Two days after "Blood Mist" ended, "Hi-Fun" aired the episode they had recorded earlier.

Generally speaking, promotional variety shows are most effective when they are broadcast while the web series is still ongoing, because there is also a viewership ratings chart for ongoing dramas.

When "Blood Mist" was airing, it consistently ranked first in the online drama ratings. If it had received promotion from the program "Hi Fantian" during its serialization, the ratings would definitely have broken new records.

However, "Hi Fun" doesn't just record one or two film crews; many other film crews come to their show to promote it. And since "Hi Fun" airs once a week, it takes time to schedule.

"The Ends of the Earth" caught the wave of this trend because it still had a few episodes left to air. After "Blood Mist" left the serialization chart, it jumped to the top of the serialization chart, and the data was even better than when "Blood Mist" was in first place.

This is the popularity brought by "Hi Fantian"—an undeniable force of online traffic.

Of course, this also shows that the performances of the "Blood Mist" and "The Ends of the Earth" crews on this episode of "Hi Fan Tian" have received a lot of attention.

On the day the broadcast happened to be free, they sat together on the sofa to watch it.

The recording took more than three hours, but only one hour was actually cut for the broadcast. So what happened during the recording is different from what we see after the editing. Sometimes even the order of the games was cut out differently.

Just like now, Yin Chengjue listened to Rong Yufei's explanation. At first, their game was a competition to guess songs, but after it was edited out, it became a competition to answer questions quickly. Because in the quick-answer segment, the competition between the two drama groups was more obvious, and the atmosphere looked more tense. It was easier for fans of both dramas to empathize with the characters, and it could also make passersby unconsciously take sides.

When watching game shows that compare wins and losses, some viewers unconsciously lean to one side and choose a team. Some like to stand with the losing team, hoping that the losing team will have a chance to overtake and experience the thrill of a comeback. Others like to stand with the strong team and keep experiencing the feeling of winning. This is one of the reasons why watching game shows is so enjoyable.

In order to cater to these psychological experiences of the audience, some programs will often deliberately portray one team as very strong and another team as very weak, making the score one-sided from the beginning. Then, in the later games, they will make the winning team lose and the weak team overtake them to win the final victory, giving the audience a feeling of a big reversal.

To achieve such a dramatic effect, the production team even deliberately edited the results of the guests' competitions. Because the recording was done many times, everyone had to win and lose in the games. The key was to see which rounds the production team would air to determine the winners and losers.

Therefore, many times, the guests who participate in games on TV shows are unaware of the image they will present to the audience after the show is recorded.

Yes, this so-called "some shows" refers to "Hi Fan Tian".

As soon as Yin Chengjue heard Rong Yu say that the order of the games had changed, he knew that the production team was up to something.

During the on-site recording, the first game was guessing songs, and Rong Yu's group kept losing in the song guessing game. However, apart from this song guessing game, the main characters of "Blood Mist" basically won more games than they lost in the other games.

I lost a few times, but that was because I was tired and sleepy from recording too many times, which led to some minor mistakes.

Of course, the main purpose of appearing on the show "Hi Fun" was to promote "Blood Mist". In fact, winning or losing the game was not important. However, when the show officially aired, "Hi Fun" first played a quiz game. In the quiz game, the main characters of "Blood Mist" kept getting the red light and were able to answer the questions correctly. This familiar program routine made Yin Chengjue feel uneasy.

And this ominous situation was quickly revealed in the subsequent plot developments!

Because the first half of the entire program was all about the main characters of "Blood Mist" winning, winning in every way, winning in every aspect. Even when they lost a few games during the live recording, the program only edited out the winning parts!

Not only that, the post-production team of "High Fever" deliberately gave each member of the main characters of "Blood Mist" a background music with strong sound effects. On several occasions, when Rong Yu appeared, they even used the background music that comes with the appearance of an anime villain!

Yin Chengjue almost jumped up from the sofa, but Rong Yu held him down.

"It's nothing. We've won a lot of times when we actually play the game. We're definitely better than them, so what's there to worry about?" Rong Yu had a pretty good attitude, comforting Yin Chengjue, "Anyway, I don't like losing. Do you want to see me lose?"

