Project 7

''Project 7'' () is a 2024 South Korean boy group reality competition survival show created by JTBC. It followed the process of creating a new global boy group. It premiered on JTBC on October 18, 2024, and aired every Friday at 20:50 ( KST). The show ended on December 27, 2024, with the formation of a seven-member boy group named Close Your Eyes.

Production and Background

The program was co-directed by Ma Gun-young and Chae Sung-wook. It was co-produced by Studio Slam and SLL.

On April 20, 2024, JTBC revealed teasers inviting any male to apply for the show. The program will be produced by the creators of Sing Again and will air in the second half of 2024.

The theme song, "Run (Up To You)" (Korean: 달려 (Up To You)) was released on September 24, 2024, accompanied by a performance of the song the next day by the 100 contestants.

Lee Soo-hyuk, was recruited as ''Project 7'' host. The panel also includes Lee Hae-in, Ha Sung-woon, Bada Lee, Hi-Hat Entertainment performance director Ryu D, as well as prominent songwriter and producer Ryan S. Jhun.

Cast

Episodes

Contestants

There were a total of 200 contestants involved with the show, but 100 contestants, who made it past the Zero Setting Project, have enough data to record. The English names of all the contestants are presented in accordance with the official website.

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Voting & Survival Announcements

Voting

The voting process for Project 7 is done through the official website and the Weverse app as the primary platforms to vote for the contestants.

Top 7

The top seven contestants were determined through popularity with online voting and audience live voting, and the results are shown at the end of most episodes.
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1st Assembly Ceremony

The first voting period for the 1st Assembly Ceremony took place from October 18 to November 2, 2024. The fans, named World Assemblers, voted for their top seven contestants. Alongside voting for their top 7, World Assemblers would also vote for 14 contestants, to assemble a unit, which seemed to foreshadow performances together. Regarding eliminations, the top 70 trainees who received the most points, calculated through votes received through Korea and through the rest of the world, got to continue onto the next round and the bottom 30 trainees got officially eliminated. During the ceremony, 1, 3, 7, or 9-10 contestants would be called up at a time (69–61, 60–51, etc. 10–8, 7–1, 70) and then they would find out which unit they would be a part of, which are labeled A1 down to A5.
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2nd Assembly Ceremony

The second voting period for the 2nd Assembly Ceremony took place from November 8 to November 23, 2024. The World Assemblers voted for their top seven contestants. Alongside voting for their top seven, World Assemblers would also assemble five units of seven contestants for each of the new songs introduced, each having their own concept; Neo/Urban (Breaking News), Old School/Retro (KOOL-AID), Fresh/Cool (Merry-Go-Round), Sexy/Bad (Trigger), & Nostalgic/Sentimental (Time After Time). Regarding eliminations, the top half (35) of the contestants who received the most votes got to continue onto the next round and the bottom half (35) of the contestants got officially eliminated. During the ceremony, each pair of opposing teams from the Rival Match, starting from its A1, then 5, 2, 4, and 3, would be called up to find out who is safe from elimination from each unit, excluding the Top 9 contestants, and 35th place contestant. The safe contestants would move to their ranking's seat in the stands for the time being. After ranks 10-34 were confirmed, the 35th place contestant was revealed, through the four candidate method, and then the Top 9 were revealed starting from 9th, then 7th and 8th, and then 6th down to 3rd, and finally 1st and 2nd. After the ceremony, and the eliminated contestants had left, Lee Soohyuk would call up each contestant, in rank order, and give them a number from 1–5, corresponding to 5 different rooms, which would determine each contestant's Assembly for the next mission.
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3rd Assembly Ceremony

