Boys Planet

Boys Planet is a 2023 South Korean reality competition show created by Mnet. It aired on Mnet from February 2, 2023, to April 20, 2023, every Thursday at 20:50 (KST).

Out of thousands of applicants, 98 contestants from various backgrounds were selected for the show. They were then equally split into two groups: K-Group and G-Group.

In the finale on April 20, 2023, which was broadcast live, the show announced the final nine members who would debut as Zerobaseone (abbreviated as ZB1).

The show serves as a sequel to Girls Planet 999, this time featuring all male contestants.

Concept and format
Boys Planet used a space theme: the two groups of contestants, K-Group and G-Group, acted as "planets" and the show's hosts were dubbed "Star Masters". Under the guidance of seven "Masters", contestants had to go through several rounds of evaluation, during which they had to show off their skills in singing, dancing, and rapping. After each round, the audience, known as "Star Creators", voted for their favorite trainees, determining the final debut line-up.

While its predecessor, Girls Planet 999, limited applications to South Korea, Japan, China, and Taiwan, the regions were expanded this season to allow for international participation.

Trainees were cast through two rounds of applications, the first lasting from December 11, 2021, to February 11, 2022, and the second from June 27, 2022, to August 21. The final contestants were chosen regardless of nationality, affiliation with an agency, or prior experience and professional history as a singer. Ultimately, 98 contestants were selected from 84 countries and regions, including South Korea, other parts of Asia, Europe, North and South America, and the Middle East, and 229 management agencies. The aim of the competition was to debut a new nine-member K-pop boy group consisting of trainees from all around the globe, making them the first 5th generation K-pop group.

Voting system
The Mnet Plus mobile app was the official platform used for voting and accessing content related to the contestants. Unlike Girls Planet 999, where viewers had to separately cast votes for each regional group, the votes were allocated to individual contestants and equally split between the two regional groups (K-Group and G-Group). The voting system was audited by Samil PwC, an external agency, to ensure transparency and fairness in voting-related processes from aggregation to the results.

Promotion and broadcast
On December 11, 2021, during the 2021 Mnet Asian Music Awards, Mnet revealed that they would release a male version of Girls Planet 999 called Boys Planet in 2022. However, due to production issues, the air date was later pushed back to early 2023.

On November 28, Mnet announced that it would unveil the first teaser video for Boys Planet at the 2022 MAMA Awards. The show's premiere date of February 2, 2023, was confirmed through a teaser photo released on December 21, 2022.

The theme song, "Here I Am" was released on December 29, 2022, accompanied by a performance of the song on M Countdown, revealing Sung Han-bin of K-Group and Zhang Hao of G-Group as the centers of their respective groups. The contestants' profiles were released the same day. The following day, a special preview episode titled Boys Planet: Star Is Born was broadcast, featuring dance masters Baek Koo-young and Choi Young-joon, former Wanna One members Yoon Ji-sung and Kim Jae-hwan, former Iz*One members Kwon Eun-bi and Choi Ye-na, as well as all current members of Kep1er.

The show was simultaneously broadcast through Mnet and TVING in South Korea; AbemaTV and Mnet Japan in Japan; AfreecaTV in Vietnam, Thailand, and Indonesia; tvN Asia in Southeast Asia; and was available for streaming on Viki and Viu in selected regions, and through Mnet's YouTube channel, Mnet K-Pop, in the rest of the world.

On March 27, 2023, it was confirmed that the Boys Planet contestants would be part of the line-up at KCON Japan 2023 on May 12. A press conference for the remaining 28 contestants was held at CJ ENM Center on March 29. A special episode entitled Pajama Party in Planet Camp was aired on April 15, 2023, at 20:00 KST.

The finale was held live at Jamsil Arena on April 20, 2023, with an audience of about 6,000 people. Additionally, the episode was broadcast live on YouTube and at eleven CJ CGV theaters across South Korea, with tickets for the theatrical screenings selling out in two minutes.

Cast
Instead of having one host present the show for its entire run, it was presented by so-called "Star Masters", which rotated with each round. Star Masters were usually experienced celebrities, who could give advice to and guide the trainees.

