Road to Kingdom explained

Image Upright:	1.15
Genre:	Reality competition
Country:	South Korea
Language:	Korean
Num Episodes:	8
Runtime:	90–120 minutes
Company:	Mnet
Network:	Mnet

Road to Kingdom is a South Korean reality competition series created by Mnet. It aired on Mnet from April 30, to June 18, 2020, every Thursday at 20:00 (KST).^[1] It is known as the first part of the male counterpart of Queendom, and the prequel of Kingdom for Season 1. A press conference for Season 1 of the program was held on April 21, 2020.^{[2] [3]}

Road to Kingdom 2 will be launched in the second half of 2024, and it would be branded as an independent program, rather than a prequel to Kingdom.^[4]

Overview

Road to Kingdom was a battle for a spot in Kingdom (킹덤) between 7 boy groups with potential, but mostly unknown to many.^[5] Similar to Queendom, there would be Comeback Singles (newly produced songs) released on June 12, 2020.

During the season, special interview clips with Queendom contestants Park Bom, AOA (Chanmi), Mamamoo (Solar, Hwasa), Lovelyz (Mijoo, Kei), Oh My Girl (Hyojung, YooA) and (G)I-DLE (Soyeon, Yuqi) were shown in episode 1, as they shared their first thoughts about Road to Kingdom.^[6]

There were numbers as hints, which were given 1 week before the first recording of the show, and they were shown as follow:^[7]

• 1 boy group will advance to Kingdom, as part of winning the show; the number "1" also means the evaluation standards to be used
• 2 boy groups were eliminated throughout the show
• 4 performances (however, not all 7 boy groups will perform in all 4 performances)
• 7 boy groups
• 90 Seconds Performances (Preliminary Performances)

The Boyz, as the winner group of the show, secured a spot in the sequel program .^[8]

Rules

• There will be 2 boy groups to be eliminated throughout the show:
  • 1 boy group will be eliminated when they obtain the lowest cumulative points of the 1st and 2nd performances
  • 1 boy group (out of the remaining 6) will be eliminated when they obtain the lowest cumulative points after the 3rd performance
• The overall final ranking of the show (for the remaining 5 boy groups in the final performances) is based on the following criteria:
  1. 3 preliminary performances (1st Performance - 10,000 points, 2nd Performance - 10,000 points, 3rd Performance - 15,000 points)
  2. Video view points (based on the number of views of the performance videos (Full Version only) on YouTube and Naver TV; maximum of 15,000 points)
  3. Digital points of the Comeback Singles calculated from the time of release till June 16, 2020, at 23:59 (KST) (maximum of 15,000 points)
  4. Finale live comeback stages text message votes (domestic and international fans' votes; maximum of 35,000 points)
• The overall 1st placed boy group will be able to take part in Kingdom.
• The boy group which does not rank 1st overall, but ranks 1st in only the Final Live Performances, can also advance to take part in Kingdom.
• In the event of 1 boy group having both 1st overall and 1st in only the Final Live Performances, the said boy group will be the only boy group to take part in Kingdom.

Preliminary Performances - 90 Seconds Performances

The 7 boy groups each perform a 90-second performance that best expresses themselves.

There is no order decided before the performances - the order is decided on the spot. The first performing boy group is decided by the boy group that volunteers themselves first. After the first boy group has performed, they will decide on the second performing boy group, and the second boy group that has performed will then decide on the third performing boy group. The process goes on until all performances have been completed.

The round's points are entirely decided through a self-evaluation where each boy group will rank the other boy groups' performances from 1st to 6th.

• 1st place: 100 points
• 2nd place: 80 points
• 3rd place: 60 points
• 4th place: 40 points
• 5th place: 20 points
• 6th place: 5 points

Each boy group would receive self-evaluation points from the other 6 boy groups, and they will be added up to become the round's total points obtained for the boy group. This will, however, be not included in the overall points for the show.

1st Performances - Song of King

The 7 boy groups each perform one song from their boy group seniors, and is rearranged into a different style.

Rules

• The 1st placed boy group for the 90 Seconds Performances will get a benefit of arranging the cue sheet for this round of performances.
• The round's points are entirely decided through a self-evaluation, where each boy group's members will rank the other boy groups' performances from 1st to 6th.
  • 1st place: 100 points
  • 2nd place: 80 points
  • 3rd place: 60 points
  • 4th place: 40 points
  • 5th place: 20 points
  • 6th place: 5 points
• As ONF and Oneus each have only 6 members, the remaining 5 boy groups will each send 6 of their members to vote for this round. (Total of 42 boy group members voting in this round)
• Each boy group would receive self-evaluation points from the other 6 boy groups' 36 members, and they will be added up to become the round's total points obtained for the boy group.
• The 1st placed boy group gets the full 10,000 points, and the remaining boy groups will each get points based on the proportion of their self-evaluation points to the self-evaluation points of the 1st placed boy group.

