KUALA LUMPUR, May 10 — There will be no winners for the third season of China’s popular entertainment survival show Youth With You as its producers have decided to cancel it.
Announcing the decision through their official Weibo, the producers also denied viralled news that they have chosen the winners and formed a group for them.
The final was supposed to be aired on Saturday but was forced to be called off following an instruction from the Beijing Municipal Radio and Television Bureau which ordered the show’s network iQiyi to suspend its recording for the finals.
While the bureau did not state the reasons for ordering the suspension, speculation is rife that it was due to controversies surrounding the show’s frontrunner Tony Yu Jingtian about his family involvement in sex work, drugs and his nationality.
Yu had since announced he would leave the show due to health problems.
Youth With You 3 is a show that brings 119 trainees from different entertainment agencies across China, and several trainees from around the world to form a nine-member male group through global viewers’ votes.
Season three went on air on February 18 while the finals was slated for May 8.
The cast for this season was headed by mentors in music industry heavyweights such Li Yuchun, Li Ronghao, Will Pan and Lisa from K-pop girl group, Blackpink.
Malaysian Liu Jun, from Seremban, was one of the show’s 19 finalists.
* A previous version of this story contained an error which has since been corrected.
