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Turbo Max is a reality survival show created by 32 MEDIA and AURA Creative for KBS2. It starred 16 trainees of both companies and aimed to debut a 6 member boy-group managed by 32M, with a surprise seventh spot revealed in the finale. It premiered on May 27, 2022 on KBS2 & 32 MEDIA's personal network 32N. The final seven became ORCHID, and they debuted on September 25, 2022 with the mini album Bloom.
Produced by 64 PRODUCTIONS for KBS2, and later also airing on 32N, the show premiered on May 27, 2022, and concluded on July 29, 2022, with 10 episodes.
Concept and format[]
Turbo Max brought together 16 male trainees from 32 MEDIA and AURA Creative to form a 7 member boy group. Unlike most survival shows, the final group had a one project contract, aiming to help put the members on the map and maximise a big budget and successful comeback.
The show started with 16 contestants, who were initially grouped into several classes, named after planets. The series also was more targeted at the aspects of being a group with good teamwork rather than celebrities.
Production[]
Filming for the first episode began on April 1, 2022, and filming concluded on July 25, while the final episode was a live broadcast.
Promotion and broadcast[]
The first mention of Turbo Max was on February 21, 2022 when a twitter account under the user "@32turbomax" was followed by all official 32 MEDIA accounts including the company account and girl group C9PID's account. The first teaser for the show was released the following day on February 22.[1] On April 1, on 32 MEDIA's official website, a list of all the trainees became available, with a self profile and trainee portfolio pictures. From April 13, 2022 through May 27, 2022, various different videos of trainees introducing themselves and revealing a hidden talent were posted to 32 MEDIA's official Youtube.
The show premiered on May 30, 2022, on KBS2 in South Korea to an audience of 1,820,000 million viewers and on 32N a day later to a audience of 442,000 viewers, and the audience would steadily increase throughout the shows run, however rapidly grew during the end of the series run due to the creative final challenge. It also had a strong social media presence, trending every week during episode air time.
The show also had a large audience in Japan, with many Japanese viewers tuning in weekly and the show receiving heavy promotion in the country with tactics like Billboards and poster ads. This resulted in strong Japanese fanbases for all the contestants of the show even after its run.
Cast[]
The series was presented by C9PID, with all members presenting the first episode, and for the rest of the series run alternating between 3 members. Other cast members include:
- Idol Master
- Ye Eunchae
- Vocal trainers
- Dance trainers
- Rap trainer:
Sangwon appeared in the first episode in the form of a video message.
rm8z's Jaeseok and TROX's Xao appeared as special MCs for the Slice Of Idol Life mission.
Contestants[]
| Name | Birth Year | Nationality | Training length | Experience/Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cho In-Su | 1997 | Korean | 3 years | Contestant on Project SOL |
| Jang Dong-Hyuck | 1998 | 4 years | Well known trainee | |
| Yeo Dae-Jung | 7 years | Model, former SM Entertainment & Starship Entertainment Trainee. | ||
| Won Tae-Hyun | 1999 | 3 years | Contestant on Project SOL. | |
| Hiroi Kenji | 2000 | Japanese | 2 years | N/A |
| Gao Xiaoli | Chinese | 4 months | Twins | |
| Gao Chuanli | ||||
| Tae Shi-Won | 2001 | Korean | 1 year | N/A |
| Choi Dae-Hyun | 4 years | Child actor, brother of C9PID's Dahyun. | ||
| Hiraoka Kazuki | Japanese | 8 months | N/A | |
| Chang Byeong-Cheol | Korean | 1 year | ||
| Kal Seung-Min | 2002 | 9 years | Former maknae of nugu group Tomorrow Moon. | |
| Ozawa Mashiro | 2003 | Japanese | 5 years | N/A |
| Nae Jeong-Ho | 2004 | Korean | 9 months | |
| Tamaki Ryozo | Japanese | |||
| Xiao Ling | Chinese |
| Final members of ORCHID | |
| Contestants eliminated in the final episode | |
| Contestants eliminated in the third elimination round (ep.10) | |
| Contestants eliminated in the second elimination round (ep.7) | |
| Contestants eliminated in the first elimination round (ep.5) |
| Name | Rankings | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ep. 5 | Ep. 7 | Ep. 9 | Final | Result | |
| # | # | # | Votes | ||
| Jang Dong-Hyuck | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2,403,202 | 1 |
| Kal Seung-Min | 6 | 8 | 3 | 2,109,029 | 2 |
| Tamaki Ryozo | 5 | 4 | 2 | 1,549,033 | 3 |
| Choi Dae-Hyun | 3 | 1 | 4 | 1,290,523 | 4 |
