Pop Star Academy: Katseye facing backlash after ‘lying’ to contestants

While Pop Star Academy: Katseye is an enthralling watch, the Netflix show is under fire for allegedly deceiving the contestants.

Let’s not get it twisted, though – the new documentary series is a fun concept, seeing K-pop juggernaut HYBE and US record label Geffen combine forces to curate what they describe as the first-ever “global girl group.”

Whittling down from the more than 120,000 young applicants from across the globe, the team is left with around 20 trainees. 

Their job is to prove their skills in singing, dancing, star power, and influence as they go through rigorous K-pop style training in LA. 

But only six contestants made it through to form the girl group Katseye, meaning there were plenty of tears along the way. 

After their debut single ‘SIS (Soft Is Strong)’ launched on August 16, Pop Star Academy: Katseye landed on Netflix, with eight episodes showing the group’s highs and lows. 

While fans have been enjoying the new show so far, the execs responsible for forming the pop group are facing criticism for lying to the contestants about the nature of the show. 

For weeks, they believed they were simply in training, when in reality they were gearing up for a survival show series where they faced votes from the public. 

What’s more, in Episode 6, they found out that before continuing on to their third mission, four out of the remaining 18 contestants would be eliminated. 

But rather than being told who’s going home by the trainers they’d been working with for months, they were told via a robotic voice on a TV screen, sending ​​Brooklyn, Karlee, Iliya, and Mei home. 

Additionally, during the voting window, the contestants were each asked to pick five of their peers for their “ideal debut group.” Ahead of the elimination, these choices are presented to them – and while some received a high volume of votes, others got none. 

Text across the screen reads, “The contestants never expected to watch their answers while sitting next to each other.”

In Episode 7, Lexie voluntarily leaves the show, expressing how it had descended into something she didn’t want to be a part of. 

“The whole program changed so much when it went public and when it turned into, like, this show, turning us against each other,” she says. “And that was something I really didn’t like personally. It felt really wrong, and I was really upset.”

Karlee then says, “From the start, we didn’t know this was a survival show. It was supposed to be training – pick the girls, prepare for debut, and debut.

“What embodies K-pop and a group is their bond and their trust in each other, and what survival shows do is they put contestants against each other. I don’t believe in putting people against each other to form a group.”

Netflix

Brooklyn, meanwhile, highlights the dream team voting, stating, “I personally was told in that interview that this was not gonna be seen and I felt so, like, betrayed.”

Although HXG president Mitra explains that they “needed a more compelling storyline,” the deception has caused upset among a number of the fans watching at home.

Taking to X/Twitter, one wrote, “If I signed on to be trained IN PRIVATE, evaluated IN PRIVATE, and selected to be in a girl group IN PRIVATE and after a year of grueling training sessions and brutal evaluations surprise surprise it’s a SURVIVAL SHOW! Oh, there would be hell to pay.”

Another said, “My only opinion on the whole Dream Academy/Katseye thing is that the execs were so wrong for not telling the girls it’s going to be a survival show from the start and for also airing those clips now after the group has been formed knowing people are going to pick sides.”

“Hearing an exec say ‘we’ll up the ante, the entertainment, the drama, that’s what the fans really want’ directly before a clip of a contestant saying she doesn’t recognize herself anymore and they just keep breaking hearts every week/after each mission is kinda insane,” added a third. 

“They also didn’t tell the girls it was a survival show and were constantly lied to about their own privacy (see Episode 7). F**ked up. Love Katseye still, but f**k that sh*t. ‘We needed a more compelling storyline’. You BETRAYED the trust of every single girl in that room.”

And a fourth chimed in, “Why aren’t more people talking about how f*cked it was to keep the public voting survival show part of the training secret from the girls…”

Not everyone disagrees with the decisions that were made, however, including this person who said, “As much as I hate that HYBE and Geffen didn’t tell the girls they were participating in a survival show, it was the best thing they could’ve done. The final line up of Katseye is so perfect.”

Pop Star Academy: Katseye is streaming on Netflix now. Why not also check out the TV shows coming out this month, as well as the movies to add to your watchlist.