The third voting period for the 3rd Assembly Ceremony took place from November 29 to December 13, 2024. The World Assemblers voted for their top three contestants. Alongside voting for their top three, World Assemblers would also assemble three units of seven contestants for each of the new songs introduced for the finale; Psycho, Act Up, & Antidote. Regarding eliminations, the top 21 trainees who received the most votes got to continue onto the next round and the bottom 14 trainees got officially eliminated. During the ceremony, each team from the Originals Match, starting from its A4, then 5, 3, 1, and 2, would be called up to find out who is safe from elimination from each unit, excluding the Top 9 contestants, and the 21st place contestant. The safe contestants would move to their ranking's seat in the stands for the time being. After ranks 10-20 were confirmed, the Top 9 were revealed, starting from 9th, then 7th and 8th, and then 6th down to 3rd, and finally 1st and 2nd, and then the 21st place contestant was revealed, through the four candidate method.
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4th Global Vote

The fourth voting period for the final episode took place from December 20 to December 17, 2024. The World Assemblers voted for their top one contestant. As we have known from the beginning of the show, 7 contestants will debut, and this decides it all. The top 7 contestant will debut, and the bottom 14 will be officially eliminated. During the Final Live, World Assemblers would get another chance to vote for their top contestant, and each vote cast would count for two votes towards the selected contestant. Alongside voting for one contestant, World Assemblers would also assemble their ideal debut group, selecting seven contestants as their ideal final lineup. During the final ceremony, the contestants ranks were revealed, starting from 6th down to 3rd, then 1st and 2nd, and then finally the 7th and final member.
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Discography

The theme song "Run (Up To You)" was recorded and performed by the contestants. It was released on September 26, 2024 on digital music platforms.

Singles

Ratings

Aftermath

The final group, Close Your Eyes will be active for 3 years and is managed by UNCORE. The group debuted on April 2, 2025, with the mini album 'ETERNALT'.