| Yeo Dae-Jung | 2 | 5 | 6 | 1,104,040 | 5 |
| Hiroi Kenji | 4 | 3 | 5 | 1,009,202 | 6 |
| Cho In-Su | 7 | 7 | 7 | 1,002,431 | 7 |
| Tae Shi-Won | 8 | 6 | 8 | 995,493 | 8 |
| Xiao Ling | 10 | 8 | 9 | 941,431 | 9 |
| Won Tae-Hyun | 9 | 10 | 10 | Eliminated | 10 |
| Ozawa Mashiro | 11 | 9 | 11 | 11 | |
| Chang Byeong-Cheol | 13 | 11 | Eliminated | 12 | |
| Nae Jeong-Ho | 12 | 12 | 13 | ||
| Hiraoka Kazuki | 14 | 13 | 14 | ||
| Gao Xiaoli | 15 | Eliminated | 15 | ||
| Gao Chuanli | 16 | 16 | |||
Episodes[]
| Ep. # | Title | Original air date | Viewers (in millions) [KBS2] | Viewers (in millions) [32N] |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Turbo Max | May 27, 2022 | 1.82 | 0.442 |
| We are introduced to the trainee's as well as the show's hosts, C9PID, and find out they were mysteriously invited to the set not knowing what they were getting into. C9PID's Dahyun reunites with her older brother, and we find out there is a mystery trainee which is later revealed to be Cho In-Su from Project SOL. All the trainees perform auditions infront of C9PID, and receive grades/planets from the shows mentors. The shows theme song is revealed to be produced by legend Sangwon. | ||||
| 2 | Trouble in the Workplace | June 3, 2022 | 1.87 | 0.446 |
| The trainees react to their grades/planets from the last episode, and are introduced to their first challenge, the Working Environment Mission, where they attend a photoshoot for publicity stills, which would go on to be used for their official profiles, and have to come over planned mishaps throughout the photoshoot planned by the staff, which they had no prior knowledge of. The four people who handle the shoot the best receive a benefit of choosing their teams for the next mission. | ||||
| 3 | It Starts Now | June 10, 2022 | 1.89 | 0.445 |
| Note: This episode aired in an earlier time slot (3:40pm rather than 8pm) for the special Music Bank performance.
The trainees are introduced to the signal/theme song "Let Me Fly", and rehearse the song in their respective planet groups. The boys also meet the mentors, leading to a reunion with mentor Gyumin and contestants Won Taehyun and Cho In-Su. It is announced the Saturn and Jupiter contestants will additionally be performing the theme song on Music Bank. There is also a fun center dance competition, with Choi Dae-Hyun winning. The theme song is then performed for the first time with Choi Dae-Hyun as the center. Immediately after the episode aired, Music Bank began and the Saturn and Jupiter boys performed the theme song on a beautifully decorated stage set, and were also interviewed by the MC's. (see episode's main page for more). | ||||
| 4 | Back To Basics | June 17, 2022 | 2.02 | 0.451 |
| The boys are woken up to the announcement of the first elimination, however are unaware of how many people will be eliminated. The first performance mission is unveiled, and is the classic team performance where 4 teams of 4 will perform a song of choice against each other to win over the publics votes. The groups are decided by the four boys who won the Working Environment challenge, and will have to decide on any song together as there are no options to choose from. The first three teams perform their songs of choice. | ||||
| 5 | Home Improvement | June 24, 2022 | 2.06 | 0.474 |
| The mission from the last episode continues with the final group performing to SOVLIZ's debut song "Fever" to interesting reactions from the original singer himself Gyumin. The first elimination takes place with the Gao twins going home. The boys receive new planets/grades, and as a mini mission they have to react to their own performances and evaluate on what they need to improve and what they did well, as well as all trainees having to write something each of their team mates did well. The next day the remaining 14 boys are then taken to a theme park and a restaurant for a day off. | ||||
| 6 | We're All In This Together | July 1, 2022 | 2.10 | 0.473 |
| The contestants are greeted with the news at 7am in the morning that they will be free of trainee duties and instead will be heading to a sports field for a Team Building Day. The boys go through a series of challenges in their planet groups like standing up at the same time whilst connected to improve their communication and teamwork skills. The following day, the boys are hit with a surprise elimination announcement where the boys with the least live votes from the next performances will be eliminated on the spot. They then find out it will be two teams of seven, meaning they will have to work harder to shine individually in a bigger group. The episode ends with the teams being picked in a spaceship themed challenge where the boys throw a paper spaceship into a cup labelled with team names and setlists not visible to the boys on them. | ||||
