Produce Camp 2021 (), officially known as CHUANG 2021, is the fourth season of Produce 101 China, a Chinese idol survival show. The show brought 90 male trainees from different countries and agencies, to form an 11-member international boy group through global viewers' votes. The final 11 trainees debuted as INTO1.
It premiered on February 17, the show was broadcast on Tencent Video and WeTV every Wednesday and Saturday at 7pm CST (UTC+8), with subtitles available in several languages. The grand finale was streamed live on 24 April 2021 at Tencent Video and WeTV.
Background Produce Camp 2021 held a global audition and had gathered 90 trainees who are accepting several challenges to fight for a spot in the newest boyband in mainland China. One of the trainees, Kazuma, left the show for personal reasons. To foster their skills and talents, the trainees underwent missions, training, and assessments with the guidance of the six mentors. The show was filmed in Hainan Island and the recording started in January 2021. The first week had a double stream of episodes on Wednesday and Saturday, resuming in its regular timeslot on the later episodes. In the end, 11 trainees will be chosen to form a group.
Production style In August 2020, Tencent Video released an annual press conference, announcing the launching of "Produce Camp 2021" recruiting trainees worldwide. It was first rumored that the fourth season will be a co-ed of male and female trainees, but the official Sina Weibo account rejected the rumor.
Tencent Videos released a Produce Camp game pixel style logo on January 1, 2021, and later reveal the logo with its slogan "冒险岛的召唤" or "Call of Adventure Islands".
Mentors Main mentors In October 2020, Tencent Video announced that it would create its fourth season of its Produce China series, with Deng Chao as the nation's producer. In January 2021, Tencent Videos announced five new additional mentors: Zhou Shen, Amber Liu, Ning Jing, Zhou Zhennan of R1SE, and Nene/Zheng Naixin of BonBon Girls 303 as international assistant. +NameAgeRoleNotesDeng Chao42Nation's ProducerChinese actor, comedian, director and singer.Ning Jing48Audience RepresentativeChinese actress and singerZhou Shen28Vocal MentorChinese singerAmber Liu28Rap and Dance MentorMember of f(x)Zhou Zhennan20Rap and Dance MentorCenter and Leader of R1SE; winning member from Produce Camp 2019Nene / Zheng Naixin (Pornnappan Pornpenpipat)23International AssistantMember of BonBon Girls 303; winning member from Produce Camp 2020
Guest mentors +NameAgeAppearance on the ShowNotesKōki / Mitsuki Kimura17Episode 3.1-3.2Japanese model and songwriterGong Jun28Episode 8Actor
Guest performers +NameAgeAppearance on the ShowNotesJu Jingyi26Episode 8Actress and singerLiu Xiening24Episode 8Member of BonBon Girls 303; winning member from Produce Camp 2020Meng Meiqi22Episode 8Member of Rocket Girls 101; winning member from Produce 101 ChinaMao Xiaotong33Episode 8Actress and dancerJackson Wang27Episode 10Member of Got7R1SEN/AEpisode 3.2,10Produce Camp 2019 debut boy groupBonBon Girls 303N/AEpisode 10Produce Camp 2020 debut girl group
Episodes
Episode 1.1 (February 17, 2021) Ninety trainees from Mainland China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and some parts across the globe, including Japan, the United States, Thailand, Russia, and Ukraine, are gathered to test their fate and talents be part of the newest boyband in Mainland China. Companies introduce trainees before the six mentors go inside the gathered hall. Unlike in the Korean counterpart, the trainees are seated according to their comfort without any rank numbers in their seat. The audition show started with the mentors' performance: Ning Jing performing 《Julia》, Amber Liu performing 《Shake That Brass》, Zhou Shen performing 《自己按门铃自己听》, Zhou Zhennan performing 《C》, and Deng Chao performing Produce Camp 2019's theme song 《喊出我的名字》. In addition, a new set of rules is imposed to the show; the mentors have no longer the power to decide the trainees' rankings. For the first time, in every seat of the trainees and the mentors, a voting device was installed on their seats and each ranking results are jointly decided by the trainees and the mentors. After the mentors' performances, contestants perform with their label mates or a pre-made group to be evaluated from grades A, B, C, and F. After the Jaywalk Newjoy's performance, it was later revealed that the debuting group will consist of 11 members. It was also revealed that the first Class A students were Zhou Keyu, Oscar, and Lin Mo. The episode was cut when Santa was fatigued after his individual performance while being treated by the medical experts on the show.
