Earlier, Mnet's 'Produce X101' announced a change in the "center member" selection system for this season, by adding viewers' votes into consideration on top of the fellow contestants' votes.
Voting for this season's theme song "center boy" opens on March 15, taking place for only 12 hours from 12 PM -12 AM. Mnet has yet to release additional information regarding how the voting will take place.
But rumors on a 'Produce' online community gallery say that 'Produce X101' plans on hosting a mini 'Masked Produce' during the center boy votings, similar to the singing competition program 'Mask King'.
The rumor states: "This season, there's a total of 8 rank A members. They got to film their solo theme song choreography video to determine their final ranks a second time. So you can't see their faces, they put on masks. Videos of the 8 doing the full solo choreography will be uploaded during the day on March 14, but in the videos, they won't tell you names or labels; the videos will just be number #1, #2, etc. You literally have to vote based on dance and singing ability alone kekeke. I find it funny as well, but it looks like the higher-ups want to focus all the attention for March 21."
Onlookers reacted with commented like, "'Masked Produce' kekekeke", "But then we won't be able to see their expressions...", "It's not a bad idea, but when it comes to more famous trainees or trainees from bigger companies, fans might still recognize them regardless of the masks", "Heol, I kind of like the idea", "I think it's not bad to start off with the attention on the talented ones... since the visual members, they shine even if they're standing at the back", "Ohh, it sounds fair, determined purely based on skill", and more.
Meanwhile, Mnet's 'Produce X101' is expected to premiere some time between late April - early May.
This is actually really cool. It'll be based on skill which is how a real center in idol groups is chosen