2nd Performances - My Song

The 7 boy groups each perform one of their representative hit songs, that is rearranged and different from their usual stages of the song.

Rules

• The 1st placed boy group for the 1st Performances will get a benefit of arranging the cue sheet for this round of performances. However, the other boy groups do not find out their own spots, nor the ones of the others, in the cue sheet until the day of the performances.
• The round's points are decided through 2 categories:
  • Self-evaluation that was used for the 1st Performances voting, where each boy group would receive points from the other 6 boy groups' 36 members. (30% of the points for this round)
  • Online audience votes from 140 individuals. Each boy group will gather 20 individuals, and each individual only gets to vote for the top 3 performances in this round. (70% of the points for this round)
• The 1st placed boy group gets the full 10,000 points, and the remaining boy groups will each get points based on the proportion of their total points obtained to the total points obtained for the 1st placed boy group.

3rd Performances - Part 1 (Collaboration) + Part 2 (Your Song)

The 6 remaining boy groups will have 2 performances for this round: the first being a collaboration performance, and the second being the performance of a song chosen by another boy group.

Rules (Collaboration)

• The 3 pairs of boy groups were matched by random picking of one boy group, followed by random picking of the next boy group to be paired with the boy group picked earlier on. The process goes on to form the remaining 2 pairs.
• There are no restrictions in the number of members each boy group would involve and their song choices.
• The round's points are decided through 2 categories:
  • Self-evaluation, where each boy group will send 6 members (total of 36 boy group members voting) and rank the 3 collaboration performances. (30% of the points for this round)
  • Online audience votes from 120 individuals. Each boy group will gather 20 individuals, and each individual ranks the 3 performances in this round. (70% of the points for this round)
  • 1st place - 10 points, 2nd place - 5 points, 3rd place - 1 point
• The 1st placed collaboration performance gets the full 5,000 points each for the boy groups involved, 3,000 each for the boy groups involved in the 2nd placed collaboration performance, and 1,000 each for the boy groups involved in the 3rd placed collaboration performance.

Rules (Your Song)

• The 6 remaining boy groups each pick a song, with no restriction, for this round.
• The songs chosen will each then be allocated to another boy group, but only within the pairings that were formed for the Collaboration round.
• The 1st placed boy group for the 2nd Performances will get a benefit of arranging the cue sheet for this round of performances. However, the other boy groups do not find out their own spots, nor the ones of the others, in the cue sheet until the day of the performances.
• The round's points are decided through 2 categories:
  • Self-evaluation, where each boy group will send 6 members (total of 36 boy group members voting). (30% of the points for this round)
  • Online audience votes from 120 individuals. Each boy group will gather 20 individuals, and each individual would only vote for the top 3 performances in this round. (70% of the points for this round)
• The 1st placed boy group gets the full 10,000 points, and the remaining boy groups will each get points based on the proportion of their total points obtained to the total points obtained for the 1st placed boy group.

Final Live Comeback Stages

The 5 remaining boy groups will each perform a newly produced song live.

• For this round, live votes will be allocated in the following distribution:
  • Domestic fans' text message votes (70% of the live votes)
  • International fans' voting through the Whosfan application (30% of the live votes)
• In addition, the following categories are also considered to decide the final winner:
  • Total points accumulated in the Performances prior to the finale (except for the 90 Seconds Performances)
  • View counts of the performance videos on YouTube and Naver TV
  • Digital points of the Comeback Singles calculated (from time of release to June 16, 2020, at 23:59 (KST))

Cast

Hosts

• Lee Da-hee
• Jang Sung-kyu

Contestants

• Pentagon
• ONF
• Golden Child
• The Boyz
• Verivery
• Oneus
• TOO (later known as TO1)

Episodes

Preliminary Performances - 90 Seconds Performances (Episode 1)
Order	Artist	Performance Name	Self-evaluation Ranking & Points Breakdown	Ranking	Note(s)
1	TOO	Into the dysTOOpia	1 3rd, 1 4th, 1 5th, 3 6th Total Points: 135	7th	The points for this round are not included in the overall points for the show
2	The Boyz	Sword of Victory	4 1st, 2 2nd Total Points: 560	1st
3	Pentagon	Road to the Throne	1 1st, 4 2nd, 1 3rd Total Points: 480	2nd
4	ONF	Lights On	1 3rd, 2 4th, 3 6th Total Points: 155	5th
5	Golden Child	Beginning	1 1st, 2 3rd, 2 4th, 1 5th Total Points: 320	4th
6	Verivery	Face It	1 1st, 1 2nd, 2 3rd, 2 5th Total Points: 340	3rd
7	Oneus	Phantom of ONEUS	2 4th, 3 5th, 1 6th Total Points: 145	6th

