Following two successful seasons of the reality competition Queendom, South Korean network Mnet will soon be premiering a new spin-off titled Queendom Puzzle.
Set to begin airing in June, the upcoming spin-off will bring together past and present members of K-pop groups in a fierce competition. With contestants from seasoned, well-known acts like AOA and Lovelyz to rising rookie groups like H1-KEY and tripleS, K-pop fans can look forward to seeing familiar faces in a new light in the upcoming reality show.
Here’s everything we know about Queendom Puzzle so far:
What will Queendom Puzzle be about?
Queendom Puzzle is an upcoming K-pop reality TV competition, where existing female idols — both girl group members and soloists — will compete in a series of missions to earn their place in a new seven-member project girl group.
The series is a spin-off of Mnet’s Queendom, where female K-pop acts competed for the title of the Number One girl group. Girls’ Generation leader and soloist Taeyeon, who hosted the second season of Queendom, will also be hosting the upcoming spin-off.
전 세계적으로 사랑받는 K-POP 워너비 아티스트!
<퀸덤퍼즐> MC 태연걸그룹 최상의 조합을 완성하라! Mnet 〈퀸덤퍼즐〉
6월 13일 (화) 밤 10시 첫 방송
6.13 (TUE) 10PM (KST) #퀸덤퍼즐 #QUEENDOMPUZZLE #퀸덤 #Mnet #엠넷 pic.twitter.com/5ETEqNWumT— Mnet (@MnetKR) May 16, 2023
When will Queendom Puzzle premiere?
Queendom Puzzle will premiere on June 13, 2023 at 10pm KST on South Korean TV network Mnet. International availability for the upcoming reality TV series has yet to be announced.
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Mnet has also released an hour-long preview of the first episode, which you can view here.
Who will be competing in Queendom Puzzle?
According to Mnet, there were originally 28 competitors in Queendom Puzzle. LABOUM’s Haein and soloist Lee Chae-yeon were previously confirmed to be part of the line-up for the reality TV series. However, both singers have since withdrawn from the competition.
The 26 remaining contestants are:
- Soloist and ex-CLC’s Yeeun
- WJSN’s Yeoreum
- Ex-MOMOLAND member JooE
- Lovelyz’s Kei
- AOA’s Im Do-hwa (also known as Chanmi)
- Cherry Bullet’s Bora, Jiwon and Chaerin
- H1-KEY’s Riina and Hwiseo
- woo!ah!’s Nana and Wooyeon
- LIGHTSUM’s Sangah
- Weeekly’s Jihan, Soeun, Lee Soojin and Zoa
- PURPLE KISS’ Yuki
- tripleS’ Lee Ji-woo and Yoon Seo-yeon
- Former Produce 48 contestant Shiroma Miu.
- Weki Meki’s Elly
- Former BNK48 member Fye
- Rocket Punch‘s Juri, Yeonhee and Suyun
걸그룹 최상의 조합을 완성하라! Mnet 〈퀸덤퍼즐〉
6월 13일 (화) 밤 10시 첫 방송
6.13 (TUE) 10PM (KST) #퀸덤퍼즐 #QUEENDOMPUZZLE #퀸덤 #Mnet #엠넷 pic.twitter.com/g331xegiWp— Mnet (@MnetKR) May 19, 2023
[#퀸덤퍼즐] 티저 | #여름 #YEOREUM #WJSN
걸그룹 최상의 조합을 완성하라! Mnet 〈퀸덤퍼즐〉
6월 13일 (화) 밤 10시 첫 방송
6.13 (TUE) 10PM (KST) #퀸덤퍼즐 #QUEENDOMPUZZLE #퀸덤 #Mnet #엠넷 pic.twitter.com/K3TSeHEGRa— Mnet (@MnetKR) May 19, 2023
[#퀸덤퍼즐] 티저 | #지우 #JIWOO #tripleS
걸그룹 최상의 조합을 완성하라! Mnet 〈퀸덤퍼즐〉
6월 13일 (화) 밤 10시 첫 방송
6.13 (TUE) 10PM (KST) #퀸덤퍼즐 #QUEENDOMPUZZLE #퀸덤 #Mnet #엠넷 pic.twitter.com/RUlD7kmjW2— Mnet (@MnetKR) May 19, 2023
How will Queendom Puzzle rank contestants?
In the episode one preview, Taeyeon explains that the contestants have been initially divided into four tiers based on their achievements thus far. 50 per cent of points are based on the number of times contestants (or their groups) have placed Number One on a music show, while the other 50 per cent is based on their total number of first-week album sales.
However, these tiers are subject to change following the first mission of the competition, in which each contestant performs solo while the remaining 27 contestants decide if they belong in a lower or higher tier than her. The initial pre-evaluation tiers are as follow:
Tier One
Ex-MOMOLAND’s JooE
Lee Chae-yeon (withdrawn)
WJSN’s Yeoreum
AOA’s Im Do-hwa
Lovelyz’s Kei
Tier Two
Weeekly’s Jihan, Soeun, Lee Soojin and Zoa
CLC’s Yeeun
LABOUM’s Haein (withdrawn)
PURPLE KISS’ Yuki
Tier Three
tripleS’ Lee Ji-woo and Yoon Seo-yeon
Rocket Punch’s Juri, Yeonhee and Suyun
Cherry Bullet’s Bora, Jiwon and Chaerin
Tier Four
Weki Meki’s Elly
LIGHTSUM’s Sangah
Fye
Shiroma Miru
H1-KEY’s Riina and Hwiseo
woo!ah!’s Nana and Wooyeon
What songs from Queendom Puzzle have been released?
For the first round of the competition, the Queendom Puzzle contestants have been sorted into four groups to perform one of two original songs, ‘Snap’ and ‘Charismatic’. The lineups of PICK-CAT, Athena, PICK on the top and DROP The Beat are as follow:
PICK-CAT (performing ‘SNAP’)
Cherry Bullet’s Bora and Chaerin
H1-KEY’s Riina
LIGHTSUM’s Sangah
Yeeun
WJSN’s Yeoreum
PURPLE KISS’ Yuki
Athena (performing ‘SNAP’)
Im Do-hwa
Weki Meki’s Elly
Fye
H1-KEY’s Hwiseo
Rocket Punch’s Juri
Lovelyz’s Kei
Shiroma Miru
PICK on the top (performing ‘Charismatic’)
Weeekly’s Jihan and Soeun
Cherry Bullet’s Jiwon
tripleS’ Lee Ji-woo
woo!ah!’s Nana and Wooyeon
DROP The Beat (performing ‘Charismatic’)
Momoland’s JooE
tripleS’ Yoon Seo-yeon
Weeekly’s Soojin and Zoa
Rocket Punch’s Yeonhee and Suyun