The first round was presented by former NU'EST and Wanna One member Hwang Min-hyun as the first Star Master, with Sunmi temporarily joining him as the second Star Master in episode 2. Actor Yeo Jin-goo hosted a special episode titled 1st Survivor Announcement Ceremony as the third Star Master on February 24, 2023, as well as episode 5. Minhyuk of BtoB joined the show as the fourth Star Master for the second mission and as the host of the 2nd Survivor Announcement Ceremony. Shinee's Key joined the show as the fifth Star Master for the third mission. In episode 10, 2AM's Jo Kwon became the sixth Star Master for a special "Musical Star Test". Jeon Somi hosted the 3rd Survivor Announcement Ceremony as the seventh Star Master on April 7, 2023, and also appeared in episode 11. Soloist and former Wanna One member Kim Jae-hwan served as the eighth Star Master for the final mission. Hwang Min-hyun reprised his role as a Star Master for the show's finale.

The rest of the mentors, also dubbed as "masters", were:
 * Dance Masters:
 * Baek Koo-young (백구영)
 * Choi Young-joon (최영준)
 * Lip J (립제이)
 * Vocal Masters:
 * Heo Sol-ji (허솔지)
 * Lee Seok-hoon (이석훈)
 * Lim Han-byul (임한별)
 * Rap Masters:
 * pH-1 (피에이치원)
 * Lil Boi (Ep. 3–4) (릴보이)
 * Bobby (Ep. 6–7) (바비)

Contestants
There were a total of 98 contestants participating in the competition. 49 were Korean, while the other 49 were from Canada, China, Japan, Taiwan, Thailand, the United States, and Vietnam.

The English names of contestants are presented in accordance with the official website.


 * Color key (In order of contestant's group rank on the show)

Top 9
The top 9 contestants were chosen through popularity online voting through the Mnet Plus mobile app and audience live voting, as shown at the end of each episode.


 * Color key:

First voting period
The first voting period took place from February 2 to 24, 2023.

Star Creators voted for nine boys regardless of their group. In total, 52,434,522 votes from 176 countries were recorded. Roughly 11.9 million of these votes were cast by Koreans, while 40.5 million came from global viewers.

Eliminations were based on individual total points.


 * Color key

Second voting period
The second voting period took place from March 2 to 17, 2023.

Star Creators voted for six boys regardless of their group. In total, 47,586,404 votes from 178 countries were recorded. Roughly 10.5 million of these votes were cast by Koreans, while 37 million came from global viewers.

Eliminations were based on individual total points.


 * Color key

Third voting period
The third voting period took place from March 23 to April 7, 2023.

Star Creators voted for three boys regardless of their group. In total, 31,750,293 votes from 182 countries were recorded. Roughly 6.35 million of these votes were cast by Koreans, while 25.4 million came from global viewers.

Eliminations were based on individual total points.


 * Color key

Result
The finale was held and broadcast live on April 20, 2023. Hwang Min-hyun announced that the name of the newly formed boy group would be Zerobaseone (abbreviated as ZB1).

Star Creators voted for one contestant regardless of his group. In total, 9,398,916 votes from 184 countries were recorded, comprising 8,177,501 votes cast from the first voting period, which took place from April 7 to April 19, 2023, and 1,221,415 votes cast during the second voting period, which was held live during the finale and where all votes were doubled.

Aftermath
The final group, Zerobaseone is active for 2 years and 6 months, and is managed by WakeOne. The group debuted on July 10, 2023, with the EP Youth in the Shade.


