K-Pop Star Hunt

K-POP Star Hunt is a regional competition that captures the popularity of Korean popular music (K-Pop) in Asia, and gave the Asian viewers a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to become a K-Pop star.

K-Pop Star Hunt
Season 3 logo
Genre	Audition, Music, Competition
Narrated by	Hye-kyeong An (Season 1) Tony An (Season 2)
Country of origin	South Korea
Original languages	Korean (Seasons 1-2) Mandarin (Season 3)
No. of seasons	3
No. of episodes	8 episodes (Season 1) 12 episodes (Season 2) 8 episodes (Season 3)
Production
Running time	40-50 minutes per episode
Original release
Network	Channel M (Southeast Asia) (now known as tvN Asia), Mnet

K-pop Star Hunt was organized by CJ E&M and Fox International. The show was broadcast in southeast Asia by the main channel, Channel M (now known as tvN Asia) and also other channels such as Star World Asia, Channel [V] and Mnet in South Korea.

K-pop Star Hunt seasons 1 and 2 worked with Cube Entertainment in searching for the next K-pop star. FNC Entertainment took over as the star hunter in Season 3.

The eventual winner of season 1 was Sorn (Thailand), while season 2's winner was Ling Ling, also from Thailand. Andy of Taiwan was crowned as the winner for season 3.

Winners

Year	Season	Winner	Runner-up(s)
2011	1	Chonnasorn Sajakul (Sorn)	Rince Erich Cajucom (Rince)
2012	2	Kawintida Sujindaporn (Ling Ling)	Khairul Najmuddin Bin Abu Samah (Erul)
2013	3	Su I-chin (Andy)	Putri Norizah Ibnor Riza (Putri) Stephanie Koh Yi Xin (Steph) Chananan Siriburee (Pik)

Season 1 (2011–2012)

K-pop Star Hunt Season 1 Official Logo

CJ E&M Asia and Fox International have joined forces with Cube Entertainment to produce a new show called K-Pop Star Hunt, a survival program that will be carrying out auditions in popular cities around Asia to find the next potential Cube artist. Known as tvN K-pop Star Hunt: Cube Audition, the online audition started at the end of August.

The overall winner of tvN K-Pop Star Hunt: Cube Audition will get an exclusive contract and 3-year training with South Korea's top record label Cube Entertainment, home to A-list pop groups BEAST, BTOB, 4Minute and female artiste G.NA.

Countries that Season Auditions were held at:

• Hong Kong
• Singapore
• Thailand
• Philippines
• Taiwan

Contestants: (ages are at time of competition)

Contestant	Nickname	Age	Country Audition	Rank
Andy Lui	Andy	17	Hong Kong	Top 11
Chan Wing Tung	Nicola	18	Hong Kong	Top 11
Yu-Jeng Kuan	Chris	17	Taiwan	Top 11
Thidarat Rommaneeyapet	June	14	Thailand	Top 11
Charmaine Cubos Albino	Meng	17	Philippines	Top 11
Maressa Zahirah	Maressa	22	Singapore	Top 11
Charlene Cubos Albino	Leng	17	Philippines	Top 5
Tan Li Jun Jasmine	Jasmine	16	Singapore	Top 5
Ying-yan Chen	Lucica	15	Taiwan	Top 3
Rince Cajucom	Rince	19	Philippines	Runner-up
Chonnasorn Sajakul	Sorn	15	Thailand	Won

Results

Order	Episodes
	1	4	6	7	8
1	Maressa	June	Charlene	Sorn	Sorn
2	Jasmine	Andy	Lucica	Rince	Rince
3	Andy	Charmaine	Sorn	Lucica
4	Nicola	Chris	Rince
5	Chris	Charlene	Jasmine
6	Lucica	Rince
7	Charlene	Sorn
8	Rince	Jasmine
9	Charmaine	Lucica
10	June	Nicola
11	Sorn	Maressa

First Season Missions:

Episode 3, 4: 1ST MISSION: Master A K-Pop Song (Vocal)

• Charmaine picked 2NE1's "I Don't Care",
• Charlene picked CNBLUE's "I'm A Loner",
• Nicola picked Girls' Generation's "Gee",
• Andy picked F.T. Island's "Love Love Love",
• Jasmine picked A Pink's "I Don't Know",
• Maressa picked Beast's "Fiction",
• June picked After School's "Because of You",
• Sorn picked Davichi's "8282",
• Lucica picked f(x)'s "Pinocchio"
• while both Rince and Chris picked Taeyang's "Only Look At Me."

