According to an exclusive report on November 7, there's a likelihood that 'Produce X 101's winning group X1 may halt promotions sooner than expected, due to the fact that the members have yet to sign exclusive CJ ENM promotion contracts.

Previously, Mnet's 'Produce X 101' garnered attention as the program laid out plans to sign a 5-year contract with the winning group. However, soon after the program's finale, many raised accusations toward the final episode's votes being rigged, leading to a full-fledged police investigation.

One insider stated, "With police investigations officially taking place and with various endorsement deals being cancelled, not to mention the difficulty with broadcast appearances, the labels of the X1 members came to the decision that they wanted to wait and monitor the results of the investigation before signing the contract. Even during IZ*ONE's case, all of the members did not sign exclusive contracts with CJ ENM until 6 months into their promotions, so CJ ENM did not pay special mind to the fact that X1 would be debuting without the contract fully in place yet."

Since the group's debut earlier this year in August, CJ ENM has discussed portions of the X1 members' contracts with their labels on several occasions, but it's been reported that the contracts have yet to be established in full form. With Mnet's Ahn Joon Young PD now facing prosecution and trial for charges of fraud during 'Produce X 101', the likelihood of X1 wrapping up their promotions as a project group early has risen significantly, media outlets suspected.

Another industry insider revealed, "The labels of the X1 members are currently not only worried about X1's 5-year contract, but also the members' future promotions after those 5 years. It's a difficult debate of whether or not to let the members continue within X1. Many of the members are already facing severe malicious comments due to this incident, suffering heavily. It's turned into a ruthless situation."