MyDOL

Mydol (stylized as MyDol or MyDOL) is a South Korean reality show that documented the formation and debut process of the boy band, VIXX.^[1] It premiered on Mnet on April 12, 2012.

Premise

A group of 10 idol trainees under Jellyfish Entertainment are put through various activities and missions to determine the select few that will debut as part of a six-member idol group on May 24, 2012 on M! Countdown.^[2]

Format

The first half of the series serves as an elimination-style competition among the 10 trainees, wherein the prospects who display the best talent and promise will be chosen by viewers^[3] to become part of the final group.

The second half of the series follows the early pre-debut activities of the final six members who have made it into the group.

Trainees

(Ages and heights are at the time of the program's filming)

¹ One of three members added later by Hwang Se-jun.

Episode summaries

Episode 1

The episode begins with all 10 trainees getting make up done for their first profile photo shoot at Y Studio. They are shot by renowned fashion photographer Choi Yong Bin. They start off with individual shoots followed by group shots, Daewon and Ravi are both lauded for their modelling. Later, the trainees are shown at their training studio, where they practice choreography by Yang Wook. After Yang Wook leaves, the trainees continue practicing the dance for several hours. The most recently added trainees - Yoonchul, Byoungjun & Hyuk - are singled out by N for not executing the choreography well.

The scene cuts back to three days prior, where the 3 newest trainees arrive at the dorm for the first time. Since the other trainees are out practicing, the dorm is empty and the three newbies unpack in a disorganized manner then share a meal. While they are eating, the original seven members arrive at the dorm much to both parties' surprise. Many of the original trainees are annoyed at the current state of the dorm and they share their concerns with the new additions and explain the rules of the dorm which include: Equal division of house chores, a ten-minute maximum on showers, punishment for disorganization and non ordering of food.

Back at current time, the next day the trainees head to their practice room for individual dance practice. Daewon, Ken and Hongbin assess the dance skills of the three newbies. It's determined that Byoungjun is most competent of the three and Hyuk and Yoonchul have room for improvement. A few days later all ten hopefuls have gathered in the practice room for their first individual evaluations. Among the judges are Jellyfish CEO Hwang Se Jun, Jellyfish artist Sung Si-kyung and choreographer Yang Wook.

Most of the trainees received fair critiques, but none of the trainees received universal praise and a few received negative critiques concerning their singing or dance ability.

Early next morning at the dorm, the trainees are asleep after practicing for hours. However, Byoungjun abruptly leaves the apartment without permission for then unknown reasons. A few days later, the group goes to M Studio for their first profile video shoot. While shooting Byoungjun suddenly returns, and the trainees are uneasy around him because he left. He apparently just wanted a break, and went to visit some friends and his father.

Teen actress Kim Yoo-jung arrives later to film her bit of the trainees' video shoot. The shoot proves to be anything but easy for the idol trainees, they find themselves shirtless and covered in clay even in freezing temperatures for their filming.

Later during their practice time, Hwang Se-jun pays the idols an unexpected visit and gives the group their first mission: To form 2 teams of five and gather new fans in a public setting. The team with the most online votes wins.

After the mydols return home to the dorm, they gather around to find out which team won the first mission.

• Special Guests: Sung Si-kyung, Kim Yoo-jung & Choi Yong Bin
• Mission: Gather fans in one area to join the online MyDols Angels Club
• Mission Winner: Team Devils — N, Daewon, Hongbin, Byoungjun & Hyuk (Revealed in the subsequent episode)

Episode 2

The episode begins with the Mydols in their practice room a few days after the first mission. CEO Hwang Se-jun makes a surprise appearance and has come to reveal the winner of the mission based on the online vote. Team Devils is revealed to be the winners, by a margin on 71 votes. Team Devils received 629 votes in total, giving them 52.99& of the vote. Team Heaven received 558 votes, giving them 47.01% of the votes. For winning the mission, N, Daewon, Hongbin, Byoungjun & Hyuk receive a visit to a massage shop as a prize. For the losing team, their punishment is to run from the dorms to their practice room for one week.

Later the Mydols go off for their individual practice sessions after group dance practice. They also visit the gym regularly for the mandatory exercise regiment. The next day, Hwang Se-jun visits the trainees again at their practice studio to reveal the decided number of members the final group will have. After several meetings within the company, Se-jun decides that a 6-member group would be the best choice. The ten group is even more anxious due to this reminder.

A few days after the announcement, the Mydols visit a cafe after their individual vocal practices to unwind and relax. While at the cafe, they suddenly receive their next mission in the form of a video recording, which is break up into groups of 5 and have idol dance cover battle. The two youngest, Hyuk and Yoonchul, are decided as team captains and they arm wrestle to decide who picks first for their team, Hyuk beats Yoonchul.

Days later after the trainees' main dance practice with Yang Sook, he inspects their respective dances for the mission battle. He deems both teams as messy and in need of more practice. Hyuk's team is especially criticized since Yang Sook thinks it's a performance only Rain himself can execute. After the critique, Hyuk's team arrives at a possible stalemate: Nakhun who thinks they should change songs, and Ravi who wants to stick to the song they have.

