Girls Planet 999
Girls Planet 999: The Girls Saga (simply referred to as Girls Planet 999) was a South Korean reality competition show created by Mnet. It premiered on August 6, 2021 and was originally broadcast every Friday at 8:20 PM KST for the first eleven episodes until its finale on October 22, which was broadcast live at 8 PM KST. It was aired on the Mnet channel, IQIYI, AbemaTV, tvN Asia or YouTube depending on the viewer's region. A production by Mnet's parent company CJ E&M and its subsidiary Studio Take One, as well as in collaboration  with game developer and publisher NCSoft, the aim of the competition was to debut a new 9-member K-pop girl group consisting of trainees and idols from China, Japan, and South Korea. Auditions for the competition were held from January to February 2021. Out of 13,000 applicants, 99 final contestants were selected. These 99 contestants were split equally into three groups; the -Group, -Group and the -Group. In the finale on October 22, 2021, which was broadcast live, the show announced the final 9 members who would debut as Kep1er. A second season named "Boys Planet 2022", is expected  to premiere in 2022 featuring male trainees. Concept and format. The "planet" theme of the show was derived from a new collaboration between Mnet and NCSoft's new platform called Universe which is centered around K-pop. It allowed votes from other countries outside of the participating three, and also hosted other promotional content for the show. The show initially grouped the girls into groups of 3 which were called "cells". An entire cell of girls could be eliminated all at once, hence increasing the risk of elimination. To counteract this, the "Planet Top 9" is introduced. Contestants who are  selected or voted to be the Planet Top 9 (designated P1 to P9) can reorganize cells to try and lower the chances of elimination. Cells were disbanded after the first elimination round. At the end of the competition, the top 9 most-voted contestants debuted regardless of nationality. Promotion and broadcast. The show, as well as its auditions, was first announced on January 11, 2021 through Mnet. Yeo Jin-goo was announced as the show's presenter on June 8, followed by the reveal of the mentors and the name of the show's opening theme later that same month . More promotional clips from the show were broadcast that month on Mnet. The show's premiere date of August 6, 2021 was confirmed through a teaser video released on July 6, 2021. Another teaser video showcasing the faces of the 99 contestants was released on July 8, along with a promotional poster. The theme song, “O.O.O (Over&Over&Over)”, was released on July 12, 2021, accompanied by a performance by the Korean group with Kim Dayeon as Center. Another version of the performance featuring the Chinese group was released on July 14 with Shen Xiaoting as Center. The Japanese group's version  was released on July 16 with Hikaru Ezaki as Center. The full version containing all three groups was released on July 29 during "M Countdown", preceded by the contestants' profiles which were released from July 17 to 19 at 10 AM KST for each group. More teasers were released in July and August 2021 leading up to the show's premiere. The show was available through Mnet in South Korea, iQIYI internationally, AbemaTV and Mnet Japan in Japan, tvN Asia in Southeast Asia, and YouTube in the rest of the world through Mnet's YouTube channel, Mnet K-POP. Cast . The series was presented by Yeo Jin-goo, dubbed as the "Planet Master". The rest of the mentors, also dubbed as "masters", were: Contestants. There was a total of 99 contestants participating in the competition. 33 were Korean, 33 were Japanese, and the last 33 consisted of Chinese, Taiwanese and Hongkongers. The English names of K-Group and C-Group contestants are presented in Eastern order in accordance with the official website while J-Group contestants' names are presented in Western order. Color key: Ranking. Planet Top 9. The Planet Top 9 was either selected by the mentors (Episode 2 ) or voted by viewers of the show; those selected to be the Planet Top 9 in Episode 2 were given the ability to reshuffle and organize cells. Color key: Planet Pass. Planet Pass was a vote by the mentors, in which eliminated contestants could be brought back to the show. The first two elimination rounds included a Planet Pass for one eliminated contestant from each group. The third elimination round included only one Planet Pass which could go to any eliminated contestant regardless of group. First voting period. The first voting period took place from August 13, 2021 to August  28, 2021. Voters (viewers and mentors) voted for three cells, as well as three girls of each group. Eliminations were based on cell points, while the Planet Top 9 was based on individual points. Color key: Second voting period. The second voting period took place from September 3, 2021 to September 18, 2021. Voters voted for three contestants of each group. Eliminations were based on individual points within K-Group, C-Group and J-Group. Color key: Third voting period. The third voting period took place from September 24, 2021 to October 9, 2021. Voters could only vote for one  contestant from each group. Eliminations were based on individual votes regardless of group. Fourth voting period. The first round of the fourth voting period took from October 15, 2021 until 10AM KST on October 22, 2021. The second round was open during the finale live broadcast on October 22, 2021; all live votes were doubled. Voters could only vote for one contestant out of the eighteen remaining. The members of the debut lineup were decided based on individual votes regardless of group. Result. The finale was held and broadcast live on October 22, 2021. Yeo Jin-goo announced the newly  formed girl group name to be Kep1er. Ratings. In the table below, turquoise numbers represent the lowest ratings and magenta numbers represent the highest ratings. Aftermath. Kep1er was supposed to debut on December 14, 2021 with the mini album "First Impact", but due to one of their staff members testing positive for COVID-19, their debut was delayed to January 3, 2022. The group's debut performance at the 2021 Mnet Asian Music Awards on December 11 was also cancelled as a result. Xiaoting and Mashiro were later announced to have tested positive in a statement released on December 14. The  group officially debuted on January 3, 2022.