Produce 101 (프로듀스 101) is a reality survival competition television series that airs on Mnet. In each season, trainees from various entertainment agencies compete to form a project group that will promote for a set amount of time.
Seasons
- Produce 101 (2016)
- Produce 101 Season 2 (2017)
- Produce 48 (2018)
- Produce X 101 (2019)
International versions
- Produce 101 (China, 2018)
- Produce Camp 2019 (China, 2019)
- Produce 101 Japan (Japan, 2019)
Cancelled
- Produce 101 Thailand (Thailand)
Vote rigging controversy
In July 2019, during the final episode of Produce X 101, some viewers suspected the votes were manipulated using specific number patterns.[1]
The controversy, sometimes referred to as "Producegate" (프로듀스 게이트) or "PD-gate" (프듀 게이트) by Korean netizens and some media outlets[2][3] spawned an investigation, started by the Seoul Metropolitan Police in August,[4]later expanding to all seasons of the series.[5] [6]
Producer Ahn Joon Young later admitted to there being a vote manipulation during the show.[7]
The controversy affected groups IZ*ONE and X1, having their promotions put on hold, and later causing the Produce series to be removed from video-on-demand services.[8] The police began investigating Idol School as well.[9]
By December 2019, it was revealed that some of the companies involved in the controversy, which had been giving services to Ahn, were Starship Entertainment, Woollim Entertainment, Around US Entertainment, and 8D Creative.[10][11] 8D Creative later stated that the person involved on behalf of their company was no longer working for them as he had left.[12]
CJ ENM's CEO Heo Min Heoi held a press conference on December 30, 2019 to make a formal apology regarding the manipulation controversy surrounding the series. He explained that CJ ENM will be compensating everyone harmed due to the incident. Regarding IZ*ONE and X1, he shared that they are working on plans for the groups to resume activities, and Mnet will give up all resulting profits towards a fund.[13]
On January 6, 2020, the agencies representing the X1 members announced the group had disbanded after they couldn't reach an unanimous agreement to continue on.[14]
On January 23, 2020, Mnet announced IZ*ONE would resume activities starting in February.[15]