 * Some contestants returned to their original groups:
 * Keita (12th) and Yeom Tae-gyun (left) returned to Ciipher.
 * Yeom Tae-gyun left the group on August 9, 2023.
 * Lee Hoe-taek (13th) returned to Pentagon. He made his solo debut on January 16, 2024 with his first mini album, Whu Is Me : Complex.
 * Seo Won (25th), Jang Ji-ho (63rd), and Winnie (80th) returned to Nine.i.
 * Winnie left the group on January 28, 2024 and signed with Thai Entertainment Company APLAN in March 2024.
 * Ma Jingxiang (30th) returned to Midsummer Cubs. He later announced in a hand-written letter in February 2024 that he was no longer pursuing a career of being an idol.
 * Lee Dong-yeol (44th) and Lee Hwan-hee (left) returned to Up10tion.
 * Xuan Hao (54th) returned to DREAM4.
 * Kei (87th) returned to EDAMAME BEANS.
 * Feng Junlan (93rd) returned to ECAT.
 * Jung Hwan-rok (left) returned to withus.
 * Some contestants left their companies or joined new ones:
 * Jay (10th) signed an exclusive contract with FM Entertainment.
 * Cha Woong-ki (20th), Haruto (22nd), Anthonny (32nd), Oh Sungmin (35th), Min (59th) and Park Min-seok (61st) left Wake One Entertainment.
 * Haruto and Anthonny joined YY Entertainment.
 * Park Minseok joined Beat Interactive.
 * Min joined Thai Entertainment company APLAN in March 2024.
 * Lee Seunghwan (24th) joined Inyeon Entertainment and changed his stage name to ONLEE.
 * Park Ji-hoo (33rd) and Han Seo-bin (60th) left H1ghr Music.
 * Park Ji-hoo joined Wake One Entertainment.
 * Lee Ye-dam (36th) left LM Entertainment.
 * Brian (37th) left Yuehua Entertainment and joined FNC Entertainment.
 * Jung Min-gyu (38th) left CABIN74 and signed with Fantagio.
 * Lim Jun-seo (40th) and Lee Da-eul (47th) left 143 Entertainment.
 * Dang Hong Hai (42nd) left Fantagio and joined Dongyo Entertainment.
 * Cong (43rd) joined Mustation Entertainment and changed his stage name to "CongB".
 * Lee Dong-yeol (44th) and Lee Hwan-hee (left) left TOP Media.
 * Both Lee Dong-yeol and Lee Hwan-hee joined PA Entertainment.
 * Krystian (45th) joined Tencent Music Entertainment.
 * Park Hyunbeen (48th) left Jellyfish Ent. He later joined Mystic Story.
 * Wang Yanhong (77th) left ASE Family.
 * Itsuki (88th) left MLD Entertainment.
 * Yuto (90th) joined YY Entertainment.
 * Some contestants will debut or debuted in new boy groups or released music as solo artists:
 * Jay (10th) debuted as a soloist on October 17, 2023, with the mini album Late Night.
 * Jay (10th), Yoon Jong-woo (18th), Oh Sung-min (35th), Lee Ye-dam (36th) and Yeom Tae-gyun (left) became members of new project group One Pact under Armada Entertainment and debuted November 30, 2023.
 * Park Hanbin (11th), Keita (12th), Lee Jeong-hyeon (15th), Yoo Seung-eon (16th), Mun Jung-hyun (29th), Park Ji-hoo (33rd) and Ji Yun-seo (41st) were due to debut in Jellyfish's boy group, Blit in 2023. On August 9, 2023, Jellyfish Entertainment renamed the group to Evnne. They debuted with the EP 'Target: Me' with the title track 'Trouble' on September 19, 2023.
 * Kum Jun-hyeon (14th), Choi Woo-jin (50th), Kim Min-seoung (58th) and Hong Keon-hee (84th) pre-debuted in Redstart ENM's boy group, TIOT on August 28, 2023. The group released a pre-debut single titled "Undefeated", a remake of the same song by Click-B, on August 23, 2023. They are set to officially debut on April 22, 2024.
 * Na Kamden (17th), Brian (37th) and Choi Jiho (55th) debuted in FNC Entertainment's new 7-member boy group, AMPERS&ONE on November 15, 2023, with their first single album Ampersand One.
 * Wang Zihao (19th) debuted as a solo artist on August 18, 2023, under the stage name "Le'v" with the EP and single titled "A.I.BAE".
 * Hiroto (21st) will debut in RBW's new boy group NXD, they were set to debut in November 2023; after this was postponed, the debut date is yet to be confirmed.
 * Haruto (22nd), Takuto (27th), Anthonny (32nd) and Yuto (90th) debuted in YY's new boy group, TOZ, with their first mini album "Flare" on September 27, 2023.
 * Lee Seunghwan (24th) as ONLEE debuted on the September 9, 2023, with the song "Be With You".
 * Zhang Shuaibo (28th) released a single titled "With You" on May 16, 2023.
