Produce X 101’s Premiere Episode Reveals Shocking New Twists And Differences From Previous Seasons
The wildly popular Produce series’ latest installment Produce X 101 has revealed how the debut group will be chosen and it’s different from anything they’ve done before.
Many trainees and fans speculated that the “X” in Produce X 101 stood for the Roman Numeral for “10,” thus indicating 10 debut members. However, the X was a hint for how the debut members would be chosen, not for the number of trainees that would debut.
Host Lee Dongwook revealed that the final number of members was to be 11, as with I.O.I and Wanna One before them. However, instead of picking rankings 1-11, only rankings 1-10 will be considered. The final member will be decided exclusively through voting.
With rankings not being a factor, the final member doesn’t have to rank high if they are able to garner enough fan votes. This marks the first time in Produce history that a member of the debut team will be chosen 100% by the fans.
The “level test” has also gotten an “X” upgrade this season. Instead of being ranked from “A-F” as the other seasons, trainees on Produce X 101 are ranked “A-X”, with “X” replacing “F”. Any trainees that received a rank of “X” were unable to train at the 101 Training Center with the rest of the trainees.
There are bound to be many more twists and turns revealed as the season continues. Produce X 101 airs every Friday night at 11PM KST on Mnet.
Watch Mnet’s highlight clip from the premiere episode below: