I was curious about the outcome of this show, even though I didn't follow it from the start. I watched the finale yesterday and I am happy for the boys, happy for their families, I hope that they'll release good songs, gain more fans outside of the U19 fandom, and that they'll be successful. This is a talented group of people.

That being said, they'll be under MBK? Ugh I only hear bad things about the company and I can only hope that they don't do the same management mistakes with these boys.

Anyway, as I wasn't following this from the start, I am happy to see some of the faces that I recognize from my short time watching them. It is great that 3 persons from the Fake Love made it (Doyum, Yechan, Junseo). Yechan is doing really great as a leader for his team, he's looking out for everyone, he's gentle, and he's giving out his knowledge to everyone. I particularly remember how J-Hope gave them the advice of recording their practice and then review it together so that they can see what part to fix, who's sticking out, etc. Yechan did this for his final performance group and we could see that everyone is learning from it.

Yesterday Fave Ent releases questioning videos for Fave boys, including Doyum and Jinsung, and we could see how big of a fan they are of BTS. They are even using BTS as their phone home screen! They are adorable. I also remember how badly Jinsung wanted to be in Fake Love team in 10th episode. I don't even know them that well, but I'm proud that Doyum and Jinsung made it to the 1st and 2nd rank during the final.

Like I said, I wasn't following the fandom closely and I didn't know the drama surrounding Wumuti. I thought he was just popular and doing great which was why he was constantly number 1 on several episodes. But turns out, he wasn't really popular amongst Korean, but Chinese fans of his are voting by obtaining Korean phone numbers and got him to number 1. From what I heard he got a lot of hate because of that. And then his fans decided to stop voting to stop the hate which explains his rank drop in the last couple of episodes, and finally Wumuti himself decided to withdraw from the competition. That is sad, but I can imagine how facing constant hate is affecting him, too. They all are just teenagers chasing their dreams, I wish it wasn't like this.

I was surprised to learn that Shihyun is actually that Shihyun from duo Longguo & Shihyun. He's in the oldest tier among the contestants, he was on Produce 101, and he has debuted before, which makes him a senior in the industry. I... personally found him unsympathetic. He was just stern and scolding other kids as the leader during that group practice. The kids were just scared of him instead of feeling like they're in this together. I didn't watch him enough to say anything about his skill level, and I'm sorry that he didn't make it. But I am very happy for Junseo who took the 9th place.

Another contestant I was happy about is Sungwon! He's doing really great and I'm super happy that he made it.

Sadly though.... I'm not familiar enough with the show and the kids to say about other contestants who made it to the final line-up. A little about the ones who didn't: Suron and Lee Yechan are super adorable but they're literal babies, and I was surprised at how different Sangmin looked since before! I'm happy and proud though! Everyone worked really hard. I'm indifferent about the group name, 1the9. I mean, I'm tired of word play and styling of KPop group names in general, but wonder nine sounds good and is easy to pronounce.

Anyway! I'm not really into We Are Young, but the two songs they performed as the final stage are great! Will be looking out for releases from this group.

Never thought I would be someone to say this but... I'm currently hooked on survival shows. I hate survival shows, I think it's exploitative, there are too many groups already, enough is enough. Yet here I am.

The first show is YG Treasure Box which I've been watching from the start. I don't even remember how I got into this, I probably just wanted to see Bang Yedam, to know the process of his debut, to see his potential debut mates like everybody else. He IS going to debut, right? RIGHT? I mean at this point, I know I shouldn't get attached to any of the contestants, and YG's favoritism is pretty clear. It comes back to his decision in the end, so I bet his faves are going to make it one way or another (see: iKON). Anyway, my dream team would be Yedam, Junkyu, Haruto, Mashiho, Yoonbin, Jeongwoo, Hyunsuk. 3 rappers and 4 singers seems like a good composition. I do not have any investment in Treasure A as a group or individually other than Yedam. I didn't keep track of YG trainees nor watch MIXNINE so other than the short glances in Stray Kids (the TV program) this is the first time I'm exposed to them.

Aside from who I think will or should make it, my personal favorite is Yoshinori. He's, super pretty like a doll. And he's adorable, too. He performs well and he's a perfect package for an idol. His weakness would be the language barrier. Watching his videos, his Korean has improved SO MUCH in a short amount of time which I'm proud of. However, being a non-native speaker it would still be difficult for him to actually write lyrics. For a rapper position, writing your own lyrics, spewing shit you believe is an important point. O wait speaking of this Haruto is actually in the same position lol. I don't know what directions YG will take, but from his assessments so far, I don't think Yoshinori will make it. YG should just debut him and Mahiro as a duet in Japan with Japan activities. Perfect. They could be the next Tackey & Tsubasa, who knows?

ANYWAY. I wasn't really exposed to Under 19 because that shit is owned by MBC, it's just not easily accessible because traditional TV channel hates online platforms. BUT! J-Hope guest starred in the latest episode (ep 10) and of course I had to see it!!!!! I watched preview clips of his part, I watched the show live on a very choppy stream but it was not enough. No. I had to watch the whole episode! I patiently download a 6GB file to watch it in HD greatness because this deserve it. It had to be watched, re-watched and scrutinized. And man, I don't need more lovely humans to invest myself in emotionally but all these trainees are just too adorable! How could they not, they're all UNDER NINETEEN. Like, as young as kids that were born in 2005!!! They're practically babies. Tiny!Yechan IS A BABY AND YOU CAN'T CONVINCE mE OTHERWISE. ANd YES I LOOKED THEM UP AND MEMORIZE THEIR NAMES INSTANTLY (not all of them though there are too many).

