Idol School () is a 2017 reality girl group survival show on Mnet. The program aimed to form a 9-member girl group from a pool of 41 female participants, training them in singing, dancing and other "subjects" over an 11-week time period.
While sharing similarities to another Mnet survival program, Produce 101, the two shows differed in many ways including its number of participants, voting system, and number of winners that will form the final group. Another of the shows greatest differences was how they treated the eliminated contestants. In Idol School, participants were given the chance to continue studying in the 'normal class' where they would continue studying in a different class off-campus (off location) under less public scrutiny, for a chance to debut in a future group.
The show premiered on July 13, 2017, with the final episode airing on September 29, 2017. The new group name was revealed to be Fromis 9, meaning "From Idol School", but pronounced similar to "Promise" in Korean, and the final line means the never-ending possibilities and the promising and prosperous road ahead after graduation that would last forever. The new group members trained and released albums through Pledis Entertainment, while their group activities were managed by Stone Music Entertainment/Off the Record Entertainment, as a joint venture with CJ E&M.
Concept Although promoted as a survival program, Idol School, as its name suggests, was structured similarly to an actual school wherein for a total of 11 weeks, the participants will receive lessons in not only singing and dancing, but also the history of K-pop and everything that comes with being an idol in South Korea, such as mental training and appearing in public. Producer Shin Yu-seon stated that they started recruiting participants in April 2017. Only female trainees aged 13 (Korean age) and above who were not trainees of any entertainment company were allowed to join. The producer also clarified that former trainees and even former singers were also given the chance to participate. This caused some controversy as some people felt that it went against its concept of 'training ordinary students'. But, despite this opinion, a number of female participants who had previously trained under entertainment companies made the cut. Viewers voted live every episode and the students' 'grades' were completely determined by the votes. The decision to form a 9-person group was also decided by pre-show voting, where the choice was between 5–13. The cost of phone voting was 100 won, and all the money collected was donated to CJ Donors Camp.
Super Junior member Kim Hee-chul acted as the show's 'homeroom teacher' while veteran actor Lee Soon-jae was the principal of the school. The participants were also taught by several teachers: Singer and S.E.S member Bada was a vocal and performance trainer along with S.M. Entertainment vocal trainer Jang Jin-young. Dance was taught by choreographer Park Jun-hee and singer Stephanie. Black Eyed Pilseung produced the music. Kim Il-jeong served as the MC for Debut Diagnostics Exams and School Entrance Ceremony.
Contestants
Episodes
Episode 1 After the introduction of the show from the acting principal, Lee Soon-jae, the girls enter the classroom one by one, a video of the audition tape of the next student to enter playing on the screen in front of them. The girls began their lessons with a vocal evaluation, singing "Into the New World" by Girls' Generation as the trainers Bada and Jang Jin-young rank them vocally, in which Natty places first. Meanwhile, Lee Hae-in surprises people by doing poorly after losing her voice, and another contestant, Som Hye-in, struggles with the lyrics.
They then start dance lessons with Park Jun-hee and Stephanie, where students must learn re-choreographed versions of "Treasure" by Bruno Mars and "Deja Vu" by Beyonce with both songs' choruses looped on a cycle. Each group of 10 must keep dancing until they get picked off to rest, thus getting the pass from the instructors. Stephanie asks Bae Eun-yeong to step in to teach Yoo Ji-na during free practice. For the evaluation, Tasha ranks first while Jeong So-mi ranks last, scoring 1 point. Som Hye-in once again faces difficulties during the assessment and vomits in the bathroom.
Fitness instructor Yoon Tae-shik, who has trained celebrities, also performs a physical endurance test focusing on the lower body, especially the hips, gluteal muscles, and thighs with the students, in which the first test is a paired shadow-sitting competition. In the individual chair-sitting competition, Kim Eun-suh lasts the longest, thus getting the maximum 10 points. Yoo Ji-Na comes last out of the healthy participants, thus scoring only 0.4 points.
After completing the entrance tests, the top student with the highest grades is announced, and Natty is congratulated during the opening ceremony with the faculty and the class and is named class president. The students also begin their military-like dorm life, sleeping in one large room that would fit all 40 of the students, which would also be inspected regularly by a supervisor; if a student earns 15 demerit points, they will be expelled. While the other students are sleeping, Som Hye-in decides to leave the show due to poor health. At the end of the episode, they reveal the voting results ranking the 40 students and the top 9 students, with Lee Hae-in ranking first.
