One of the Better Survival Shows
When I think back to some of the controversies of past survival shows like Youth With You’s milkgate and recently Kachine’s STOP moment during Starlight Boys, I can’t help but wait to expect something to happen. Surprisingly I’m seeing a lot of talented contestants show their talents, play lots of games and have some live public shows and interviews. It does have the usual online banter and favouratism but which show doesn’t.What I enjoy the most though is the inclusivity and safety shown towards the contestants. That’s one thing I noticed especially with the Chinese shows and how they handled inclusivity so I’m not surprised seeing them pull away from this type of show and now the number one show filled with boys in China is about farming. I have nothing against farming by the way.
One thing I am finding odd has been the dance and vocal categories. I’m a big believer in live performances that aren’t lip-synched, dance contestants here aren’t forcefully lip syncing, they are only dancing if they’re in the dance category and rightly so, but as a performer, if there are words being sung, I feel they should be sung not lip synched by the contestants if that makes sense.
Actually another oddity is the language barrier, it is shown in all it’s glory here which I think is great as it is a really noticeable disadvantage or advantage for some.
The Judges - I think I need to update this once the show has finished lol. However THE8 is phenomenal. If there was ever a judge with a poker face, it’s him. I’ve never actually heard him say anything negative that I can recall. However, when you watch him, you just expect some very harsh comment but in reality he’s extremely constructive if you listen carefully lol. What am I saying, it is harsh but not in a bad way. Oh dear I think I will need to update this later lol. Update - due to scheduling he wasn’t available for the remainder of the season but shared a recorded message in the finale.
The Finale - opening was truly amazing having past contestants be part of the history of Chuang was A+.
🌊NEXT1DE 🌊NEXT1DE 🌊NEXT1DE 🌊NEXT1DE 🌊NEXT1DE 🌊NEXT1DE
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Comparison between Tencent's Idol Survival Seasons
After viewing all seasons, I would say that this season is the most disappointing.EP6 - How can Chuang Asia Thailand make trainees wait for their ranking under the unbearable hot sun? If you guys have travelled to Bangkok, you would know that Bangkok is 1 of the hottest city. The trainees can be seen taking off their jacket and the worst thing is the production team would still FILM them having a hard time. I feel so sad for them.
EP7 - They announced that there will be 7 groups performing but there are only 4 groups performing in Part 1. We have to wait 1 more week for Part 2 where the other 3 groups would perform. What is the production team looking for in the trainees? Talent? If so, it is unfair to the other 3 groups performing in Part 2. How do we vote based on this? By purely talents or fans favorite trainee?
Overall, I am disappointed in this season. First of all, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, each episode is 2+ hours while 2024 and 2025 is 1+ hours. I am also disappointed that this season had only 2 stage performances while the other seasons had 3 stage performances before the finals.
Anyway, this season had only 60 trainees compared to the previous season.
2018 - 101 Trainees
2019 - 100 Trainees
2020 - 101 Trainees
2021 - 90 Trainees
2024 - 70 Trainees
2025 - 60 Trainees
This means that after Tencent shifted their Idol survival show to Thailand, the trainees drop almost 30-40%. I understand that China restricted the Idol survival show and hence they move to Thailand. I hope that the next few seasons will have more trainees because I feel that with more trainees, more talents will motivate other trainees to work harder.
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Overall, just okay
It started out strong with quite a solid pool of trainees, and I respect that they tried to do things differently from other shows at different points (e.g. group audition stages, style of elimination reveals). The line-up of mentors is also very impressive - active and popular k-pop idols SEVENTEEN The8 and GOT7 BamBam, as well as singers Jeff Satur & Tia Ray, who are well-respected within their respective industries.That being said, given that I watched it live and participated in voting, I think there was insufficient resources overall to inform voting - meaning fan cams, live vocals, even full performances. At one point, it also started getting pretty obvious who the final 7 was going to be, which just gets a bit boring and demoralising for watchers.
I do think the show could have had stronger narratives and spotlights on more trainees, but in any case, I wish the debut group and undebuted trainees all the best!
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The realistic mentors
This show really focus on trainees growth. Even at it's first episode the panels will make you realise that this is not an ordinary idol producing show. The trainees are set for growth, not cuddle or unrealistic baseless random criteria.I watch this because of Producer Xu Minghao, but now I'm really looking forward to the growth of trainees.
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Control Those Attitudes
I really was looking forward to this survival show. It does have talented boys....but the attitudes of two in particular have questioned the judges on their scoring methods. It's their attitudes and how rudely they questioned the mentors. The mentors have taken their comments in stride, but I would have scored them a C and asked them how much money had they invested in this show to be able to question their authority. The mentors were fair. The two boys are very talented, but they have obviously been spoiled by over indulging parents. I hope there is no more confrontations and that the producers of the show has a good talk to the boys about attitude adjustments or they can leave the showWas this review helpful to you?
This review may contain spoilers
La próxima ola
Que he sufrido y me he alegrado a partes iguales con algunos de los trainees, no sorprenderá a nadie. Que haya hecho campaña durante los últimos diez días para que Yao Zihao no se quedara fuera del ranking, quizá sí. Teniendo que pelearme con gente que no es capaz de utilizar las redes sociales para informarse un poquito antes de hablar, disgusting lol.Me hace muy feliz que alguien como Dorn, tan humilde y talentoso, haya sido elegido como el centro. Hay alguna elección que no llego a comprender y me entristece que personas como Ninja o Yuchen se hayan quedado fuera (long live the carrot family), pero chica, solo podían debutar 7.
Estaré esperando la próxima ola para stannear bien fuerte.
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