Chapter 512 The Gray Industry Chain of Talent Show
Looking at the enthusiasm of the audience, Fang Lin raised his lips after singing, as if he had seen his victory.
The other contestants were also shocked by the enthusiasm of the audience, and all of them retreated.
"I am No. 17, Jin Fei..."
"No. 18, Wang Chengcheng..."
"No. 19, Tiger Clan..."
The remaining contestants came on stage one after another. No. 19 is a special combination, consisting of father and son Pan Hu and Pan Shi. These two people are different from other contestants. Their fathers are at least over sixty years old, and the songs they sing are also relatively retro.
With the appearance of Xie Guangkun before, many interested people understood that this was nothing more than a deliberate arrangement by the director for the sake of a gimmick.
“I am very grateful to this father-son duo for their wonderful performance. Their participation is a special arrangement after careful consideration by the program team. In his early years, Mr. Pan Hu traveled far across the ocean and came to this land full of opportunities. Musical persistence and dreams. 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 combination is 100% incapable of advancing. Many people feel that it is a waste of spots. It is better to let others advance during the audition.
"Okay, please invite the last contestant today!" The host made an inviting gesture.
“Hello everyone, I am contestant No. 20 Yuan Shuai, from the University of Melbourne. I have always had a music dream buried deep in my heart. For this audition, I did not tell my friends around me and signed up quietly. I hope to take this opportunity to show everyone my love and dedication to music..." After a boy wearing glasses came on stage, he picked up the microphone and began his opening remarks.
“Pfft~”
“Ahem~”
In their seats, Chen Xi and Shazhi looked at each other, neither of them understanding what was going on.
"Haha, surprise or not, unexpected or not, we came with him."
"Ruoxi, why didn't you call me when you came to watch the draft?"
< br>Suddenly, Xiao Ming and Dongdong appeared behind them. Dongdong looked at Zhang Ruoxi in the front row with a look of resentment.
"Why are you calling me this stupid guy? This is a singing talent show, not a bodybuilding competition." Zhang Ruoxi glanced at him.
"This guy Yuan Shuai can also sing? I haven't seen him sing in three years of high school." Chen Xi turned around and asked.
“This guy is very sultry, and we didn’t know about it until now.”
“I saw a video of his audition online before, so the two of us called him and asked him...”
Yuan Shuai wore a gray vest and tie and sang "Rescue".
“A person is sleepwalking alone
Like a running rhinoceros
Never give up until the end
Love needs to be together
Hate needs freedom
Love and hate are entangled
What can I do to save her?
When love is overwhelming..."
"What a slut, but she sings pretty well. "Chen Xi touched his chin on his seat.
"That's not right. Why does it feel like there's someone missing? "
"What's wrong? Pick 3 out of 20. It's the 20th now. Did your math and physical education teacher teach you? ”
"I remember there was a very strong player, what was his name..."
"Michael, yes, that's him, he's also from the University of Melbourne. He said before that he would sing a sister song in this competition. I’m still looking forward to the English version of the song, but what about others?”
The audience noticed something was wrong, and the discussion became louder and louder, but Yuan Shuai on the stage didn’t know it.
Chen Xi heard the comments from the people around him, combined with what he heard in the toilet before, he immediately remembered who this Michael was.
Michael is of Chinese descent, with a double major in music and science from the University of Melbourne, and a major in vocal music. Because he participated in a school choir touring Europe, he didn't expect to be discovered that he had singing talent, so he embarked on a musical career.
In this competition, everyone was most optimistic about him and thought he was the best candidate for the championship. Unexpectedly, he was absent from this competition.
However, there are still 20 players on the field, which means that someone has taken his place.
But who the person was, the audience did not know who it was, and they could only make random guesses.
"Now please give Mr. Su a review for us." After Yuan Shuai finished singing, the host began to speak.
