Undercover

Undercover (언더커버; also stylized as Under Cover) is a reality survival show by ENA. It premiered on January 12, 2025 and concluded on March 16, 2025. It aired every Sunday at 7:40 PM (KST).

The winner of the show received a prize of ₩100,000,000.^[1]

Background

On October 8, 2024, ENA announced they were recruiting singers to compete on their new cover influencer survival show called Undercover. Singers of any age, gender, and genre were allowed to apply. The application deadline was October 27.^[2]

On December 17, Jung Jae Hyung, Lena Park, Lee Seok Hoon, Kwon Eun Bi, and GroovyRoom were announced as the judges. They were referred to as "top listeners" on the show. It was also announced that the first episode would air on January 12, 2025.^[3]

Judges

• Jung Jae Hyung
• Lena Park
• Lee Seok Hoon
• Kwon Eun Bi
• GroovyRoom

Contestants

Episodes

Episodes 1–3: 1R 1:1 booth audition (January 12, 2025 – January 26, 2025)

In the first round, the contestants were split into three groups based on their total number of followers on social media including Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube.^[4]

Contestants with less than 100,000 followers were given a black name tag. Contestants with between 100,000 and 1,000,000 followers were given a silver name tag. Contestants with more than 1,000,000 followers were given a gold name tag.^{[Note 2]}

The contestants performed one cover each inside a booth. For each contestant, only one of the judges evaluated their performance. The judge could choose to "save" the contestant to let them pass the round or "delete" the contestant to eliminate them from the show.

Contestants in the gold name tag group performed in front of all the judges. Before they began their performance, they were allowed to choose which judge would evaluate their performance.^{[Note 3]}

Contestants in the other two groups performed in front of one of the judges, and they did not have a choice on who the judge would be.

A total of 14 contestants were eliminated during the first round, and 60 advanced to the second round.

Episodes 3–5: 2R playlist team battle (January 26, 2025 – February 9, 2025)

In the second round, the top 60 contestants had to pick one of five genres to perform: ballad, R&B, rock, indie & folk, or K-pop. The contestants were also shown a playlist of eight songs they had to choose from for each genre.

Before genres were selected, the contestants' rankings were calculated based on evaluation sheets that the 60 contestants filled out after the first round ended. Each contestant had to write down a score out of five for every other contestant's performance in the first round. They also had to write down who they thought should be rank 1 and who they thought should be rank 60 based on the first round.^[7]

The rankings determined the genre selection order of the contestants. There was a limit of 12 contestants per genre.

The rank 1 contestant was allowed to pick a genre first, followed by ranks 2–10, 11–20, 21–30, 31–40, 41–50, and then 51–59. The rank 60 contestant had to take the last remaining spot in the genre that was not full yet.

After genre selection was complete, the contestants had to form teams of four and choose one of the listed songs to perform. There was a battle between three teams of four within each of the five genres.

After a team performed, the judges each gave a score out of 100 for the team. The two members of GroovyRoom (Lee Hwi Min and Park Gyu Jeong) each gave separate scores out of 100 resulting in a total score out of 600 for every team.

In each battle, all the members of the team with the highest score out of 600 passed the round instantly. All the members of the team with the lowest score out of 600 were eliminated instantly.

For the team with the second highest score out of 600, the judges had a discussion, and then picked two team members to eliminate. The other two team members were given additional passes to the next round.

After all five battles were finished, it was announced that each of the six judges had a "Cover Card" to use to bring back six of the contestants who were eliminated during the round.^[8]

After the Cover Cards were given, a total of 24 contestants were eliminated, and 36 advanced to the third round.

Episodes 5–6: 3R 1 vs. 1 vs. 1 battle (February 9, 2025 – February 16, 2025)

In the third round, the top 36 contestants were split into twelve 1 vs. 1 vs. 1 battles where the opponents performed a song together.^[9] The contestants were shown a list of 35 songs they had to choose from to perform.

The judges picked Lee O Neul as the MVP of the second round which allowed her to pick her opponent first. Then, her selected opponent picked the third opponent for their battle.

The next contestants to pick their battle opponents were randomly selected.

After a battle performance, the six judges each gave a separate score out of 100 to all three opponents in the battle.

The opponents with the two highest scores out of 600 passed the round instantly. The opponent with the lowest score out of 600 was eliminated instantly.