Episode 5, 6: 2ND MISSION: Catch Up With Beast and 4Minute (Dance)

• Jasmine & Rince: Beast - SHOCK
• Charlene, Sorn & Lucica: 4Minute - MUZIK

Episode 7: 3RD MISSION: Duet With Trainee (Collaboration)

• Sorn is paired with Lee Changseob (BtoB) to do "Timeless" by Xiah Junsu (JYJ) and Jang Ri-In (Zhang Li Yin),
• Rince is paired with Kim Seo-Ae to do "We fell In Love" by Jo Kwon (2AM) and Ga-In (Brown Eyed Girls) and
• Lucica is paired with Yook Sungjae (BtoB) to do "Troublemaker" by Trouble Maker (EP).

Episode 8: FINAL MISSION: Final Showdown (Vocal + Dance)

• Rince's mission song: "I'm Sorry I Can't Smile For You" by 2AM and dance song: "Closer" by Ne-Yo
• Sorn's mission song: "Because you are Mine" by G.NA and dance song: "Not Myself Tonight" by Christina Aguilera.

Season 2 (2012-2013)

Kpop Star Hunt Season 2 Official Logo

Following the phenomenally successful talent show of Season 1, K-pop Star Hunt Season 2 proudly announces Malaysia, Japan and Vietnam as the sixth, seventh and eighth auditioning country along with Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Thailand and the Philippines.

The ultimate winner of K-Pop Star Hunt Season 2 will receive an intensive professional training for K-POP singer by CJ E&M and Cube Entertainment, along with an album release and even a chance to make a debut stage appearance on 2013 MAMA, the leading international music award show in Korea.

Countries that Season Auditions were held at:

• Hong Kong
• Singapore
• Thailand
• Philippines
• Taiwan
• Vietnam
• Malaysia
• Japan

Contestants: (ages are at time of competition):

Contestant	Nickname	Age	Country Audition	Rank
Ngô Đặng Thu Giang	Giang	22	Vietnam	Top 16
Leona Ho	Leona	18	Hong Kong	Top 16
Tsai Chih-Ang	Chih-Ang	27	Taiwan	Top 16
Saika Maeda	Saika	20	Japan	Top 16
Shimali De Silva	Shimali	13	Hong Kong	Top 12
Anthea Wang Yi Thong	Anthea	16	Singapore	Top 12
Isarapa Thawatpakdee	Tarwarn	15	Thailand	Top 12
Nguyễn Diệu Hương Trang	Hương Trang	22	Vietnam	Top 12
Rendy Lauwandy	Rendy	20	Singapore	Top 8
Nur Shazreen Binti Sharupidin	Eryn	18	Malaysia	Top 8
Miku Ishida	Miku	22	Japan	Top 8
Tanya Tai	Tanya	21	Taiwan	Top 5
Liahona Flores	Liahona	15	Philippines	Top 5
Sheila Eunice Ona	Sheila	21	Philippines	Top 3
Khairul Najmuddin Bin Abu Samah	Erul	20	Malaysia	Runner-up
Kawintida Sujindaporn	Ling Ling	15	Thailand	Won

