Chapter 35: Part Change. It seems the production team is concerned about Yingxu's popularity...
The seventh episode of "Shining Idol" will air at 8 PM.
This episode is a full three hours long, and the production team plans to release all the remaining stages at once.
That's right, the second round of voting ends tonight, and if they don't release the people now, it will be too late to rescue them.
This year is quite unusual. In previous years, the second performance would show half of the stage first, then release all the individual camera shots, and then show the other half of the stage.
But this year was different. In the sixth episode, most of the episode was dedicated to games, but in the end, only two stage performances were shown, and none of the individual fancams were played.
These past few days, both the supertopic and the forum have been urging the production team to release the individual performance videos as soon as possible. If they don't release them soon, the voting will be over, which is very unfair to the groups whose performances are scheduled to air later.
However, the production team of "Shining Idol" either forgot or didn't care. No matter how much they urged them in the comments section below the official Weibo account, they remained unmoved.
These past few days, Xiao Ai has been browsing Green Petal whenever she has free time, switching back and forth between the Show Group and the Promise Group. She is no longer the passerby who couldn't understand the various technical terms and encrypted calls, but a qualified Show fan who is proficient in all kinds of nicknames.
The last episode of "Shining Idol" only showed two stage performances, which was unexpected by everyone. But what was even more unexpected was that the production team didn't even show individual individual shots.
Every fandom hopes that their favorite member's performance can be broadcast first, rather than waiting until the voting deadline. After all, whether it's a performance or a fancam, it takes time to gain traction. If the performance is broadcast only when the voting deadline is approaching, even if it's outstanding and gets noticed, it won't be enough to salvage the show.
"That's really cunning," Xiao Ai couldn't help but mutter.
This time, the show's producers did something unusual. The two groups that were fortunate enough to lead the broadcast stage in the sixth episode were both groups of relatively unknown individuals, with an average ranking of around 40 or 50. They were basically guaranteed to be eliminated.
Since the production team was caught secretly deleting the promised scenes and was criticized by the entire internet, they have been much more honest. In the sixth episode, they did not play any tricks. The average time for the two teams that performed on stage was about 20 minutes. Although there were still no outstanding storylines, at least the time was given.
Xiao Ai guessed that the two groups of trainees probably didn't have much conflict or storyline during practice, so they couldn't be edited out in post-production. In addition, their stage performances were also very mediocre, resulting in two very bland performances.
It was broadcast as if it hadn't been broadcast at all; nobody could remember it.
Most importantly, their individual performance videos haven't been released. Perhaps there are some trainees in the group who dance well and have good stage presence, but it's hard to tell from the overall performance, and without individual performance videos, they are still nowhere to be found.
Generally speaking, performances that require the entire stage to be shown in two separate episodes are a good opportunity to "test the royal family" (i.e., to watch the performances of the same group or group). The group that shows the stage first has an advantage, which is a fact that everyone agrees on.
The production team usually puts the group of trainees they care about most in the first episode, and puts the group they care about less in the later episodes. This way, the trainees who are broadcast first have a better chance of increasing their popularity.
The same thing happened during the first public performance of this season. Half of the stage performances were broadcast in the third episode, and the remaining half were broadcast in the fourth episode. Basically, all the high-popularity trainees' stages were broadcast in the third episode, while the little nobody like Yingxu was broadcast in the fourth episode.
But this time, the second performance was different. The production team only showed two stages and selected mostly unknown performers, making it impossible to criticize the "royal family" (a term used to describe favoritism or favoritism).
They even "fairly" withheld all individual fancams from being released, leaving fans anxious and frustrated.
Fortunately, the photos from the fan site admins provided some comfort; otherwise, the fans would have gone crazy. The voting was about to end, and without the fan site admins, they wouldn't even know what their own performance outfits looked like.
Xiao Ai speculated that the production team did this in an attempt to balance popularity and whitewash the show's image.
Previously, they were criticized for their obvious plot, large differences in screen time, and for not pretending to support the royal family members. This time, they simply stopped supporting anyone and didn't even release any performances featuring the royal family trainees.
I'm not worried about scarcity but about inequality, so I won't give it to anyone.
