Filipino contestant JL will be debuting in a K-pop boy band after winning in “Universe League,” a survival audition TV program on channel SBS in South Korea.
JL, a member of Filipino boy band PLUUS, was one of the 21 finalists who competed in the finale on Jan. 24.
"Universe League" finalists (SBS)
Filipino contestant JL will be debuting in K-pop group AHOF (SBS)
Host and K-pop artist Jay Park announced that the debuting group will have nine members to be composed of all the members of the winning team, and the first placers in the second and third place teams.
The boy band will debut under the name AHOF or All-time Hall Of Famer.
In the final round, 21 contestants--seven from Team Rhythm, Team Groove and Team Beat--competed.
Team Rhythm, which included JL, won first place with 4,378,941 points, while Team Groove placed second with 1,239,192 points. Team Beat, which received 965,871 points, finished third.
As a result, all seven members of Team Rhythm will be debuting in AHOF. They are JL (Philippines), Steven (Australia), Chih En (China), Zhang Shuaibo (China), Park Ju-won (South Korea), Daisuke (Japan) and Seo Jeong-woo (South Korea).
They will be joined by group first placers Park Han (South Korea) of Team Groove, and Cha Woong-ki (South Korea) of Team Beat.
JL together with the other winners who will debut in K-pop group AHOF (SBS)
Members of K-pop boy band AHOF (SBS)
The members of the debuting K-pop boy band AHOF (SBS)
FINAL RESULTS
RANK | NAME | TEAM | SCORE |
1st place | JL | Rhythm | 3,168,841 |
2nd place | Cha Woong-ki | Beat | 677,202 |
3rd place | Park Han | Groove | 504,261 |
4th place | Steven | Rhythm | 313,965 |
5th place | Zhang Shuaibo | Rhythm | 245,615 |
6th place | Park Ju-won | Rhythm | 225,105 |
7th place | Seo Jeong-woo | Rhythm | 173,779 |
8th place | Chih En | Rhythm | 146,731 |
9th place | Daisuke | Rhythm | 104,925 |
The scores of the 21 finalists (SBS)
In the final ranking, JL took first place with an overwhelming score of 3.16 million.
“Actually, I had a lot of worries before coming to Korea, but I didn’t know that I would receive so much love and attention from you all here. I would like to thank everyone for joining me on my Universe League journey,” said JL during the finale, Korean media reported.
JL, 20, debuted in PLUUS in March 2023. Steven is a member of K-pop boy band Luminous and was a contestant in the survival audition show "Produce X 101."
Zhang Shuaibo was a contestant in the survival audition show "Boys Planet."
“Universe League” was produced by SBS and Korean entertainment agency F&F Entertainment.
F&F Entertainment also organized the global girl group audition program “Universe Ticket” from which K-pop girl group UNIS was launched.