Produce 101 () is a reality competition show created by Mnet. It premiered on January 22, 2016, at 22:00 KST and aired every Friday.
It is the first season of the South Korean version of the franchise of the same name. The second season premiered on April 7, 2017, this time featuring all male contestants.
Concept and format Produce 101 was a large-scale girl group unit project produced by CJ ENM and Signal Entertainment Group for Mnet. The show was produced in collaboration with 46 entertainment companies from both inside and outside of South Korea. At about four billion won (approximately $3.33 million), it had the second-largest budget out of all Mnet TV programs at the time.
The show's concept hinged on audience participation: the viewers got to choose the final group's members, concept, debut song, and name. Out of the 101 contestants, they could select eleven girls to debut. The resulting unit would release their debut extended play under Stone Music Entertainment and promote together for a year. The group would be co-managed by YMC Entertainment. After their contract period ended, the members were allowed to join any girl groups or projects that their agencies were planning.
Promotions and broadcast On December 17, 2015, 98 out of the 101 contestants were unveiled for the first time on Episode 453 of M Countdown, where they performed the show's theme song "Pick Me". The stage was presented by actor and singer Jang Keun-suk. From December 18 to 25, 2015, the participants were revealed via the official website, Facebook, Instagram, and Naver TV Cast. Each girl was introduced through a written profile, photos, and videos.
On January 21, 2016, a production presentation for the show was held at the 63 Convention Center in Yeouido, Seoul. The event was attended by the contestants, the presenter Jang Keun-suk, and the five vocal, dance, and rap mentors, namely Brown Eyed Girls' JeA, Kim Sung-eun, Kahi, Bae Yoon-jung, and Cheetah.
The trainees moved into the dorms on December 5, 2015. The stages for the first group mission were held at the CJ E&M studio in Ilsan on December 27, 2015.
In Japan, the first episode of Produce 101 aired on Mnet Japan on April 3, 2016, with the remaining episodes airing every Friday starting from April 8. In the Asia and North America regions, the show premiered on May 4, 2016, and was then broadcast through Channel M every Wednesday starting from May 11.
Cast The show was presented by actor and singer Jang Keun-suk.
The rest of the mentors, who were tasked with training the contestants in various categories, were: Vocal Trainers: JeA Kim Sung-eun Dance Trainers: Kahi Bae Yoon-jung Rap Trainer: Cheetah Fitness Trainer: Ray Yang
Contestants
Color key (In order of contestant's rank on the show) Final members of I.O.I Contestants eliminated in the final episode Contestants eliminated in the third elimination round Contestants eliminated in the second elimination round Contestants eliminated in the first elimination round Contestants that left the show
101 contestants Jeon So-mi () Kim Se-jeong () Choi Yoo-jung () Kim Chung-ha () Kim So-hye () Zhou Jieqiong () Jung Chae-yeon () Kim Do-yeon () Kang Mi-na () Lim Na-young () Yoo Yeon-jung () Han Hye-ri () Lee Su-hyun () Kim Na-young () Kim So-hee () Yoon Chae-kyung () Lee Hae-in () Park So-yeon () Ki Hui-hyeon () Jeon So-yeon () Jung Eun-woo () Kang Si-ra () Ng Sze Kai () Kim Dani () Park Si-yeon () Huh Chan-mi () Hwang In-sun () Seong Hye-min () Kang Yae-bin () Kim Seo-kyoung () Lee Soo-min () An Ye-seul () Kim Hyung-eun () Kim Ju-na () Kwon Eun-bin () Kang Si-won () Yoon Seo-hyung () Park Hae-young () Hwang Soo-yeon () Kim Si-hyeon () Cho Shi-yoon () Kim Min-kyeung () Park Se-hee () Kim Min-ji () Kim Min-jung () Chu Ye-jin () Jung Hae-rim () Kang Gyeong-won () Oh Seo-jung () Kim Tae-ha () Park Ha-yi () Park Ga-eul () Yu Su-a () Lee Jin-hee () Risa Ariyoshi () Hwang A-young () Lim Jung-min () Kim Yeon-kyung () Lee Yoon-seo () Shim Chae-eun () Kang Si-hyeon () Kim Da-jeong () Ahn Yu-mi () Kim Si-hyun () Seo Hye-lin () Hwang Ri-yu () Hwang Se-young () Kim Ji-sung () Kim Su-hyeon () Choi Eun-bin () Park Min-ji () Ham Ye-ji () Kim Mi-so () Kim Woo-jung () Heo Saem () Han Ji-yeon () Shiori Niwa () Pyun Kang-yoon () Lee Su-hyun () Kim Hong-eun () Kim Do-hee () Kim Seol-a () Oh Han-areum () Kim Yun-ji () Lee Seo-jeong () Kim Ja-yeon () Lee Chae-lin () Choi Yu-bin () Katherine Lee () Shin Hye-hyeon () Nam Su-jin () Kim Sol-ee () Lee Se-heun () Bang Joon-hee () Yun Yu-dam () Kim Bo-seon () Moon Hyun-ju () Ma Eun-jin () Lim Hyo-sun () Im Kyung-ha () Kim Ha-yun ()
Ranking The top 11 contestants were chosen through popularity online voting via the official website and the audience's live voting, the results of which were shown at the end of each episode.