But doing so is not fair at all; in fact, it can be considered another form of unfairness.
Trainees with high popularity don't care about temporarily not getting screen time. They have a solid fan base, and their fans will vote for them no matter what, so they don't need to worry about advancing.
But trainees with low popularity can't be indifferent; in fact, they rely on these "life-saving" shots to increase their chances of advancing.
You can afford to drag on with your popular trainees, but you can't afford to drag on with your less popular ones.
The "royal family" members selected by the production team have basically built up their popularity in the previous episodes, so they all have some fan base. At most, their rankings will fluctuate a bit. The later broadcast will have an impact, but not a big one.
Xiao Ai couldn't help but feel disgusted by the show's ruthlessness. She no longer had any positive feelings towards "Shining Idol." Ever since she saw Yingxu's video, she had been constantly lamenting her previous naivety.
The individual performance videos for the second round of performances have been kept under wraps. While she was anxious, she couldn't help but feel relieved. Fortunately, Eung-hsu's popularity has already risen, so the timing of the video release won't have as much of an impact on him. If he were still like he was in the first round, he would definitely be eliminated this time.
This kid has had a really tough time. In the last round, he was dragged to the very end before being put on stage, and the voting closed just a few hours after the performance. His CP posts unexpectedly went viral, but we still couldn't vote for him. Luckily, he still advanced in the end, otherwise he would have truly become a hidden gem.
After finally gaining popularity, the second performance was still delayed and put on stage.
She was starting to suspect that the production team was doing it on purpose.
No, it was definitely intentional.
If even ordinary viewers and fans like her could think of this, how could the production team not have thought of it?
It seems the production team is quite resentful about Yingxu's soaring popularity.
Xiao Ai was seething with anger. After the show ended, she was going to check the screen time of each group and the screen time of Yingxu's solo shots to see if the production team would try anything funny.
Finally, at eight o'clock, Xiao Ai rushed to the Coolfish app. The homepage had been changed to the banner of "Shining Idol", and Ying Xu was on the cover again. Even the title of the new issue had Ying Xu's name.
She couldn't help but sneer. The production team was really opportunistic. Before Yingxu became famous, she wasn't even in the title or cover, let alone the opening PV.
After the promise became popular, the production team quickly edited a new PV with the promise version, replacing all the previous ones. The sixth and seventh episodes that aired later also featured the promise on their covers.
It was filled with a sense of guilt and ingratiation.
The first commercial break after the opening credits is a yogurt commercial featuring Yingxu alone. Xiao Ai originally wanted to skip directly to the stage, but when she saw Yingxu appear, she stopped and watched the whole thing.
"How many mid-roll ads is this again..." Xiao Ai jumped back to record the mid-roll ad she had just seen and saved it to a folder on her desktop. "They've already filmed five ads, tsk tsk tsk."
Although Yingxu's stage performance wasn't broadcast in the last episode, four commercial breaks were aired, giving Yingxu's fans a good feast, so they didn't dwell too much on the lack of a stage performance.
As soon as the episode started, it was another promise. Xiao Ai nodded with satisfaction, guessing that other fans of the promise were probably just as pleased with the show's approach.
As expected, the sponsors know best who has the greatest commercial value.
The contestants for mid-roll commercials are usually chosen jointly by the production team and the brand, and of course, they are only selected from the most popular contestants.
The popularity of this season of "Shining Idol" is quite good. There were seven commercials in the first episode. Although the number dropped a bit in the next four episodes, there were still four or five commercials in each episode. Some commercials featured a single person, but more often they featured multiple people. Shooting commercials is not only a reflection of popularity, but also a reflection of commercial value.
After all, brands are more willing to choose people with higher commercial value and stronger purchasing power among their fans.
The Green Petal group also has a chart that tracks the number of advertisements a trainee receives, a powerful tool for fans of popular trainees to boast about.
Based on the previous five episodes, the trainee who filmed the most commercials was Li Yuzhe, the initial center of this season's talent show, with eight mid-roll commercials. The second was Lin Chengxing with six commercials, and several other popular trainees filmed three to five commercials each.
The most surprising thing after the last episode aired was that Yingxu suddenly appeared in four mid-roll commercials, directly squeezing into the top five list.