Yin Chengjue shook his head: "It's not about whether you win or lose. Of course, I hope to see you keep winning, but the show is deliberately portraying you as bullies, giving the audience the impression that you are particularly strong and care a lot about winning and losing. Most viewers are used to sympathizing with the weak, so they will unconsciously lean towards the weaker side while watching, and then keep hoping that the weaker side can make a comeback. In this process, the better you perform, the more disgusted they become. The more you win, the more they hate you, and they may even think that the show is deliberately praising you. Little do they know that this is actually praising you to death."

"Huh? This..." Rong Yu scratched his head: "Really? There are people who don't like seeing others win? Isn't it true that the winner is more capable and more likely to be liked by everyone?"

Eun Seung-geol: "Because compared to the thrill of winning all the time, the audience prefers the thrill of winning by reversal. The ups and downs are more exciting."

Yin Chengjue: "Take roller coasters for example. Roller coasters in amusement parks give people physical and emotional ups and downs, while the design of this kind of show is to deliberately give people psychological ups and downs."

"Oh, I think I understand now." Rong Yu said, "So, the show deliberately showed the part where 'Blood Mist' kept winning first, and then later on, they showed the part where 'The Ends of the Earth' started winning, and finally let them 'win the championship' and become the final winner, so that the audience would be happy with them, right?"

Yin Chengjue nodded: "After all, there are a lot of popular celebrities over there. The production team has to give those celebrities some face, so they'll use your small production team as a stepping stone."

"Then what do you think I should do, brother?" Rong Yu wasn't in a hurry. At worst, people would say he was too competitive, but it wouldn't hurt him.

Besides, that's the truth.

Yin Chengjue pondered for a moment and said, "Which game did you lose the most? If nothing unexpected happens, they should edit your worst loss into the end, so that the main characters of 'The Ends of the Earth' will naturally become the final winners with the highest scores."

"It was our first song guessing game, and we didn't guess a single one correctly," Rong Yu affirmed.

Yin Chengjue: "Okay, now download any music app, play all the songs from different eras, take screenshots of these playlists and post them on Weibo with the caption: 'I'm already working hard to catch up, I definitely won't lose next time.' After you post it, tag those seven people and ask them to say a few words."

Rong Yu took out her phone and did as instructed.

As expected, "High Fever" actually edited in the later stages to show the game segment where the main characters of "The Ends of the Earth" won, and even deliberately edited it to show that they won by a narrow margin, giving people the feeling that their victory was very hard-won.

In the first half of the program, the production team deliberately gave the main characters of "Blood Mist" a powerful entrance background music, while giving the main characters of "The Ends of the Earth" a very tragic background music. Now that the main characters of "The Ends of the Earth" have won, the production team gave them a very cheerful and festive background music, while giving the main characters of "Blood Mist" a background music of being struck by lightning, making people feel like it was "retribution".

They even included a line from the character who plays a female member of the serious crimes unit: "I'm not convinced!"

According to Rong Yu, it was just a joke made by a female team member, but the show deliberately didn't show the smiling face that appeared immediately after she finished speaking, only showing her deliberately fierce expression.

This perfectly highlights her image as someone who can't stand to lose.

“Someone is trying to frame her,” Yin Chengjue said with certainty.

Otherwise, they wouldn't have deliberately released her image like that. It was just a joke she made while playing a game on set. The production team knew that her words were causing trouble, but they still insisted on releasing it, which shows that someone must have instructed them to do so.

Rong Yu couldn't stay calm anymore. He got along quite well with the other artists in the Blood Mist main cast; otherwise, they wouldn't have gone out for dinner after recording the show and gotten so drunk.

It's because they know they might not have the chance to get together as neatly as they did this time again.

"She was just having fun and said something casually. Why is it being maliciously edited?" Rong Yu said, dissatisfied.

Yin Chengjue: "That's why Sally told you to be careful with your words on the show. Even during the intermission, as long as you're still on stage, as long as the cameras are still pointed at you, and as long as your microphone is on, don't say anything carelessly."

“Because viewers only know you from the show, whatever the show wants to portray you as, that’s how you become in their eyes—good or bad, positive or negative—they can edit it all out. Not every director can be like Qin Linlin, able to show the most authentic side of the guests,” Yin Chengjue said. “This statement applies not only to various variety shows, but also to the entire entertainment industry.”