Color key New Top 11
+ List of Top 11 contestants # Episode 1 Episode 2 Episode 3 Episode 5 Episode 6 Episode 8 Episode 10 Episode 11 1 Jeon So-mi Jeon So-mi () Jeon So-mi () Kim Se-jeong (1) Kim Se-jeong () Kim Se-jeong () Jeon So-mi (4) Jeon So-mi () 2 Kim Se-jeong Kim Se-jeong () Kim Se-jeong () Jeon So-mi (1) Choi Yoo-jung (1) Choi Yoo-jung () Kim Se-jeong (1) Kim Se-jeong () 3 Zhou Jieqiong Kang Mi-na (5) Kang Mi-na () Choi Yoo-jung (5) Kang Mi-na (2) Kang Mi-na () Choi Yoo-jung (1) Choi Yoo-jung () 4 Jung Chae-yeon Zhou Jieqiong (1) Kim Dani (2) Zhou Jieqiong (2) Jeon So-mi (2) Jeon So-mi () Kim So-hye (4) Kim Chung-ha (1) 5 Jung Eun-woo Kim Na-young (4) Ki Hui-hyeon (1) Kang Mi-na (2) Kim Na-young (4) Kim Na-young () Kim Chung-ha (8) Kim So-hye (1) 6 Ki Hui-hyeon Kim Dani (1) Zhou Jieqiong (3) Ki Hui-hyeon (1) Zhou Jieqiong (2) Zhou Jieqiong () Kim So-hee (16) Zhou Jieqiong (13) 7 Kim Dani Huh Chan-mi (9) Kim Na-young (2) Kim Dani (3) Kim So-hye (4) Kim Do-yeon (1) Yoon Chae-kyung (8) Jung Chae-yeon (5) 8 Kang Mi-na Jung Chae-yeon (4) Choi Yoo-jung (5) Jung Chae-yeon (2) Kim Do-yeon (5) Kim So-hye (1) Han Hye-ri (8) Kim Do-yeon (3) 9 Kim Na-young Ki Hui-hyeon (3) Huh Chan-mi (2) Kim Na-young (2) Yoo Yeon-jung (3) Jung Chae-yeon (1) Lim Na-young (2) Kang Mi-na (9) 10 Kwon Eun-bin Kwon Eun-bin () Jung Chae-yeon (2) Jeon So-yeon (1) Jung Chae-yeon (2) Yoo Yeon-jung (1) Yoo Yeon-jung () Lim Na-young (1) 11 Choi Yoo-jung Jeon So-yeon (12) Jeon So-yeon () Kim So-hye (5) Lim Na-young (13) Lim Na-young () Kim Do-yeon (4) Yoo Yeon-jung (1)
First voting period The first voting period took place from January 22 to February 13, 2016. Viewers were allowed to vote for eleven contestants daily.
Eliminations were based on individual total points.
+ 1st Voting Period results Rank Episode 1 Episode 2 Episode 3 Episode 4 Episode 5 Name Votes Name Votes 1 Jeon So-mi Jeon So-mi Jeon So-mi Kim Se-jeong 1,204 Kim Se-jeong 559,694 2 Kim Se-jeong Kim Se-jeong Kim Se-jeong Hwang Soo-yeon 1,180 Jeon So-mi 528,772 3 Zhou Jieqiong Kang Mi-na Kang Mi-na Lim Na-young 1,160 Choi Yoojung 392,773 4 Jung Chae-yeon Zhou Jieqiong Kim Dani Kim Ju-na 1,137 Zhou Jieqiong 387,537 5 Jung Eun-woo Kim Na-young Ki Hui-hyeon Kim Do-yeon 1,125 Kang Mi-na 376,977 6 Ki Hui-hyeon Kim Dani Zhou Jieqiong Jeon So-mi 1,118 Ki Hui-hyeon 294,540 7 Kim Dani Huh Chan-mi Kim Na-young Kim Min-kyeung 1,117 Kim Dani 273,930 8 Kang Mi-na Jung Chae-yeon Choi Yoo-jung Kang Yae-bin 1,100 Jung Chae-yeon 251,469 9 Kim Na-young Ki Hui-hyeon Huh Chan-mi Park Si-yeon 1,097 Kim Na-young 250,552 10 Kwon Eun-bin Kwon Eun-bin Jung Chae-yeon Kim Si-hyeon 1,088 Jeon So-yeon 230,395 11 Choi Yoo-jung Jeon So-yeon Jeon So-yeon Park Min-ji 1,087 Kim So-hye 227,670
Second voting period The second voting period took place from February 20 to March 5, 2016. Viewers were allowed to vote for eleven contestants daily.