Episode 2 Students go through a morning run where they must also sing the school anthem in order to boost their lung capacity, cardiovascular fitness, and correct vocalization technique. After the morning run and breakfast, they have a class about the memorable "killing part" and have practice recordings. Lee Hae-In, who lost her voice the day before, had still not fully recovered from a cold, but does well in the practice. After a buffet-style lunch, they get a new dance break, where Song Ha-young and Natty win the dance break parts in the MV, thus becoming dual-centers of the mass dance. They also record the MV for the school anthem where they have to be able to capture their memorable killing part. The students also watch a dance performance from Illusion, a 32-mixed-student dance crew from university, which was for recording the promo video, where there are many intricate formation changes based on the letters W, X, 111, V and two V's stacked on each other, and must get into each formation in 16 beats (4 bars).
Kim Na-yeon is the worst student in the mid-way point of the broadcast, so she pleads for votes at the end of the live update. In the formation practice, Lee Si-an struggles again, having already been singled-out as a poor dancer the day before. Then, 10 more are singled out due to lack of individual coordination, but they manage to improve on the third try. Yoo Ji-Na, on the other hand, is praised after noticing the problems with the details of the formation, despite being a poor individual dancer the previous day. Bae Eun Yeong is also praised for her continued support of the group despite being set in the corner and stuck in the back half of the group, showing great leadership. It also gives them a lesson to acknowledge each other's differences in expressing frustration and signs for asking help. Thus, peer-study pairs are formed, where an older, or stronger dancer will take care of the weaker one.
In the evening, they start their self-study of the dance, led by Song Ha-young and Natty. Tasha and Bin Ha-neul (Sky) are tasked to check the formation, and they pick the five students that struggled (Kim Ju-hyun, Snowbaby, Yoo Ji-na, Jo Se-rim, and Lee Si-an) to train all night.
The next morning, the two youngest members, Michelle White and Park Sun are called to meet the principal to see how they are coping. Special teacher Sol Bi is introduced for a class in Psychological Health Management. She also uses art therapy to let student express themselves, because Sol Bi used art as an outlet as well.
In the evaluation before the actual MV recording, it appears the plan failed, and the four are told to never use this method again. In the MV taping the day after, they only have 3 chances to perform as a whole 40-student squad, or else, the 10 worst students would not be in the MV. Although Lee Si-an and Park Ji-won kept splitting off on the right side (on screen) of the W, they manage to perform as a whole group in the final take. As Song Ha-young came first in the votes, she becomes the class president for the week.
Episodes 3 and 4 Students start the first Debut Diagnostics Exam in a live dance and vocal performance in CJ E&M Building where they will split into teams of 8, and each will cover a girl group song. The leaders are predetermined by the teachers based on performances thus far and contents of their diary, but the team members are picked by the preferences of the remaining students. The best endurance on bar hang will determine the song picking order, and killing part of each song are determined by the filming test (open to 15 students).
They also had a class where they must wear makeup that fit the songs they are performing, and must submit a practice video. The bottom 8 students at the end of episode 4 will be expelled. The other part of the Exam involves making a different types of variety shows. This was to test their vocal stability while dancing, and completeness of the dance. The winning group gains an Individual Ranking +1 card that is automatically in play in the final voting results, and also gains the opportunity to call their family.
Due to the +1 cards, Lee Sae-rom moves up to 9th, Natty is bumped down to 10th, meaning Natty would not have debuted if the team were to be picked. Lee Yeong-yoo is saved by the +1 card, knocking Snowbaby into the bottom 8 and eliminating her instead. Before the eliminated students are escorted out of the classroom, the principal gives a testimony to them and gives them his well wishes. However, they will be moved to normal class in Careers Club to study and be trained and housed separately from the remaining students, but with the same teachers, and it is optional. The 8 eliminated students all accept the transfer offer.
Special On-line Live Broadcasts Due to the uncertain status of the 8 eliminated students after they decline the offer to transfer to the "Normal Class" which they initially accepted, the 5th episode is shifted back a week and replaced by highlights of the students thus far, including some behind-the-scenes footage. Live voting was suspended and instead, the remaining students held 14 live broadcasts within the campus on the show's official Facebook page. Originally set for 80 minutes, but due to technical difficulties, the broadcasts were delayed and the time restrictions were lifted. The remaining students did not start broadcasting until midnight, KST. The second Diagnostics Exam was rescheduled to be held and recorded on August 13.
Episode 5