Project 7

Project 7 ( ) is a 2024 South Korean boy group reality competition survival show created by JTBC. It followed the process of creating a new global boy group. It premiered on JTBC on October 18, 2024, and aired every Friday at 20:50 (KST). The show ended on December 27, 2024, with the formation of a seven-member boy group named Close Your Eyes.

Project 7 ( ) is a 2024 South Korean boy group reality competition survival show created by JTBC. It followed the process of creating a new global boy group. It premiered on JTBC on October 18, 2024, and aired every Friday at 20:50 (KST). The show ended on December 27, 2024, with the formation of a seven-member boy group named Close Your Eyes.

Production and Background

The program was co-directed by Ma Gun-young and Chae Sung-wook. It was co-produced by Studio Slam and SLL. On April 20, 2024, JTBC revealed teasers inviting any male to apply for the show. The program will be produced by the creators of Sing Again and will air in the second half of 2024. The theme song, "Run (Up To You)" ( (Up To You)) was released on September 24, 2024, accompanied by a performance of the song the next day by the 100 contestants. Lee Soo-hyuk, was recruited as Project 7 host. The panel also includes Lee Hae-in, Ha Sung-woon, Bada Lee, Hi-Hat Entertainment performance director Ryu D, as well as prominent songwriter and producer Ryan S. Jhun.

Cast

Episodes

1st Assembly Ceremony

The first voting period for the 1st Assembly Ceremony took place from October 18 to November 2, 2024. The fans, named World Assemblers, voted for their top seven contestants. Alongside voting for their top 7, World Assemblers would also vote for 14 contestants, to assemble a unit, which seemed to foreshadow performances together. Regarding eliminations, the top 70 trainees who received the most points, calculated through votes received through Korea and through the rest of the world, got to continue onto the next round and the bottom 30 trainees got officially eliminated. During the ceremony, 1, 3, 7, or 9-10 contestants would be called up at a time (69–61, 60–51, etc. 10–8, 7–1, 70) and then they would find out which unit they would be a part of, which are labeled A1 down to A5. Color key