“I think our judging panel just made the right decision to cancel direct promotion because the contestants in the latter group performed quite well. I just communicated with the other two judges and there were some differences in opinions. There was some unification again and the last player was great, live. The sound system needs to be better to match your rich and powerful voice. Your singing is great, and the tie is also very good and sparkling! The father-son combination is very attractive. I hope the friends at the scene will give them a little applause. They are very worthy of respect." Su The review started, and his words made Yuan Shuai very happy
However, Yuan Shuai bought that tie casually in the supermarket when he came here, and he doesn't usually wear it.
“We are really brothers fighting tigers, father and son are fighting in the battle!” The host also helped the father and son to speak.
"Yes, this father is amazing. He has a musical dream and has been singing for so many years... We now invite twenty contestants to come to the front desk."
"Um... did Fang Lin's comments just pass by like this?"
I don't know what happened, but Su didn't give Fang Lin any comments. The male host was slightly surprised and reminded Su specifically, but the other party But there was no expression. The female host could only answer the call and let all the contestants appear together. Fang Lin stood on the stage, making various expressions at a loss. He didn't understand what kind of medicine was sold in this gourd.
"What the hell? Why didn't Fang Lin comment?"
"It's just that I can't understand."
Sun Cheng and others waved the posters in their hands with some dissatisfaction, as if they wanted to remind the judges , however this is of no use.
Soon, all 20 contestants present took the stage, waiting for the voting session.
The three main judges also began to interact with other judges.
Huaguo, Huajing City, inside a factory.
"Quick, quick, everyone votes for my son and informs the surrounding factory owners that we can start now." A middle-aged man put down the phone in his hand.
Magic City, the World Financial Center.
"It's time, notify all branch employees to stop what they are doing, turn on their mobile phones, and edit text messages..." In the office, a woman dressed in a noble dress ordered her subordinates.
Shencheng, a village in a city.
"Notify all tenants that according to the previous agreement, this month's rent will be reduced based on the number of text messages..." On the recliner, a bald man wearing an old man's shirt and flip-flops shouted, holding a Nokia.
A flood of voting text messages were sent out from all over the country.
Huaguo, in the office of a TV station.
“Now is the voting stage. There are so many votes, which is simply beyond our imagination.”
“Haha, we are rich again this time. A group of fools voted so enthusiastically. Every year in the talent show, the off-site voting is simply a weapon for us to make money.”
"It would be nice if we raised the price per ticket a little more."
"We just need to increase the quantity. The unit price doesn't matter."
"Yes, don't be too greedy. Every year It would be nice to hold more auditions. Well, the General Administration has been emphasizing to stop using voting text messages to collect money. We can’t do too much at once, otherwise they will make excuses..." In the office, several middle-aged men each held a laptop. There was a cigar in his mouth, and his face was already happy.
When it first appeared, many people thought it was novel to use methods such as mobile phone voting, telephone voting or online voting. It was even called "a new exploration of Chinese-style democracy" .
Popular talent show contestants often receive millions of off-site support votes and charge X yuan per vote, making SMS voting one of the important ways for organizers to make money.
The business opportunities therein make many people eager to give it a try. When you turn on the TV, quite a few programs have added the content of text message participation, guessing the results of the competition, guessing the plot development, and even some very simple and boring questions, claiming to have the opportunity to win several awards.
The rich prizes are exciting, and are even more tempting for some people in the age group who are prone to emotional excitement. As a result, text messages flooded in, allowing some people to make a lot of money.
However, there is no free lunch in the world. It is too easy to play tricks. During this period, the lack of necessary supervision and openness allowed many organizers to make a fortune in silence in the excitement.
The SMS voting mechanism of the talent show has not only brought commercial benefits, but also spawned a series of shady and gray industry chains. These shady stories not only involve improper operations by the organizers, but also involve entangled interests in many aspects such as participants and third-party service providers.