Fans of other fandoms were both envious and sour, lamenting that their own fandom hadn't suddenly gained a phenomenal fan site and experienced the feeling of soaring popularity.
At the same time, he was secretly amazed by the speed at which the show was rising in popularity. Not only did his popularity soar among fans and casual viewers, but the program team and brands also had high hopes for him.
After all, the mid-roll ads for other people were counted together from the previous five episodes, while Xu only had one episode, yet he still managed to hold his own and even achieve a good ranking.
This makes people curious about when he will officially reach the top and what ranking he will achieve when the rankings are announced.
Will he directly reach the top spot in the center position?
As a fan of Yingxu, Xiao Ai doesn't have many complicated thoughts. The longer the show's runtime and the more screen time she gets, the happier she is. She's also happy with more commercials. As for what other fans think, she can't be bothered to care.
She skillfully began dragging the progress bar. The first group wasn't it, the second group wasn't it, the third group wasn't it either. She kept dragging until almost the end, and finally, Yingxu's figure appeared on the stage for the second to last group.
"I give up, the production team is doing this on purpose, trying to keep us in suspense." Xiao Ai stopped scrolling and started watching the stage seriously, feeling somewhat dissatisfied with the production team's arrangement.
Although there aren't many casual viewers of talent shows, there are still some. Unlike fans who prioritize watching their favorite contestants' performances or only watch their own, casual viewers mostly watch as the show progresses, and they become less patient the later the performances appear.
The production team is still up to no good. Knowing that he has high viewership right now, they deliberately made him appear last.
Xiao Ai opened a bag of snacks, ate while looking at the pictures, and found that this set seemed interesting.
The trainees in Yingxu's group, apart from him, all had fairly average rankings and were generally able to advance steadily. The highest ranking was even fourteenth, and with a bit of effort, they could even make it into the debut group.
Compared to the others, Yingxu's ranking was definitely dragging him down. He was forty-fourth, a full thirty places lower than the first in the group.
It's normal for ranking discrimination to exist in talent shows. Where there are rankings, there will be comparisons. Trainees with high popularity will definitely be more popular and receive more attention. Xiao Ai saw this in previous seasons.
But there's nothing we can do about it. Everyone here is here to debut, and if you're destined not to debut, no one will be very enthusiastic about you.
After becoming a fan of Yingxu, Xiao Ai went back and watched his first performance again. She found that his group not only had few shots, but also a very bad atmosphere. The people in the group hardly communicated and just practiced their own things. Yingxu was introverted, and the other group members didn't pay much attention to him.
But the second group was completely different. Everyone was very enthusiastic towards Xu, their enthusiasm was so obvious that it was almost palpable. Xiao Ai found it very funny because the enthusiasm of those group members was practically written on their faces, and it could even be described as fawning.
The most enthusiastic one was the trainee who ranked fourteenth. He was originally in the center position, but for some reason, he suddenly felt that he should give the center position to Yingxu. So after discussing it with a few others, they went to Yingxu together and said that they would give the center position to him.
Yingxu definitely wouldn't accept it, after all, he had been practicing for several days, but the other group members also refused to agree. So in the end, they compromised and gave the main dancer position to Yingxu. Yingxu's part jumped to second place in the group, second only to the center.
Xiao Ai found it hilarious. It seems that big companies don't ban cell phones at all. Judging from the reactions of these trainees, who would believe they don't have cell phones?
The process of choosing C at the beginning was not shown, so Xiao Ai did not know what happened when C was chosen. However, she noticed that the part promised before the part change was the shortest in the group, with a solo part of less than ten seconds, which was practically a flash in the pan. The rest of the time, she was just a background character.
No one wants to choose this kind of part. Usually, the trainees who perform the worst are assigned to this kind of part. No matter what, Yingxu could not possibly be the worst in the group. In fact, his strength could be ranked first in the group, but he was assigned to this kind of part.
There can only be one answer: the other members of the group deliberately gave the worst part to Yingxu because they saw that he was not popular, and then gave the center position to the most popular contestant.
