who also got big pops from the girls. Tiffany aims to be a sympathetic mentor, while Sunmi wants to give good advice and crack the whip when needed. Lastly were the vocal trainers Lim Hanbhyul and Jo Ayoung and dance trainers Back Kooyoung and Jang Juhee. They got a respectful but not loud pop from the girls.
Now the details of the show that took 40 minutes to get to. Each group of 3 is called a cell. These girls are bound to each other and will survive or be eliminated together. Meaning there is no “I” in “Team”. Well, there’s also no “I” in “Cell”, so yeah, you get my point.
The girls choose to stay in their current cell or form a new one to increase their chance of survival. Watching the performances of all the contestants will help them determine their course of action. After the opening performances have been completed, the top nine, as selected by the masters, will be given a chance to create new teams if they like.
With all the formalities out of the way, it was time to see what these girls had. During the preliminary testing, they were giving rankings from 1 to 33. Their rankings are hidden on their name tags and are revealed before each performance.
LOL, nothing encourages one to do their best by showing you suck hard before the most significant moment of your life.