Ratings

Aftermath

The final group, Close Your Eyes will be active for 3 years and is managed by UNCORE. The group debuted on April 2, 2025, with the mini album 'ETERNALT'. Some contestants returned to their original groups: Kim Hyun-woo (11th), Yoo Young-seo (17th), and Park Jun-seo (21st) returned to BAE173. On June 30, 2026, All 3 of the members departed from PocketDol Kang Min-seo (22nd) and Lee Han-bin (23rd) returned to Fantasy Boys. They both sued PocketDol Studios for settlement issues such as failure to provide data and non-payment, problems with the company's finances and operations, and the breakdown of trust due to non-fulfillment of contractual obligations, on November 19, 2025. Kang Min-seo & Lee Han-bin departed from PocketDol and Fantasy Boys after the lawsuit on May 14, 2026. Chae Hee-ju (28th), Lee No-yul (86th), and Choi Byung-hoon (90th) returned to CMDM. Wu Chenyu (31st) and Manabe Jin (88th) returned to SW:C. Wu Chenyu left the group and the company, DNA Entertainment on February 7, 2025, due to health reasons. Yu Ji-ahn (33rd) returned to Skye. The group went on an indefinite hiatus on November 25, 2025. Kim Tae-yu (36th) returned to ABLUE. Hou Guanyi (62nd) returned to Youtove. Kim Tae-sung (78th) returned to K-Tigers Zero. Some contestants left their companies or joined new ones: Kim Si-hun (8th) joined Eighty6 on June 22, 2025. Nam Ji-woon (9th) joined Modhaus. Yichen (12th) joined WakeOne Entertainment. Woo Ha-joon (14th) joined YM Entertainment on January 18, 2025. He left the company on September 2, 2025, after their plans to debut their boy group, Unname fell through. He later joined IST Entertainment, but then left in the first half of 2026. Binghua (15th) signed with RND Company. Ahn Jun-won (16th) signed with Megameta on February 19, 2025. Lynn Lynn (20th) joined IX Entertainment. Oh Tae-hwan (30th) joined iNKODE Enterainment. Kim Joon-woo (32nd) joined Hiver Lab Entertainment on January 4, 2025. He seemingly left the company in the first half of 2026. Kang Wang-seok (51st), who left MyPlan Entertainment, and Yamaguchi Satoshi (94th) both joined DND ENS. Song Hyung-seok (54th) left SHORTT and joined Studio Blossom. Kim Ji-min (56th) and Yang Ju-ho (73rd) have both seemingly left Biscuit Entertainment, after their old group, HAWW silently disbanded in 2024. Ok Chang-hyeon (61st) joined CTD Entertainment on January 24, 2025. He seems to have left the company around the end of April 2025. Santa joined Mine Media Production. He later left the company on April 23, 2026. Ayalon Adam (67th) joined BMSG. Park Chan-yong (69th) joined JUST FOCUS Media. Kang Hee-min (80th) left ICE Entertainment and joined Wannabe Entertainment. He seemingly later left the company in December 2025. Lee Ju-chan (89th) joined Nature Space. He later left the company alongside Kwon Ye-ung (47th) and Cho Hyo-jin (49th). Some contestants will debut or debuted in new boy groups, released music as solo artists, or released music under their groups: Kim Si-hun (8th) who already debuted as a soloist prior to the airing of the show, released his second single 'Fly' on February 25, 2025. Nam Ji-woon (9th) was revealed as Idntt's 7th member on July 18, 2025. He debuted as a member of Idntt's first sub unit, Uneverm8t with their first mini album Unevermet with the title tracks 'You Never Met', 'Storm', and 'BOYtude' on August 11, 2025. Kang Hyun-woo (10th) debuted as a soloist with his first digital single 'Serena-Day' with a title track of the same name on May 22, 2025. The contestants from BAE173 and Fantasy Boys debuted as members of PocketDol Studio's new project boy group, Double 0ne with their first mini album Xpert with the title track 'On the Rocks with Kiss' on June 12, 2025. Kim Hyun-woo (11th), Yoo Young-seo (17th), and Park Jun-seo (21st), as members of BAE173, released their first full-length album New Chapter: Desear with the title track 'Turned Up' on October 14, 2025, following the two pre-releases "One Day' and 'What's Wrong?' Ahn Jun-won (16th) was confirmed to be a member of Megameta's predebut actor-idol boy group, Asteon on April 1, 2025. Andy (19th) was added to the lineup of Mystic Story's debuted boy group, ARrC on January 30, 2025. He debuted as a member of ARrC with their second extended play (EP) Nu Kidz: Out the Box with the title track 'Nu Kidz' on February 18, 2025. The group later officially disbanded on June 22, 2026. Kang Min-seo (22nd) and Lee Han-bin (23rd), as members of Fantasy Boys, released their fourth mini album Undeniable with a title track of the same name on March 20, 2025. Chae Hee-ju (28th), Lee No-yul (86th), and Choi Byung-hoon (90th), as members of CMDM, released their second digital single Decalcomanie on May 8, 2025. Oh Tae-hwan (30th) debuted as a member of one of iNKODE Entertainment's new boy groups, KEYVITUP with a