To verify her conjecture, Xiao Ai went back and watched the previous parts again. She found that before the parts were changed, the parts in the group were arranged entirely according to the popularity of the contestants. The main dancer position, which was second only to the center position, was given to the teammate with whom the fourteen trainees had the best relationship.
These trainees are really something, they don't hold back at all.
She understands that everyone participating in a talent show wants to show themselves. A song has a different part, and everyone wants to get the most eye-catching part and have more time on stage so that they have a chance to gain more fans.
However, the stage is a team task after all. The mentors and PDs have also specifically said that the competition for the center position should be fair. It cannot be allocated solely based on popularity, but rather based on strength and performance, and who is most suitable for this part.
If the person in the center position performs poorly, while the most outstanding person is relegated to the sidelines, then the performance will ultimately not be good.
Those trainees who are in the debut positions will generally put on an act. High-popularity trainees will not always fight for the center position, nor will they specifically form small groups to control votes. Once such behavior is discovered by the audience, it will greatly affect their public image.
However, groups with lower popularity don't try as hard to hide it. Everyone wants to get a good part, so they openly band together to control votes. Anyway, it might not be edited out in the end, so stage time is more important.
I guess this was the idea behind Yingxu's group's initial part selection. Otherwise, given Yingxu's singing and dancing skills and appearance, there's no way she would have been assigned the shortest part.
Unfortunately, Yingxu suddenly became a sensation. His group members must have been very worried when they found out. A sudden surge in popularity means increased attention, and the production team will definitely give them more screen time. If the audience finds out about the disagreements over the part assignments, they will be 200% eliminated before the show even starts.
So they ultimately decided to change the part, letting Yingxu take the center position and give him the most screen time, in order to appease Yingxu's fans and prevent them from targeting them because of this.
However, Yingxu was very clever. He didn't buy it. Why was he not given the center position when he wanted it, and then had to be replaced after he had practiced his part well? Anyone would be unhappy about that, so he kept holding on and didn't give in.
This part of the story dragged on for a full eight minutes, with half of the practice time spent explaining the beginning and end of the part change. Xiao Ai counted how many time jumps there were based on the changes in the promised outfits, and finally found that this part had been stuck for three whole days.
Three days later, Yingxu couldn't stand her teammates' persistent nagging any longer and agreed to change her part, but she still didn't take the center position and only became the main dancer.
"So clever!" Xiao Ai couldn't help but praise. If Yingxu hadn't persisted for so long, it's hard to say whether this part-switching incident would have been edited out.
The plot shows that after agreeing to change parts, the official performance is in two days. The time is very tight, and there are no conflict scenes afterward, so the production team can only choose this part to focus on editing.
If teammates approach Yingxu to change his part and he agrees, then that part, along with the previous parts, will be easily overlooked, and it will be difficult for anyone to notice how short Yingxu's previous parts were.
After the part change, there were only two days left to practice. While the other groups had almost fully integrated, their progress was far behind. So, Yingxu stepped forward again, took the initiative to practice everyone's part, and then taught them the details and positioning one-on-one.
He spent a lot of time on the player who swapped parts with him and the center player; he even designed the killing parts for both of them.
Finally, amidst tension and anticipation, the performance began.
Xiao Ai was pleased with Yingxu's strength, independence, and sense of responsibility, but at the same time, she was worried about their group's performance.
Fortunately, the final result was not bad. Although the center position was a bit lacking, Yingxu's main dance part was handled exceptionally well, and the entire group's positioning was flawless, demonstrating strong cohesion.
But the best part is the one where he stands in the center.
Xiao Ai dares to guarantee that she is not biased by fans. No matter who looks at it, Ying Xu is outstandingly handsome. His appearance in this group is like a game-changer.
He wasn't the team leader, but he did work even harder than the team leader.
In her opinion, everyone in this group should kowtow to Yingxu, because who else would be so kind as to guide and teach them step by step?
After watching the performance and watching the votes, it was clear that Yingxu was undoubtedly in first place. However, the production team hid Yingxu's vote count to maintain suspense, and it will be revealed at the end.
The entire session lasted exactly twenty minutes, no more and no less.
The production team has really mastered the art of maintaining a balanced approach.