Ticket brushing and cheating: The organizer or a third party with an interest in the organizer uses technical means such as automated scripts, robots, etc. to conduct large-scale ticket brushing operations to manipulate the results of the competition.
False reporting of votes: Deliberately false reporting of votes to attract more viewers to participate in voting and thereby increase revenue.
High fees: Set high SMS voting fees and obtain huge profits by inducing viewers to vote frequently.
Gray industries derived from:
Pick-up companies: Companies that specialize in ticket-office services have emerged. These companies usually have some degree of partnership with the organizers and earn high profits by providing ticket brushing services.
SMS fraud: Criminals take advantage of the popularity of talent shows and send false SMS links or information to induce viewers to click and pay. These links or information 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 become bait to attract viewers to participate in voting. However, some organizers engage in fraudulent behavior in the setting and distribution of prizes, such as falsely reporting the value of prizes, delaying the distribution of prizes, or not issuing prizes at all.
Advertisers and sponsors: With the popularity of talent shows, more and more advertisers and sponsors have taken a fancy to this market. However, some unscrupulous businesses use the influence of the program to make false propaganda or sell inferior products, thus harming the rights and interests of consumers.
That’s not all. Some private agreements and resource tilting are common.
For example, reaching a private agreement with the players or the management company behind the players to influence the results of the competition by leaking the questions in advance and giving special guidance. Organizers may allocate more publicity resources, camera time, etc. to specific players to increase their exposure and popularity.
Some programs even cheat their sponsors by exaggerating the commercial value or market prospects of the program and defrauding sponsors of their financial support. Or it promises to give advertisers more exposure opportunities or publicity effects than they actually have, but actually fails to fulfill its promises.
These are just the tip of the iceberg, there are many things darker and more profitable than this.
These people in the office can make a lot of money through various talent shows every year, which is much faster than doing other businesses.
However, after so many years, no organization has really taken care of them, which has led to major TV stations following suit. There are more and more talent shows, and the stars they invite are getting bigger and bigger. Both parties cooperate with each other to fill their wallets, and the only ones who are unlucky are the naive fans.
The funds involved are so huge that it is unimaginable. Various institutions and powerful people are involved in it. Even if someone wants to manage it, they are powerless.
At the judges' table, Lee and Su had a heated argument. Angelo Siliano and the other judges stared at each other and couldn't get a word in.
“If Yuan Shuai had not told us the news earlier, I would have customized a huge poster for him, and then I would have brought people from the Returned Association over to cheer him on, so that he could have a great time at once. His musical dream." Chen Xi looked at Yuan Shuai, who was a little nervous on the stage, and chuckled helplessly.
“I’ve told him that this kid doesn’t want to do it. He said he just wanted to see what kind of evaluation he could get without relying on external forces. As for those rankings, he didn’t even think about winning an award. ."
"Then he still sees things clearly. These are all arranged long ago." Chen Xi nodded in agreement when he heard Dongdong say this.
“Ruoxi, how many names do you think I can get if I take the stage?”
"How many names? I'm afraid you can't even pass the audition. What can you sing with such a loud and arrogant voice?"
"I just like your little bitchy tongue. It's so cute." Dongdong He held his chin with one hand and stared at Zhang Ruoxi in front of him with a look of obsession.
"You are so oily. Look at Su, how handsome you are!"
"How handsome is that skinny man? I can punch him in the air Turn a few times."
"Rude."
"Ruoxi, look at my muscles, and then look at that pretty face. It's hard to satisfy a woman in bed with him like that..." Dongdong showed off his biceps and pointed at the distance. Jury seat.
"Ha." Zhang Ruoxi turned her head, glanced at Dongdong's crotch intentionally or unintentionally, then raised the corner of her mouth with a sneer, and stopped paying attention to him.
"Hey, Ruoxi, what's that look in your eyes? Why do you feel you are despising me? I'm so fierce..." Dongdong was a little crazy, scratching his hair and muttering softly.
