"2017 Idol Star Athletics Championships" To Go On Despite MBC Strike

MBC has announced that their biannual holiday special “2017 Idol Star Athletics Championships” will still be held despite the general strike.

A source from MBC said on August 31, “Filming for ‘2017 Idol Star Athletics Championships’ will be held on September 4 and 11, as decided upon before the general strike was passed. We are currently only in talks about the issue of the loss of staff to the general strike.”

A report had previously stated that because of the strike, “2017 Idol Star Athletics Championships” would be taking place on September 4 but that filming on September 11 was still in discussion. However, the source from MBC has said that as everything including the September 11 filming was already decided upon, it will be continuing on as planned.

It has also been confirmed by an MBC source that the show’s producing director Heo Hang has stepped down from the role due to the general strike. Discussions continue over whether a nonunion producing director will be brought in and whether they will be making up for the loss of staff by using outside personnel.

“2017 Idol Star Athletics Championships” will be filmed over two days this season, and filming on September 11 will be open to the public. Fans wanting to attend the September 11 filming can apply for seats from September 1 at noon KST until September 7 at noon via the show’s official website.

Events at this filming will include track and field, archery, rhythmic gymnastics (for individual female competitors) and aerobics (for male group competitors). It will be hosted by Jun Hyun Moo and rhythmic gymnast Son Yeon Jae.

The September 4 filming will take place in an undisclosed location and not be open to the public, due to issues about the location and safety. This day will include the filming of the newly added bowling event, in which BTS’s Jungkook and Homme’s Lee Hyun will be reportedly taking part. Super Junior’s Leeteuk will be the MC.

This will be the Chuseok special of “2017 Idol Star Athletics Championships,” and it is planned to air in October. The lineup of idol athletes has yet to be announced.

Meanwhile, a general strike is beginning at MBC on September 4 after union members voted 93.2 percent in favor of a strike, leading to shows including “Infinite Challenge” and “I Live Alone” being canceled indefinitely.

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