Boys Planet

***Boys Planet*** (Korean: 보이즈 플래닛) is a 2023 South Korean reality competition show created by Mnet. It premiered on Mnet on February 2, 2023, and aired Thursdays at 20:00 KST. From February 16, 2023, the show's airtime was changed to 20:50 KST instead.

Out of thousands of applicants, 98 contestants from various backgrounds were selected for the show. They were then equally split into two groups: K-Group and G-Group.

In the finale on April 20, 2023, which was broadcast live, the show announced the final nine members who would debut as Zerobaseone (abbreviated as ZB1).

The show serves as a sequel to *Girls Planet 999*, this time featuring all male contestants.

## Concept And Format

*Boys Planet* used a space theme: the two groups of contestants, K-Group and G-Group, acted as "planets" and the show's hosts were dubbed "Star Masters". Under the guidance of seven "Masters", contestants had to go through several rounds of evaluation, during which they had to show off their skills in singing, dancing, and rapping. After each round, the audience, known as "Star Creators", voted for their favorite trainees, determining the final debut line-up.

While its predecessor, *Girls Planet 999*, limited applications to South Korea, Japan, China, and Taiwan, the regions were expanded this season to allow for international participation.

Trainees were cast through two rounds of applications, the first lasting from December 11, 2021, to February 11, 2022, and the second from June 27, 2022, to August 21. The final contestants were chosen regardless of nationality, affiliation with an agency, or prior experience and professional history as a singer. Ultimately, 98 contestants were selected from 84 countries and regions, including South Korea, other parts of Asia, Europe, North and South America, and the Middle East, and 229 management agencies. The aim of the competition was to debut a new nine-member K-pop boy group consisting of trainees from all around the globe, making them the first 5th generation K-pop group.

### Voting system

The Mnet Plus mobile app was the official platform used for voting and accessing content related to the contestants. Unlike *Girls Planet 999*, where viewers had to separately cast votes for each regional group, the votes were allocated to individual contestants and equally split between the two regional groups (K-Group and G-Group). The voting system was audited by Samil PwC, an external agency, to ensure transparency and fairness in voting-related processes from aggregation to the results.

## Cast

Instead of having one host present the show for its entire run, it was presented by so-called "Star Masters", which rotated with each round. Star Masters were usually experienced celebrities, who could give advice to and guide the trainees.

The first round was presented by former NU'EST and Wanna One member Hwang Min-hyun as the first Star Master, with Sunmi temporarily joining him as the second Star Master in episode 2. Actor Yeo Jin-goo hosted a special episode titled *1st Survivor Announcement Ceremony* (Korean: 1차 생존자 발표식) as the third Star Master on February 24, 2023, as well as episode 5. Minhyuk of BtoB joined the show as the fourth Star Master for the second mission and as the host of the *2nd Survivor Announcement Ceremony* (Korean: 2차 생존자 발표식). Shinee's Key joined the show as the fifth Star Master for the third mission. In episode 10, 2AM's Jo Kwon became the sixth Star Master for a special "Musical Star Test". Jeon Somi hosted the *3rd Survivor Announcement Ceremony* (Korean: 3차 생존자 발표식) as the seventh Star Master on April 7, 2023, and also appeared in episode 11. Soloist and former Wanna One member Kim Jae-hwan served as the eighth Star Master for the final mission. Hwang Min-hyun reprised his role as a Star Master for the show's finale.

The rest of the mentors, also dubbed as "masters", were:

* Dance Masters:
	+ Baek Koo-young (백구영)
	+ Choi Young-joon (최영준)
	+ Lip J (립제이)
* Vocal Masters:
	+ Heo Sol-ji (허솔지)
	+ Lee Seok-hoon (이석훈)
	+ Lim Han-byul (임한별)
* Rap Masters:
	+ pH-1 (피에이치원)
	+ Lil Boi (Ep. 3–4) (릴보이)
	+ Bobby (Ep. 6–7) (바비)

## Contestants

**Color key (In order of contestant's group rank on the show)**