 * Dang Hong Hai (42nd) became a member of NEWKIES, a trainee group within Dongyo Entertainment, and is expected to make his debut.
 * Cong (43rd) as CongB debuted on December 16, 2023, with the song "Em đợi anh lâu chưa ?".
 * Lee Dongyeol (44th) and Lee Hwan-hee (left the show for health reasons) will make their solo debuts before the end of 2023.
 * Park Hyunbeen (48th) will make his debut in Mystic Story's new group ARrC under the new stage name Hyunmin.
 * Jeong I-chan (49th), who already debuted as a soloist prior to the airing of the show, released his second solo single album titled Strange on July 12, 2023.
 * Park Minseok (62nd) joined Beat Interactive's trainee boy group temporarily named New Beat, and later renamed to HinLove.
 * Hojin (65th and Riku (91st) will debut sometime in 2024 in Japanese-Korean boy group KJRGL, formerly known as the pre-debut trainee group House Of Trainees (HOT).
 * Qiu Shengyang (81st) debuted in Tpop's new boy group, Opensi on June 26, 2023, with the single "A Little Love".
 * Chen Yugeng (82nd) will debut as a soloist on August 15, 2023, with the EP List.
 * Some contestants left the idol industry or further expanded their careers in the acting/entertainment industry:
 * Cha Woong-ki (20th) since leaving WakeOne and becoming an independent idol has been confirmed to appear in Hwacha's novel drama adaptation Love For Loves Sake, filming commenced in Autumn of 2023 and aired Jan 24, 2024 - Feb 1, 2024. He is also confirmed to appear as an actor in soloist iaaa’s MV for her song "Our Season", due to be released on April 7, 2024.
 * Jung Min-gyu (38th) left the idol industry to continue his career as an actor. He will participate as an actor in the BL reality show Boy's Voice.
 * Chen Jianyu (39th) will continue his acting career by starring as Prince Shen Lan in C-Drama 君面似桃花.
 * Bak Do-ha (46th) was officially announced as an actor under Cube Entertainment with an Actor Profile added to their website on September 26, 2023.
 * Min (59th) and Winnie (80th) since joining APLAN Entertainment have been confirmed to guest star in Thai BL drama "Battle of the Writers". They later started training to become two members of Aplan's first as-yet un-named Tpop group.
 * Jeon Ho-young (71st) left the idol industry to continue his career as an actor under the stage name Nam Dan-woo under Oui Entertainment.
 * Some contestants participated in other survival shows:
 * Jay Chang (10th), Wumuti (34th) and Lee Hwanhee (left) participated on Korean vocal survival show "Build Up". Hwanhee was later eliminated, whilst Wumuti and Jay Chang made it to the final where they joined teams Waterfire and HunMinJayBit respectively. Jay went on to win the show in team HunMinJayBit alongside teammates Minseo, Mont's Bitsaeon, and CIX' Seunghun, and the team will rebrand and debut as B.D.U (Boys Define Universe), a 2-year project group. Due to high interest post-show, it was announced that team Waterfire would also debut as a project group with Wumuti joining fellow teammates Choi Suhwan, Kang Hayoon, and UP10TION's Sunyoul for a May 2024 debut
 * Cha Woong-ki (20th) appeared on the June 25, 2023, broadcast of King of Mask Singer.
 * Ollie (26th), Chen Liang (70th) (under the stage name Felix), Wang Yanhong (77th) (under the stage name Dale) and Lin Shiyuan (92nd) (under the stage name One) appeared as contestants on Youku & TVB's Hong Kong survival show Asia Super Young.. Ollie and Chen Liang went onto debut in the winning group Loong9 under Yuehua Entertainment, in 1st and 9th place, respectively.
 * Cai Jinxin (31st) participated in Tencent Video and Wajijwa Entertainment's show The Next Stage 2023. He was eliminated on episode 3.
 * Lee Yedam (36th) participated in dance survival show Show King Night. He was later eliminated.
 * Yang Jun (73rd) participated in Tencent Video and Wajijwa Entertainment's show My Youth. He was eliminated on episode 8.
 * Han Yuseop (85th) participated on Korean survival show Make Mate 1. He ended the show in 7th place and will debut in the as-yet unnamed MakeMate1 group with a debut expected in January 2025.