Mnet’s Idol School Revealed To Have Manipulated Trainees’ Rankings 233 Times
Suspicions of ranking manipulation on "Idol School" surfaced after the voting manipulation scandal of the "Produce" series was put into light.
Now the details about the alleged ranking manipulation in Mnet's "Idol School" were revealed in the minutes of the 12th Broadcasting Deliberation Subcommittee meeting that was released on September 28.
In the meeting, Jeong Kyung Sik who is the head of the professional programming team disclosed that Mnet's "Idol Show" has manipulated the rankings of the trainees over 233 times throughout the duration of the survival show.
"In a survival-type music program that selects girl group members the rankings were manipulated 233 times in total from episode 2 to11," Jeong Kyung Sik disclosed.
Additionally, Jeong Kyung Sik revealed that there were trainees who are supposed to stay in the competition were eliminated.
"When the fourth eliminations were announced, 10 trainees who were subject to elimination remained in the competition. Meanwhile, 10 trainees who were supposed to stay in the competition were unfairly eliminated," Jeong Kyung Sik revealed.
The minutes of the 12th Broadcasting Deliberation Subcommittee meeting that the executive producer of "Idol School" who was sentenced to one year in prison and a 10 million KRW fine has reached a settlement with the victim Lee Hae In.
Lee Hae In was a popular "Idol School" contestant. According to the investigation, Lee Hae In was supposedly ranked first but was dropped from the lineup because the producer behind "Idol School" thought she did not match the image of the debuting group.
"Idol School" is an idol survival show which produced the K-Pop girl group fromis_9. The final lineup of the debuting group includes Roh Ji Sun, Song Ha Young, Lee Sae Rom, Lee Chae Young, Lee Na Kyung, Park Ji Won, Lee Seo Yeon, Baek Ji Heon, and Jang Gyu Ri.
Stay tuned for more updates and news on the voting manipulations of Mnet!