I'm reborn and I'm an international student again?

Chapter 512 The Gray Industry Chain of Talent Shows
Looking at the enthusiasm of the audience, Fang Lin raised the corners of his mouth after he finished singing, as if he had seen his victory.

The other contestants were also shocked by the audience's enthusiasm, and each of them began to back out.

"I'm number 17, Jin Fei..."

"No. 18, Wang Chengcheng..."

"Number 19, Tiger Clan..."

The remaining contestants came on stage one after another. No. 19 was a special group, consisting of Pan Hu and Pan Shi, a father and son. These two were different from the other contestants, as the father was at least over years old, and the songs they sang were also more retro.

With the previous appearance of Jie Guangkun, many people who were interested realized that this was nothing more than a deliberate arrangement by the director for the sake of creating a gimmick.

"We are very grateful for the wonderful performance of this father-son duo. Their participation is a special arrangement made by the program team after careful consideration. Mr. Pan Hu traveled across the ocean in his early years and came to this land full of opportunities with his persistence and dream for music in his heart. In order to help him realize this dream, our column specially invited them.

Every word of their lyrics is filled with deep emotion, bringing us an unforgettable audio-visual feast..."

After the father-son duo finished singing, the host quickly came out to speak. This duo was 100% unlikely to advance, and many people felt that it was a waste of places, and it would be better to let other people advance during the audition.

"Okay, please welcome the last contestant of today!" The host made a gesture of invitation.

"Hello everyone, I'm contestant No. 20 Yuan Shuai from the University of Melbourne. I've always had a musical dream deep in my heart. I didn't tell my friends about this talent show and signed up quietly. I hope to take this opportunity to show everyone my love and dedication to music..." A boy wearing glasses came on stage, picked up the microphone and began his opening remarks.

"Pfft~"

"Cough cough~"

Sitting in their seats, Chen Xi and Saori looked at each other, neither of them understanding what was going on.

"Haha, are you surprised? Are you surprised? We came here with him."

"Ruoxi, why didn't you invite me to come and watch the talent show?"

Suddenly, Xiao Ming and Dong Dong appeared behind them. Dong Dong looked at Zhang Ruoxi in the front row with a resentful look on his face.

"Why are you being called a big fool? This is a singing talent show, not a bodybuilding competition." Zhang Ruoxi glanced at him.

"This guy Yuan Shuai can sing? I haven't seen him sing in my three years of high school." Chen Xi turned around and asked.

"This guy is very sultry, we just found out about it."

"I saw his audition video online before, so we called him and asked..."

Yuan Shuai, wearing a gray vest and a tie, sang "Rescue".

"A person is sleepwalking

like a running rhinoceros

Don't give up until the end
If love requires staying together

Hate needs freedom more

Love and hate are entangled endlessly

What can I do to save you?

When love is over, it is hard to stop..."

"What a show-off, but he sang well." Chen Xi touched his chin in his seat.

"That's not right. Why does it feel like someone is missing?"

"What's wrong? 20 choose 3, now it's number 20 that's on the field. Did your math and PE teacher teach you that?"

"I remember there was a very strong contestant, what was his name..."

"Michael, yes, that's him, also from Melbourne University. He said before that he would sing an English song adapted from a song by a sister in this competition. I'm looking forward to hearing you. Where is he?"

The audience noticed something was wrong and the discussion became louder and louder, but Yuan Shuai on the stage was still completely unaware.

Chen Xi heard the discussions of the people around him, and combined with what he heard in the bathroom before, he immediately remembered who this Michael was.

Michael is a Chinese, he graduated from the University of Melbourne with a double degree in music and science, majoring in vocal music. He joined the school choir to tour Europe, and unexpectedly he was discovered to have a talent for singing, so he embarked on a career in music.

In this competition, everyone was optimistic about him and believed that he was the only choice for the championship, but unexpectedly he was absent from this game.

However, there are still 20 players on the field, which means that someone has replaced him.

But the audience at the scene had no idea who that person was, and they could only make random guesses.

"Now, please let Teacher Su give us some comments." After Yuan Shuai finished singing, the host began to speak.

"I think the decision our judging panel just made is correct. We cancelled the direct promotion because the contestants in the latter group performed very well. I just talked with the other two judges and there are some differences and some consensus. The last contestant is great. The sound system needs to be better to match your strong and powerful voice. You sang very well and your tie was also very good. It was very shining! The father-son combination is attractive. I hope friends at the scene will give them some applause. They are very respectable." Su began to comment, and his words made Yuan Shuai very happy.
However, that tie was something Yuan Shuai just bought casually at the supermarket when he came, and he didn't wear it normally.

"Brothers fight together to protect tigers, and fathers and sons fight together in battle!" The host also spoke for the father and son.

"Yes, this father is amazing. He has a dream of music and has sung for so many years... We now invite 20 contestants to come to the front."

"Uh... Did Fang Lin's comments just pass by like that?"

For some reason, Su did not give Fang Lin any comments. The male host was slightly surprised and reminded Su, but he did not respond. The female host could only ask all the contestants to come on stage together. Fang Lin stood on the stage, making various expressions at a loss. He did not understand what Su was up to.

"What's going on? Why didn't Fang Lin comment on it?"

“That’s right, I don’t understand.”

Sun Cheng and others waved the posters in their hands with some dissatisfaction, as if they wanted to remind the judges, but it was of no use.

Soon, all 20 contestants present came on stage, waiting for the voting session.

The three main judges also began to interact and communicate with other judges.

In a factory in Huajing City, China.

"Hurry, hurry, everyone vote for my son and notify the surrounding factory owners. You can start now." A middle-aged man put down the phone.

Magic City, World Financial Center.

"It's time. Notify all branch employees to stop what they are doing, turn on their phones, and edit text messages..." In the office, a woman dressed elegantly gave instructions to her subordinates.

A village in the city of Shenzhen.

"Notify all tenants that according to the previous agreement, this month's rent will be reduced based on the number of text messages sent..." A bald middle-aged man wearing a shirt and flip-flops shouted on a recliner, holding a Nokia.

For a time, voting text messages were sent out from all over the country.

In the office of a TV station in China.

"Now it's the voting stage, and there are so many votes, it's beyond our imagination."

"Haha, we're getting rich again this time. A bunch of idiots are voting so enthusiastically. Every year in the talent show, the off-site voting session is simply a weapon for us to make money."

“It would be better if the price per ticket was raised a little bit.”

"We just need to increase the quantity, the unit price doesn't matter."

"Yes, don't be too greedy. Just hold more auditions every year. Besides, the General Administration has been emphasizing the need to stop making money through voting text messages. We can't do too much at once, otherwise they will find excuses..." In the office, several middle-aged men, each holding a laptop computer and smoking a cigar, had smiles on their faces.

When the talent show through mobile phone voting, telephone voting or online voting first appeared, many people found it novel and it was even called "a new exploration of Chinese-style democracy."

Popular contestants in talent shows can easily receive millions of off-site votes, and the fee for each vote is X yuan, making SMS voting one of the important ways for organizers to make profits.

The business opportunities therein have attracted many people to try their luck. When you turn on the TV, you will see that many programs have added text message participation content, such as guessing the results of a game, guessing the development of a plot, and even some very simple and boring questions, claiming that there is a chance to win a number of grand prizes.

The prizes were so generous that they made people's hearts beat faster, and it was even more of a temptation for some people who were at an age that was easily excited. As a result, text messages poured in, allowing some people to make a lot of money.

However, there is no such thing as a free lunch in the world, and it is too easy to play some tricks. During this period, the lack of necessary supervision and publicity allowed many organizers to make a fortune in silence amid the hustle and bustle.

The SMS voting mechanism of talent shows, while bringing commercial benefits, has also spawned a series of shady dealings and gray industry chains. These shady dealings not only involve improper operations by the organizers, but also involve conflicts of interest among participants, third-party service providers, and other parties.

Voting manipulation and cheating: The organizer or a third party with an interest in the organizer uses technical means such as automated scripts and robots to conduct large-scale voting manipulation to manipulate the results of the competition.

Falsifying vote counts: Deliberately falsifying vote counts to attract more viewers to vote and thereby increase revenue.

High charges: Set high SMS voting fees and make huge profits by inducing viewers to vote frequently.

The derived grey industry:

Ticket-swiping companies: Companies that specialize in ticket-swiping services have emerged. These companies usually have a certain degree of cooperation with the organizers and earn high profits by providing ticket-swiping services.

SMS fraud: Criminals take advantage of the popularity of talent shows to send fake SMS links or messages to trick viewers into clicking on them and paying fees. These links or messages are often disguised as official voting channels, but are actually traps to defraud viewers of their money.

Prize fraud: The generous prizes promised by the organizers often serve as bait to attract viewers to participate in voting. However, some organizers have engaged in fraudulent behavior in setting and distributing prizes, such as misreporting the value of prizes, delaying the distribution of prizes, or not distributing prizes at all.

Advertisers and sponsors: With the popularity of talent shows, more and more advertisers and sponsors have set their sights on this market. However, some unscrupulous businesses have used the influence of the shows to conduct false advertising or sell inferior products, thus damaging the rights and interests of consumers.

Not only that, some private agreements and resource tilts are also common.

For example, they may reach a private agreement with the contestants or their management companies to influence the results of the competition by leaking questions in advance or giving special guidance. The organizers may allocate more publicity resources and camera time to specific contestants to increase their exposure and popularity.

Some programs even cheat sponsors by exaggerating the commercial value or market prospects of the programs to defraud sponsors of their financial support, or by promising advertisers exposure opportunities or publicity effects that exceed the actual ones, but in fact fail to fulfill their promises.

These are just the tip of the iceberg. There are many darker and more profitable things than this.

These people in the office can make a lot of money every year through various talent shows, which makes money much faster than doing other businesses.

However, after so many years, no organization has really managed them, which has led to major TV stations following suit, with more and more talent shows and more and more big-name stars. Both sides cooperate with each other to fill their wallets, and the only unlucky ones are those naive and brainless fans.

The amount of money involved here is unimaginably huge. Various institutions and powerful people are involved in it. Even if someone wants to control it, they are powerless.

On the judges' panel, Lee and Su had a heated argument. Angelo Siliano and the other judges just stared at each other and could not get a word in.

“Yuan Shuai, why didn’t you tell us the news earlier? I would have customized a huge poster for him and asked the people from the Overseas Chinese Association to cheer him on, so that he could have a great time and fulfill his music dream.” Chen Xi looked at the nervous Yuan Shuai on the stage and chuckled helplessly.

"I've told him before, but he refused to do it. He said he just wanted to see what kind of evaluation he could get without any external help. As for those rankings, he never thought about winning any awards."

"He sees things very clearly. All this was arranged long ago." When Chen Xi heard Dong Dong say this, he nodded in agreement.

"Ruoxi, what place do you think I can get if I go on stage?"

"How many? I'm afraid you won't even make it through the audition. What can you sing with your rough and loud voice?"

"I just like your sharp tongue, you're so cute." Dongdong held his chin with one hand and stared at Zhang Ruoxi in front of him with an obsessed look.

"You're so greasy, look at Su, how handsome he is!"

"What's so handsome about that skinny guy? I can knock him over in the air with just one punch."

"Rude."

"Ruoxi, look at my muscles, and then look at that pretty boy. With his looks, it would be difficult for him to satisfy a woman in bed..." Dongdong showed off his biceps and pointed to the judges' seats in the distance.

"Heh." Zhang Ruoxi turned her head and glanced at Dongdong's crotch intentionally or unintentionally, then raised the corner of her mouth and sneered, and ignored him.

"Hey, Ruoxi, what's that look in your eyes? Why do I feel like you're looking down on me? My thing is very strong..." Dongdong was a little crazy. He scratched his hair and muttered softly.

Chen Xi and others looked at Dong Dong's embarrassing look and covered their mouths and laughed out loud. Only Zhang Ruoxi could subdue this strong man.

