The producer of MBC's "Idol Star Athletics & Swimming Championship" revealed their disappointment with the co-ed relay race not making it to air during the broadcast. On February 5th and 6th, the program featured a 50m race and hurdle, a high jump, and 50m swimming, and managed to record 18.7% and 17.6% in viewer ratings, respectively. Unfortunately, the co-ed 400m relay was completely edited out, leading some fans to speculate whether the segment was deliberately cut out due to ZE:A and SISTAR winning the match. Some viewers commented, "Were edits done with popular idols in priority?" Regarding the speculations, Kim Yugon PD stated, "There was just so much footage, I suggested that we divide the program into three parts instead of two, but that was canceled. There was too much to air while having to divide a 70 minute program into two parts. We had no choice but to edit the way we did." He continued, "It is not true that we edited according to the most popular idols. For the relay, entire teams did not participate, and the match and its results overlapped with the 50m race. I, too, am upset, and am apologetic towards ZE:A and SISTAR. It's difficult to just focus on the sports on a variety program. There were other things we had to show, so other segments such as interviews, Rainbow's synchronized swimming, and athlete Jung Darae's segment were all edited out as well." The PD concluded, "Since the program is centered around the sports, we weren't able to feature a large variety of the stars and mainly focused on the idols that distinguished themselves in their respective matches. I'm both thankful and apologetic to everyone that participated." Although the 'swimming' portion of the championships made its debut this year, whether the program will continue to include it in its line-up is unconfirmed. PD Kim Yugon further revealed, "Track is one of the most basic lineups and we have already garnered a variety of results from the two times we've featured it. There's already a set concept in which idols must break the records. It's also a line-up that doesn't require any special skill, and any idol can do it. Unfortunately for swimming, it's different." He continued, "You need a certain skill set and you need to have learned swimming prior to taking part. We're not able to confirm whether we'll include it in the Chuseok line-up this year, as we're not sure how many idols will be taking part. There hasn't been any talks about next time yet, but using track as the foundation, we might be adding swimming or other line-ups to the program." Source: Star News, Newsen via Nate