During the summer of 2023, BE:Lift Labs hosted a Survival Show called RUNext. Since the publication of my review of that show, the new K-pop group, I’ll-It, has been posting consistent content and is preparing for their debut. But in November of 2023, a new survival program began airing in South Korea.
Universe Ticket was hosted by SBS Entertainment and included girls from more countries than before such as the Philippines and Japan. They also had a competitor who had already debuted in DIA, a previously disbanded K-Pop group with their own fanbase that contributed to the viewership of the show.
My biggest issue with Universe Ticket is their actions surrounding the contestants who are minors. Gabi, who was initially one of the most popular contestants, was soon depicted lying in the corner of the practice room when she did not get her preferred parts in their performances. This led to Gabi getting a wave of hatred online for being lazy, having an attitude, and several other accusations that, in my opinion, should not have been imposed on a middle school-aged child.
They also did not provide translators, despite many of the girls not speaking Korean. One of the fan favorites, Gehlee Dangca from the Philippines, was seen multiple times leaning into other girls’ to get their offhand translations during important scenes of the show such as the announcement of their next challenges or their rankings.
The girls were ranked as a lettering system, traveling through the letters M, S, I, R, and P to finish their “Prism” and become an official member of the group. The top eight girls (out of the original 82) became the debuting group, UNIS. The issue with this system was that the opportunity to advance to P was possible before the finale episode, which did occur. Elisia, who was also from the Philippines, was announced as a member of the debut group before the finale. This made it less enticing to watch the finale episode, as Elisia was the most popular contestant, and many viewers were satisfied after learning of her debut alone. It also forced Elisia to continue preparing for the finale performances with the other remaining contestants despite not having any stakes as she had already secured her position in the group.
As is the norm with Survival Shows, there was some controversy over the reason for different trainees’ popularity. Two popular contestants on the show were twin sisters Bae Yeram and Haram, and neither of them were able to debut in the final lineup, with Yeram being eliminated and Haram making it to the finale but not achieving level P. This led to many audience members being upset as some of the members that made it into UNIS were not seemingly as talented as the Bae sisters despite gaining popularity for their personas.
Another issue that viewers had with the final lineup was the ages of the final contestants. Many earlier eliminations happened to be the older contestants, leaving the final group to consist of girls aged 12 to 22, with the 22-year-old being the only adult in the group. To me, it seems as though the companies involved want to have UNIS debut as young as possible due to the contract being a temporary one of two years and six months. Usually, survival show trainees all come from different entertainment companies, so the contract is temporary because the profits have to be split between each company involved. The reason survival show groups are profitable for these companies is because it gives their trainees fame, so once the temporary group disbands, each company usually builds a permanent group around the trainee who had built up a fanbase from the survival show they participated in. The most famous example of this is Wonyoung and Yujin, who debuted in their teens as members of IZ*One and were then added to their company’s group IVE, which is one of the top two most famous girl groups in Korea. In my opinion, the companies behind the UNIS members are trying to set them up to debut in permanent groups and therefore want them to be as young as possible to extend their careers.
Overall, I did not have as many direct issues with treatment on Universe Ticket as I witnessed in the show RUNext. However, this show still highlights many issues within the K-pop industry that inevitably harm the trainees and members of the debut group. Regardless, I wish all of the members who made the top 8 a long and successful career under contracts that are hopefully safe and fair for them.
What was your opinion of Universe Ticket?