self-titled EP, with the title tracks 'Keyvitup' and 'Legendary' on April 8, 2026. Kim Joon-woo (32nd) debuted as a soloist under the stage name Doha with the single album 'Dream In My Bag' with the title track 'Zipper' on July 15, 2025, following the pre-release 'That's me'. Oh Seung-chan (41st), as a member of Conti Inc's new boy group, X_ON released their pre-release digital single Night's Dream on June 28, 2026. Yeom Ye-chan (45th) is a member of Choco Entertainment's trainee group ChoCo1. They released a company mini album, ChoCo La Familia with the title tracks 'Gimme' and 'Frenzy' on February 24, 2026. Yoo Hee-do (46th) who already debuted as a soloist under the stage name HeeDo prior to the airing of the show, released his second single 'Nadu' on April 22, 2025. Kwon Ye-ung (47th), Cho Hyo-jin (49th), and Lee Ju-chan (89th) debuted as members of Nature Space's new boy group, XONIX with their first digital single Private on June 16, 2025. The group silently disbanded in late 2025. Cho Hyo-jin, under the stage name owoon, debuted as a soloist with his first extended play (EP) Painkiller with the title track 'Favorite Depression' on February 13, 2026, following the pre-release 'Bet Me'. Kang Wang-seok (51st), Manabe Jin (88th), and Yamaguchi Satoshi (94th) debuted as members of DNA Entertainment and DND ENS' boy group, SW:C with their first single album 'Sweet Day' with the title track 'Candy House' on April 20, 2025. Kim Young-hoon (53rd) debuted as a soloist under the stage name Lue Younghoon with his first single album 'Untold Story' with a title track of the same name on February 12, 2025. Song Hyung-seok (54th) debuted as a member of Studio Blossom's new boy group, ZENITH with their first digital single Crosspoint with a title track of the same name on May 21, 2026. Ok Chang-hyeon (61st) was confirmed to be a member of CTD Entertainment's predebut boy group, CTD Rookies on February 9, 2025. On April 28, 2025, CTD Entertainment released a statement saying they planned to pause the preparations for CTD Rookies' debut, and by then, it seemed like Ok Chang-hyeon had left the group and the company. Park Chan-yong (69th) debuted as a member of JUST FOCUS Media's new boy group, GENUS with their first digital single Sugar Rush on April 27, 2026. Kang Hee-min (80th) was a predebut member of Wannabe Entertainment's new boy group, EION but he left the group and the company in December 2025. Some contestants left the idol industry or further expanded their careers in the acting, modeling, or entertainment industry: Ahn Jun-won (16th) became MC for Gogosing's variety show Music Camp, which aired weekly from February 12 to February 26, 2025, featuring Project 7 trainees every episode, with bonus episodes in March and April. Kwon Yang-woo (52nd) was officially introduced as a model under KPLUS on February 12, 2025. Santa (66th) started his career as an actor with a supporting role in Thai GL drama "ClaireBell". Tsujii Ryoma (85th) continued his career as a backup dancer, dancing for groups such as n.SSign, One Pact, and Zerobaseone. Some contestants participated in other survival shows: Yichen (12th), Binghua (15th; as Xie Binghua), Lynn Lynn (20th; as Zhao Guangxu), and Yeom Ye-chan (45th) participated in Mnet's Korean survival show Boys II Planet. Binghua was eliminated in the second episode after ranking 85th, and Yichen, Lynn Lynn, and Yeom Ye-chan were all eliminated in the eighth episode after ranking 42nd, 34th, and 40th respectively. Yichen, Binghua, and Lynn Lynn participated in Mnet's spin-off show of Boys II Planet; Planet C: Home Race. Binghua was eliminated in the third episode after ranking 14th, and Yichen and Lynn Lynn debuted as members of the winning boy group Modyssey under Onecead, after ranking 6th and 4th, respectively. Abe Yura (26th), Asaka Kotaro (35th), Aom (48th), Obayashi Yusei (60th), and Yoo Hyeonseung (72nd), are currently participating in Lemino's Japanese survival show Produce 101 Japan Shinsekai. Abe Yura is set to debut as a member of the winning boy group KO1KEYZ under Lapone Entertainment, after ranking 8th. Yoo Hyeon-seung was eliminated in the final episode after ranking 17th. Asaka Kotaro and Obayashi Yusei were eliminated in the tenth episode after ranking 26th and 32nd respectively. Aom was eliminated in the fifth episode after ranking 81st. Shin Jae-won (34th) participated in JTBC's Korean singing reality survival show Sing Again 4. He was eliminated in the third episode, after ranking between 41st and 81st. Ayalon Adam (67th) participated in BMSG's Japanese audition show The Last Piece. He debuted as a member of the winning Japanese boy group STARGLOW under BMSG, after ranking in the show's top 5.

Text derived from https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1375374863 under CC BY-SA 4.0; modifications have been made.