| 7 | All Time High | July 8, 2022 | 2.33 | 0.202 |
| The two teams are now sorted, and they both have to perform a setlist of 3 songs, and 3 boys from each team also will get the chance to be ending fairies to hopefully boost their image for more votes (the ending fairies being Tamaki Ryozo for team 1, Yeo Dae-Jung for team 2 and Won Tae-Hyun for team 3), decided by the teams themselves. The teams perform their respective setlists to a live audience and the three boys with the least votes and ultimately going home are Chang Byeong-Cheol, Nae Jeong-Ho and Hiraoka Kazuki. | ||||
| 8 | Slice Of Idol Life Part 1 | July 15, 2022 | 2.38 | 0.220 |
| The contestants are greeted with their final challenge; The Slice Of Idol Life where the boys are taken to a recording studio to record a single album with 3 songs (see discography page for more info on each album) with newly shuffled teams (teams of 3, 3, 3 and 2), practice the dance for the title track and take an album cover photoshoot. They then begin preparations to perform on a staged music show where they will perform their title track and a b-side of choice. The contestants pre record the stages for their title tracks for next week, and the songs become available for the public to stream, and albums were released physically. A chart section also opened on the Turbo Max website with 10 positions for all new songs recorded for this challenge plus the theme song. The groups will post promotional material online to promote their new songs like dance practices and tik tok challenges with mentors ahead of the live show set for next week. | ||||
| 9 | Slice Of Idol Life Part 2 | July 22, 2022 | 2.76 | 0.219 |
| Note: The "Turbo Bank" portion of this episode broadcasted live in real time.
The boys wake up for the big day and spend time together for the last time as 11, and practice for the last time and rewatch their pre recorded performances, showering eachother with compliments. The second portion of the episode is in a music show style episode, being broadcasted live, and we are greeted by the special MC's of "Turbo Bank" rm8z's Jaeseok, TROX's Xao and SOLVIZ's Janghun, who introduce the performances and interview the contestants in between performances and reveal the winners and final results in an encore stage style ending. The two boys going home are ultimately Won Tae-Hyun and Ozawa Mashiro. See more including results and interview highlights on the episode's main page | ||||
| 10 | To The Max | July 29, 2022 | 3.02 | 0.321 |
| Note: This episode was a live broadcast.
The final episode begins with all 9 members of C9PID as the hosts, introducing groups in the audience such as Attune and ARCANE in the audience, and introducing the final 9 contestants on stage. We first see a video montage of the boys' journey and all 9 contestants perform "Dreamwork", an EDM dance track with a happy upbeat vibe in rainbow pastel themed outfits. Kyungmi and Dahyun of C9PID introduce the next clip of the contestants talking about their admiration for eachother. The 9 contestants come out to perform the second song "Eclipse", an alternative R&B track produced by C9PID's Yeoreum, with a much more relaxed dance routine. Hana and Ren of C9PID then do the honor of revealing the group name ORCHID, and speak to 5 of the contestants family members before the contestants perform their final original new song "At Your Best", a ballad with lyrics written by the contestants about their brotherhood and their pride in eachother.
| ||||
Songs covered by contestants[]
Discography[]
Extended plays[]
| Title | Details | Peak chart positions | Sales | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| KOR | JPN | |||
| RFRSHR |
|
15 | — |
|
| In Charge |
|
50 |
| |
| Is It Love |
|
19 |
| |
| Together |
|
28 |
| |
| Turbo Max: The Music |
|
12 | 18 |
|
Singles[]
| Title | Year | Peak chart positions | Album | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| KOR | JPNHot | WW | |||
| CIR | |||||
| "Let Me Fly" | 2022 | 30 | — | — | Turbo Max: The Music |
| "Let Me Fly (Japanese Ver.)" | — | 19 | — | ||
| "Blast" | 18 | 36 | 78 | RFRSHR | |
| "Pass The Mic" | 58 | — | — | In Charge | |
| "Love Doctor" | 24 | 15 | 53 | Is It Love | |
| "Show And Tell" | 44 | — | — | Together | |
| "Dreamwork" | 26 | — | — | Turbo Max: The Music | |
| "Eclipse" | 29 | 55 | 90 | ||
| "At Your Best" | 6 | 79 | 98 | ||
References[]
- ↑ TURBO MAX Official Twitter account. Retrieved February 22, 2022.