The survival show, which has a different concept, was aired on KBS2 and began airing on October 28, 2017, ending on February 10, 2018. The contestants on the show were idols who already debuted but still hadn’t made it to the spotlight. In The Unit, the contestants who made it to the final round would be formed into, and debuted as, a unit. They also had a chance to perform with the group’s title track and get the exposure that comes from being on a nationally aired television show. If you want to get to know more about The Unit; Idol Rebooting Project, get ready to check out the article below!
KBS’s ‘The Unit’: The Latest Idol Survival Shows
The Unit; Idol Rebooting Project, aired on KBS2, uses the same basic concept as any of the other survival shows that have been aired in South Korea. Contestants are eliminated in each episode if they don’t make any progress, lack talent, or get the lowest number of votes. The Unit; Idol Rebooting Project is a survival show for contestants who have already debuted with a previous boy-group or girl-group, but they haven’t had a lot of success yet. The show is called the “Idol Rebooting Project”, but about half the contestant are trainees from various agencies, who are near to making their debuts. Some media sources say that this survival show is about making failed idols popular, but that sentence is just too harsh, considering how many South Korean teenagers dream of becoming an idol, and how many of them have been trainees since childhood. The purpose of show is to create a spotlight to help underrated idols have a chance to become as known as other idols, and to perform on a big stage when they make it through the competition. Many people know that being an idol is really hard, and they live a pretty stressful life. Given the fact that 30-40 idol groups are debuted every year, there are only a few of them who get known by many people and get to have fans around the world. The rookie groups on the show compete among the other groups, which are full of their seniors, which also gives a rookie an opportunity to become popular and get attention from the public. Contestants have a good-looking visual, great dance moves, singing, rap, or another talent such as acting and modeling. But the most important thing they need is the opportunity to get them shining on the stage, and to make the world know that these idols and trainees deserve to have their own spotlight and to pursue their dreams. The Unit; Idol Rebooting Project is a survival show that focused on the contestants, to show off their talent and perform in front of the mentors. It was a fair show, and every episode showcased the contestant’s talents as they worked for a chance to debut together in the final episode, which divided the survivors into male & female groups formed with 9 members.
On August 20, 2017, KBS World TV’s official YouTube account released a video teaser for The Unit; Idol Rebooting Project, written as The Uni+, which stands for ‘You and I Plus’. A few days before the teaser was released, the application form has been launched on it’s official website and bulletin board, so anyone who was interested to join the program could submit one.
After the would-be contestants submitted their applications, The Booting Evaluation was held between September 29 and October 1, 2017 at Kintex Hall 9 in Ilsan, which allowed voting from the audience while the contestants performed. The contestants received one Boot when 15% of the audience voted for them during the Booting Evaluation, and if the 90% of the audience voted for them, the whole group immediately joined the show, which is known as Super Boot. However, the mentors also made their own choices about which contestants joined the show, by giving at least one boot from the mentors.
Around 126 contestants passed the Booting Evaluation, and reported for filming a music video for The Uni+’s theme song, My Turn, October 7-9, as a part of their first mission on the show. The music video was released on KBS World TV’s official YouTube account on October 17, 2017. The contestants who will be formed as the center groups included 9 males and females. The most stand-out contestant, who performed with great stage presence, would be chosen as the “center of the center”. When the music video released, we could see the representative of the center was Euijin from Sonamoo, for the girl-group, and IM’s Kijoong for the boy-group. The voting episodes started on November 11, 2017, and immediately get a huge amount of attention from the audience and viewers who wanted to vote their most anticipated idols. The first day when the vote event started, the servers crashed 15 minutes after the event started because so many people were trying to vote. The Unit; Idol Rebooting Project opened their voting through TMON’s website, using TMON ID to vote. Each person could choose 9 male contestants to be formed in Unit+ B, and 9 females who would be formed in Uni+ G. Besides their top 9 choices, the voters could also pick their favorite contestant, who will be awarded two votes while the remaining eight contestants only received one vote each. This gave the voters the means to be able to help a total of 18 contestants to pursue their dreams and get a high rank in the show. On episode 11, the show announced that they changed their voting system from TMON’s website, and it would now be done exclusively through The Uni+‘s official mobile app. Furthermore, voters would now only be able to chose three contestants for Uni+ G and Uni+ B each day, starting at 12 PM KST on January 7, 2018, and voting would be closed on January 25, 2018, at 11:59 PM KST.
Contestant Profiles
Male Contestants
These are the male contestants on The Unit; Idol Rebooting Project:
Female Contestants
These were the female contestants:
