What happens if you have some free time over the holiday season? You watch a survival show, of course. This time, it is SBS’s first survival show, Universe Ticket, where eight members will debut in Unis, a global girl group. With my last survival show being the widely successful Boys Planet, Universe Ticket pales in comparison in terms of its general premise, rules, and entertainment value.
Universe Ticket is an unfair game from the start, especially since there is nothing universal about a show with “universe” in its title. This almost always puts international trainees at a disadvantage. While the cast includes 82 contestants not only from Korea but from other countries such as Japan, Indonesia, The Philippines, and China, unlike Girls Planet 999, they are not divided into Korean and global teams.
With no limit on how many Korean and foreign trainees can be eliminated each round, this wipes out many foreign trainees early in the game, leaving Korean trainees outnumbering the foreign ones. While this is not to say that the foreign trainees are less skilled than the Korean ones (thus their elimination), but with a major handicap (the language barrier), their screen time is cut significantly as they fail to express themselves and exchange ideas with others.
Another aspect Universe Ticket can’t seem to do right is voting, something that is critical to any survival show. Perhaps it’s because Universe Ticket is less prestigious than Mnet’s popular survival shows, but the rules seemed messy, and questionable, as if they were made without much thought. Many of these rules just did not make much sense.
In the first round, some danced and sang at the same time, while others did so separately. In the next round, even if one was on the winning team, only half advanced, and the remaining members were chosen through fan voting. Even more frustratingly, Universe Ticket overestimated its potential when they allowed pre-voting before the first episode aired, having people vote for trainees based on anything but their performance and star factor, defeating the purpose of a K-pop survival show.
With only 90 minutes of airtime, its entertainment value takes a hit. Universe Ticket is by far the least interesting survival show. Heartwarming friendships between trainees are one of the most anticipated moments for fans. But this is not the case here. There are no significant friendships, unlike the likes of Sung Hanbin and Zhang Hao from Boys Planet, or Xiao Ting and Jurina from Girls Planet 999. If one can even put a finger on it, Universe Ticket feels like a boring trainee’s training diary with no scenes of trainees bonding.
Universe Ticket’s favouritism makes it even more difficult to watch. Even if the global trainees ranked high–such as Riel from Myanmar, who was not only first but also spoke fluent Korean–they were neither shown nor introduced. Instead, the show focused on a few individuals, like Gehlee Dangca, Lim Seowon (from Miss Trot 2), Hwang Sieun, Kotoko, and Nana (from Prikil). And in the later episodes, Elisia Parmisano, Bang Yunha, Kwon Eunhyung, and Kim Sujin.
Of course, it wouldn’t be a survival show without the angel and evil edits. With their intentions clear, SBS repeatedly panders towards contestants like Seowon and Kotoko. The production team is not shy about who they want in Unis. Seowon, in particular, gets plenty of screen time and is painted as a cute and hardworking main vocalist at the tender age of 12. Despite being one of the lesser-skilled contestants, Kotoko is also blessed with the same storyline. Viewers catch glimpses of Kotoko’s outgoing personality and cute moments as if telling us that her charms make up for her abilities.
Perhaps due to the lack of drama, the show also chooses to emphasize the rivalry and immaturity of two of the youngest contestants, Gabi and Seowon. Walking right into the producer’s trap where they villainise someone to fabricate drama, Gabi is caught twice throwing tantrums and disengaging with her team when she does not get the part she wants. Her teammates even complain about this in a separate interview, alluding to Gabi’s greed and selfishness.
Similarly, Seowon is shown (though less visibly), throwing a tantrum and crying when her parts get redistributed. At one point, when Elisia (another of Seowon’s rivals) was picked as the main vocal, Seowon began copying almost everything she did during practice. If Elisia focuses on her facial expressions, so does Seowon. But unlike Gabi, Seowon is not seen as a selfish team member. Instead, she is shown as a young, competitive, and strong-willed girl who is dissatisfied with herself and strives to improve. Ultimately, Seowon gets a chance to redeem herself while Gabi doesn’t.
On top of that, Universe Ticket doesn’t hesitate to pit the girls against one another, painting some as backstabbers by having them pick who they think would get eliminated. After voting, one would expect the show to merely announce who received the most votes. Instead, Universe Ticket showed clips of who each girl picked, along with their reasons which they freely expressed, having believed that it would not be revealed publicly.
As many have pointed out, it was publicly humiliating for the potentially eliminated trainees, Yona and Kwon Eunhyung, and even more so for the girls who picked their fellow teammates. It leaves a sour taste in viewers’ mouths when the show drives a wedge between fellow contestants and their team members, for no valid reason other than to create drama.
The list of misses is never-ending. While these are the most notable ones, there are many others, including the lack of a main MC, poor training conditions, song choices, and even a concert that was postponed due to “unforeseen circumstances”.
While I watched Universe Ticket for fun, I ended up in frustration instead. With SBS fumbling the bag with their first survival show, many are concerned about Unis’ debut and comebacks over the next two years. Due to its numerous blunders, summarising Universe Ticket is an inevitably difficult task. But, if one were to summarise it in a few words, Universe Ticket is a show that presents its flaws more apparently than others.
