Now that episode 4 of Produce 48 has wrapped up, the fate of 91 competitors lies in the hands of viewers. The final evaluation before the “first ranking” saw groups being split up to perform famous songs of the past. The songs performed were voted on by a live studio audience. The performance weighed heavily on the competitors since each group that won their challenge was awarded 1,000 extra votes overall. These votes, combined with the fan vote which will be revealed in the next episode, determine the fate of all competitors.
Produce 48 Contestants Finish Their Final Task Before First Eliminations
“Love Whisper” (GFriend Cover)
We saw the first performances last week when two teams performed “Love Whisper” by GFriend. The group of Yabuki Nako, Yoon Eun-bin, Kim Na-young (Leader), Aramaki Misaki, Kurihara Sae & Kang Da-min got the most combined votes from the live audience. We found out on this episode that this gave Nako the highest score out of all competitors. Nako got 330 votes, with the 1,000 extra for victory added as well.
“Peek-a-Boo” (Red Velvet Cover)
The first performance that we saw on this episode was two groups performing Red Velvet’s hit from November, “Peek-a-Boo.” The first group for this song was the only group that had a notable mistake during their performance. It was shown that during all of the practicing Jang Gyu Ri had trouble with the high notes that she was assigned (lyrics that were sung by Wendy from Red Velvet, who is known for having all of the impressive high notes in their songs). Her struggles with high notes carried over to the performance. This could have been the biggest reason why the other group got more votes. When the group got off the stage, Jang Gyu Ri felt guilty about the performance, saying “I’m mad at myself.”
The second group was very discouraged when they were in the learning stage. They had major trouble with high notes, just like the other group did. To be fair, Peek-a-Boo’s high notes are all very impressive. Despite these troubles, their performance seemed to have no problems. The second group ended up winning with a score of 474-348.
Matsui Jurina’s Unexpected Departure
Matsui Jurina, who was a part of group 1 lost, but her score does not matter. Unfortunately, news broke earlier this week that she left Produce 48 and stopped all SKE48 work due to health issues. In the earlier episodes, she was one of the biggest Japanese talents on the show, being marketed as a “real celebrity.” She becomes the first contestant to leave the show that did all assessments.
“Short Hair” (AOA Cover)
The next two groups performed AOA’s song “Short Hair.” The first group’s member Takahashi Juri struggled during training as the center of the group. Their performance, just like the other group’s, was pretty good. Group 2 had trouble with their language barrier when training each other. Their improvement showed in the clips of their dress rehearsal. Since a few contestants dropped out of the contest before this was shot, some groups didn’t have the same number of performers as who they were facing. In this case, since group 2 had one less member, the group that won was determined off of vote average, instead of combined votes. Despite Lee Sian getting the most votes out of anyone on this song (148), her group lost. Team 1 won with a group average of 73.7 to 68.
“Mamma Mia” (KARA Cover)
“Mamma Mia” by KARA was the next song performed, which happened to be choreographed by Produce 48 judge Bae Yoon Jung. The first group had most of their trouble with the vocals. It slowly became a trend on this episode that nearly everyone fixed all of their issues once it came time to perform in front of the crowd. The second group slowly built up confidence over the course of their training time. Kim Hyunah, who led group 1, tied in top votes with Murase Sae. Along with their three other teammates, they won the song with an 84.4 average, way above team two’s 61.3.
“High Tension” (AKB48 Cover)
Out of all of the songs in the selection pool, the one that most benefited Japanese trainees was the AKB48 song “High Tension,” since it is in Japanese. Unsurprisingly, 5 of the 11 contestants that performed this song were from AKB48. In the early stages of preparation, both groups saw a similar issue in struggling to find a center for the group. Despite both groups having very good performances, group 2 beat group 1 with a crushing score of 101.2-46.3.
“BOOMBAYAH” (Blackpink Cover)
The next song performed was “BOOMBAYAH” by Blackpink. This was arguably the most popular song that was performed. The second group was given much personality, while the first group seemed very boring. The first group didn’t have much trouble in practice and had a pretty good performance. Previously the show was running with a story that group 2 was targeted when they were picked to perform this song. This was because the group is majority Japanese, and Boombayah has lots of fast Korean rapping in it. Being the underdogs in the fight, the group struggled during practice, even with motivation. They had trouble getting members to practice more. Chiba Erii, who has been time after time highlighted as a troubled contestant, had a ton of trouble learning this song. While the group had trouble practicing, they seemed to bond well together during other times. Despite their troubles, they were able to win the vote, with a score of 74.7 to 65.2.
