23 participants are transported to a complex located in the middle of nowhere surrounded by a luscious green forest, for a total of 113 days. The participants will not only receive singing and dancing lessons, they will also live in the 3-floor complex, which features living spaces like the living room, kitchen, bathroom, laundry, gym, item room, terrace, dance studio, individual practice rooms, medical center and colorful bedrooms; however, only 12 contestants can stay there. The remaining 11 will be on the “Ground”, which is a simple building with a dance studio and dining area, and the trainees assigned to the Ground do not live there, hence they have to commute to and from the building every day at set times. The two sections are connected through a gate and a stage, where their skills will be tested. A key part of the concept is that the participants’ votes play a heavy role in the show, as they decide through voting who will stay in I-Land and who will go down to the Ground. A fixed number of 12 trainees will be in the I-Land, but they may be dropped and demoted to the Ground. While the show primarily focuses on the trainee votes, on July 24 the audience would be able to vote on who remains in the I-Land, and based on this the show will eliminate all trainees in the Ground. From there, the I-Landers will compete among themselves in the second part of the series, for the final debut team of an unknown number of members. Namkoong Min serves as the official host, as well as the commentator/narrator of the program. The contestants are evaluated and judged by three producers: main producer Bang Si-hyuk, CEO of Big Hit Entertainment, South Korean singer Rain and rapper Zico, who are prominent figures in K-pop and K-hip hop of the early 21st century respectively. Rain and Zico will also act as mentors and train the participants. A first in Korean survival programs, a Big Brother-style live cams titled, I-LAND Cam, features 1-hour video on demand multi-camera footage inside the I-Land and Ground. New videos are released every Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday on the Weverse app and on its website.
Introduced in Episode 2, there is a system in place based on a scoring system out of 100. Each of the I-Landers are evaluated individually and given a score from 0-100. These scores are then displayed anonymously so that any particular individual’s score is unknown, and then averaged to get the team score. Based on the team score, a certain number of I-Landers will have to be moved to the Ground and be replaced. In episode 2, a separate "teamwork" score was also given and factored into the overall average score.
Global Voting
A global voting system was held and the first part of the it started on July 24, 2020 at 00:00 and ended on August 1, 2020 at 00:00. Viewers can vote for 6 contestants, out of 23, that they wish to see them progress to the 2nd part of I-Land. Viewers can vote once per day. The second part of voting started on August 1, 2020 at 00:00 and ended on August 2, 2020 at 12:00. Viewers can vote for 6 contestants, out of the 16 Grounders, that they wish to see them progress to the 2nd part of I-Land. Every vote is equal to 3 votes.
I-Land Team Score Results
Color key
Highest score that round
Lowest score that round
Missions
1. Entry test
Trainees that came together or alone must perform in this test. Every other contestant must raise their hands to judge whether they are worth to be on the I-LAND. If a trainee received 12 or more votes, they are allowed to be on the I-Land. If not, they will be on the Ground. There is no limit to the count, but if there are more than 12 contestants after the whole test, the remaining contestants must pick one or more contestants to be moved out to the Ground until there are 12 contestants remaining. Color key
I-Land
Moved Out
Ground
2. Theme song
Trainees begin their first official mission with the theme "encounter"; the trainees are just getting to know each other. The contestants on the I-Land and the Ground must perform the show's theme song "Into The I-LAND". There are 12 parts in this song and each trainee must pick which part they want to perform. The I-Land contestants will be evaluated individually by the producers and directors, and the average score of all of them will correspond to the number of contestants needed to move out from the I-Land. The Ground contestants will each submit a performance video daily to be reviewed by the producers and directors to determine who will replace the eliminated contestants from the I-Land, but they will not have an actual performance on stage. Lee Hee-seung was appointed the leader and the part 1 position by the contestants but later gave up both positions to Ni-ki. Rain evaluated their performance two days before their mission. The I-Landers received an average score of 59 and therefore have to choose 6 contestants to be moved out from the I-Land. Color key