Some days later, the group of trainees are suddenly practicing their acting as opposed to their normal routine. It was decided that the trainees would take part in an acting mission due to overwhelming requests for it on the MyDols Angels fan page. Jellyfish artist Seo In-guk and music video director Lee Geun-Ho stop by the practice room to judge which trainee has best acting skills and to determine which of them will earn a role in In-guk's newest music video.

Ken and Leo's acting tests were not shown. A few days later, the head of the rookie development team, Lee Hee Jung arrives at the trainee practice room to reveal the winner of the acting test audition and HongBin is revealed to be the winner. At a later time, HongBin leaves the trainees and goes to music video shooting location. He shoots his scene with the female lead, actress Son Eun-seo.

Some days later while the Mydols are busy practicing for their second mission, they are shocked by an unexpected visitor. It's idol star Lee Joon of MBLAQ, he's come to give the trainees encouragement and guidance from his past trainee experience. After evaluating them individually, he praises Ravi for his impressive dance skills.

The day of the second mission has arrived and both teams have reached their performance destination. It turns out to be middle school, where females are the minority of the student population. The response towards the idols' individual and group performances is underwhelming to say the least. The group travels to another school to perform, this time an all girl high school. Both teams are very well received, especially Hyuk's team's performance of "Hip Song". With only one day left until the first elimination, Se-jun and his fellow consultants ponder on who should be the first to go home.

On the day of the first elimination, Hwang Se-jun visits the trainees to reveal his decision. Hyuk, Byoungjun, N, Ravi and Leo are quickly declared safe. From the bottom group, HongBin, Nakhun and Yoonchul are next to be declared safe, leaving Ken and Daewon as the bottom two.

• Special Guests: Seo In-guk, Lee Geun-Ho & Lee Joon

Episode 3

The episode starts off where the last one ended with both Ken and Daewon up for elimination. Without too much hesitation Ken is declared safe, which means that Daewon is the first to go, much to the shock of the other trainees, including Ken. After sharing a brief and sad last moment with his fellow Mydol's Daewon returns to the dorms, packs up and leaves.

The day after Daewon's elimination, the 9 remaining trainees are back in the practice room when CEO Se-jun is back again, this time to inform them of their next evaluation. The first part is a group evaluation, where they must separate into two teams, but both will perform the same song. The second part is the inevitable individual evaluation. Se-jun shocks the group by revealing that this is the final evaluation, after this challenge three trainees will be automatically eliminated and the final line-up will be decided. The rappers Ravi and Byoungjun are chosen by Se-jun as the two team leaders. The two of them however go about choosing the members for the respective teams in a disorganized manner. In the end Ravi's team consists of himself, Leo, HongBin, Yoonchul and Hyuk, while Byoungjun's team consists of Ken, N, Nakhun and himself.

A few days after practicing for their final evaluations, the trainees go to a separate location away from the dorms. They are unaware of the purpose of the excursion until an unexpected guest arrives to meet them. Jellyfish artist Brian shows up to help the MyDols with their English. He also brings along a Japanese teacher, Sayuri. Most of the idols are nervous in both English and Japanese. Nakhun (who was born in Australia and Byoungjun (who was born and raised in California) excel in the English aspect of the class.

Later the trainees practice individually late into the night. Before final evaluation day, both teams showcase their songs for vocal trainer Park Sung Joon. He gives constructive criticism to several of the trainees, both individually and in their teams.

On the final evaluation day, the nine trainees arrive at the performance hall where their final performances will take place. The judges for the evaluation consist of CEO Hwang Se-jun, Rap trainer J'Kyun, Dance trainer Yang Wook and singer Brian. First up are the individual member performances.

After the individual performances, both teams perform their renditions of Seo In-guk's "Love U". Byoungjun's team goes first and receives positive and negative feedback. Ravi's team goes second and also receives mixed reviews but slightly more positive feedback.

The episode ends with Hwang Se-jun assembling the nine trainees to decide the final line-up. Leo and N are the first two chosen to be a part of the group. Se-jun then announces that two rappers will not be necessary in the group and only one out of the pair of rappers will make it in, either Byoungjun or Ravi.

• Special Guest(s): Brian Joo

Elimination Progress

¹ The contender was eliminated at the beginning of the episode

Key

N/A The contender was not involved in the call-out for that episode.
SAFE The contender was chosen as part of the top group.
 IN  The contender was a part of the bottom group, but was safe.
 LOW  The contender was a part of the bottom two and in danger of going home.
 OUT  The contender was eliminated and not chosen for the final line-up
 VIXX  The contender was chosen to be a part of the final line-up.

Post-MyDOL Careers

• Ro Nakhun debuted in February 2013 as a member of Lion's Bridge's 5 member boy group Demion.^[4] (But later disbanded due to agency's financial difficulties).
• Shin Yoonchul transferred to Stardom Entertainment and successfully debuted as a member of the 13 member hip-hop group Topp Dogg on October 24, 2013, under the stage name Nakta.^[5]
• Lee Daewon debuted as a member of the group OFFROAD.^[6] (He's supposed to debut as one of the new members of OFFROAD but he hasn't debuted yet since OFFROAD haven't made a comeback after 'HEAD BANGING' was released).
• Lee Byoungjun transferred to YG Entertainment but left a year later to produce his own music under the name of Teddie Lee.

References

External links

• Official Mwave site