Mnet has announced its position regarding future audition programs.

On November 7, a source from Mnet told news outlet Star News, “‘World Klass,’ which is currently airing, does not have text message voting. Unlike the ‘Produce’ selection process, we are choosing [the members] through missions, expert evaluations, and V Live votes. [The identity of] the chosen member is announced every week.” They continued, “Out of the first 20 contestants, 10 trainees will debut. None of the contestants are trainees from [talent] agencies.”

The official then spoke about how Mnet planned to improve its future audition programs. They explained, “The recent ‘Queendom’ and ‘Show Me the Money’ finales introduced an ‘observer system’ consisting of ordinary people and strangers overseeing the text votes to confirm the results. In the future, Mnet will introduce this observer system to carry out a fair system.” The official added, “Instead of using the ‘Produce’ system, ‘Teen Singer‘ (literal title), which is airing next year, will be utilizing a method that showcases the contestants’ talents.”

The official finally stated, “In regard to the recent controversy caused by Mnet, we are sorry and reflecting [on the matter]. We think it is right to show another alternative in future programs.”

Previously on November 6, SBS reported that out of the four seasons of Mnet’s “Produce 101” series, producing director (PD) Ahn Joon Young admitted to manipulating the results of the most recent two seasons, “Produce X 101” in 2019 and “Produce 48” in 2018.

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