1st Performances - Song of King (Episodes 2 & 3)
Order	Artist	Song	Original Artist	Self-evaluation Ranking & Points Breakdown	Rounded Points	Ranking	Note(s)
1	Oneus	"Warrior's Descendant"	H.O.T.	1 1st, 1 2nd, 1 3rd, 4 4th, 12 5th, 17 6th Total Points: 725	2,417	7th	—
2	TOO	"Rising Sun"	TVXQ	3 1st, 5 2nd, 6 3rd, 5 4th, 11 5th, 6 6th Total Points: 1,510	5,033	4th
3	Verivery	"Mansae"	Seventeen	1 2nd, 5 3rd, 9 4th, 6 5th, 15 6th Total Points: 935	3,117	6th
4	Golden Child	"T.O.P"	Shinhwa	1 2nd, 2 3rd, 19 4th, 12 5th, 2 6th Total Points: 1,210	4,033	5th
5	ONF	"Everybody"	Shinee	12 1st, 7 2nd, 12 3rd, 2 4th, 1 5th, 2 6th Total Points: 2,590	8,633	3rd
6	Pentagon	"Very Good"	Block B	12 1st, 12 2nd, 10 3rd, 2 4th Total Points: 2,840	9,467	2nd
7	The Boyz	"Danger"	Taemin (Shinee)	14 1st, 15 2nd, 6 3rd, 1 4th Total Points: 3,000	10,000	1st

2nd Performances - My Song (Episodes 3 & 4)
Order	Artist	Song	Self-evaluation Points	Online Audience Votes Points	Total Points	Ranking	Note(s)
1	Pentagon	"Shine" + "Spring Snow"	2,881.29	3,858.97	6,740	5th	—
2	ONF	"We Must Love" + "Moscow Moscow"	2,244.60	6,012.82	8,257	3rd	Performance special guest: YooA (Oh My Girl)
3	Golden Child	"Wannabe"	803.96	3,589.74	4,394	7th	—
4	Oneus	"Lit"	2,039.57	6,461.54	8,501	2nd
5	Verivery	"Photo"	1,775.18	5,833.33	7,609	4th
6	TOO	"Magnolia"	1,079.14	4,128.21	5,207	6th
7	The Boyz	"Reveal"	3,000	7,000	10,000	1st

1st + 2nd Performances Combined Results
Rank	Artist	Total Points
1st	The Boyz	20,000
2nd	ONF	16,890
3rd	Pentagon	16,207
4th	Oneus	10,918
5th	Verivery	10,726
6th	TOO	10,240
7th	Golden Child	8,427

Eliminated from the show

3rd Performances (Part 1) - Collaboration (Episodes 5 & 6)
Order	Artists	Song	Original Artist	Total Points	Ranking	Note(s)
1	Verivery TOO	"On"	BTS	3,000	2nd	—
2	Pentagon ONF	"Kill This Love"		5,000	1st
3	The Boyz Oneus	"Heroine"	Sunmi	1,000	3rd

3rd Performances (Part 2) - Your Song (Episodes 6 & 7)
Order	Artist	Song	Original Artist	Concept	Self-evaluation Points	Online Audience Votes Points	Total Points	Ranking	Note(s)
1	Oneus	"Be Mine"	Infinite	Romeo & Juliet	1,621.62	5,300	6,922	4th	—
2	TOO	"Hard Carry"	GOT7	Street Style	2,459.46	2,000	4,459	6th
3	ONF	"It's Raining"	Rain	Michael Jackson	3,000	7,000	10,000	1st
4	Pentagon	"Follow"	Monsta X	Pharaoh	2,945.94	2,700	5,646	5th
5	Verivery	"gogobebe"	Mamamoo	Aladdin	1,702.70	6,100	7,803	3rd
6	The Boyz	"Shangri-La"	VIXX	Oriental	2,864.86	6,900	9,765	2nd

1st + 2nd + 3rd Performances Combined Results
Rank	Artist	Total Points
1st	ONF	31,890
2nd	The Boyz	30,765
3rd	Pentagon	26,853
4th	Verivery	21,529
5th	Oneus	18,840
6th	TOO	17,699

Eliminated from the show

Finale Live Comeback Stages (Episode 8)
Order	Artist	Song	Ranking (Digitals)
1	Oneus	"Come Back Home"	4th
2	Verivery	"Beautiful-x"	5th
3	The Boyz	"Checkmate"	1st
4	Pentagon	"Basquiat" (바스키아)	3rd
5	ONF	"New World" (신세계)	2nd
Special Performance
F5		"It's Okay" (괜찮아요)

Elimination table

Color key:

• Eliminated in First Elimination
• Eliminated in Second Elimination
• Overall runner-up
• Finale winner and highest overall score; joins Kingdom

