Former 'Produce 48' contestant Lee Kaeun broke the silence and candidly opened up about how she felt when it was revealed that the contestants' rankings were manipulated.
On February 21, Lee Kaeun made an appearance on the YouTube show 'Gatalk Chat,' where she joined an open chat room with other contestants from the show. During the session, Kaeun candidly expressed her emotions when she experienced a sudden drop in her ranking on the show.
During the course of 'Produce 48,' Kaeun consistently ranked in the top 10 until she suddenly dropped in rank in the final episode. She revealed that her final ranking was 14, but it was actually supposed to be rank 5.
She explained, "When the (manipulated ranking) victim's list was revealed, I was getting skin care treatment, and when I finished, I started to get calls like crazy. So, at first, I thought I did something wrong."
She then continued to share her honest feelings and shared, "I'm able to share now but I didn't like that (the victim's list) was revealed. It was something I wished to be forgotten but then (when the list was revealed) I felt like I was being labeled as a victim in the world. I was fine, but people around me looked at me sympathetically, so I think that was hard."
Kaeun added, "But my mom was happy that I actually made the cut. So I was satisfied with that."
One fan shared, "For additional information, Kaeun's ranking was 5-1-1-1-8-5-5-14 (but was actually supposed to be ranked 5th). I feel like crying when thinking about Kaeun. She debuted with After School but was only active twice, then stayed in storage for five years, and she came out on 'Produce 48' so I thought she would finally be able to catch her break, but then she was disqualified because of ranking manipulation..."
Other netizens commented, "So unfortunate," "I really cheered for Kaeun," "Kaeun was my one pick and I never imagined she would fall victim to ranking manipulation," "Hope she is able to be successful," and "I feel so bad when she said she was satisfied with her mom being happy."
SHARE
She was done so dirty. Shameless Izone fans defended the rigging, and claimed that she didn’t fit the group’s image, when in reality she just didn’t make it because Pledis didn’t take part in the bribery. She was a hell of a performer since her debut, being selected to be in an already famous and talented group. She would have added so much to Izone
3 more replies