# Fantasy Boys

Fantasy Boys (Korean: 소년판타지 – 방과후 설렘 시즌2) is a 2023 South Korean reality competition program created by MBC. It aired on MBC TV from March 30 to June 8, 2023, every Thursday at 22:00 (KST). The finale was broadcast live and announced the twelve final members to formed the final group, Fantasy Boys. The show serves as a sequel to My Teenage Girl, this time featuring all male contestants.

## Concept and format

In June 2022, the production company, Phunky Studios, held meetings with 53 entertainment agencies to discuss the production of a male version of My Teenage Girl. A month later, it was announced that over 1,000 trainees from all over the world, including Japan, China, the United States, Australia, and Thailand, had applied for the privately held global auditions Any boys aged 14 and over, regardless of nationality, were eligible to audition. Further contestants were originally scheduled to be recruited through public auditions from November 18 to December 16, 2022, but the recruitment period was later extended to December 31.
The show's goal is to create a global K-pop boy group composed of trainees from all around the world. Aside from regular promotions, the new boy group will also participate in webtoon character, game, digital content, and NFT (Non-Fungible Token) projects.

## Promotion and broadcast

In November 2022, the program's title was confirmed as Fantasy Boys and multiple teaser videos were released between November 18 and December 2, 2022. On February 20, 2023, profile photos and videos for the 55 contestants were released through the official website and social media accounts. The music video for the theme song "FANTASY" was released on the 27th. On March 6, Phunky Studio announced that in addition to the music video, a special performance video for "FANTASY" would be released. Filming for the video took place at a large-scale set at a gym in Gyeonggi Province from March 6–7.
On March 1, an offline high-touch meeting entitled 'Hi! Fantasy' was held prior to the show's premiere at the COEX Convention & Exhibition Center. Over 5,000 fans from around the globe applied for the event.
On March 17, it was announced that the broadcast of the first episode of Fantasy Boys would be postponed from March 23 to March 30 because a global OTT platform had agreed to simultaneously broadcast the program worldwide. Fantasy Boys is being simulcast through MBC TV and Naver NOW in South Korea, Abema in Japan, and iQIYI in 12 more countries, namely Japan, Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia, Brunei, Thailand, the Philippines, Indonesia, Myanmar, Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos.

## Cast

* Host: Changmin
* Main Producers (also known as Mentors):
** Jang Woo-young
** Jeon So-yeon
** Jin-young
** Kang Seung-yoon
* Rap Teachers:
** Hanhae
** Kebee
* Vocal Teachers:
** Jang Jin-young
** Park Su-min
** Jeong Woong-min
* Dance Teachers:
** Yoo Kwang-yeol
** Lee Kwang-taek
* Guest:
** Choi Min-ho (Special host; Episodes 5–6)

## Contestants

The English spelling of the Korean and Chinese contestants' names are presented in Eastern order according to the official website, while the Japanese contestants' names are presented in Western order. The Korean names of the non-Korean contestants are listed along with their names in their native languages.

### Color Key

55 contestants South Korea, China, Taiwan, Japan, Thailand, U.S. :
| 1st Grade |||||
| Yu Jun-won (유준원) | Hong Seong-min (홍성민) | Lee Han-bin (이한빈) | Hikari (ヒカリ) / (히카리) | K-Soul (苏尔) / (소울) |
| Kim Woo-seok (김우석) | Hikaru (ヒカル) / (히카루) | Hwang Jae-min (황재민) | Kang Dae-hyun (강대현) | Tae Seon (태선) |
| Kang Hyun-woo (강현우) | Kang I-rang (강이랑) | Kim Dae-hui (김대희) | Jeong Deun-haesol (정든해솔) | Hinata (ヒナタ) / (히나타) |
| 2nd Grade |||||
| Kim Gyu-rae (김규래) | Oh Hyeon-tae (오현태) | Ling Qi (凌崎) / (링치) | Kang Min-seo (강민서) | Kaedan (카에단) |
| Ha Seok-hee (하석희) | Keum Jin-ho (금진호) | Santa (แซนต้า) / (산타) | Kim Beom-jun (김범준) | Nam Seung-hyun (남승현) |
| Park hyung-geun (박형근) | Seo Sang-woo (서상우) | Song Du-hyun (송두현) | Shiryu (シリュウ) / (시류) | Kim Seung-jun (김승준) |
| Ivan (蔡弘燁) / (아이반) | Choi Min-seo (최민서) | Park Min-geun (박민근) | Bae Jae-ho (배재호) | Moon Hyeok-jun (문혁준) |
| 3rd Grade |||||
| Moon Hyun-bin (문현빈) | Yuma (ユウマ) / (유우마) | Hayato (ハヤト) / (하야토) | Jin Myung-jae (진명재) | Daniel Hyunoo Lachapelle (복다니엘) |
| Kim Kyu-hyun (김규현) | TK (ทีเค) / (티케이) | Yaya (ยอด) / (야야) | Bae Seung-yoon (배승윤) | Cho Yeon-woo (조연우) |
| Ha Jae-min (하재민) | Jeon Byeong-cheol (전병철) | Jung Bo-moon (정보문) | Jung Goo-hyun (정구현) | Kang Seon-jun (강선준) |
| Long Guohao (龙国豪) / (롱궈하오) | Moon Jae-young (문재영) | Nam Jin-myung (남진명) | Oh Byeong-yong (오병용) | Park Seong-min (박성민) |

