New K-Pop Survival Show’s Diverse Line-Up Includes An Iranian Contestant

After the end of Boys Planet and Fantasy Boys, many have wondered when the next big survival show will introduce them to a host of talented trainees. The success of groups like WANNA ONE and ZEROBASEONE has led many entertainment agencies and broadcast companies to air their own programs.

The most recently announced is MBC‘s FanPick, a global “idol making project” set to be MCed by Super Junior’s Leeteuk. The show will consist of seventeen trainees, who were all recently introduced.

Of the seventeen, only seven trainees are from Korea, the others hailing from several other locations, including Hong Kong and China. Trainee Nam Son hails from Vietnam, while there are three Japanese competitors.

[#FANPICK]

리키(RICKY)
2000.10.14ㅣ중국 홍콩#팬픽 #리키 #RICKY #트윙플 #Twinkple pic.twitter.com/HBORPAPcQa

— 팬픽 FAN PICK (@mbcm_fanpick) August 15, 2023

[#FANPICK]

남손(NAM SON)
2007.10.16ㅣ베트남#팬픽 #남손 #NAMSON #트윙플 #Twinkple pic.twitter.com/oLUtyg5Z4L

— 팬픽 FAN PICK (@mbcm_fanpick) August 18, 2023

[#FANPICK]

타츠야(TATSUYA)
2000.01.15ㅣ일본#팬픽 #타츠야 #TATSUYA #트윙플 #Twinkple pic.twitter.com/NR1FZyLV7B

— 팬픽 FAN PICK (@mbcm_fanpick) August 17, 2023

Also included in the line-up are trainees from locations more unique to K-Pop, including Dee from India…

… Kim Ciel from France…

…and the first male Iranian K-Pop trainee to ever be introduced, Shayan!

According to his profile, Shayan was born on July 1, 2002, and is an INFJ. He seems to be a big BTS fan, mentioning that his role model is BTS‘s Suga and that his favorite songs consist of everything BTS has done.

Based on his introduction video, it seems like he speaks at least four languages, something that will work to his advantage for the show!

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A post shared by MBC M '팬픽(FAN PICK)' (@fanpick_official)

While Sahan is the first male trainee from Iran to ever be introduced, he is not the first overall. In 2021, a trainee named Noura was introduced as a participant in the now-canceled survival show rookie_find.

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A post shared by RookieFind (@rookie_find2021)

FanPick is set to begin airing on August 30 and will be broadcast each week on Wednesday on MBC M. You can check out all of the trainees in their concept trailer below.