A total of 12 contestants were eliminated during the third round, and 24 advanced to the fourth round.

Episodes 7–8: 4R duet tag battle (February 23, 2025 – March 2, 2025)

The fourth round was filmed on February 6 with a live studio audience.^[10]

The top 24 contestants were split into 12 duos. For the formation of the duos, a randomly selected contestant went on the stage, and then they were able to choose from any contestant who wanted to be their partner.^[11]

After the duos were formed, they had to choose one of four tags: "#LOVE", "#LIFE", "#DREAM", or "#I AM". For each tag, there was a list of 12 songs they had to choose from to perform as duets. There was a limit of three duos per tag. The three duos that chose the same tag became battle opponents. The tag selection order was based on the individual scores from the third round combined for the members of each duo. The duos with higher scores picked first.

The results of each battle were determined by the total score from the judges and the total score from the audience. After a performance, each judge could give a score out of 100. Each audience member could give a score of 1 or a score of 0.^{[Note 13]} The score from the judges and the score from the audience were both converted to scores out of 500 so that they were weighted equally.

In each battle, the duo with the highest combined score out of 1000 passed the round instantly. All the other duos were eliminated instantly.

After all four battles were finished, it was announced that the judges had two Cover Cards to use to bring back two of the contestants who were eliminated during the round.^[12]

After the Cover Cards were given, a total of 14 contestants were eliminated, and 10 advanced to the fifth and final round.

Episodes 9–10: 5R final (March 9, 2025 – March 16, 2025)

The final round and final results were filmed on February 24 with a live studio audience.^[13] Han Hye Jin was the special MC of the round.^[14]

Part 1: 1 vs. 1 top 5 decider

For the first part of the final round, the top 10 contestants were split into 1 vs. 1 battles to determine the top 5 contestants who would advance to the second part of the final round.^[15]

Before the battles were formed, the contestants listened to five new unreleased songs that they could perform for the second part of the final round. Then, they chose the song that they wanted.

There was a limit of two contestants per song. The two contestants who chose the same song became battle opponents. Only the winners of the five battles in the first part of the final round would be able to perform the new songs in the second part.

The song selection order was based on the scores from the fourth round. The contestants with lower scores picked first. However, if more than two contestants wanted the same song, the contestant with a higher score from the fourth round could force a contestant with a lower score to choose a different song.

The contestants performed covers for the first part of the final round.

The results of each battle were determined by the total score from the judges and the total score from the audience. After a performance, each judge could give a score out of 100. Each audience member could give a score of 1 or a score of 0.^{[Note 13]} The score from the judges and the score from the audience were both converted to scores out of 500 so that they were weighted equally.

In each battle, the contestant with the higher combined score out of 1000 advanced to the second part of the final round, and the other contestant was eliminated.

Part 2: On the cover

In the 10th episode, for the second part of the final round, the top 5 contestants performed the new songs they selected during the first part to determine the final winner of the show.^[16] Each contestant contributed to the lyrics of their new song.

The scoring methods were the same as the first part except there was a second component added to the audience score. After all five performances were finished, each audience member was instructed to vote for one of the five contestants. The contestant they voted for would have one more point added to their score.

Also, for the final results, the score from the judges was worth 40% and the score from the audience was worth 60% instead of 50% each.

After each performance, only the score from the judges was revealed. The score from the audience was revealed when the final results were announced.

Final results

The winner of the show was announced at the end of the 10th episode, and they were awarded the grand prize of ₩100,000,000.^[1]

The new songs that the top 5 contestants performed were released on March 19.

Rankings

Individual rankings were not officially assigned to contestants who finished outside of the top 5.

Discography

Digital EPs

• <Under Cover> Episode 1 (2025)
• <Under Cover> Episode 2 (2025)
• <Under Cover> Episode 3 (2025)
• <Under Cover> Episode 4 (2025)
• <Under Cover> Episode 5 (2025)
• <Under Cover> Episode 6 (2025)
• <Under Cover> Episode 7 (2025)
• <Under Cover> Episode 8 (2025)
• <Under Cover> Episode 9 (2025)
• <Under Cover> Episode 10 (2025)
• <Under Cover> Top 5 (2025)

Notes

References

Official links

• Website
• Naver TV
• YouTube
  • Episode clips
  • Shorts