the houses were certainly a set-up imo, i don't think either doha or mingyu had much of a say in choosing their audition songs sadly. idk what the criterion was this time, but in gp999 mnet chose the audition songs for each contestant, so they likely did that this time too.
eta: additionally, i think cube sending doha, who's a literal acting trainee, onto an idol survival show along with one of their extremely talented veteran idols, while also letting go of trainees like shanbin, matthew, and a whole bunch more i can't remember rn, was a fucking joke.