Results

Order	Episodes
	5	6	8	10	11	12
1	Leona	Anthea Eryn Ling Ling Miku Sheila Shimali Tanya Trang	Rendy	Eryn	Ling Ling	Ling Ling
2	Shimali		Sheila	Ling Ling	Tanya	Erul
3	Lia		Miku	Erul	Erul	Sheila
4	Sheila		Erul	Sheila	Sheila
5	Chih-Ang		Trang	Liahona	Liahona
6	Tanya		Lia	Miku
7	Erul		Ling Ling	Tanya
8	Eryn		Anthea	Rendy
9	Tarwarn	Erul	Tanya
10	Ling Ling	Tarwarn	Shimali
11	Saika	Leona	Eryn
12	Miku	Rendy	Tarwarn
13	Rendy	Giang
14	Anthea	Chih-Ang
15	Giang	Liahona
16	Trang	Saika

Second Season Missions:

SPECIAL MISSION: Runners-up Special Challenge

• Chih-Ang (Taiwan) sang 2AM's "I Can't Let You Go"
• Liahona (Philippines) sang 2NE1's "Ugly"
• Giang (Vietnam) sang Christina Aguilera's "Beautiful"
• Saika (Japan) sang Alicia Keys's "If I Ain't Got You"
• Leona (Hong Kong) sang Duffy's "Mercy"
• Tarwarn (Thailand) sang Taeyeon's "If"
• Rendy (Singapore) sang Yesung's "It Has To Be You"
• Erul (Malaysia) sang Yesung's "It Has To Be You"

Episode 8: 1ST MISSION: My Best Song

• Rendy picked Ra.D's "Mom"
• Trang picked Tamia's "Almost"
• Sheila picked 2NE1's "It Hurts"
• Erul picked K.Will's "Please Don't"
• Shimali picked Taylor Swift's "Sparks Fly"
• Eryn picked Wonder Girl's "So Hot"
• Anthea picked Jessie J's "Who's Laughing Now"
• Tarwarn picked IU's "Secret"
• Miku picked Baek Ji Young's "P.S I Love You"
• Liahona picked G.Na's "Because You're Mine"
• Tanya picked Baek Ji Young's "That Woman"
• Ling Ling picked Baek Ji Young's "That Woman"

Episode 10: 2ND MISSION: Team Mission With BTOB

• Sungjae Team: Miku, Tanya & Rendy performed 8Eight's "I Don't Have A Heart"
• Eunkwang Team: Erul, Sheila & Liahona performed Jung Eun-ji & Seo In Guk's "All For You"
• Chang-sub Team: Ling Ling & Eryn performed MC Mong & Lyn's "Letter To You"

Episode 11: "3RD MISSION: Master A Song Chosen By Shinsadong Tiger"

• Ling Ling mission song Shin Seung-hun's "I Believe"
• Tanya mission song Davichi's "Don't Say Goodbye"
• Liahona mission song Davichi's "8282"
• Erul mission song BEAST's "On Rainy Days"
• Sheila mission song Ailee's "I Will Show You"

Episode 12: FINAL MISSION: Song Of Your Choice & Favourite Performance

• Erul song choice Kim Bum-Soo's "I Miss You" and favourite performance 2PM's "I'll Be Back"
• Ling Ling song choice Sung Si-Kyung's "Hee Jae" and favourite performance Lee Hi's "1, 2, 3, 4"
• Sheila song choice In Soon-Yi's "Goose's Dream" and favourite performance Dream High 2 OST's "Superstar"

Season 3 (2013-2014)

Kpop Star Hunt Season 3 Official Logo

The third season is organized by Channel M, a regional Asian Kpop channel jointly owned by CJ E&M and Fox International Channel, with fully training support from FNC Entertainment, one of the top music labels in Korea, which houses idol band groups, such as CNBLUE and FT ISLAND including Ace Of Angels (AOA) and soloist, Juniel, and produced by Singapore-based, award-winning television production company, The Moving Visuals Co. Singaporean airline Scoot has come on board as the title sponsor for this season. The season premiere is 24 November 2013.

The audition for Season 3 starts on August 1, 2013, for the first phase of online video submission.