“Like Ooh-Ahh” (TWICE Cover)
The second to last of group covers was of the song “Like Ooh-Ahh” by popular group (maybe the biggest K-Pop girl group currently) TWICE. There wasn’t much special about either group, except the first group had vocal problems. Out of all performances, this one had the least interest in it most likely. Group 1 won with a score of 442-342, with Goto Moe receiving 172 votes, putting her #3 on the end of episode rankings.
“Very Very Very” (I.O.I Cover)
The final song only seemed fitting to include in the competition. Two groups performed a song from I.O.I, also known as the winners of Produce 101 Season 1. “Very Very Very” was the biggest hit from the group, and was performed by the most promoted group in this contest. Drafted by Miyawaki Sakura, Team 2 was referred to as “The Avengers” in this competition. While in the process of learning, the group change around quite a bit. The biggest change that they did was making Sakura the center performer, after a different performer being center for half of the preparation time. In a huge upset, group 1 beat Sakura’s squad with a 440-356 score. Sakura got most votes with 164. While that score was impressive, the other group beat her because they had more consistent scores that were mid-range.
Elimination Approaches
At the end of the episode, it was stressed that the votes which will be revealed tomorrow will send people home. People who are ranked 58th and higher are safe until the next round of eliminations. The next episode is the big reveal, with prized contestants on the wire between safe and gone. Produce 48 contestants have come so far, but there is so much more to do.
Ranks after Episode 4:
| Live Vote Rank | Contestant | EP 2 Rank | EP 3 Rank | Total Votes |
| 1 | Yabuki Nako | 27 | 16 | 1,330 |
| 2 | Huh Yun-jin | 15 | 21 | 1,188 |
| 3 | Goto Moe | 8 | 6 | 1,172 |
| 4 | Cho Ah-yeong | 78 | 86 | 1,160 |
| 5 | Jo Yu-ri | 19 | 19 | 1,152 |
| 6 | Asai Nanami | 41 | 42 | 1,144 |
| 7 | Kim Hyun-ah | 72 | 64 | 1,138 |
| 8 | Murase Sae | 43 | 45 | 1,138 |
| 9 | Kojima Mako | 23 | 25 | 1,120 |
| 10 | Shitao Miu | 45 | 39 | 1,116 |
| 11 | Shiroma Miru | 22 | 13 | 1,112 |
| 12 | Kim Chae-won | 21 | 30 | 1,104 |
| 13 | Chiba Erii | 38 | 23 | 1,102 |
| 13 | Kato Yuuka | 73 | 73 | 1,102 |
| 15 | Lee Yu-jung | 48 | 49 | 1,098 |
| 16 | Hong Ye-ji | 76 | 80 | 1,092 |
| 17 | Jang Won-young | 4 | 4 | 1,090 |
| 18 | Sato Minami | 66 | 59 | 1,086 |
| 19 | Miyu Takeuchi | 11 | 8 | 1,084 |
| 20 | Kim Do-ah | 25 | 31 | 1,080 |
| 21 | Honda Hitomi | 47 | 22 | 1,070 |
| 22 | Park Min-ji | 56 | 60 | 1,066 |
| 23 | Kim Si-hyeon | 13 | 17 | 1,064 |
| 23 | Choi Ye-na | 6 | 7 | 1,064 |
| 25 | An Yu-jin | 2 | 2 | 1,062 |
