My agency went bankrupt before I even got on stage.

Lin Fan's expression was one of despair, disappointment, and utter frustration!

These unreliable fans, who call themselves "freeloaders," are just a bunch of good-for-nothings! Is it so hard for me to get eliminated? I packed my bags for nothing again!

When will this miserable life ever end?

……

The second ranking announcement is still ongoing, and the remaining 8 debut spots, while expected, were not entirely unexpected.

Li Yingqi remains in first place, retaining her position by a very small margin.

Second place goes to Zhuo Yuanquan, whose votes are rapidly approaching those of the first-place winner, but for some reason, he just can't catch up. This is causing Zhuo Yuanquan, who is known for his "big boss" persona, to gradually lose control of his facial expressions.

Third place goes to Lu Bingyang, an old acquaintance of Lin Fan. This time, his ranking rose rapidly, but unfortunately, the gap between him and the first and second place is still quite large, making it unlikely that he will catch up.

Fourth place, I don't know, so I'll skip it.

Fifth place, wow! Tu Jingyi! Where did this guy come from? What was his ranking last time? Oh, I remember, 46th!

My goodness! That's amazing! The other trainees could only express their admiration with applause!

Lin Fan was not very familiar with the sixth, seventh, and eighth place winners.

Unfortunately, Lin Fan's teammates from the first performance, Wa Wa and A Zhe, and his teammates from the second performance, Zhang Yi and Wen Yang, were all eliminated.

Lu Cheng, who dissed Lin Fan during the first performance, is also on this elimination list.

Yes, he left without a trace.

……

After announcing the rankings, Luo Yu also shared some good news: "The top 9 trainees from the second ranking announcement will be joining me this Sunday on Shanghai TV's top variety show, 'Ace vs Ace'!"

"Not only that, but for the third performance, you'll have special guests performing on stage with you!" Zhang Xinlan paused for a moment, "and they'll all be female guests!"

Ah! A female guest! This is truly fantastic news!

The celebrities invited to be guests on the "Morning Star" program are either currently popular and talented actors or idols with a large following! In any case, they are not unknown figures!

The production team wanted to use this gimmick to generate a new wave of buzz and further boost the popularity of the "Morning Star" program! If the invited guests couldn't bring any buzz to the show, what would be the point of inviting them?

The same principle applies to the students.

In talent shows, one relies on spending money, the other on popularity. Since spending money is no longer an option, popularity becomes the only thing that matters. Your own popularity is one thing, but the guests' popularity is another—you should try to capitalize on it!

Not to mention what Luo Yu said before, that he would take the top 9 trainees to participate in the hottest variety show right now! That's a huge boost in viewership!

It's important to understand that the viewership and popularity of a talent show have their limits. Now that the sixth season of "Morning Star" has progressed to this point, the show's producers have already exhausted the initial buzz, and fans' enthusiasm is likely to experience a period of low morale before the finale, or debut night.

At this point, the only option is to bring in outside help; inviting guests and having you participate in variety shows are all based on these considerations. Otherwise, do you think the production team has money to burn and would spend money to invite guests or have you appear on variety shows just to increase your popularity?

In an instant, the sadness of being eliminated in the 60-to-30 round was completely overshadowed by these two pieces of news.

Luo Yu raised the microphone: "Therefore, the song selection next is very important! The song you choose will determine which guest you will collaborate with!"

Ke Xirui chimed in, "But when you're choosing a song, you won't know who the guest behind it is!"

In other words, blind selection!

Each song represents a female guest who will join the contestant to perform on the third public stage. However, the contestant will not know which female guest they will be collaborating with until the song is chosen.

Given the show's track record, the trainees have reason to suspect that one of the five female guests must be Zhang Xinlan!

The trainees didn't really want to choose Zhang Xinlan.

Firstly, Zhang Xinlan is a mentor on the show, so everyone is already quite familiar with her, and there's no novelty. Secondly, since Zhang Xinlan is now a mentor, some of her popularity and buzz have already been consumed by the show itself, making her less anticipated than the other female guests.

Thirdly, and most importantly, Zhang Xinlan's singing skills are simply too powerful! None of the trainees had the confidence to stand out from her terrifying stage presence and become the most dazzling star on stage when performing on the same stage as her!

This disparity in strength cannot be compensated for by Zhang Xinlan's willingness to play a supporting role.

Seriously, you can't mess with them!

What kind of guest would the trainees most like to choose?

First and foremost, it's best to choose popular celebrities, so everyone can ride on each other's popularity and everyone's happy.

Secondly, there are popular actors. The audience of popular actors overlaps with that of idols, but they are not the same group. This helps trainees increase their national recognition and also helps actors consolidate their popularity, so it can be said that they benefit each other.

Finally, there are the veteran celebrities. These guests are highly accomplished and famous, almost household names, but their popularity is generally lower. This isn't to say that older generation stars don't have fans, but rather that their fans are older, more rational, and less enthusiastic than today's idol fans, creating a complementary dynamic.

Zhang Xinlan embodies a bit of all three types, yet she can't be categorized into any one of them. She's both a senior artist and currently very popular, possessing formidable talent and high profile. If she were to perform on stage, who would bother watching anyone else?

Therefore, Zhang Xinlan, X!

……

With only 30 trainees remaining in the sixth season of "Morning Star," there will only be five songs for this performance, all of which are original compositions by the show's production team! This can be considered another perk the production team is giving to the trainees.

The song selection order remained the same as the ranking order, but this time everyone hesitated for a long time. This was because all five songs were new and would require collaboration with guests for performances, with only seven days allotted.

But as you can imagine, the guests can't possibly spend 7 days practicing with the trainees in the big factory. At most, they can only take a day or two to get used to each other, which means there's obviously not enough time.

You have to consider the stage effect, the guests' cooperation, and whether your teammates can keep up with the pace. In short, it's a very complicated situation.

Lin Fan didn't have much to hesitate about. He had completely given up hope and no longer believed that his fans would actually heed his wishes and stop voting for him. Therefore, Lin Fan decided to choose a "group of death," preferably one where the other trainees were all overwhelmingly stronger, so that his own slightly dazzling brilliance could be overshadowed!

Alternatively, you can choose the "Royal Family" group! The production team will inevitably suppress their own votes to protect the "Royal Family," which will achieve the same goal!

Upon realizing this, Lin Fan's eyes lit up, feeling as if he had discovered a blind spot!

Lin Fan couldn't help but praise himself for his cleverness once again!

My brother is so smart!

However, just as Lin Fan walked towards Li Yingqi and Tu Jingyi's group, Li Yingqi's expression suddenly changed!

"Brother Fan, won't you reconsider?" Li Yingqi gave a professional smile, her eyes fixed intently on Lin Fan standing in front of her.