News Mnet's "Kingdom" Under Controversy For Unfair Treatment Even Before The Show Begins (2 Viewers)

[Myco]

"Mnet‘s boy group competition show Kingdom has been criticized for unfair treatment, with one boy group receiving advantages that the other five did not for their stage props.

According to an exclusive report from Ilgan Sports, Kingdom recently completed the filming of their first contest between the boy groups, the hit song mission. During the hit song mission, one group’s agency raised the issue that there was bias regarding the stage set-up. Specifically, one group’s stage was decorated with an expensive set and props, and the other group managers asked the production team to maintain a fair environment for all contestants.

Kingdom informed the groups in advance that the maximum stage production cost for the hit song mission would be ₩5 million KRW ($4,417 USD). The purpose of this limit on production costs is to fairly examine each group, as they all have different stage personalities as well. However, one group in the competition is reported to have had special treatment, and it was even suspected that the group had CJ ENM backing them. The rumors started because the stage set and props that they used easily exceeded the ₩5 million KRW ($4,417 USD) limit.

The production team tried to shut down the unfair treatment, explaining that the props and set were ones that are used at concerts, but the other groups raised an issue, since they all have had concert experience as well. It was even reported that the unfair treatment became so severe, several of the group’s agencies went to Mnet to complain about the issue.

Kingdom is scheduled to begin on April 1, with BTOB, iKON, SF9, THE BOYZ, Stray Kids, and ATEEZ competing. The show will be hosted by TVXQ’s Changmin, while fellow member Yunho will only appear as a host for the segments he recorded due to his ongoing controversy."


Update from a representative about this miscommunication
"Mnet‘s Kingdom recently fell into controversy when it was reported that the groups were not treated equally for the first episode. The issue arose due to three of the six teams having a higher set budget as reflected in their respective stages.

As the audience protested unfair treatment, a media investigation by Ilgan Sports reported that Mnet’s Kingdom had informed groups in advance that the maximum stage production costs for this round would be capped at ₩5 million KRW ($4,417 USD) in order to fairly examine all the groups. Subsequently, rumors of special treatment brew due to the discrepancies in the sets. According to Ilgan Sports, the production team tried to explain to the groups that some of the more expensive sets reused items from concerts. However, as many of the other groups have similar concert experience, their agencies took up the issue of unfair treatment with Mnet.

In a later news report, a representative from the broadcasting station stepped up to explain the situation. The representative explained that they had originally agreed to a budget of ₩5 million KRW ($4,417 USD) prior. However, after reconsidering, they decided to readjust the budget to higher than that. A miscommunication resulted in only three teams being notified of this adjustment. Subsequently, the rest of the teams who weren’t notified successfully raised the issue with Kingdom.

Kingdom is set to air on April 1, with BTOB, iKON, THE BOYZ, Stray Kids, SF9 and ATEEZ participating."

@Melody @Ikonic @The B @Stay @Fantasy @Atiny

 

[Yili]

Guess it's not that surprising anymore seeing how much crap they pulled in Produce, they had to find a way to meddle in this too

 

[Ahsoka]

Disappointed but not surprised

 

[Abeamus]

Well I have an idea of the group based on which of the companies behind these groups usually plays a part in MAMA regularly and if that is the case I wouldn't be at all surprised

 

[brekker]

so which group was in advance? :D am I the only one interested? :D

 

[Myco]

so which group was in advance? :D am I the only one interested? :D

It wasn't exactly revealed,
This is all speculation
But i also read that 2 are backed by cjem (subsidiary of cjem and through kakao m) which could only be ateez and the boyz. Wouldn't be surprised if the third one was stray kids so it's basically the 3 groups mnet have pushed since the beginning.

obviously this is not the fault of any of the groups but Mnet "accidentally" not telling the other 3 about the budget increase lol

 

[brekker]

It wasn't exactly revealed,
This is all speculation
But i also read that 2 are backed by cjem (subsidiary of cjem and through kakao m) which could only be ateez and the boyz. Wouldn't be surprised if the third one was stray kids so it's basically the 3 groups mnet have pushed since the beginning.

obviously this is not the fault of any of the groups but Mnet "accidentally" not telling the other 3 about the budget increase lol

"accidentally" I like that :D :D :D. sorry, we forgot to include you..ooops.

but like ok, iKON and BTOB are already quite popular, mayyyybe that could be excusable, BUT why is SF9 getting into such mess. I kind of feel they are still one of the most underrated groups, but maybe that´s just how I feel?

 

[RandAlThor]

It wasn't exactly revealed,
This is all speculation
But i also read that 2 are backed by cjem (subsidiary of cjem and through kakao m) which could only be ateez and the boyz. Wouldn't be surprised if the third one was stray kids so it's basically the 3 groups mnet have pushed since the beginning.

obviously this is not the fault of any of the groups but Mnet "accidentally" not telling the other 3 about the budget increase lol

i mean how hard is a group email to the agencies involved?

 

[yeji]

why do I know YG ain’t did shit

 

[Ahsoka]

"accidentally" I like that :D :D :D. sorry, we forgot to include you..ooops.

but like ok, iKON and BTOB are already quite popular, mayyyybe that could be excusable, BUT why is SF9 getting into such mess. I kind of feel they are still one of the most underrated groups, but maybe that´s just how I feel?

SF9 are more popular in Korea than some of the other groups I believe, more popular than Ateez for example (I think, I could be wrong but that's the impression I get). It seems like they're underrated because they aren't as big internationally, which we usually see.

 

[LeeriaYa]

I heard it was Ateez. They used their concert props which projected them over the 5 million budget. However, some groups weren’t fully delayed the information of the budget. So, KQ must just not have known but they said they were allowing special conditions since Ateez already bought the props awhile ago. The Boyz were reported to have stayed within their budget. It is kind of unfair though because MNET possibly did this on purpose to raise more publicity since the ratings of the first episode were kind of stagnant. I wouldn’t be surprised if they are purposely making the groups run in circles to raise uproar since MNET’s ratings have dwindled with the controversies of their past shows.