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‘Kingdom’ episode 2: iKON ranked last, BTOB and The Boyz brought impressive concepts

In the 2nd episode of 'Kingdom: Legendary War' (Mnet), the full preliminary results as well as the first 3 performances of the first round were revealed.

On the evening of April 8, episode 2 of ‘Kingdom: Legendary War’ (abbreviated as ‘Kingdom‘) aired on Mnet.  In this episode, the full results of the 100-second performance round and 3 performances for the first official round were announced.  The show is only at the first stage, but the fierce competition and investment of 6 groups The Boyz, Stray Kids, ATEEZ, BTOB, SF9 and iKON have impressed viewers.

The results of the preliminary round

Previously, in episode 1 of the program, the preliminary competition was shown (not in the 4 official rounds).  For the preliminaries, the teams had to perform a song that helped the group get the No.1 trophy on music shows.  The duration of each performance is 100 seconds.  These six performances were announced online in mid-February.

'Kingdom' episode 2: iKON ranked last, BTOB and The Boyz brought impressive concepts

At that time, the voting portal for global fans was also opened, and each person has the right to vote for their favorite 3 teams.  Ranking for this preliminary round is determined based on those votes only.  The best group in this round will receive 1000 bonus points and the right to decide on the lineup for the first official round.

Here are the full preliminary results of the 6 ‘Kingdom’ groups:

1st place: Stray Kids – 690,970 votes

 2nd place: The Boyz – 574,273 votes

 3rd place: BTOB – 540,621 votes

 4th place: SF9 – 533,458 votes

 5th place: ATEEZ – 504,215 votes

 6th place: iKON – 489,971 votes

As expected from the teaser for episode 2 earlier, Stray Kids won 1st place and had 116,697 more votes than the runner-up group, The Boyz.  Stray Kids was extremely surprised and happy with this impressive achievement.  It is known that they are also the group that has the best advantage in the Youtube stage view race when their fandom is actively increasing their views.

'Kingdom' episode 2: iKON ranked last, BTOB and The Boyz brought impressive concepts
'Kingdom' episode 2: iKON ranked last, BTOB and The Boyz brought impressive concepts

Meanwhile, the groups of contestants were amazed to hear iKON ranked last in the preliminary round.  After hearing that the group reached 6th place, the iKON members tried to be as optimistic as possible and encouraged each other.  However, everyone can see the expressions of each person as they could not hide their disappointment and sadness.  However, the YG group thought that they would not be under pressure to rank 6th, and from now on, the group will be determined to rank up.

'Kingdom' episode 2: iKON ranked last, BTOB and The Boyz brought impressive concepts
'Kingdom' episode 2: iKON ranked last, BTOB and The Boyz brought impressive concepts

Theme and scoring method for the first round named ‘To The World’

Next, the host TVXQ announced the theme of the first official round called ‘To The World’.  In this round, the groups will choose to perform the song they want to introduce to the world with their own message.  The number of songs for contestants will not be limited.

The maximum number of points that a group can receive in this round is 20,000 points.  Based on the criteria for distribution of votes, points will be calculated as below:

• 5000 points (25%) = The groups vote for themselves

 • 5000 points (25%) = Expert judgment

 • 8000 points (40%) = Global fan votes

 • 2000 points (10%) = Views of the group’s official performance video posted on the official channel of Mnet

'Kingdom' episode 2: iKON ranked last, BTOB and The Boyz brought impressive concepts

After the careful preparation of each group, episode 2 brought the first 3 performances of The Boyz, iKON, and BTOB.  All 3 groups showed an investment in their performances.  The Boyz continued to attract attention with the stage which was lavishly invested, creative, and an impressive choreography for ‘No Air’.

As for iKON, the group was praised for their creative choice when combining the hit song ‘Love Scenario’ with ‘Killing Me.’  The group chose the song as suggested by Kang Seungyoon (WINNER).

After that, BTOB showed that the group not only has vocal advantages, but even their choreography and concept are also very amazibg, especially Minhyuk’s impressive sword dance for the stage ‘Missing You’ (Theater ver).

The remaining 3 performances by Stray Kids, ATEEZ and SF9 will be announced in episode 3 of ‘Kingdom’.  Episode 3 will air at 19.50 KST on April 15.

Source: Mnet