## Ranking
### Top 12
#### Color key

List of Top 12 contestants :
| # | Ep. 2 | Ep. 5 | Ep. 7 | Ep. 8 | Ep. 10 | Ep. 11 |
| 1 | Santa | Hong Sung-min (2) | Hong Sung-min | Hong Sung-min | Yu Jun-won (1) | Yu Jun-won |
| 2 | Yu Jun-won | Yu Jun-won | Yu Jun-won | Yu Jun-won | Hong Sung-min (1) | Kim Gyu-rae (13) |
| 3 | Hong Sung-min | Hikari (5) | Lee Han-bin (14) | Tae-seon (3) | Kim Woo-seok (2) | Hong Sung-min (1) |
| 4 | Yaya | K-Soul (3) | Oh hyun-tae (6) | Hikaru (7) | Hikaru | Oh hyun-tae (10) |
| 5 | Moon Hyun-bin | Ling Qi (5) | Moon Hyun-bin (3) | Kim Woo-seok (10) | K-Soul (7) | Lee Han-bin (3) |
| 6 | Tae-seon | Santa (5) | Tae-seon (3) | Moon Hyun-bin (1) | Hikari (8) | Ling Qi (1) |
| 7 | K-Soul | Kang Dae-hyun (10) | K-Soul (3) | Ling Qi (1) | Ling Qi | Kang Min-seo (4) |
| 8 | Hikari | Moon Hyun-bin (3) | Ling Qi (3) | Kang Dae-hyun (4) | Lee Han-bin (15) | Hikari (2) |
| 9 | Yuma | Tae-seon (3) | Kang Min-seo (7) | Santa (20) | Tae-seon (6) | K-Soul (4) |
| 10 | Ling Qi | Oh hyun-tae (9) | Kim Gyu-rae (4) | Kim Gyu-rae | Hwang Jae-min (6) | Kim Woo-seok (7) |
| 11 | Kang Hyun-woo | Yaya (7) | Hikaru (11) | Oh hyun-tae (7) | Kang Min-seo (2) | Hikaru (7) |
| 12 | Kim Gyu-rae | Kim Woo-seok (12) | Kang Dae-hyun (7) | K-Soul (5) | Santa (3) | Kaedan (6) |

### Producer Pick

The main producer for each semester chooses a contestant to send through to the next round.
| Semester | Contestant | Main Producer | Notes |
| 1 | Moon Hyun-bin | Jeon So-yeon | Early pass was given during the interim check and saved from Grade 3 contestants eliminations. |
| 2 | Park hyung-geun | Jang Woo-young | Eliminated contestant chosen to be saved and continue onto the third semester. |
| 3 | Daniel Hyunoo Lachapelle | Jin-young | Eliminated contestant chosen to be saved and continue onto the fourth semester. |
| 4 | Ha Seok-hee | Kang Seung-yoon | Eliminated contestant chosen to be saved and continue onto the semifinals. |

## Discography
### Extended plays

List of extended plays, with selected details :
| Title | Details |
| Fantasy Boys – Semi Final | Released: June 2, 2023 Label: Kakao Entertainment Formats: Digital download, streaming Track listing "Spaceman" "뒤어 (Run)" "Snacks" "꽉 잡아 (Hold Tight)" |