The overall winner for the 3rd season will get an amazing benefits including a contract with CJ E&M and FNC Entertainment, intensive 6 – 12 months K-pop training in Korea, one collaboration song with one FNC artiste, solo debut in Korea and/or their native country, and participation in the 2014 Global M Countdown.

Countries that Season Auditions were held at:

• Singapore
• Taiwan
• Malaysia
• Thailand
• Hong Kong
• Philippines
• Indonesia

Contestants: (ages are at time of competition)

Contestant	Nickname	Age	Country Audition	Rank
Jean Kiley Manguera	Jean	19	Philippines	Top 14
Aggy Hong	Aggy	20	Taiwan	Top 14
Elma Nathania Christy	Elma	18	Indonesia	Top 12
Chester Briones	Chester	19	Philippines	Top 12
Lau Chun Yu	Water	25	Hong Kong	Top 10
Nopphan Chantarasorn	Mickey	15	Thailand	Top 10
Chua Jia Hang	Yvonne	24	Singapore	Top 10
Li Ka Yan	Aileen	23	Hong Kong	Top 7
Thoo Foo Joe	Ryan	24	Malaysia	Top 7
Ardina Glenda Chrysilla	Glenda	18	Indonesia	Top 5
Chananan Siriburee	Pik	18	Thailand	Top 4
Putri Norizah Ibnor Riza	Putri	22	Malaysia	Top 4
Stephanie Koh Yi Xin	Steph	21	Singapore	Top 4
Su I Chin	Andy	15	Taiwan	Won

Results

Order	Episodes
	1, 2, 3	4	5	6	7	8
1	Yvonne	Pik	Putri	Glenda	Andy	Andy
2	Stephanie	Stephanie	Stephanie	Putri	Stephanie	Pik Putri Stephanie
3	Ryan	Mickey	Glenda	Stephanie	Putri
4	Putri	Putri	Aileen	Pik	Pik
5	Andy	Glenda	Pik	Andy	Glenda
6	Aggy	Aileen	Andy	Aileen Ryan
7	Water	Ryan	Yvonne Water
8	Aileen	Andy
9	Jean	Yvonne	Ryan
10	Chester	Water	Mickey
11	Mickey	Chester Elma
12	Pik
13	Glenda	Aggy Jean
14	Elma

Third Season Missions:

1ST MISSION: Unleash Your Kpop Star Potential

• Putri sang Ailee's "Heaven"
• Chester sang Usher's "Oh My God"
• Aileen sang Ailee's "I Will Show You"
• Mickey sang Tiger Huang's
• Ryan sang TVXQ's "Hug"
• Andy sang Taeyang's "I Need A Girl"
• Glenda sang Davichi's "Don't Say Goodbye"
• Water sang Eason Chan's
• Pik sang A Pink's "No No No"
• Steph sang Cher Llyod's "Want Your Back"
• Elma sang Taeyeon's "Missing You Like Crazy"
• Yvonne's performance was not shown.

2ND MISSION: The Next Vocal Of K-pop

• Water picked Bobby Kim's "Falling In Love Again"
• Pik picked AOA Black's "MOYA"
• Steph picked Lee Hi's "Rose"
• Ryan picked 2PM's "Again and Again"
• Glenda picked Zia's "Have A Drink"
• Aileen picked Younha's "Password 486"
• Yvonne picked BoA's "Only One"
• Andy picked CNBLUE's "Love Light"
• Mickey picked Henry's "Trap"
• Putri picked Gummy's "There Is No Love"

3RD MISSION: You'll Never Walk Alone

• Putri, Aileen, Glenda (Senoritas) - I Ain't Go Home Tonight (Navi)
• Pik, Andy, Ryan, Steph (Ras-pect) - Better Together (Se7en)

4TH MISSION: The Total Package

• Putri's music video Yoo Sung Eun's "Be Ok"
• Andy's music video PRIMARY's "See Through"
• Glenda's music video Baek Ji Young's "I Won't Love"
• Pik's music video G.NA's "I Will Back Off So You Can Live"
• Stephanie's music video Brown Eyed Girl's "Abracadabra"

