Kim Donghyuk completes iKON as final member

The moment we have all been waiting for is finally here—the final seventh member of YG Entertainment‘s upcoming boy group iKON has been revealed!

During the broadcast of YG Entertainment’s survival program MIX & MATCH, which aired on November 6th, Kim Donghyuk was announced to be the final confirmed member of iKON, who is set to debut in January 2015.

Known for his strong beliefs and persistence on pushing his trainees to go through a survival-format process to debut, CEO Yang Hyun Suk has had a group of nine male trainees endure harsh competition and criticism for the last six months in order to get them standing where they are today.

Six members of Team B, who were first introduced to the public in 2013 during their original survival program WIN: Who Is Next, failed to debut in the beginning of 2014 with an unfortunate loss to their brother group Team A, who are now known as WINNER. With much regret, Team B members Kim Jinhwan, Bobby, B.I, Koo Junhoe, Kim Donghyuk, and Song Yunhyeong were put forth yet another set of challenges with the release of MIX & MATCH.

An addition of three completely new trainees, Jung Jinhyeong, Jung Chanwoo, and Yang Hongsuk, were placed among the previous six members to see if they could survive the training and brotherhood to fulfill their dreams of becoming an iKON member. Only seven of the nine trainees were announced to debut in the group, the remaining two trainees who fail to gain the most viewer votes getting eliminated from the group and possibly, even the agency.

Yang Hyun Suk previously confirmed that trainees B.I, Bobby, and Kim Jinhwan were already set as official members of iKON, which exempts them from all voting and leaves only the remaining six trainees’ positions unaccounted for unless voted into the group by the viewers of the show.

After six long months of Mix & Match training and competition, as well as an intense round of voting, the remaining four finalized members following Kim Jin Hwan, Bobby, and B.I have been revealed to be Koo Junhoe, Song Yunhyeong, Jung Chanwoo, and Kim Donghyuk.

Many fans have been showing their gratitude towards the nine iKON trainees, even before the finalization of all seven members, for their hard working efforts and for sharing the bittersweet memories with them throughout the whole process of their debut preparations.

Congratulations to iKON, you guys did it!