### Single albums

List of single albums, with selected details :
| Title | Details |
| Fantasy Boys – Final | Released: June 9, 2023 Label: Kakao Entertainment Formats: Digital download, streaming Track listing "Shut Off" "Gesture" "이쓸게 (I'll Be)" |

### Singles

List of singles, showing year released, and name of the album :
| Title | Year | Album |
| "Fantasy" | 2023 | Non-album single |
| "Spaceman" | 2023 | Fantasy Boys – Semi Final |
| "Run" (뒤어) | 2023 | Fantasy Boys – Semi Final |
| "Snacks" | 2023 | Fantasy Boys – Semi Final |
| "Hold Tight" (꽉 잡아) | 2023 | Fantasy Boys – Semi Final |
| "Shut Off" | 2023 | Fantasy Boys – Final |
| "Gesture" | 2023 | Fantasy Boys – Final |

## Ratings

Average TV viewership ratings :
| Ep. | Original broadcast date | Average audience share (Nielsen Korea) |
| 1 | March 30, 2023 | 0.6% (NR) |
| 2 | April 6, 2023 | 0.9% (NR) |
| 3 | April 13, 2023 | 0.8% (NR) |
| 4 | April 20, 2023 | 0.6% (NR) |
| 5 | April 27, 2023 | 0.6% (NR) |
| 6 | May 4, 2023 | 0.5% (NR) |
| 7 | May 11, 2023 | 0.5% (NR) |
| 8 | May 18, 2023 | 0.5% (NR) |
| 9 | May 25, 2023 | 0.6% (NR) |
| 10 | June 1, 2023 | 0.5% ((NR) |
| 11 | June 8, 2023 | 0.5% ((NR) |
| Average | Average | 0.6% |
| Special |||
| 1 | February 25, 2023 | N/A |
| 2 | March 23, 2023 | 0.6% (NR) |
| 3 | April 9, 2023 | N/A |
| In the table above, the blue numbers represent the lowest ratings and the red numbers represent the highest ratings. N/A denotes ratings that were not published. NR denotes that the show did not rank in the top 20 daily programs on that date. |||

## Post-Competition

* Fantasy Boys debuted on September 21, 2023.
** Yu Jun-won (1st) left the debut lineup on August 23, 2023, following several disagreements regarding his contract.
** K-Soul (9th) left the group on January 25, 2025. K-Soul confirmed he found out by a fan café post and left Pocketdol.
* Some contestants returned to their original groups:
** Moon Hyun-bin (13th) returned to Ciipher.
* Some contestants left their companies or joined new ones:
** Kang Dae-hyun transferred from Urbans Works Ent to DSP Media and subsequently to RBW, expecting to debut in RBW's new boy group in October 2023.
** Kim Kyu-hyun left Redstart ENM.
** Seo Sang-woo left One Cool Jacso Entertainment.
** Jin Myung-jae joined Venue401 Entertainment, expecting to debut in Venue401’s new boy group.
* Some contestants will debut or debuted in new boy groups or released music as solo artists:
** Park hyung-geun, Kang Dae-hyun and Hwang Jae-min will debut in RBW's new boy group this October (2023).
** Yang Tae-seon was set to debut in YM’s Entertainment with Unnamed, but left the lineup due to health issues.
** Jin Myung-jae will debut in Venue401 Entertainment’s upcoming boy group
** Hayato and Ha Seok-hee debuted in Celest1a.
** Park Min-geun debuted in Pickus after ranking second on Fan Pick.
** Kim Seung-jun debuted with Waker.
* Some contestants will participate in upcoming survival shows:
** Park Min-geun and Jung Goo-hyun participated as contestants in MBC M's show Fan Pick.
** Jeong Daeun-haesol, Ha Seok-hee, Jung Goo-hyun, Kang Hyun-woo, Kim Kyu-hyun, and Oh Seung-chan participated as contestants in Project 7 along with Fantasy Boys members Kang Min-seo and Lee Han-bin.
** Hong Sung-min, Linq Qi, Hikari, and Ha Jaemin will participate as contestants on Starlight Boys.
** Keum Jin-ho and Bae Jin-ho will participate as contestants on Universe League.