Episode 1.2 (February 20, 2021) The evaluations continued on the next day when Santa was fully-recovered. Everyone watched the taped performance of Santa and Rikumaru once more for everyone to evaluate the both of them. Santa received a perfect score from the joint votes of the mentors and trainees. Halfway through the show, another set of Class A students was revealed, and the current Class A students, Zhou Keyu, Oscar, and Lin Mo were demoted to Class B because they are outvoted from the recent trainees who performed. Seven were named as the new members of Class A, namely Yu Yang, Li Jiaxiang, Santa, Rikimaru, Hu Yetao, Bo Yuan, and Yu Gengyin. The episode ended with the intense special dance battle between Santa, Liu Yu, and Xue Bayi, with Liu Yu's rank being not revealed in the episode.
Episode 2 (February 27, 2021) Three more performances were evaluated before revealing who will be occupying the final 11 in Class A. None of the current Class A students were demoted while Liu Yu and Han Peiquan claimed the 8th and 9th spots on the Class A. The 10th and 11th spots were battled between Lin Mo, Hiroto, and Dai Shaodong. In the end, it was Dai Shaodong and Lin Mo who occupied the remaining Class A seats, while Hiroto retained as a Class B trainee. Deng Chao announced that there would be a battle between the recommended students of the five mentors (Deng Chao, Ning Jing, Zhou Shen, Amber Liu, and Zhou Zhennan) versus the opponent from Class A which the recommended students chose. If the recommended students fail the challenge, they will be directly demoted to Class F, and if the recommended trainees succeeded, they will go into Class A, and the mentioned opponent will be demoted to Class B. After all trainees were evaluated, they moved to their dorms and chose the bedrooms according to their likings, yet it is a first-come, first-served basis. The episode ended as Zhou Zhennan introduced the 14 songs that are up for grabs for the upcoming 1st evaluations. The trainees can pick their desired song according to their rank, and each song has a certain limit of team members. The centers are not yet decided, but there are three guidelines on how to choose it: (1) if there's only one Class A student in a group, that trainee will automatically be the center of that group; (2) if there are more than one Class A trainees in one song, the selection of center will be decided by the members through voting; (3) if there are no Class A trainees in a team, the center will be decided by all the team members through voting. + BATTLE ROUNDMentorRecommended StudentResultInitial ClassFinal ClassClass A OpponentResultInitial ClassFinal ClassZhou ZhennanOscarBADai ShaodongABAmber LiuLiu ZhangBFYu YangAAZhou ShenZhou KeyuBFYu GengyinAADeng ChaoPatrick / Yin HaoyuBFLi JiaxiangAANing JingMikaBFBo YuanAA Below is the initial class of the 90 trainees: +INITIAL CLASS EVALUATIONSABCF Santa Bo Yuan Li Jiaxiang Rikimaru Han Peiquan Hu Yetao Yu Gengyin Liu Yu Yu Yang Lin Mo Oscar Dai Shaodong Hiroto Andy Zhang Xingte Jing Long Luo Yan Shingo Ichika Gu Liulin Zeng Hanjiang Nine Wu Hai Xu Shaolan Xu Shengzi Ryo Caelan Amu Hu Zhenyu Li Luoer Wang Zehao Wei Ziyue Eisho Kazuma Zhang Teng Huang Kun Rong Yao Zhang Xinyao Chen Ruifeng He Yifan Ren Yinpeng Shao Mingming Wu Yuheng Zhang Jiayuan Liu Cong Xue Bayi Xiao Lihuan Ling Xiao Yuya Gan Wangxing David Fan Zhener Luke Chen Junjie Liu Yandongji Li Jiahao Li Tailong Fu Sichao Nuo Yan Yuu Yi Han Zhou Keyu Mika Liu Zhang Patrick Keiya Ye Haoran Lailai Zhang Zhang Wang Xiaochen Wei Yujie Cao Zuo Jiang Dunhao Li Zhengting Jumpei Lin Yuxiu Lindow Li Peiyang Akezhuli Lai Yaoxiang He Yijun Lu Dinghao Qian Zhengyu Zheng Mingxin Lelush Qu Boyu Gui Shangqi Li Zekun Liu Tanghui Xie Xingyang
Episode 3.1 (March 03, 2021) The trainees are facing a new mission on their 1st public evaluation stage battle as it determines their new class as a trainee. The team with the highest votes in this public performance will automatically be the new Class A students. Despite feeling the pressure of the challenge, the trainees still have time to get together and do recreational activities on the beach to unwind and relax. Trainees are threatened by the teams《莲 / LIT》 and 《Yummy》, as they see these two groups as the strongest groups. An activity was conducted to decide which groups will battle with another group. The group that will face PK are as follows: (1) 《超级冠军 / Football Gang》 vs《莲 / LIT》; (2) 《Lover Boy 88》 vs 《Radio》; (3) 《女孩 / Girl》 vs 《Yummy》; (4) 《ME!》 vs 《醉拳 / Drunken Master》; (5) 《霓虹甜心 / Neon Dancing》 vs《爱you ready, 爱你ready / Are (Love) You Ready, I'm (Love Me) Ready?》; (6) 《作为怪物 / As a Monster》 vs 《破茧 / Break the Cocoon》; and (7) 《Butter-Fly》 vs 《我欢喜喜欢你 / I Joyfully Like You》. Three battles had already performed, with 《作为怪物 / As a Monster》,《莲 / LIT》, and 《Butter-Fly》 being hailed as the winners of their respective battles.
Episode 3.2 (March 06, 2021) Four pairs of performances are waiting to be disclosed before knowing the votes they received on the 1st stage evaluations and their new class evaluations. The teams who performed 《女孩 / Girl》, 《醉拳 / Drunken Master》, 《Lover Boy 88》, and爱you ready, 爱你ready / Are (Love) You Ready, I'm (Love Me) Ready?》 won on their respective battles. The team 《LIT》, composed of Rikimaru, Liu Yu, Ren Yinpeng, Yi Han, Li Luoer, Luo Yan, and Xu Shaolan are hailed to be the most voted group among the 14 performances and they all automatically become the new members in Class A. Deng Chao also revealed the top 4 trainees among the winning teams who have the most individual votes cast for them will be also joining as the new members of Class A, Wei Ziyue (118 points), Hiroto (117 points), Hu Yetao (114 points), and Wu Yuheng (108 points). A surprise stage performance was performed by their seniors R1SE that was revealed they will also be demonstrating the choreography of this season's theme song.
Episode 4.1 (March 12, 2021) After the 1st Public Evaluations Stage, R1SE performed the Chinese lyrics of this year's theme song 《我们一起闯》 while Amber Liu performed the English lyrics 《Chuang, To-Gather, Go!》. All trainees were shocked to hear that they would be required to memorize the choreography and learn both the Chinese and English lyrics of the song. Many of the trainees struggle with the languages they are fluent in and the challenge to memorize everything in a short period of time. All 90 trainees are evaluated by the mentors and there are drastic changes among the trainees' new class. Rikimaru, Liu Yu, Wu Yuheng, and Hu Yetao who were previously evaluated as Class A in the 1st Public Evaluations Stage have retained their ranks in which the mentors gave them high remarks in maintaining their grade. Lai Yaoxiang who was evaluated as Class F back-to-back had risen to Class A. One were named as the new members of Class A, namely Patrick/Yin Haoyu among the new set of Class A students, Liu Yu was voted to become the center of the music video. Liu Yu vowed that he will break the center curse since in the Produce China series, all of the centers in the music videos didn't end up in the debuting group.
Episode 4.2 (March 12, 2021)