Contestant	Performances
	90 Seconds Performance		Song Of King		My Song		First Elimination		Collaboration		Your Song		Second Elimination		Video Views + Digitals Points		Finale Live Votes		Total		Overall Ranking
The Boyz	1st	560	1st	10,000	1st	10,000	1st	20,000	3rd	1,000	2nd	9,765	2nd	30,765	1st	30,000	1st	35,000	1st	95,765	1st
ONF	5th	155	3rd	8,633	3rd	8,257	2nd	16,890	1st	5,000	1st	10,000	1st	31,890	2nd	19,162	2nd	27,359	2nd	78,411	2nd
Pentagon	2nd	480	2nd	9,467	5th	6,740	3rd	16,207	1st	5,000	5th	5,646	3rd	26,853	3rd	16,374	3rd	17,133	3rd	60,360	3rd
Oneus	6th	145	7th	2,417	2nd	8,501	4th	10,918	3rd	1,000	4th	6,922	5th	18,840	4th	10,795	4th	10,503	4th	40,138	4th
Verivery	3rd	340	6th	3,117	4th	7,609	5th	10,726	2nd	3,000	3rd	7,803	4th	21,529	5th	6,490	5th	3,852	5th	31,871	5th
TOO	7th	135	4th	5,033	6th	5,207	6th	10,240	2nd	3,000	6th	4,459	6th	17,699							6th
Golden Child	4th	320	5th	4,033	7th	4,394	7th	8,427													7th

Discography

Road to Kingdom FINAL

Ratings

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.

Ep. #	Original Airdate	Nielsen Korea Ratings Nationwide^[9] ^[10] ^[11]
1	April 30, 2020	0.5%^[12]
2	May 7, 2020	0.4%
3	May 14, 2020	0.4%
4	May 21, 2020	0.5%
5	May 28, 2020
6	June 4, 2020
7	June 11, 2020
8	June 18, 2020	0.4%

Sequel

See main article: Kingdom: Legendary War and Road to Kingdom: Ace of Ace. On October 29, 2020, Mnet confirmed the sequel of the show titled (킹덤: 레전더리 워), and was aired on April 1, 2021.^[13]

On April 24, 2024 Mnet confirmed that season 2 of the show will be produced, and would air by the second half of the year.^[14]

External links

• (in Korean)

Notes and References

1. Web site: Mnet 측 "'로드 투 킹덤', 4월 30일 첫 방송 확정"(공식). 2020-03-26. YTN. ko. 2020-03-26.
2. Web site: '로드 투 킹덤' CP "펜타곤→데뷔 한달 TOO까지, 계급장 떼고 무대로 승부". 2020-04-21. SportsSeoul. ko. 2020-04-28.
3. Web site: 경연곡→투표·집계방식까지 '로드투킹덤' 스포일러에 몸살[TV와치]]. 2020-04-15. Newsen. ko. 2020-04-16.
4. Web site: '로드 투 킹덤' 올 하반기 론칭..킹덤 프리퀄 아닌 '단독 브랜드화' [공식]]. 2024-06-26. OSEN via Naver. ko. 2024-06-26.
5. Web site: Introduction to Road to Kingdom.
6. Road to Kingdom [1회] 다시 만난 QUEEN들, 그들이 들려주는 이야기 200430 EP.1]. Mnet via YouTube. April 30, 2020. April 30, 2020.
7. Road to Kingdom [1회] '1,2,4,7,90' 로드 투 킹덤의 비밀이 담긴 숫자 카드의 의미는? 200430 EP.1]. Mnet via YouTube. April 30, 2020. May 2, 2020.
8. Web site: '로드 투 킹덤' 더보이즈, '킹덤' 진출 확정→온앤오프 '아쉬운 2위' [종합]]. 2020-06-18. OSEN. ko. 2020-06-18.
9. Web site: Nielsen Korea. www.nielsenkorea.co.kr. 2019-08-30. https://web.archive.org/web/20170513095904/http://www.nielsenkorea.co.kr/tv_terrestrial_day.asp?menu=Tit_1&sub_menu=3_1. 2017-05-13. dead.
10. Web site: AGB Nielsen Korea 2. Daum.
11. Web site: AGB Nielsen Korea 3. Naver.
12. Web site: '로드 투 킹덤', 0.5%로 출발…첫 1위는 더보이즈. 2020-05-01. The Fact. ko. 2020-05-01.
13. Web site: [공식입장] 엠넷 측 "'킹덤', 내년 상반기 편성 목표…섭외 진행 중"]. 2020-10-29. News1. ko. 2020-10-29.
14. Web site: '로드 투 킹덤' 새 시즌으로 돌아온다…Mnet 측 "하반기 편성 예정" [공식]]. 2024-04-24. Ilgan Sports. ko. 2024-04-24.