Despite facing controversy just before the launch, Mnet's Kingdom: Legendary War has successfully taken off. The first episode of the reality show was aired on Thursday, 1 April, and met with good response from the fans.
The show was launched with the introduction of six teams. U-Know Yunho and Max Changmin are the hosts of the Kingdom which will be aired every Thursday at 7.50 KST.
Point System:
In the opening segment, the rules and the point system were revealed by the hosts. The teams will be taking part in four rounds and the points will be awarded based on four criteria. 25 percent of the points will be given based on the votes by the teams, 25 percent points will be given based on the panel of experts comprising of 30 members, 40 percent of the points are based on the public votes (national and international) and 10 percent of the points will be considered on the views earned by the videos.
The team that earns the highest points will be declared the winner. Interestingly, there will be no elimination in Kingdom. In the Queendom, the female version of the show, there was a process for eviction, while prequel Road to Kingdom had two eliminations.
In the preliminary round, the six teams had come up with 100-second performance videos. It was streamed online and the global audience were allowed to cast their votes in February. The winner will get 1000 benefit points and will be given an opportunity to decide the line-up order in the show from the official rounds.
Controversy Before the Launch
Just before the launch, Kingdom landed in trouble as the rumours claimed that one team had got special treatment, leaving the five angry and fuming. The team in question had crossed the budget limit to construct the stage, forcing other participating teams to demand for a fair and equal treatment to all.
Six Participants
Kingdom is scheduled to be aired from 1 April. It is the male version of Mnet's Queendom. The confirmed participants of the show are: The Boyz, who emerged victorious in preliminary season Road to Kingdom, FNS Entertainment's SF9 (consists of Youngbin, Inseong, Jaeyoon, Dawon, Rowoon, Zuho, Taeyang, Hwiyoungand Chani), KQ Entertainment's ATEEZ (Hongjoong, Seonghwa, Yunho, Yeosang, San, Mingi, Wooyoung, and Jongho), Cube Entertainment's BtoB (consists of Seo Eun-kwang, Lee Min-hyuk, Lee Chang-sub, Im Hyun-sik, Peniel Shin, and Yook Sung-jae), YG Entertainment's iKON (consists of Bobby, Jinhwan, Ju-ne, Yunhyeong, Donghyuk and Chanwoo.) and JYP Entertainment's Stray Kids (Bang Chan, Lee Know, Changbin, Hyunjin, Han, Felix, Seungmin and I.N.).
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