Watching this episode which heavily shows the Fake Love group I'm of course more drawn to them. But from the start, it was nice to see how many kids badly wanted to perform Fake Love. Lol stupid kids, that song is beautiful on the surface but crazy hard to perform especially live. It was hard even for BTS caliber, the original performer of this song who had years of experience and countless hours of practice under their belt. I don't know why the kids wanted to perform it, probably because it's the most recent among all the other songs presented, and BTS craze is real. I bet if you're a trainee you would look up to their success and dream that one day you could be standing on a big stage like them. But honestly seriously, Mirotic is a legend but the song was released in 2008, Tiny!Yechan was only 3 back then!!

Right from the get go the trainess are already adorable. Their faces when the songs are announced, when their names are called. Lol at anyone who was praying to get Fake Love, repeating the title many times as if it'll help. Sungwon was holding hand with Suren and was like 'Suren, me, please!' when they were calling names for Growl team. Suren was mumbling meaningless words as prayers to help him get chosen (and he got picked!). On a different note, it was very nostalgic to see glimpses of Luhan and Kris from the MV, reminds me of my old EXO stanning days.

Lee Sangmin in particular gets all the spotlight in this episode. From desperately wanting to be chosen for Fake Love team to J-Hope's segment. He has this innocence to him that just draws people in. He doesn't look 15 at all (Big!Yechan also doesn't look 16 to me). He was standing there nervously and not get called until third from the last. When there was still 4-5 people and only two were left from Rap team, he was holding onto his team mate's hand while begging to be in Fake Love team ('me, please please me'). When his friend got called he has no one else he knows so he just stepped closer to Taekyung and said 'annyeonghaseyo' in the middle of being a nervous wreck LMAO. He was so happy to be chosen, and he was praising how the other members are so good looking and that he's proud to be in the team (LOL???). Being from the rap team, naturally he got J-Hope and Suga's parts of the song.

And then.... J-Hope himself actually came to the scene to mentor the kids. Sangmin was standing there the whole time with his mouth wide open, slapping himself in the face in disbelief. He was panicking and frantically practicing his moves when J-Hope asks them to show them what they got. Taekyung was like 'lol stop it practicing now wouldn't make any difference'. Sangmin was belatedly protesting to Yechan 'Hyung, why did you give me J-Hope sunbaenim's part?!'. Yechan was just laughing it off. Sangmin is a wreck, he bows on the floor to J-Hope asking for forgiveness 'I'M SORRY' at the end of their performance because he wasn't sure if he does his part justice.

J-Hope was giving directions to Sangmin when he stopped and say 'you're doing my part, right?'. Sangmin was 'ah, yes, ah I'M SORRY' while dropping to the floor again.

Sangmin shyly says that he is doing J-Hope's part in front of J-Hope himself. J-Hope smiles brightly saying that he's happy to see him doing his part, and that he's getting fond of him for that, and then proceeding to walk towards him to shake his hand. Sangmin, in shock, panic, and disbelief quickly wipes his hand on his clothes and shakes hand with J-Hope. The edit on the video was so funny because he was holding the hand that was blessed by J-Hope (it was glowing) with the happy-shocked face on his face in slow motion with a love song. And then he dodged when other trainees was trying to touch that hand LMAO (with the caption : Don't touch my hand!). In the confessionals he said his heart skipped a beat when he shakes hand with Hoseok, and that he really liked it (was happy about it).

And then! Just right after! I know it was editing but it was so funny because Hoseok knows Sangmin now, but Sangmin was still light-headed from everything and he completely forgot where he was supposed to be standing in the formation for chorus part. His team mate calls him to position with his full name 'Lee Sangmin!' before he move forward. IMMEDIATELY, Hoseok almost lost it because memorizing your position is the most basic thing, this doesn't even require skill or have anything to do with movements yet. BTS members always said that Hoseok is scary in dance practices, he will scold people who make mistakes. Hoseok immediately yells 'SANGMINIE ANDWAE (DON'T BE LIKE THAT)'. But probably remembers that these are kids on televised program and he went soft saying 'Sangmin-ah, you have to do well, pull yourself together, eh?' with the biggest smile on his face (voice was still loud, though). Sangmin again, in panic slaps himself in the face and shakes his head to wake himself up.

ANYWAY. I also like Doyeom and Yechan, both seems like good, dilligent kids. Doyeom is also a big fan of BTS, he wanted Fake Love from the start. He was indisbelief that Hoseok was in front of him and he was pacing with his hand on his chest. He asked Hoseok what is the secret to their success because he's always moved every time he sees a BTS video. Doyeom learns the moves from Hoseok dilligently and he said this is a once in a lifetime opportunity and that he'll practice really hard. He got praised by Hoseok! Hoseok said his energy is overflowing. He was in awe seeing Hoseok doing the moves even for a small part and while being a good performer himself.

Yechan is good-looking, very mature, very articulate, very smart. He is the team leader and he's assigning positions to everyone. He was explaining the mission to J-Hope and he was happy to be able to meet him. Yechan and Doyeom ranks high in the voting, I wish them the best and I hope they can debut.

Other team members I don't really know about because they basically had 0 screentime. They're probably filler contestants, and I'm so sorry for them. They all worked very hard to get here. Sangmin was just a better personality to create interesting content. If he fails at becoming an idol he should be a YouTuber.

Kids rushed to grab Hoseok's hand when he asked them to put their hands together to cheer for their success. Hoseok was just laughing the whole time. He signed the kids' hoodies and said 'you guys are adorable'. Hoseok seems nervous at first but he is very GOOD as a mentor??????? Like???? He should be doing this forever??? He is kind, he stern when needed, he is giving good directions and insights, he is also super friendly. He brings the kids food because he knows they are being crammed in that training center.

Man, I don't even watch Under 19 but this is a really, really good episode I could repeat again and again. Imma watch again with proper subtitle when it's out.