“Boycott this awful show”- Fans outraged as 3 popular Starlight Boys withdraw from the reality survival show over alleged mistreatment

On Sunday, December 15, three contestants of the K-pop reality survival show Starlight Boys were revealed to have withdrawn from the show. The contestants who withdrew were Yoo Gwan-woo, Zhang Ji-jun, and Zhao Jia-yun. This news was revealed through the iQiYi app, which showed these contestants as withdrawn contestants.

When fans came to know about the same, they were shocked. While many were upset about the contestants' departure as they were quite popular in the show, other netizens were happy about the news. This was due to the alleged mistreatment from the management of Starlight Boys and its seemingly exploitative structure.

Ever since the premiere of the reality survival show, many netizens criticized its inhumane structure and functioning. The show also recently garnered attention for its evaluation round that over-exhausted the contestants, with some of them being hospitalized. Therefore, fans felt that the sudden withdrawal of the contestants was understandable as they speculated that the alleged mistreatment was the reason.

Here are a few reactions on the internet regarding the same:

"if the boys are getting mistreated, we need to stand by them and boycott this awful show!"

"they're all high ranking trainee too lmao iqyi is so f*cked up, they didn't deserve yinghao and ygw AT ALL," said a fan on X.

"3 trainees in the top 9 withdrawing should be raising alarm bells for ppl. yinghao has been vocal about his mistreatment," commented a netizen.

"am i the only one happy about this or," added another fan.

More fans and netizens expressed their concerns about the alleged mistreatment of the Starlight Boys' contestants.

"congratulation yinghao, uu, and jijun for free themself from a sh*tty flop show," stated a fan.

"3 top9 trainees WITHDRAWING, a joke? you guys are turning a blind eye to the danger that is about to come, does something not seem WRONG? are you not questioning WHY?" added another netizen.

"pls just cancel the whole thing," commented an X user.

"imagine still wanting to support slb after this like will you not think that there probably IS something WRONG?? and you still want your fave there???" said another user.

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All you need to know about the K-pop reality survival show, Starlight Boys

Starlight Boys is a South Korean-Chinese reality survival show that's organized by iQIYI and SBS. The show premiered on October 26 and it kicked off with a total of 69 contestants. Starlight Boys aims to create a nine-piece boy group, and the auditions for the show were open to any male individual from all nationalities.

The show is hosted by the South Korean actress and singer, Lee Sung Kyoung. Additionally, the show also has an intriguing panel of judges, who also function as the contestants' guides. They include Lee Seung-gi, Daesung, Choi Young-joon, Han-hae, Kwon Eun-bi, Hui, Eric, and STAYC's Yoon.

While some of the show's contestants are a fresh face to the viewers, the others have either appeared in previous reality survival shows, debuted in older groups, or more. The show's theme song is Good Luck (Be My Luck), and the finale is scheduled to be released on December 28, 2024. During the same, the final lineup of the Top 9 contestants will be unveiled.

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Regardless, the online discussions about the show have mostly revolved around the negative aspects of the show. Many viewers have emphasized the alleged mistreatment and unrealistic expectations that the contestants are forced to meet on the show. Therefore, the recent departure of the three contestants only further fueled these speculations and discussions.