Changes to the format have been made to the final season, with restrictions lifted for potential contestants to encourage anyone to participate in "the last chance" to become a K-pop Star. Existing trainees of companies as well as singers who have already debuted are allowed to participate.[1] The winner of the final season will not choose which company to debut with, but instead will be jointly debuted and promoted by all three companies (YG, JYP, Antenna).[2]
Process
Audition applications + Preliminary auditions (June - August 2016)[citation needed]
Lee Seo-jin (born in 1996) (former participant of Fantastic Duo season 1, duet with Taeyang on episodes 1–2, then duet with Kim Tae-woo on special episode 23)
Trainee contestants (YG Girls)
Go A-ra (born in 2001) (Debut in Favorite, under Astory Entertainment)
Kriesha Chu (born in 1998) (Urban Works Entertainment, solo debut)
Contestants represent the company they were cast to in a 1 to 1 to 1 battle. First place automatically gets to be in the Top 10, while 3rd place is eliminated. Contestants who finish in 2nd place battle the other contestants who finished 2nd place. Anyone who does not get in the Top 10 teams/contestants is eliminated. For trainees, the winner team advances to Top 10 and lose team joined other contestants in 2nd place for rematch individually.
Group
1st Place (Top 10)
2nd (Rematch)
3rd (Eliminated)
A
Boyfriend (Park Hyun-jin, Kim Jong-seob)
Shannon
Lee Ga-young
B
Lee Seo-jin
Baek Seon-nyeo, Han Byeol
None
C
Seok Ji-soo
Lee Sung-eun
Woo Nyeong-in
D
Kim Yoon-hee
Ma Eun-jin
Kim Joo-eun
E
None
Yoo Ji-ni, Sung Yoo-jin
Ji Woo-jin
Trainees
YG Girls (Go A-ra, Kriesha Chu, Kim Hye-rim)
JYP Once (Kim So-hee, Jeon Min-joo, Lee Soo-min)
None
Top 10 Rematch
Name
Result
Ma Eunjin
Advanced to Top 10
Lee Soo-min
Advanced to Top 10
Jeon Min-joo
Advanced to Top 10
Kim So-hee
Advanced to Top 10
Yoo Ji-ni
Advanced to Top 10
Shannon
Advanced to Top 10 (JYP priority card)
Lee Sung-eun
Eliminated
Han Byeol
Eliminated
Baek Seon-nyeo
Eliminated
Sung Yoo-jin
Eliminated
Stage Auditions
For the Top 8 Finals, the Top 10 competed in two groups on stage with the results determined by the judges. The top three contestants from each group were chosen to proceed to the next round.
The Top 8, who proceeded to the live stage, were determined by the three judges as well as a 100-member Audience Judging Panel. The last two contestants from each group became Elimination Candidates, with the Audience Judging Panel voting for their preferred act. The two acts with the most votes from the four Elimination Candidates proceeded to the Top 8, with the other two contestants eliminated.
The Top 8 competes 1:1 on the live stage with the results determined by the judges. One contestant from each group is chosen to proceed to the next round.
The contestants not chosen will go through voting by 100 citizen judges, where the three top contestants will proceed to the next round.
Trainee contestants is reform into two girl groups (each group contains 3 people).
For the Top 6, Top 4 and Finals, the judges and viewers' scores were weighted 60:40, and were combined to eliminate the contestant with the lowest score.