No one knew how much time had passed before there was finally movement in the judges' seats. Su picked up the microphone and began to speak: "After a heated discussion between the three of us and the other judges, let me show you that the paper with the name list in my hand has been scribbled out and is full of circles, because everyone has a different opinion. But based on the number of votes just sent back from China, we have finally determined the candidates who will advance... Let me give you a heads-up. The position we three judges are in is quite dangerous. The people around here all have their own favorite contestants. If the person you like loses, don't take it out on us judges..." Su glanced at the audience around him half-jokingly and half-seriously.

"Haha, he's afraid of being beaten. By saying this in advance, no one will get angry and attack him. Then he can read out the candidates he has prepared in advance. He's really cunning." Chen Xi saw through Su's trick.

"All 20 of you are excellent players, well done. We hope to have more places in this competition to bring more outstanding players into the top 8, but the competition is cruel... wait a minute..." Su said, and suddenly took out his mobile phone, and then whispered with the two people next to him, but it only took a minute.

"Due to the huge number of voting text messages, there was a small problem with the domestic vote count. The votes of several contestants were very close. In order to be fair, I discussed it with the other two judges and decided to have another small PK match to let the contestants with similar strengths compete once..."

"What the hell is going on? Why are we competing again?"

"I think it's good. It's like a subdivision."

After Su announced the decision, the audience below expressed different opinions.

"Contestant No. 07 Zhou Shuo versus contestant No. 20 Yuan Shuai. You two are of similar strength and dress similarly, so start your duel." Su finished the rest of the words in one breath, not giving others a chance to question him.

"um, I?"

"Ok?"

Yuan Shuai on the stage and Chen Xi in the audience were both stunned. Yuan Shuai couldn't believe how he could get into the PK competition. He didn't vote at all, and he didn't even notify his Australian friends. There were almost no people cheering for him outside the venue.

He dared to say that any candidate present had more votes than him, so how could such a result occur?

"What's going on with Yuan Shuai? Did he secretly swipe the tickets without telling us?"

"This brat actually hid it from us."

"Probably not. According to Yuan Shuai's personality, he would not do such a thing. Besides, he would ask me for help if he wanted to swipe votes. After all, I have more connections in China than him, and I am also the vice president of the association."

Xiao Ming, Dong Dong and Chen Xi gathered together, chattering away.

This doesn't seem right. Why do I feel like they are deliberately acting to help people advance and to silence them?
Chen Xi analyzed it in his mind.

"What's going on? Why are there suddenly some promotion tournament? Why didn't you notify me? I'm the director!" The fat director looked confused. The assistant next to him had been scolded before and now didn't dare to express any opinions.

"It's okay, this is a good thing, it makes the game more exciting!" After thinking about it, the director laughed and patted the plump buttocks of the assistant next to him, then asked the camera crew to cheer up.

The female assistant's body trembled, and she glanced at the fat man beside her with a reproachful look, cursing the director's entire family in her heart.

“Next is the father-son combination No. 19. Your opponent is No. 16 Fang Lin. No. 15 Yang Hyun Suk will face No. 10 Wang Feng…” Su secretly wiped the sweat from his forehead, and after reading the list, he signaled everyone to get ready.

Chen Xi knew that Fang Lin was a pre-selected contestant, and that there was a 99% chance that the father-son duo would not advance. According to this calculation, they were deliberately recommended because Fang Lin's performance had not been very good before, so the judges needed to find a reason.

There is a huge gap between the levels of Yang Hyun Suk and Wang Feng. This Wang Feng is most likely to have rigged votes in China. He is not sure whether Yang Hyun Suk was brought in by the program team for deliberate hype. As for who will be recommended, Chen Xi has no way of guessing.

Yuan Shuai did not cheat in votes, but was arranged to compete with others. He could not guess what the real purpose was.

The pace of this PK match was very fast. Within a few minutes, the host urged the contestants to come on stage.

Thank you for your monthly tickets and recommendation tickets

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(End of this chapter)