The finale of Girls Planet 999 will air in just two days. Mnet has recently revealed the first interim votes for the program's final round, which, while not final, is the current live vote.
Many fans were disappointed to see that despite the show's goal being to make a lineup consisting of Koreans, Chinese, and Japanese girls, it was currently shown to have almost an entire Korean lineup, with Su Ruiqi being the exception at #9.
Shen Xiaoting's ranking was the biggest surprise due to the fact that not only did she get knocked off of #1 rank where she consistently stayed throughout the program, but dropped out of the top 9 and ranked #16 overall,
A fan on Reddit did an analysis on the voting between Korean fans and International fans,
When you look at who Korean fans allegedly voted for most, it turns out every top 9 ranker is Korean. Meaning the bottom 9 is entirely Chinese and Japanese.
Meanwhile, by global votes, the lineup becomes more mixed. While the lineup is still majority Korean, there are 4 foreigners represented in the top 9 as well. Su Ruiqi & Fu Yaning represent the Chinese line, while Sakamoto Mashiro & Kawaguchi Yurina represent the Japanese line.
This means that Su Ruiqi & Fu Yaning (#9 & #10) are the highest-ranked foreigners overall and are only within the area of top 9 thanks to International fans' efforts.
Many fans have expressed disappointment that they've wasted their time watching a show that was meant to create a multinational Kpop group aiming towards a global demographic, turning into a potential All-Korean lineup. And that no matter how hardworking the foreigners were during this program, the fact that they're not Korean is enough to be dropped by Korean fans.
Some Korean netizens have boasted about this being a national pride for them and that their goal is to get Kim Bora, who is ranked #11 overall and is the lowest ranking Korean right now, into the final lineup in order for not even a single foreigner to make the final group.
Many fans are in fear that fan favorites like Shen Xiaoting, Fu Yaning, Ezaki Hikaru, and more will miss their chance at debut due to the discrepancy in voting by Korean fans.
Voting closes during the season finale of Girls Planet 999 this Friday.
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If these results remain, or if Kim Bora gets to #9 so that the whole group is Korean, that should be terrible for Mnet's image. Or at least I hope it would be. Marketing a project as international and being about cross-border cooperation, and then every single foreigner is left out of the final line-up, that should look bad. It would look really bad in many other countries, I don'k now about Korea, though. What's the point of arranging these kinds of competitions in the future, if the foreigners are just some kind of token contenders to make the show appear international, facing extra hurdles to make it across the finish line?
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