Chen Xi and others looked at Dongdong's embarrassment and covered their mouths and laughed out loud. Only Zhang Ruoxi could take care of this strong man.
I don’t know how long it took, but there was finally movement at the judges’ table. Su picked up the microphone and started to speak: “After a heated discussion between the three of us and other judges, let me show you, this is the picture I have in my hand. The paper with the list has been painted over, and there are circles all over it, because everyone has a different opinion. But according to the investment just sent back from China. With the number of votes, we finally determined the candidates for promotion... Let me give everyone a shot first. The position that our three judges are currently in is quite dangerous. The people around them all have players they support in their hearts. If you have The person who lost the election, please don't take it out on our judges..." Su glanced around the audience half-jokingly and half-seriously.
"Haha, he is afraid of being beaten. If he says this in advance, no one will get angry and attack him. Then he can announce the candidates he prepared in advance. What a thief." Chen Xi saw through Su little trick.
“All 20 of you players are very good, welldone. We very much hope that there will be more places in this competition to bring more outstanding players into the top 8, but the competition is cruel...etc. Wait a minute..." As Su said, he suddenly took out his mobile phone, and then started whispering to the two people next to him, but it only took a minute.
“Due to the huge number of voting text messages, there was a slight problem in the domestic vote statistics. The votes of several contestants were very close. For the sake of fairness, I discussed it again with the other two judges and decided Let's have another small PK match and let players with similar strengths compete..."
"What the hell, why do we have to compete again?"
"I think it's good, this is tantamount to... Subdivided again.”
After Su announced his decision, the audience below had different opinions.
"Contestant No. 07 Zhou Shuo vs. Contestant No. 20 Yuan Shuai. You two are close in strength and look similar in appearance. Let's start your duel." Su finished the rest of the words in one breath, leaving no room for doubt by others. opportunity.
"Huh? Me?"
"Huh?"
Both Yuan Shuai on the stage and Chen Xi in the audience were stunned. Yuan Shuai couldn't believe it. , how did he enter the PK match? He didn’t swipe tickets at all. He didn’t even notify his friends in Tu’ao. There were almost zero people cheering for him outside the venue.
He dared to say that any contestant present had higher votes than him. How could such a result happen?
"What's going on with Yuan Shuai? Did he secretly swipe tickets behind our backs?"
"This brat actually hid it from us."
"Probably not. According to Yuan Handsome character, can't do anything If something like this happens, and he wants to swipe votes, he will ask me to help. After all, I have more connections in the country than others, and I am also the vice president of the association."
Xiao Ming, Dongdong, and Chen Xi got together. Discussing gigglingly.
There's something wrong with this. Why do I feel like I'm deliberately acting to get people promoted, just to silence people?
Chen Xi analyzed in his mind.
"What's going on? Why is there suddenly another promotion competition? 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 he no longer dared to speak out. What's your opinion?
"It's okay, this is fine, it will make the game more exciting!" After thinking for a while, the director laughed and patted the assistant's buttocks next to him, and then asked the camera crew to cheer up.
The female assistant’s delicate body trembled, she glanced at the fat man next to her with a complaining look, and cursed in her heart as she greeted the director’s family.
"Next is the father and son combination No. 19. Your opponent is No. 16 Fang Lin. Contestant No. 15 Yang Xuanxi will face Contestant 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 the default player, and 99% of the time the father-son duo would not be able to advance. According to this calculation, it was a deliberate pass because Fang Lin did not perform very well before, so the judges needed to find a reason. Just fine.
The level of Yang Xuanxi and Wang Feng is too different. This Wang Feng is probably a domestic vote-saver. He is not sure whether Yang Xuanxi was brought by the column team for deliberate speculation. As for who to recommend, Chen Xi You can't guess it.
Yuan Shuai did not swipe tickets, 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 players to come on stage.
Thank you for your monthly votes and recommendation votes
(End of this chapter)