5TH MISSION: The Grand Finale

• Putri sang Gummy's "There Is No Love" and Leona Lewis' "Homeless"
• Pik sang G.Na's "I Will Back Off So You Can Live" and TTS' "Twinkle"
• Andy sang Taeyang's "I Need A Girl" and G-Dragon's "Crayon" and "Michigo"
• Stephanie sang Lee Hi's "Rose" and Avril Lavigne's "Rock & Roll"

After the show

SEASON 1:

• Sorn is with girl group CLC. She debuted in March 2015 under Cube Entertainment after 3 years of training. On November 16, 2021, she officially left CLC and Cube Entertainment and On December 3, 2021, She officially signed a contract with WILD Entertainment and debut as soloist.
• Lucica is now a member of girl group A'N'D and also an actress in Taiwan.
• Rince is a member of BASSIX in the Philippines.
• Charlene and Charmaine are in a performance group called MILES in the Philippines.
• Chris is a VJ with Channel V Taiwan and a TV host. He participated in Taiwan's Next Generations Season 2 with Jolin Tsai as his mentor.
• Maressa does freelance acting on Singapore's MediaCorp Suria channel, and has appeared on MediaCorp Channel 5's On The Red Dot. She is currently an Editor.
• Jasmine and Maressa with Tia (Season 2) and Yvonne (Season 3) formed a performance group called BLANCHE in Singapore.
• June is a professional dancer in Thailand.
• Nicola is now in London pursuing a degree in Fashion at School of Fashion & Design London.
• Andy is now studying in a university in Canada. He is pursuing music now. He was added to the group Seven O'Clock in February 2019.

SEASON 2:

• Ling Ling did her stage debut at 18th Asian Television Awards in Singapore on December 5, 2013. She is no longer undergoing the training by CJE&M. She is now back to her studies.
• Erul gonna debut as "Next Pop star" with UNIVERSAL MUSIC MALAYSIA by 2015 & still work as TV Personality .
• Sam is a trainee under Korean entertainment company Philippines branch, JU Entertainment.
• Liahona is a model in Philippines and a trainee under Korean entertainment company Philippines branch, JU Entertainment.
• Tanya participated in Super Idol Season 8 in Taiwan.
• Rendy is a recording artiste in Indonesia.
• Miku is now married.
• Eryn is studying at university in music course and also a dancer.
• Tia with Maressa and Jasmine (Season 1) and Yvonne (Season 3) formed a performance group called BLANCHE in Singapore.
• Tarwarn joine a dance team in Thailand called L.A.M (Look At Me). In 2017 she debuted as a BNK48 member under Independent Artist Management (iAM) in Thailand. She later graduated and became an independent artist.
• Trang is now in Singapore pursuing a degree in Events Management and sometime joins performance group BLANCHE along with Maressa, Jasmine, Tia and Yvonne.
• Shimali is a student in high school.
• Giang later competed joining a Vietnam - Korea co-operated survival show K-Pop Star Hunt Vietnam / Ngôi Sao Việt where she placed third. Afterward, she changed her stage name Suni Hạ Linh and made her debut as a solo singer.
• Leona currently studying in university.
• Saika currently studying in University of Pennsylvania.
• Chih-Ang sometimes performs on stage with a band.

SEASON 3:

• Andy is a trainee under FNC Entertainment. He has solo debut in China with first single, "Puppy Love" under CJ E&M.
• Putri is back in Malaysia and continue as independent artist/singer. She gave birth to a baby girl in 2015.
• Stephanie has moved to Sydney, Australia to pursue her English Music career.
• Yvonne with Maressa and Jasmine (Season 1) and Tia (Season 2) formed a performance group called BLANCHE in Singapore.
• Elma and Glenda is back in Indonesia and continue as independent singer. Elma officially signed a contract with Yovie Widianto Music Factory and Sony Music Indonesia for debut as soloist with first single "Bertahan Hati" while Glenda often singing a song cover in YouTube with first single "Hanya Dirimu".