Be The Next: 9 Dreamers

Be The Next: 9 Dreamers (Korean: 비더넥스트 9 드리머스 ; also known as Be The Next) was a Philippine-South Korean boy group survival reality show. The show premiered on TV5 in February 8, 2025.^[1] The show concluded on May 10, 2025, with a total of 27 episodes. This was the second reality competition produced by MLD Entertainment in the Philippines after Dream Maker in 2022.

The format is similar to the South Korean survival show franchise Produce 101, where hopefuls will undergo rigorous training to debut as professional talents and performers. 75 Dreamers will compete for the to spots, who will be trained and debut in South Korea, and will be launched as a global P-pop group.

On August 24, 2024, a press conference and contract signing between TV5, MLD Entertainment, and KAMP Global was held announcing a Filipino idol survival show with auditions happening around the globe. Auditions were open for males aged 15 to 24 who are talented in singing, dancing, or rapping. It was held in multiple Ayala Malls within the month.^[2]

On January 10, 2025, it was announced that Sandara Park of 2NE1 would serve as the program’s Dream Weaver, acting as the main host who introduced missions and guided the contestants throughout the competition.^[3]

Throughout the show, MLD Entertainment artists NEW:ID and HORI7ON made special appearances to interact with and guide the trainees. Notably, Thad of NEW:ID hosted the MV Challenge Song Selection, while Vinci of HORI7ON hosted the Mission 2 Song Selection in addition to his mentoring role.

Main host (Dream Weaver)

• Sandara Park^[4]

Special hosts

• Vinci of Hori7on
• Thad of New Id

Mentors

• Chen of EXO^[5]
• Bang Ye-dam (Excluding Mission 2)
• Hyebin of Momoland
• Park Woo-jin
• Vinci of Hori7on
• Bull$eye
• Bae Wan Hee
• Han Seo-yoon (Mission 2 and Finals)

The 75 contestants were first announced on the social media accounts of Be The Next.

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The Dreamers will perform individually in front of the Mentors. After each performance, the Mentors will comment and provide feedback on each performance and each Mentor will give points to each of the Dreamers. The maximum points possible for a Dreamer to earn from each Mentor is 100, for a maximum possible score of 700 points for each contestant. This point system will form the basis of their ranks. If the succeeding Dreamer gets a higher rank than the Dreamer sitting, he will be bumping off other Dreamers based on the order of rank.

• Mentor's Evaluation final ranking results.

The dreamers are divided into eight groups by Dream Mentors, each of groups consists of a performer, rapper, singer, and visual artist. Mentors allow the members to select their group leader after three groups consist of ten people and five groups consist of nine people.

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•   Leader of the group

Four songs were revealed for the leaders to choose from: Tomorrow x Together's Back for More, Exo's Call Me Baby, Hori7on's Six7een, and Stray Kids' Maniac. To have a chance to pick their song first, the group leaders select their best dancer to compete in a one-on-one dance duel.

Color key

•   Winner

^{[6] [7]} For this mission, the Dreamers formed their own Dream Teams through a recruitment process, with the Top 9 serving as leaders. Each leader recruited members of their choice, and those recruited had the option to either accept or decline.

^{[7] [8]} Ivan and Yunho joined Zo’s team, leaving their Dream Team null and void, while Adrian was not able to recruit anyone. As a result, the original Dream Team, led by Ivan, Yunho, and Adrian, was dissolved, and only six new teams were formed. After the recruitment and deliberation process, the remaining Dreamers who were not initially invited were draft picked by the leaders to complete their teams. In total, 48 out of 75 Dreamers were selected, forming six groups with eight members each.

^[8] The unselected trainees were given a second chance through a special competition known as the Magic 6 Challenge. This competition allowed them to compete for an opportunity to join any of the six existing Dream Teams. There were three challenges in total, each producing two winners: Drei and Paul from the first challenge, Carl and Ally from the second, and Hart and Greg from the third.

^[8] Once the Magic 6 winners were determined, they were ranked through a voting process conducted by the Dreamers who were already part of Dream Teams. This ranking decided the order in which the Magic 6 members could choose their preferred team. Karl received the highest number of votes with 22, followed by Greg with 13 votes, Ally with 9, Hart and Drei each with 4 votes, and Paul with 2 votes.

^[9] Meanwhile, the remaining trainees who did not secure a spot in the Magic 6 and remained without a Dream Team were split into two groups, which were led by Kylo and Elo.

^[9] The Dream Team Leaders, each joined by one chosen member, took part in a high stakes music video challenge where time served as the currency for bidding on songs. Hosted by New Id's Thad, the teams had to make strategic decisions, sacrificing precious minutes in exchange for the rights to perform specific tracks. Kristoff made a bold move by bidding half of their available time to secure BBoom BBoom by Momoland, leaving their team with only one hour to shoot their entire music video, the shortest timeframe among all participants. In contrast, the other teams managed their bids more conservatively, securing good songs while still retaining a decent amount of time to work with.

^[10]The music videos were shot at Splash Island in Biñan, where the vibrant and playful setting added energy and creativity to each team’s performance. ^[11]Finally, the completed music videos were judged by none other than the members of Hori7on, who used their performance experience to evaluate each entry. With only one team crowned as the winner, the challenge tested not just performance skills and creativity, but also teamwork, time management, and strategic thinking.

Dream Team Recruitment

Color key:

•   Dream Team Leader
•   Recruited
•   Declined
•   Recruited by another Dream Team
•   Leader recruited by another Dream Team (Dissolved)

Dream Team after Draft Pick and Magic Six Challenge

Color key:

•   Dream Team Leader
•   Recruited
•   Draft-picked
•   Magic Six

Result

•   Winner

^[12]The remaining 44 dreamers were given the opportunity to select the songs they wished to perform. The order of selection was determined by their individual rankings, beginning with the lowest-ranked contestant and ending with the highest. Four songs were available for selection.

^[12]At the end of the process, any song with more than nine members required the group to hold an internal deliberation to evict the excess trainees. After the adjustments, four songs ended up with nine members each, while one song ended with eight members.

^[13]The dreamers were scored individually, with no benefit points this time. A higher individual score increases the likelihood that a group’s overall performance is strong, giving its members a greater chance of survival. The next eliminations will be decided purely by the mentors’ scores for Mission 2.

Color key:

•   Leader of the group

•   Highest Score

^[15]For the first ranking, only the mentors determined the Dreamers' ranks, establishing the initial order based on their level test performance. ^[16]During the first elimination, the rankings were determined by a combination of the mentors’ scores from Mission 1 and global fan votes, which together decided which Dreamers would continue in the competition. ^[17]However, for the second elimination, only the mentors’ scores from Mission 2 were used to determine the rankings and decide who would advance to the finals. ^[18]In the final round, both the mentors and global fans had a say once again, with the final rankings determined by a weighted ratio of 80 percent mentors' scores and 20 percent global fan votes.

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