Pinoy pop star JL Gaspar emerged as the winner of SBS' idol survival show Universe League and is set to debut as part of a nine-member global boy group.
The boy group, AHOF (All-Time Hall Of Famer), will feature nine total members, with the other spots filled up by the other winners of Universe League.
The competition winners were announced during the final episode broadcast live on Korea's SBS late Friday night on January 24.
JL, originally a member of Pinoy-pop boy group PLUUS, was the only Filipino who qualified to join the competition. He made history by obtaining the most number of votes – 3,168,841 – in the final episode of the competition.
JL's group, Team Rhythm, also won over the two other teams in the show — Team Beat and Team Groove — by accruing a total of 12,743,374 votes in the final global fan vote, where fans from over 200 countries tuned in to make their choice.
Team Rhythm's other members, who will be joining AHOF, include Steven from Australia, Chih En from Taiwan, Zhang Shuaibo from China, Daisuke from Japan, and Park Juwon and Seo Jeongwoo from South Korea.
Members from Team Beat and Team Groove also made the cut, including Cha Woongki of Team Beat and Park Han of Team Groove.
Both members were the top picks, based on the final global fan vote, in their respective teams, earning them a coveted spot in the group.
Universe League is the male counterpart of SBS' Universe Ticket survival show, with both shows searching for talented candidates to form global K-pop groups.
Filipinas Elisia Parmisano, Gehlee Dangca, and Filipina-Korean Jin Hyeon-ju won Universe Ticket, earning them spots in the K-pop girl group UNIS.
Over the course of approximately ten weeks in Universe League, 42 contestants were drafted and traded into three different teams mentored by K-pop artists: Team Groove, Team Beat, and Team Rhythm. The teams then competed in a series of missions to showcase their performing abilities, with the goal of winning the "PRISM Cup" in order to debut.
Team directors include WayV's Ten and Yangyang for Team Rhythm, BTOB's Changsub for Team Groove, and GOT7's Yugyeom and singer, songwriter, and producer EL CAPITXN for Team Beat.
