The lineup for JYP’s new girl group, TWICE, has been confirmed after a grueling elimination process. The nine members were chosen from 16 contenders through survival reality show SIXTEEN, which aired for the past five months.
Seven of the nine, Jihyo, Nayeon, Jungyeon, Chaeyoung, Sana, Dahyeon and Mina, were chosen by JYP’s founder, Park Jin Young. Tzuyu, a Taiwanese trainee, won a popularity poll launched by the programme and Momo, who was eliminated earlier on in the show, was brought back by the JYP A&R (Audition & Recruit) Team to round up the nine.
Momo’s inclusion to the final lineup has caused a stir on internet communities, with many saying that there were other contestants that also deserved to debut and made it to the final round. The four who were eliminated in the final episode were Chaeryeong, Minyoung, Somi and Natty.
With this, the group has set itself up to promote in various countries with one Taiwanese and three Japanese members (Sana, Momo and Mina). The remaining five are Korean. JYP has yet to confirm if the remaining contestants will continue training under the label or debut at a later date.
TWICE is slated to debut later this year.