A Russian contestant who was finally "released" from Chinese reality television show Chuang 2021 was congratulated by the Russian embassy in China.

Mr Vladislav Ivanov, who performed under the stage name Lelush, had been an unwilling contestant. He had repeatedly asked viewers to kick him off the show, but they liked his wooden performances and supported him all the way to the final on Saturday (April 24).

In a Weibo post on Tuesday, the Russian embassy wrote: "Congratulations. Take a good rest."

The embassy was sharing a post from Lelush, who wrote on Sunday: "Thank you, everyone, for your support. I can finally knock off."

The 27-year-old added a photo of himself in a yellow hoodie with the words, "So happy".

In the Tencent Chinese survival reality programme, which is also known as Produce Camp 2021, 90 trainees battled it out to be one of 11 members of a new boy band.

Aside from China, the trainees hail from Japan, the United States, Thailand, Russia and even Ukraine and Cuba. They underwent close to four months of closed-door training on the Chinese island of Hainan.

Mr Ivanov, who is from Vladivostok in Russia, was originally meant to be a Chinese teacher for two Japanese contestants, but he was roped in to compete due to a last-minute dropout.

He performed the Russian song Jackpot with a deadpan expression in the first round and thought he would be eliminated, but was surprised when he qualified for the next round.

The part-time model kept saying on the show that he was not keen to be part of a boy band. "While others want to get an A, I want to get an F - as it stands for freedom."

He got his wish eventually. He was ranked 17th in the finale and did not make the cut for the 11-strong boy band named Into1.