“Before the official competition begins, let's take a look at the popularity status of the contestants from both sides!” host Wang Xiaoya said, and then the television displayed the data for both sides.
“Designer Miss Vivian has a current total of 13.3654.1256 votes. Designer Miss Fang Xiaoyuan has a current total of 12.3365.3658 votes. This is a truly nail-biting result!” the host exclaimed.
Please don't misunderstand, these votes don't refer to the number of people who voted for these contestants. If that were the case, it would mean that 2.5 billion people in China were voting, exceeding the total population of China.
These vote counts actually represent the total number of text messages received by each side.
In this era where the internet was not yet highly developed, Boss Huang did not choose to use online voting because it was too easy to cheat.
Therefore, text message voting was used, which involved sending the code of the contestant one supported to the official mobile number, and then counting the votes by tallying the number of text messages.
You might think, isn't this very simple? I can just use several mobile phones and send text messages from different ones, and it would be the same as rampant vote-stuffing, right?
Of course, that's possible, provided you're willing to spend money.
Unlike the normal situation where a text message costs one cent, if you send a text message to vote for this number, you will be charged one yuan per text message. This fee is directly deducted from your mobile phone bill. If your phone does not have a pre-stored balance, the vote will fail. Therefore, this is a method of voting with actual money.
This way, there are no fans who are such dedicated power users that they would use over a dozen mobile phones to send text messages and stuff votes like crazy.
Even so, the two contestants still received a terrifying number of votes, 1.3 billion and 1.2 billion respectively. This represents a total voting expenditure of 2.5 billion yuan, a cost that directly surpassed all subsequent talent shows.
Not to mention that this was only the text message support received by these two contestants. This competition had a total of 64 contestants participating. If the votes for all these contestants were tallied together, the total number of votes would directly exceed the terrifying figure of 5 billion.
According to the cooperation agreement between the program team and the telecommunications companies, these 5 billion phone charges were divided on an 80/20 basis. This means the program team would receive 4 billion yuan, while the telecommunications companies would receive 1 billion yuan.
Initially, the telecommunications companies were very dissatisfied with this ratio, as they, as intermediaries, typically operated on a 50/50 split and had never agreed to an 80/20 split before!
However, the issue was that the cooperation partner this time was CCTV. If they dared to demand a 50/50 split, they would be subjected to interviews on the news every day.
Secondly, this kind of cooperation was unique. If one company refused to give CCTV an 80/20 split, CCTV would cooperate with another company, and that 1 billion yuan would go to someone else.
Therefore, the telecommunications companies eventually compromised. However, only CCTV could obtain such a unique profit-sharing ratio. Even other provincial satellite TVs would only get a 70/30 split at most.
But regardless of the specifics, CCTV had made a fortune in this collaboration. Not only did they reduce their share of the 4 billion yuan in voting revenue, but the naming rights and commercial breaks for various programs later were also sold at exorbitant prices.
For example, the advertising at the finals venue this time was secured by Wujinggong Liquor for 500 million yuan. This was just for the advertising at the finals venue, let alone other forms of cooperative advertising.
It is said that CCTV earned at least 5 billion yuan from advertising this time. Such an astonishing program shook the entire television industry to its core. It is reported that the general manager of Hunan Provincial Culture and Entertainment Group was even fired for offending their partner, Jiangnan Group.
Following the incident with "The Legend of Sword and Fairy," Jiangnan Group had very decisively announced the cessation of all cooperation with Hunan Provincial Culture and Entertainment, stating that they would not engage in any cooperation with companies that did not abide by contracts.
Initially, "Caiwei Fashion Apprentice" was planned to cooperate with Hunan Satellite TV. Before the Lunar New Year, the two parties had even begun discussing cooperation timelines. However, after the "The Legend of Sword and Fairy" incident, the cooperation naturally fell apart.
Furthermore, for the preview screening of the TV series "Journey to the Misty Road," not even an invitation was sent to Hunan Satellite TV. The entire Jiangnan Group completely ignored Hunan Satellite TV.
Therefore, the entire Hunan Satellite TV Culture and Entertainment Group was extremely angry, and the leaders responsible for its operations naturally did not fare well. Many people retired early, including the general manager himself.
However, such terrifying returns were a one-time phenomenon.
