Asian Junkie Asian pop. Without discretion.
On the most recent episode of ‘PD Notebook‘ that covered a lot of ground on ‘Produce X 101’, they also went into further detail about the conditions on ‘Idol School‘ as well.
In addition to describing the previously covered issue of the audition itself essentially being a scam, trainees (including Lee Hae In) added on to the conditions they were subjected to.
Lee Hae In also went into more detail about the room that the contestants slept in together. “The pink lodgings that were shown in the studio were very recently constructed, so the paint smell was very strong and the ventilation there wasn’t good,” she said. “If you shook a blanket once then a huge amount of dust would come out. It was to the point that girls with sensitive skin got red skin diseases all over.” More contestants talked about the harsh conditions that the contestants experienced while filming, without revealing their identities. “There were girls there who were just 12 years old,” said one trainee. “They’re still growing so don’t they have to eat? They’d cry because they weren’t given food. My head hurt and I’d think, ‘What kind of filming set is this?’ There was one point in the middle when some people broke a window and escaped. They were so stressed out from being locked inside that they broke the screen and glass and escaped.” A trainee also said, “We were always indoors, so we had no idea whether it was daytime or nighttime. We’d go get ready when they told us to, eat when they told us to, sleep when they told us to, and get up when they told us to.” Another commented, “My health got worse and I didn’t get my period at all.” They stated that other contestants also didn’t get their period, or they had bloody discharge for as long as two months.
A producer issued a denial of the accusations, saying contrary to claims they were basically worried about them getting fat, which ironically seems to confirm the charge of the contestants that they were insanely controlling over their weight.
A producer of “Idol School” spoke to “PD Notebook” and said that the contestants had been eating very well, to the point that there were concerns about them gaining weight. When asked about allegations that the rankings in the show were manipulated, the source stated, “I’m not sure about that exactly because I wasn’t in charge of it. I don’t believe there was manipulation.”
Seriously, they sound like they are describing a prison camp.
One contestant, Jessica Lee, recently posted a video about all the mess on YouTube.
In the video, she says she never thought the auditions existed to begin with and believed the show was just about 40 girls living in a dorm to try and reach their dreams. She also confirmed both the living conditions and contestants being approached with contracts. Jessica also says she knew about a month in that she was just a prop for others, so she begged off the show. She kinda exposes a lot so it’s worth a watch if this topic has interest for you.
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While manipulation on a show like this wouldn’t surprise me at all, the bigger issue now seems to be that a ton of contestants have said similar things about the miserable conditions on it.
Again, none of this would’ve come out if Mnet just weren’t so lazy to give similar sequencing of numbers on the voting for X1.
