Girls’ Planet 999 is a survival show of 99 girls trying to make their idol dreams come true. Nine lucky girls who survive until the series finale will debut in the girl group Kep1er.
Some of the most well-known K-pop groups were formed via a survival reality show. From TWICE, to Stray Kids, to IZ*ONE, and even more recently KATSEYE, getting to know the girls before they were stars gives them an deeper sense of character. With other potential trainees getting the chance to debut, it makes it all the more thrilling to see who gets that chance. Girls Planet 999 is no short of that hype, with a wide variety of contestants with great talent.
Of the contestants, 33 members are each from Korea, China, and Japan. The girls are initially paired into cells, a group of three members each from the given countries. The girls vary in ages from 14 to 25, some of which have already debuted in other groups. Over 12 long episodes, the girls compete in missions challenging their singing, dancing, and stage presence. Voters across the world named “Planet Guardians” decide who gets to have their dreams come true. Fans vote after every challenge, and after several elimination rounds, only nine members will get the chance to debut.
There are several missions of the show, being the highlight for the most part.
Connection – Teams of nine compete against each other in the first challenge. Two teams compete girl group songs, those being “How You Like That” by BLACKPINK, “YES or YES” by TWICE, “FIESTA” by IZ*ONE, and “THE FIFTH SEASON” by Oh My Girl. The three remaining teams compete against each other with boy group songs, those being “The Eve” by EXO, “Mic Drop” by BTS, and “Pretty U” by Seventeen)
Combination – All cells are disbanded and everyone is on their own. new performances varying from trios, 6 member, or 9 member teams. Some songs performed are “Ice Cream” by BLACKPINK, “In The Morning” by ITZY, “No Excuses” by Meghan Trainor.
Creation – Girls split into four teams, to perform new songs exclusive to the show. With official studio releases of the song, those songs being (“Shoot!”, “Utopia”, “U+Me=LOVE”, “Snake”). There were official performances, with promotional photos, Relay challenges, and everything. the quality was not scrapped. They started this before an elimination round having multiple teams of each song. After eliminations, only 26 girls remained. They then reblocked and swapped parts to narrow it down to only one team per song. “Snake” is my personal favorite, right next to “U+Me=LOVE”.
The series gets a bit of its hype from some notable contestants:
Huening Bahiyyih is the sister of Tomorrow x Together’s Huening Kai. Arguably her debut is a bit of nepotism, although she never made it into the top 9 until the series finale. Besides her initial segment of addressing she’s Kai’s sister, she takes a backseat for the series.
Choi Yujin is a big sister to many of the contestants. Member of CLC since 2015, she joined the series as her group announced their disbandment earlier that year. She took on a leadership role in most of the challenges.
Several members of Cherry Bullet competed, them being May, Kim Bora, and Huh Jiwon. I’m not sure why their group would send them to a reality show, with the end goal being able to debut in a new group. Regardless, all three of them made it pretty far.
Also, Sakamoto Mashiro was a trainee for JYP Entertainment. Other contestants recognized her from her appearance on the “Stray Kids” reality show in 2017. She was one of the final trainees selected to debut in ITZY, but sadly wasn’t chosen.
Contestants are judged by a series of mentors. Initially deciding who stays and who goes, they coach the girls harshly to give them the motivation they need to stick it out. About halfway through the series, elimination is decided by online voters, but they continue to coach the girls until the finale. Two famous mentors Tiffany and Sunmi of Girls’ Generation.
Such a tempting binge watch, but it’s a commitment. At only 12 episodes it sounds like a short series, but the episodes average around two hours each; the finale being three. Considering the subtitles, it’s not something you can have on in the background. Unless you’re fluent in Korean, you really have to take the time to sit down and watch it. There are several episodes that are just ranking, and those you can watch easily on 2x speed just to get through them.
Front: Sakamoto Mashiro, Kang Yeseo, Kim Dayeon, Ezaki Hikaru
The final top 9 members debuted in Kep1er on January 3, 2022. They had a 2.5 year contract, which ended in July of 2024. It renewed for only seven members, as unfortunately Mashiro and Yeseo could not continue. But shortly after in September, they debuted in the group MADEIN, a new group formed of the original trio LIMELIGHT plus four more members. One original member of Limelight was MiU, who also participated in Girls’ Planet 999. There is some recent controversy regarding MADEIN, suffering from a boycott due to sexual harassment allegations (read more about that here).
if you like survival-reality shows like Big Brother, or reality in general, this is a watch for you. I love hearing all the different languages together, as you’ll hear not only Korean but bits and pieces of Mandarin and Japanese as well. With 99 contestants, there’s so many favorites you can have. But it’s also far less time you get to spend getting know each one, unlike SIXTEEN or Produce 48. An arguably more successful sequel, “Boys’ Planet” came out in 2023, with 98 boys competing for the chance to join the new boy group, ZEROBASEONE. A sequel to that series, “Boys’ II Planet”, is to be released later this year.
All in all, Girls’ Planet 999 is a really great show to watch. The episodes can be watched online on the original network’s website for free. Any k-pop fans would find something of interest in it. It’s an essential watch for Kep1er fans specifically, as the 12-packed episodes drop the heaviest lore known to Kep1ians all around the world.