In fact, after the first "Caiwei Fashion Apprentice" concluded, no other talent show program was able to replicate the frenzy of that first season.
After all, the first "Caiwei Fashion Apprentice" was a "king bomb" from the start, directly featuring 64 of the country's top celebrities, including the Four Heavenly Kings and Andy Lau, who were all present.
These were not even the main attraction. The most impressive aspect was that these top celebrities were systematically eliminated one by one. Three of the Four Heavenly Kings didn't even make it past the first round, with absolutely no preferential treatment befitting major stars.
Many people confidently stated after the show aired that figures like the Four Heavenly Kings and Andy Lau would at least survive until the quarterfinals. However, most of them were eliminated after only one or two episodes. The fact that two newcomer actors ultimately stood on the finals stage, and the utter failure of these major stars, was a very novel experience for the audience.
Of course, the fans of these major stars were very displeased. Because they believed their favorite stars would definitely reach the end and that there was no possibility of being eliminated in the first episode, they didn't vote diligently. Consequently, they could only watch helplessly as their favorite stars were eliminated, sometimes being trounced by newcomer actors, appearing utterly pathetic.
Upon witnessing such a brutal situation, in order to prevent their favorite stars from being eliminated, a large number of fans began to vote frantically, which was also a reason for the astonishing vote counts.
Of course, the main reason was that the program itself was outstanding. The participants were basically top designers, and the outfits they designed each had unique characteristics. Simultaneously, they created countless different styles with their celebrity partners, creating a feast for the eyes.
If the audience initially came to watch the celebrities, then subsequently, the audience watched the genuine design skills and works of these designers.
And now, it was the peak showdown of the entire program, a princess from Europe and a junior high school student from the East, who had gained the love and fervent votes of a large number of curious onlookers through their sheer strength. Their ultimate confrontation was about to commence. (Fang Xiaoyuan had been promoted from elementary to junior high school during the competition.)
According to real-time viewership statistics, this finals attracted at least 40 million viewers nationwide, which was also an unprecedented legendary figure.
“This finals will be divided into three rounds. The first round is pairing, which is a new competition format being introduced in the finals!” the host said into the microphone, and the entire venue erupted in cheers, along with a sense of curiosity.
“Come, the wardrobe!” the host snapped his fingers, and the stage behind them slowly opened. Then, to everyone's astonishment, a colossal wardrobe, almost filling the entire stage, appeared before them.
This wardrobe extended from the floor to the ceiling, reaching a height of eight stories. As it unfolded, it could be seen that there were over a dozen such massive eight-story clothing racks inside the stage.
They completely filled the entire CCTV Studio No. 1, which was the same massive studio that hosted the Spring Festival Gala on a daily basis, being the largest indoor studio in the country. Yet, it was still packed with such terrifyingly enormous clothing racks. The visual pressure and shock brought by such behemoths were unimaginable.
However, the men were relatively okay, but countless women were so excited seeing such a wardrobe that they were almost kneeling. This was their dream paradise!
“This is a super wardrobe that we have jointly created with all the ready-to-wear platforms across the country!” the host continued. “Here, there are a total of 102,000 different items of clothing provided by all the brands in China, including apparel, scarves, shoes, hats, jewelry, and more. All of them are within this wardrobe, and there is not a single identical product!”
“And what you need to do is to select the outfits you need from this wardrobe within 30 minutes. There is no limit on the quantity, but all the selected clothing will be worn by your model partners. The final wearing effect will be scored by all the judges and the audience present, and you will also accept real-time voting from the television audience.”
“Please note that all your previously accumulated votes will be cleared at this moment. From the moment your work appears, you will be starting from a completely equal footing.”
“Finally, the first round judges will award 40 points, the live audience will award 30 points, and the off-site votes will award 30 points. Ms. Qu Wei holds 30 points, and she can only give her points to one contestant. These scores will be added to your final total score, and the winner will be the one with the highest final score!” the host introduced with great passion.
As soon as the host finished speaking, the two contestants immediately rushed towards the massive wardrobe. Because this wardrobe was so incredibly large, each contestant was specially equipped with an electric lifting vehicle, which was essentially a self-contained elevator, capable of taking contestants up and down to personally inspect every piece of clothing.