Earlier this year, amidst the announcement of many survival shows, JTBC joined the fray, announcing its own program to build a girl group.
Titled Girls On Fire, the survival show featured Jang Do Yeon as MC, with other stars, including Day6‘s Young K and Gaeko, serving as judges. Along with their debut, the program winners were promised a prize of ₩200 million KRW (about $ 142,000 USD), an album release, a national concert tour, and a global showcase.
The final line-up included several members with previous experience as artists and on other survival shows.
The show’s winners were announced in June 2024, but there has yet to be any word on their debut. The show’s social media accounts have also gone silent, with the most recent post being made in late June.
While it would not be surprising for a group preparing for debut to go silent, the Girls On Fire winners do not fall in that category.
During a recent livestream, French-Korean winner Yang Irae answered a fan’s question about Girls On Fire, surprisingly sharing that she didn’t know what was happening either.
please listen, the girls dont even know whats happening. pic.twitter.com/kq6CHZZ8ue
— Cadi (@yangirae) November 29, 2024
Many felt that the group were “abandoned,” remarking on the six months of silence with no announcements.
these poor girls. Girls on fire ended 6 months ago but the winners still did not debut and they were just abandoned.. https://t.co/XMrzM7LNIL
— َ (@alicehereiam) December 2, 2024
it’s insane to me that they’re letting talent like this go to waste
pic.twitter.com/GsONYujdnK https://t.co/1EdU6bFcML
— cass (@bratzyujin) December 2, 2024
these girls are so talented and that stupid show just wasted their time and abandoned them. I was really looking forward to their debut and I hope they still can 😞 https://t.co/E76xox5Bu2
— @ ɴ/αomi²⁴ 🎀 || ꕤ ಇ ↀ ⟡ (@fificosmos) December 2, 2024
There has been no official update from JTBC as of writing.