Lone Filipino bet Sophia Laforteza has secured a spot on the finals of the global girl group competition show The Debut: Dream Academy.
Produced by K-pop company HYBE and Geffen Records, The Debut: Dream Academy is a survival show where contestants from all over the world compete to form the first “global girl group.” The show premiered last September 1 and airs episodes weekly. The finale of the show is slated to happen on November 17.
Contestants are judged by fans based on the quality of their performances per mission. The contestants with the lowest number of fan votes will be eliminated. 20 contestants joined the show’s premiere while only 10 finalists will be in the running to debut as part of HYBE’s newest international girl group.
Laforteza is the top-performing contestant on the program, ranking second in the show’s first mission, first in the second, and first on the third and final challenge of the season.
For the show’s final mission, contestants were divided into three groups to perform their own renditions of either Demi Lovato’s “Confident,” The Pussycat Dolls’ “Buttons” or the Spice Girls “Wannabe.” Laforteza joined Team “Buttons” together with Argentina’s Celeste, South Korea’s Nayoung, Switzerland’s Manon, and the United States’ Daniela.
During the reveal of the challenge’s results, Laforteza emerged as the top contestant with 45,184 fan votes. Joining her in the finale are the United States’ Daniela, Lara, Emily, and Megan; Switzerland’s Manon; Australia’s Ezrela, Brazil’s Samara, Thailand’s Marquise, and South Korea’s Yoonchae.
Catch the live finale of The Debut: Dream Academy on The Dream Academy’s YouTube channel this November 17 here.