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Mnet's dance competition show 'Street Woman Fighter' captivates viewers
  • September 08, 2021 | Broadcasting

Mnet's dance competition show
'Street Woman Fighter' captivates viewers

Updated : 2021-09-07 11:39
 

 

By Dong Sun-hwa

Mnet's new dance competition show, "Street Woman Fighter," is captivating viewers with its fresh take on entertainment.

The program, which pits eight top-tier female dance crews ― PROWDMON, Coca N Butter, HOOK, LACHICA, HOLYBANG, WANT, WAYB and YGX ― against one another, is the most buzzworthy non-drama TV show of the last week (Aug. 23-29), according to Korean analytics platform GOODDATA Corporation. The platform ranks different programs on a weekly basis after analyzing data from news articles and social media posts, among others.

The YouTube videos showing the dancers' performances are also taking the internet by storm, with the majority of them surpassing more than 500,000 views. One of the hottest clips featuring a battle between PROWDMON's Monika and Coca N Butter's ZSun has garnered more than one million views as of Monday.

Many viewers pick the dancers' jaw-dropping performances, their tense war of nerves and good chemistry as the program's gems.

"All dancers look so passionate and invincible," one online user commented. "I just can't take my eyes off them." Another wrote, "They do exchange some harsh words for their battles, but still respect and encourage each other. It's impressive."

The success of "Street Woman Fighter" is an unexpected windfall for Mnet. When the cable channel first announced its launch, many thought it would not be successful, given that viewers these days have already grown weary of competition shows. The fact that it highlights street dance and lesser-known dancers was also regarded as a huge stumbling block. Hence, the show's first episode aired on Aug. 24 scored only a 0.8 percent viewership rating nationwide, according to Nielsen Korea.

But the game has changed after its premiere. Thanks to its distinctive attributes, "Street Woman Fighter" immediately became the talk of the town and its second episode more than doubled its viewership, recording 1.9 percent.

According to producer Choi Jung-nam, the goal of the program is to bring the dancers, who often remain unnoticed despite their contributions to K-pop's global ascent, into the limelight. In fact, many of the dancers on "Street Woman Fighters" including YGX's Leejung, have crafted the choreography for big-name K-pop stars such as TWICE and ITZY.

"I hope these dancers can also build their fan bases through our program," Choi said during an online press conference, Aug. 24. "The competition is fierce, but they all know how to accept the results. Our viewers will be able to witness their sportsmanship."

K-pop diva BoA, who appear as the show's judges along with Taeyong of boy group NCT and choreographer Hwang Sang-hoon, said, "It is the scariest survival show that I have ever seen."

"Street Woman Fighter" airs at 10:20 p.m., Tuesday (KST).