Survival shows are hard to watch. I said in previous entry that I'm all for the weeding of weak links, but as it happens, I found myself more attached to the kids than I thought I would be, regardless of their personality, skill, talent, visual, or performance quality. We just NEED the group to stay together!

Many started watching Stray Kids believing that this is a non-elimination survival show, assuming it would focus more on grooming all the members before debut. But alas, they actually are eliminating someone. And this could be a first of many, we'll never really know until the end of the show. Plus this kid they eliminated is one of the most good looking ones = the most popular among fans. Of course the show also broadcasted the highly sentimental scene where most of the kids broke down in tears after the decision was made. They believed they were to debut together. They've spent day and night practicing, they've been living together, they themselves couldn't accept this harsh reality. At this point any member eliminations can only lead to one thing : fandom turmoil. It's not exactly a pleasant thing to go through very early in the day though it probably made the young community stronger by standing behind the same cause : to get that member back. I don't know if this elimination is just a catalyst to get people talking about the show because it certainly would be bland without any drama. Drama creates buzz. Buzz gets people to watch. More viewers = more potential fans to support the group after debut.

People's desire for something will only become greater once the thing is gone, realizing that they've been taking that lovely thing for granted all this time. This time, the thing is Stray Kids OT9, group unity, group identity, and the lovely, smily, kind-hearted, handsome, great dancer Lee Minho. They introduced the group as 9, recorded (and sold) Hellevator song as 9, had a very popular MV with 9 members in it, everyone believed that it would be very unlikely that they're going to drop anyone from this established - though undebuted - group. They can't do that unless they want rage. Well we were WRONG.

However, according to rumors, Stray Kids (the show) will last for 10 episodes and then Stray Kids (the group) will debut sometime next year (presumably February or March). If that is true, the last episode will be broadcasted on December 19. And then there will be some 1.5 - 2 months off time before the actual debut. Things can change during that time if not while the show is still airing. Bringing back an eliminated contestant isn't a new concept to survival shows, and certainly JYP himself isn't unfamiliar with that. The way JYP handled the situation previously was somewhat questionable, but shows that there is still a chance. Minho has some time and space to grow. With strong enough reasons and demands (also of course JYP's approval), Minho may get a chance to be added back to the group before debut.