Eliminations were based on individual total points.
+ 2nd Voting Period results Rank Episode 6 Episode 8 Name Votes 1 Kim Se-jeong Kim Se-jeong 1,473,687 2 Choi Yoo-jung Choi Yoo-jung 1,286,447 3 Kang Mi-na Kang Mi-na 1,212,720 4 Jeon So-mi Jeon So-mi 1,201,490 5 Kim Na-young Kim Na-young 931,084 6 Zhou Jieqiong Zhou Jieqiong 885,556 7 Kim So-hye Kim Do-yeon 841,749 8 Kim Do-yeon Kim So-hye 833,101 9 Yoo Yeon-jung Jung Chae-yeon 696,808 10 Jung Chae-yeon Yoo Yeon-jung 684,660 11 Lim Na-young Lim Na-young 665,898
Third voting period The third voting period took place from March 11 to March 19, 2016. At first, it was announced that the voting limit would be decreased from eleven to seven, and was later lowered again to five. Once voting opened, however, viewers were only allowed to select one contestant daily.
Eliminations were based on individual total points.
+ 3rd Voting Period results Rank Episode 10 Name Votes 1 Jeon So-mi 380,783 2 Kim Se-jeong 131,612 3 Choi Yoo-jung 128,004 4 Kim So-hye 93,189 5 Kim Chung-ha 89,323 6 Kim So-hee 54,538 7 Yoon Chae-kyung 53,255 8 Han Hye-ri 49,379 9 Lim Na-young 48,110 10 Yoo Yeon-jung 45,985 11 Kim Do-yeon 44,873
Result
During the last episode, which aired on April 1, 2016, presenter Jang Keun-suk announced the girl group's name: I.O.I ().
+ Final members of I.O.I Rank Episode 11 Name Votes Company 1 Jeon So-mi 858,333 JYP 2 Kim Se-jeong 525,352 Jellyfish 3 Choi Yoo-jung 438,778 Fantagio 4 Kim Chung-ha 403,633 MNH 5 Kim So-hye 229,732 RedLine 6 Zhou Jieqiong 218,338 Pledis 7 Jung Chae-yeon 215,338 MBK 8 Kim Do-yeon 200,069 Fantagio 9 Kang Mi-na 173,762 Jellyfish 10 Lim Na-young 138,726 Pledis 11 Yoo Yeon-jung 136,780 Starship
Episodes
Controversy Controversy arose after Ilgan Sports leaked the contract terms between CJ E&M and the Produce 101 trainees' agencies to the public on February 16, 2016. According to the contract, the agencies and trainees are prohibited from legal action against manipulated edits made on the show and from revealing unreleased information. While the agencies share music production costs, trainees will not receive payment for participating in the show and CJ E&M will take half of any profits from Produce 101 music releases, with the agencies of members featured in the release sharing the remainder.
An affiliate of the show stated that "it [was] regrettable that the contents of the contract were revealed" and emphasized that the terms outlined in the contract are "legally common" and "made to protect the editorial rights of producers and to prevent any spoilers of the show."
Discography Extended plays + List of extended plays, with selected chart positions and sales Title Details Peak chart positions Sales KOR 35 Girls 5 ConceptsReleased: March 19, 2016 Label: Stone Music Entertainment Formats: Digital download, streaming colspan="2"
Singles + List of singles, with selected chart positions Title Year Peak chart positions Sales Album KORCircle Weekly Digital Chart: "Pick Me" 2015 9 KOR: 893,723 "24 Hours" (24시간) 2016 44 KOR: 204,742Cumulative sales for "24 Hours": 35 Girls 5 Concepts "Fingertips" 21 KOR: 394,446Cumulative sales for "Fingertips": "Don't Matter" 30 KOR: 253,613Cumulative sales for "Don't Matter": "Yum-Yum" () 14 KOR: 579,478Cumulative sales for "Yum-Yum": "In the Same Place" () 8 KOR: 807,282 "—" denotes releases that did not chart or were not released in that territory.
Viewership + Average TV viewership ratings Original broadcast date Average audience share Nielsen Korea TNmS NationwideNielsen Korea ratings (Nationwide): Seoul Nationwide 1 January 22, 2016 rowspan="3" 2 January 29, 2016 1.561% 1.10% 3 February 5, 2016 1.777% 1.50% 4 February 12, 2016 3.306% 2.75% 3.00% 5 February 19, 2016 3.475% 3.36% 3.60% 6 February 26, 2016 3.406% 3.12% 3.60% 7 March 4, 2016 3.781% 4.03% 3.40% 8 March 11, 2016 3.664% 4.78% 3.00% 9 March 18, 2016 2.976% 3.17% 3.10% 10 March 25, 2016 3.692% 4.77% 11 April 1, 2016 4.94% 3.70% Average In the table below, represent the lowest ratings and represent the highest ratings. N/A denotes rating that was not released. NR denotes that the show did not rank in the top 10 daily programs on that date.