| 26 | Oda Erina | 67 | 69 | 1,060 |
| 27 | Takahashi Juri | 29 | 20 | 1,052 |
| 28 | Park Hae-yoon | 35 | 43 | 1,050 |
| 29 | Nakanishi Chiyori | 37 | 40 | 1,048 |
| 30 | Kang Hye-won | 40 | 41 | 1,044 |
| 31 | Yoon Eun-bin | 68 | 65 | 1,042 |
| 31 | Han Cho-won | 79 | 88 | 1,042 |
| 31 | Na Go-eun | 20 | 28 | 1,042 |
| 34 | Kim Yu-bin | 93 | 93 | 1,040 |
| 35 | Kang Da-min | 74 | 75 | 1,036 |
| 36 | Kim Na-young | 63 | 58 | 1,032 |
| 36 | Park Ji-eun | 70 | 79 | 1,032 |
| 38 | Aramaki Misaki | 61 | 66 | 1,030 |
| 38 | Asai Yuka | 80 | 83 | 1,030 |
| 40 | Yoo Min-young | 32 | 46 | 1,028 |
| 41 | Kim Da-hye | 89 | 78 | 1,026 |
| 41 | Kim Min-seo | 39 | 47 | 1,026 |
| 41 | Lee Seung-hyeon | 60 | 68 | 1,026 |
| 44 | Kurihara Sae | 84 | 81 | 1,018 |
| 45 | Kim Su-yun | 51 | 54 | 1,012 |
| 46 | Hwang So-yeon | 46 | 51 | 1,010 |
| 47 | Ko Yu-jin | 34 | 26 | 198 |
| 48 | Miyawaki Sakura | 5 | 3 | 164 |
| 49 | Lee Si-an | 18 | 27 | 148 |
| 50 | Matsui Jurina | 12 | 12 | 110 |
| 51 | Noe Yamada | 9 | 11 | 106 |
| 52 | Miyazaki Miho | 16 | 15 | 92 |
| 53 | Matsuoka Natsumi | 55 | 52 | 90 |
| 54 | Shin Su-hyun | 57 | 62 | 88 |
| 54 | Murakawa Vivian | 31 | 29 | 88 |
| 54 | Son Eun-chae | 53 | 54 | 88 |
| 57 | Lee Ha-eun | 58 | 33 | 86 |
| 57 | Naiki Kokoro | 82 | 82 | 86 |
| –WAVE 1 CUT OFF– | ||||
| 59 | Jang Gyu-ri | 14 | 14 | 78 |
| 60 | Lee Ka-eun | 1 | 1 | 74 |
| 61 | Park Seo-young | 26 | 35 | 72 |
| 62 | Mogi Shinobu | 59 | 55 | 58 |
| 63 | Iwatate Saho | 24 | 24 | 56 |
| 63 | Choi So-eun | 92 | 89 | 56 |
| 65 | Kim Cho-yeon | 75 | 37 | 54 |
| 65 | Lee Chae-jeong | 94 | 92 | 54 |
| 65 | Wang Yi-ren | 7 | 9 | 54 |
| 68 | Muto Tomu | 28 | 32 | 52 |
| 69 | Nakano Ikumi | 53 | 50 | 50 |
| 69 | Hasegawa Rena | 54 | 63 | 50 |
| 71 | Kim Da-yeon | 65 | 70 | 46 |
| 71 | Motomura Aoi | 42 | 36 | 46 |
| 71 | Choi Yeon-soo | 52 | 57 | 46 |
| 74 | Yoon Hae-sol | 50 | 56 | 40 |
| 75 | Ichikawa Manami | 83 | 87 | 38 |
| 75 | Park Jinny | 49 | 61 | 38 |
| 77 | Imada Mina | 64 | 67 | 36 |
| 78 | Kim Min-ju | 17 | 19 | 34 |
| 78 | Lee Chae-yeon | 10 | 10 | 34 |
| 80 | Kim So-hee | 44 | 48 | 30 |
| 81 | Shinozaki Ayana | 87 | 77 | 28 |
| 81 | Wang Ke | 33 | 44 | 28 |
| 81 | Bae Eun-yeong | 30 | 34 | 28 |
| 81 | Cho Yeong-in | 62 | 74 | 28 |
| 85 | Kwon Eun-bi | 3 | 5 | 24 |
| 86 | Nagano Serika | 81 | 76 | 22 |
| 86 | Won Seo-yeon | 77 | 90 | 22 |
| 86 | Park Chan-ju | 70 | 71 | 22 |
| 89 | Cho Sa-rang | 90 | 91 | 18 |
| 90 | Ahn Ye-won | 88 | 84 | 16 |
| 91 | Cho Ka-hyeon | 36 | 38 | 14 |
| 92 | Alex Christine | 86 | 85 | 4 |
| LEFT | Tanaka Miku | 71 | 72 | – |
| LEFT | Uemura Azusa | 96 | – | – |
| LEFT | Umeyama Cocona | 95 | – | – |
| LEFT | Tsukiashi Amane | 91 | – | – |
Main Image Credit:
Embed from Getty Images