Even before its premiere episode, Mnet’s Kingdom: Legendary War (from now on referred to as Kingdom) got into a hot mass. In addition to Yunho’s exit from the show, a controversy over fairness has hit the wire.
According to Ilgan Sports, Kingdom stopped recording its first contest midway. While singing for the “hit-song mission,” the agencies reportedly raised the issue that the production favored certain groups. The topic they brought was the expensive stage and props that only one group received. In response, the managers at the scene asked the production team to provide a fair system.
Kingdom informed the groups in advance that the maximum budget for the stage is 5 million KRW (about $4,420). The purpose is to limit production costs and test fairness because each group has a distinct personality. However, only one group was allowed “special support” on the day of the contest. Some pointed out that this “favoritism” is because the group in question is from an agency with CJ ENM as an investor. They suspected based on the fact that the group had moving props and a vast stage set.
The production team explained that those were the props used in their previous concert. However, since other groups also had ample concert experiences, that “explanation” failed to settle down the issue. Such treatments were reported to each agency.
Meanwhile, Kingdom is a survival show featuring the competition by K-pop boy groups to take the throne. BTOB, iKON, SF9, The Boyz, Stray Kids, and ATEEZ will compete in the show. The show will premiere on April 1st.
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