Xiao Ai skipped to the end of the main program to see how many votes Yingxu had for the performance, only to find that it was still hidden and would be revealed when Ershun performed.
This means that Yingxu's votes are in the top two overall, and the other person with hidden votes is the center, Li Yuzhe.
Xiao Ai gasped. Although she knew that Yingxu's popularity had definitely increased a lot, she did not expect it to be this exaggerated.
The tickets for the second public performance were mostly obtained through a lottery system. At the time of the lottery, Yingxu was still relatively unknown and had very few fans. The production team was also very strict, so many fans who became fans of Yingxu later were unable to get tickets. Many of the fansite admins who posted pictures had actually paid for the picture packs.
Xiao Ai thought that Yingxu's votes in this round of performances wouldn't be too high, since most of the fans who made it in were affiliated with other popular trainees, and there were other popular trainees in the same group. It would be good if Yingxu could get a top-two finish in the group.
In the end, they actually finished in the top two!
This means that among those who went in, either many had taken on the role of the promise, many had a strong liking for the promise, or were simply captivated by the promise's stage presence.
Xiao Ai thinks it should be the last two points. Anyway, the second round is not like the third round, there is no limit to the number of votes. In this round, Yingxu was not in the same group as those debut group contestants, so their fans were not so wary and simply voted for him who performed the best.
She suddenly felt a little anxious. The third round of selection was about to begin. This round was a completely individual battle, and each audience member could only cast one vote. It was a test of the popularity of the loyal fans. Originally, Xiao Ai thought that as long as the number of votes was acceptable, that would be fine. She was not close to the factory, so she didn't need to follow the offline events.
But now she feels she has to go, what if the promise is just short of her ticket?
Xiao Ai opened the official Weibo account and found that the program team had just posted a link for the lottery. She applied for the lottery using three different phone numbers, and then applied for the lottery using her parents' and friends' numbers before she could barely put down her phone.
When Xiao Ai reopened Green Petal, the group was already in an uproar. At the top was the post that counted the number of ads. Xiao Ai opened it and found that Yingxu's ranking had risen again. He also broadcast four ads in the seventh episode, and currently had a total of eight ads, ranking second. Li Yuzhe, who was in first place, only had one more ad than him.
That's a rocket-like ascent!
Xiao Ai glanced at the replies and saw that the vast majority were marveling at Ying Xu's rapid rise, while a small number were criticizing the show for favoritism and only promoting one person. However, there were now many more Ying Xu fans in the group than before, and they quickly came over to fight against these people.
Xiao Ai dislikes fighting, so she exited and continued reading other posts. The second post was about the part-switching controversy she had just noticed. The poster described the entire part-switching process with pictures and text, and even speculated on the true situation of the previous part assignments, which led to those teammates being collectively attacked.
The title of the third item caught Xiao Ai's attention:
Tomorrow is Ersoon's turn, what number do you think Eung-hyuk will fly to this time?
Her heart suddenly skipped a beat, and her desire to go offline surged wildly.
Should we go...?
"I'm definitely going." Shi Yao put on "Shining Idol" while packing her backpack. This time she brought a professional camera and had to take some good pictures.
"Why? Didn't Lu Jiang say there would be a meeting tomorrow?" the system asked back.
"The meeting can be anytime, and it's fine even without me. The last time I went was right after the first meeting ended, and now it's almost the second meeting. I have to go at least once."
Shi Yao joked about herself, "What kind of legendary website doesn't buy images offline all the time?"
The system's voice said coolly, "Host, you are very good at dealing with Xu Zhen."
"Of course, he's my cash cow." Shi Yao glanced at the rapidly growing number of followers on Weibo, her smile incredibly sincere.
"I'm really curious, what place will he get this time?"
Author's Note: Happy Monday, who exactly invented "Happy Monday"? (grumbling)
Thank you to all the little angels who voted for me or watered my plants with nutrient solution between 2024-06-23 20:22:17 and 2024-06-24 20:20:49!
Thank you to the little angels who watered the nutrient solution: Yangyang (10 bottles); Fafafafafafafa (8 bottles); Baiguqiushan, Renhy, Yanghe Qizhe, and Dilireba (1 bottle each);
Thank you so much for your support, I will continue to work hard!
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