* Some contestants returned to their original groups:
** Kim Si-hun (8th) returned to BDC.
** Kim Hyun-woo (11th), Yoo Young-seo (17th), and Park Jun-seo (21st) returned to BAE173.
** Kang Min-seo (22nd) and Lee Han-bin (23rd) returned to Fantasy Boys.
** Abe Yura (26th), Asaka Kotaro (36th), and Yoo Hyeon-seung (72nd) returned to PICKUS.
** Chae Hee-ju (28th), Lee No-yul (86th), and Choi Byung-hoon (90th) returned to CMDM.
** Wu Chenyu (31st) and Manabe Jin (88th) returned to SW:C.
*** Wu Chenyu left the group on February 7, 2025.
** Yu Ji-ahn (33rd) returned to Skye.
** Kwon Ye-ung (47th) and Cho Hyo-jin (49th) returned to SuperX.
** Hou Guanyi (62nd) returned to Youtove.
** Kim Tae-sung (78th) returned to K-Tigers Zero.
*Some contestants left their companies or joined new ones:
** **Sakurada Kenshin (2nd) joined PocketDol Studio on December 27, 2024.
** Nam Ji-woon (9th) joined Modhaus.
** Yichen (12th) joined WakeOne Entertainment.
** Woo Ha-joon (14th) joined YM Entertainment on January 18, 2025.
** Binghua (15th) signed with RND Company.
** Ahn Jun-won (16th) signed with Megameta on February 19, 2025.
** Lynn Lynn joined IX Entertainment.
** Kim Joon-woo (32nd) joined Hiver Lab Entertainment on January 4, 2025.
** Kang Wang-seok (51st) and Yamaguchi Satoshi (94th) joined DND ENS Entertainment.
** Kwon Yang-woo (52nd) signed with KPlus.
** Kim Young-hoon (53rd) joined Stone Music Entertainment
** Ok Chang-hyeon (61st) joined CTD Entertainment.
** **Park Chan-yong (69th) left MBK Company on December 13th, 2024.
*Some contestants will debut or debuted in new boy groups or released music as solo artists:
**Kim Si-hun (8th) who already debuted as a soloist prior to the airing of the show, released his second single 'Fly' on February 25, 2025.
**Kang Hyun-woo (10th) debuted as a solo artist with the single album 'Serena-Day' with a title track of the same name on May 22, 2025.
**Woo Ha-joon (14th) was added to the lineup of YM Entertainment's predebut boy group, Unname on January 18, 2025.
**Ahn Jun-won (16th) was confirmed to be a member of Megameta's predebut actor-idol boy group, Asteon on April 1, 2025.
**Andy (19th) was added to the lineup of Mystic Story's debuted boy group, ARrC on January 30, 2025. He debuted as a member of ARrC with the EP 'Nu Kidz: Out the Box' with the title track 'Nu Kidz' on February 18, 2025.
** Kwon Yong-hyun (29th) re-debuted as a member of re-branded group XD with the single album 'Wished' with the title track 'Falling Stars' on May 30, 2025.
** Yoo Hee-do (46th) who already debuted as a soloist prior to the airing of the show, released his second single 'Nadu' on April 22, 2025.
** Cho Hyo-jin (49th) who already debuted as a soloist prior to the airing of the show, released his second single 'You' on March 14, 2025.
** Kang Wang-seok (51st), Manabe Jin (88th), and Yamaguchi Satoshi (94th) debuted as members of SW:C with the single album 'Sweet Day' with the tittle track 'Candy House' on April 20, 2025.
**Kim Young-hoon (53rd) debuted as a solo artist under the stage name Lue Younghoon with the single album 'Untold Story' with a title track of the same name on February 12, 2025.
**Baek Ji-ho (57th) released his self-produced song 'Shine' on YouTube and SoundCloud on March 1st, 2025.
** Ok Chang-hyeon (61st) was confirmed to be a member of CTD Entertainment's predebut boy group, CTD Rookies on February 9, 2025.
*Some contestants participated in modeling activities
** **The members of Close Your Eyes (1st-7th) were all featured in the February 2025 edition of the Cosmopolitan Korea magazine.
**Kim Si-hun (8th), Nam Ji-woon (9th), Kim Jeong-min (13th), Binghua (15th), Jung Se-yun (18th), Andy (19th), Kim Joo-hyun (25th), and Park Junwoo (42nd) were all featured in the February 2025 edition of the Dazed Korea magazine.
**Lee Ji-hoon (43rd) modeled for Stealer Studio on February 6th, 2025.
**Kwon Yang-woo (52nd) modeled for Toteme on December 9, 2024, Maison Margiela on December 10, 2024, Adidas Korea on December 13, 2024, Marie Claire Korea on January 22, 2025 with KPLUS, Millo Archive and NegativeThree on March 2, 2025, MCM Korea and Kasina on March 9, 2025, and Puma Korea on March 14, 2025.
**Kwon Yang-woo (52nd) became a model for KPLUS somewhere between December 28-30, 2024 and was officially introduced on February 12, 2025.
*Some contestants left the idol industry or further expanded their careers in the acting/entertainment industry:
**Ahn Jun-won (16th) became MC for Gogosing's variety show ''Music Camp'', which aired weekly from February 12 to February 26, 2025, featuring Project 7 trainees every episode.
***Episode 1: Kim Si-hun (8th) and Kang Hyun-woo (10th).
***Episode 2: Nam Ji-woon (9th).
***Episode 3: Kim Jeong-min (13th) and Jung Se-yun (18th).
**Song Hyung-seok (54th) released two Actor Profiles mentioning Seorae Studio, seemingly indicating an acting debut in the near future.
** Santa (66th) started his career as an actor with a supporting role in Thai GL drama "ClaireBell".
*Some contestants participated in other survival shows:
**Yichen (12th), Binghua (15th), Lynn Lynn (20th), and Yeom Ye-chan (45th) are participating in Mnet's Korean survival show '' Boys II Planet''.

Notes

References

External links

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* at JTBC
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{{JTBC current original programming

2024 South Korean television series debuts
2024 South Korean television series endings
Korean-language television shows
K-pop television series
Music competitions in South Korea
Reality music competition television series
JTBC original programming
South Korean music television shows
South Korean reality television series