Contestant from the I-Land later moved to the Ground
3. Teamwork
Their second mission is designed to test and develop their teamwork. Both the I-Landers and the Grounders will perform a remix of "Fire" by BTS. They are given 6 days to prepare. The same scoring system will be used; however, the highest individual scorer in I-Land will be given a dropout exemption card, which can be used on any of the I-Landers, including himself. If the card is used, the next dropout candidate will automatically be eliminated. If there are no dropouts from I-Land in this round, the Grounders will not be able to perform at all. Jay and Ni-ki became the leaders of the Grounders, while Hee-seung is the leader for the I-Landers. 2 days before the test, Rain and DOOBU evaluated the Grounders while Zico, Pdogg and Son Sung-deuk evaluated the I-Landers as a midpoint check. The I-Landers received a teamwork score of 80 and had an average of 78 and therefore have to choose 4 contestants to be moved out from the I-Land. K received the highest score and, thus, the dropout exemption card. He used it to save Yang Jung-won from being dropped out of I-Land. Yang Jung-won being saved makes the next contestant, Ta-ki to move out from I-Land. They both have 5 votes but Ta-ki has a higher individual score than Jung-won so he was originally saved from being dropped out.
Contestant from I-Land that received the highest score thus received the dropout exemption card
Contestant that eventually stays in I-Land
Contestant that later moved from I-Land to Ground
Contestant that later moved from Ground to I-Land
Contestant that eventually stays in Ground
4. Representative Unit
Their third mission is picking representatives for vocal and dance battle between I-Land and Ground to test their sacrifice and ability to directly compete. If Ground wins, 6 contestants will be dropped out from I-Land. If I-Land wins, no contestants will be dropped out. They are given 6 days to prepare. Rain and Son Sung-deuk evaluated the I-Landers while Zico, Pdogg, and DOOBU evaluated the Grounders as a midpoint check, 3 days before the test. I-Land won the battle; therefore no I-Landers will be dropped out.
Win
Lose
5. The Final 12
The fourth and last mission of the first part of the show will decide the final 12 members. They will be performing a new original song titled, "I&credible" with the theme, "Awakening". Like the theme song, there are 12 parts in this song and each trainee must pick which part they want to perform. They are given 7 days to prepare. Rain and Son Sung-deuk evaluated the Grounders while Zico, Pdogg, and DOOBU evaluated the I-Landers as a midpoint check. Jay and Ni-ki helps the I-Landers and the Grounders respectively with the details of the choreography. From the I-Land, 3 contestants will be voted out by the I-Landers themselves and another 3 from the producers. 6 members from the Ground who will fill up the 6 spots in I-Land will be picked by the global fans through voting. The 6 remaining I-Landers will automatically continue to the second part of the show. After the eliminated I-Landers arrive in the Ground, they must perform again with the Grounders, they are given 3 days to redistribute parts and to prepare. K, Lee Hee-seung, Park Sung-hoon, Yang Jung-won, Jake, and Jay are saved from being dropped out, thus, they will continue on to the second part of I-Land. Contestants that later moved from I-Land to Ground
Kim Yoon-won has withdrawn from I-LAND due to unforeseen circumstances.
Results
Album
- Into the I-LAND 〈I-LAND Part 1 Signal Song〉
- Into the I-LAND 〈I-LAND Part 1 Signal Song 〉
- I&credible 〈I-LAND Part 1 Final Song〉
Rating
In the ratings below, the highest rating for the show will be in and the lowest rating for the show will be in. Some of the ratings found have already been rounded off to 1 decimal place, as they are usually of lower rankings in terms of the day's ratings. Despite low domestic TV ratings, the international simulcast on online video platforms generates an accumulated 11 million views on each episode.
This show airs on a cable channel/pay TV which normally has a relatively smaller audience compared to free-to-air TV/public broadcasters.
Controversy
June 2020: During the shooting, the staff fell on the stage and one of the performers had an arm fracture.
