"Produce 101 Season 2" Contestant Jung Dong Soo Speaks Out After Reports Of Vote Manipulation

“Produce 101 Season 2” trainee Jung Dong Soo (also known as ARKAY) has shared his anger and shock after reports that the season was manipulated.

On November 15, Jung Dong Soo posted on Instagram with the caption, “After digging into this further, it turns out I was a victim too.” He added in the hashtags, “I don’t want to stay silent” and “Please punish the bad guys.”

https://www.instagram.com/p/B43jOaPnA_i/

Jung Dong Soo later told the news outlet SBS FunE, “I’d heard things and I had suspicions, but I was upset to see the actual report that said the rankings had been manipulated.”

“Seeing the article about the manipulation made me think a lot about the past,” he continued. “I also thought about how the people around me had been hurt and had cried and smiled over my rankings, and I was angry for a lot of reasons.”

In “Produce 101 Season 2,” Jung Dong Soo had come in second in the vocal position battle in the show but was eliminated with the ranking of No. 36, when he was only one ranking below the cut-off to make it into the concept evaluation round. When he was eliminated, Jung Dong Soo had held back tears and said, “Everything is disappointing as this was my final attempt to be an idol.”

Jung Dong Soo said to SBS FunE, “I don’t know if my real ranking was low or high, but one thing I’m sure of is that there were a lot of trainees who went on the show completely genuinely. That’s the most upsetting thing. We really all did our best, so that’s why this report was even more shocking.”

Following “Produce 101 Season 2,” Jung Dong Soo became the duo AA with fellow contestant and label mate Kim Nam Hyung and they have been releasing self-composed songs.

Recently, it was reported that police have found evidence that the rankings in all four seasons of “Produce 101” were manipulated. Following reports that producing director Ahn Joon Young admitted to manipulating the results of “Produce X 101” and “Produce 48,” it’s reported that he has also partially admitted to manipulating the ranks for the first and second seasons. After the reports, Mnet stated that they apologize and are preparing compensation for damages and measures to prevent this from happening again.

Source (1)