PHILIPPINES
WINNER STORY
WIN: WHO IS NEXT
YG's New Boy Group Survival Program ‘WIN’ YG Entertainment's program "WIN" will be a survival type music program that picks a rookie boy group to debut. It aired on Mnet and tvN simultaneously on August 23.
The "WINNER" will be YG's first boy group debut. "WIN" will feature two teams that compete against each other for the title of "WINNER."
Team A include "Superstar K4" contestant Kang Seung Yoon and "Kpop Star" contestant Lee Seung Hoon to have a total of five members with the average age of 20.
Team B have MC Mong's "Indian Boy" 12-year old child rapper B.I and "Kpop Star" Goo Jun Hwe and a total of six members with the average age of 17.
The team to "Win" on the show will be crowned the "WINNER" and debut right after the show ends. August 20 a press conference for "WIN" was held at the Conrad Hotel in Yeouido, Seoul, where producer Yang Hyun Suk announced the eleven members that makes up Team A and Team B.
PRE-DEBUT
Prior to the group's debut, the leader Kang Seung-yoon was a former Superstar K2 contestant and was part of the final 4. After much consideration, he decided to sign with YG Entertainment in 2011 and revealed he had chosen the company as he was impressed by their demands to return to training to "hone his craft". In the same year he made his acting debut through the popular sitcom High Kick: Revenge of the Short Legged.
In 2013, months before the airing of YG's reality program, WIN, he had made a solo debut releasing multiple tracks notably "It Rains" which reached the top spot in multiple charts.
Lee Seunghoon, the group's main dancer was also a former reality-singing contest alumni - K-pop Star Season 1 wherein he came in fourth place. YG recruited Lee himself, being one of the show's judges and had shown great admiration for him - specifically for his choreography skills - during the series' run.
Song Minho started out underground under the stage name "Mino" or "Hugeboy Mino" with former underground rappers-turned-idols namely Block B’s P.O, Zico and M.I.B's SIMS. He was initially a trainee for the male group Block B but left the group before debut for personal reasons. In 2011, he made his debut as a rapper for the ballad group BoM under Y2Y Contents Company however the group was disbanded 2 years later due to the lack of popularity with the public. In 2013 he was recruited into YG through private auditions after being recognized from his acting debut in March 2012 in the cable drama The Strongest K-POP Survival in Channel A.
Kim Jinwoo attended "Joy Dance - Plug In Music Academy" also known as "Seungri Academy", his senior label mate's Big Bang's Seungri's company. Seungri brought Jinwoo to YG after seeing his potential until he eventually got accepted as a trainee in 2010.
Kim and Nam Taehyun - who was recruited in 2011 through a private audition performed as backup dancers at the 2011 YG Family Concert.
DEBUT
On October 25, 2013 at the finale of YG Who Is Next, WIN, Team A won and will debut as the group 'Winner' under YG Entertainment.
At the conclusion of the show it was announced that Winner along with Team B will immediately release 4 self composed songs on October 28, 2013 (2 from WINNER, and 2 from Team B) and they tour and performed with fellow labelmates Bigbang as the opening act for their Japenese dome tour last November 15, 2013. And a guest performer on 2NE1 2014 AON Concert in Japan, Hong Kong, China and Taiwan, Malaysia, Indonesia and Philippines. In addition to that they will be performing on YG Family Power Concert in Japan. This is already a great achievement for the group as only top stars are able to perform in the dome.
WINNER (Kang Seung Yoon, Lee Seung Hoon, Kim Jin Woo, Song Min Ho, and Nam Tae Hyun) is YG’s new boy band formed eight years after BIGBANG’s debut. They entered the entertainment world as Team A of “WIN : Who Is Next?” show and became the winner after a close match with the other team. Now, they are expecting an official debut as boy group, turning from YG trainees. WINNER members are talented and versatile, capable of songwriting, choreography, and producing. Their attractive style, look, voice, and unique choreography that were demonstrated in the show have drawn much support from the public. “FINAL BATTLE”, WINNER’s album released upon the end of the audition program heralded the birth of a new idol group, by topping not only Korean music charts but also iTunes charts of four countries. In December 2013, WINNER goes one step closer to the public, openly disclosing the process of preparations for debut, as well as their fun and cheerful everyday lives, in the reality show [WINNER TV].
SOURCES:
YG-Life Blog / Facebook WINNER
Wikipedia
Mnet Website