Netizens Accuse Mnet Of Using Women As “Guinea Pigs” As They Confirm Upcoming Season Of “Street Man Fighter”
Mnet‘s dancing reality series Street Woman Fighter saw incredible success, as the show went on to become one of the most watched and talked about shows in the nation. Having concluded its run back in October, netizens have been able to continue the hype through its spin-off, Street Dance Girls Fighter, which feature teenage dance crews.
However, Mnet recently confirmed an official second season of Street Woman Fighter—and netizens are enraged by their decision.
The news was reported by numerous media sites, as the 2022 launching of Street Man Fighter was confirmed by the broadcasting network. And while additional seasons of successful variety programs are nothing new, it was the fact that Mnet had once again, used women as the “guinea pigs” that netizens had a problem with.
Previously, Mnet did the very same thing with their Produce series. After seeing the grand global success of the female audition show Produce 101, it was then that the broadcasting giant launched the male version of the audition program Produce 101 Season 2 just a year later.
They also followed the same pattern with their previous girl group battle series, Queendom. Featuring 6 different girl groups, the participants battled it out in weekly missions to secure the first place spot. Queendom skyrocketed in global popularity and just a year later, Mnet came out with its first male counterpart, Road to Kingdom. Another year later, they came out with the final male counterpart to the series, Kingdom: Legendary War.
However, that’s not all. In addition to all this, is the fact that Mnet continues to allegedly undermine the power and popularity of women based reality programs. Following Street Woman Fighter‘s viewership record-breaking success, it was shockingly revealed that the winners of the competition would receive no monetary prize and instead, would receive just a trophy.
Given that dancers in South Korea are paid low compensations to begin with and in addition to the reality show’s incredible success, Mnet fell under the wrath of netizens’ extreme criticisms.
The prize was changed shortly after the backlash, however, as Mnet revealed in a updated report that the winning dance crew would win ₩50.0 million KRW (about $42,600 USD). But even then, this number proved to be problematic—and it went beyond the fact that the prize would have to be split between numerous dance crew member winners.
While not all competitions are about money, this became an issue due to the fact that other male-based competition series always involved large monetary prizes. For instance, Mnet’s Show Me The Money 10 recently awarded their solo male winner a grand prize of ₩300 million KRW (about $253,000 USD). The show, which is open to all contestants, has always been predominantly filled with male rappers—and as of the latest season, the winners have only been male.
Considering Mnet’s previous track record of using the success of women-based variety programs and their continuous alleged discrimination against them, Korean netizens have decided that enough was enough. Following the news of Street Man Fighter, online communities have erupted in anger towards the broadcasting station for once again, using women as “guinea pigs.”
- “I wish they were doing a ‘Street Woman Fighter 2’ insteadㅠ.”
- “There’s no f*cking fun watching guys battle it out.”
- “Mnet has not a clue why ‘Street Woman Fighter’ was so fun..”
- “Just make a reality show about the ‘Street Woman Fighter’ leaders.”
- “I’m not going to watch when it’s obvious that school violence, sex crimes, etc will be exposed ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ.”
- “All of the audition survival programs use women as guinea pigs first before they make a male version since the men bring in more money…”
- “Who said they had high expectations for them to call it an ‘anticipated series’?”
Mnet will be premiering Street Man Fighter sometime in 2022, but no further updates have been provided regarding its specific air date. Stay tuned for further updates.
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