Before filming for the event started, Wang Xiaoou went through every process carefully. They brought their own makeup, makeup artist and even prepared their own wardrobe. Everything checked out.
As filming started, the first challenge was a hundred-meter swim race. Before that, the participants had to first train their swimming technique under the supervision of a swimming champion.
Whoever did well in that challenge would receive an advantage and special privileges.
Obviously, all the participants knew how to swim, just with different degrees of proficiency.
Hence, before the professional training began, all of them had to swim one lap and record their times. After training, they would then compare and see who had the biggest gains in performance.
Before Wang Xiaoou sent Ning Ran over, she asked, “How’s your swimming?”
“I had some practice when I was young, but rarely swam when I was older. I can only guarantee you that I won’t drown,” Ning Ran joked wryly.
“In that case, you should swim slower in the first round, so that your initial results won’t be that good. After training, the gap between your results will appear bigger, and you will have the advantage,” Wang Xiaoou whispered.
Ning Ran felt uncomfortable when she heard it. “Swim slowly on purpose? Isn’t that faking it? It would not be fair to the other contestants.”
Wang Xiaoou straightened her face. “This is a reality show, who isn’t faking it? Besides, you should keep it down.”
“But…”
“Don’t but me. You’re a guest star, so the audience’s attention will be focused on you. Therefore, you have to put in a good performance, or the netizens will have you for lunch,” Wang Xiaoou warned.
“This… ugh… very well.” Ning Ran had no choice but to agree.
Wearing her swimsuit in front of all the cameras, Ning Ran couldn’t help but feel awkward.
When she saw what the other female guests wore, Ning Ran suddenly felt that her swimwear was a joke.
Her swimsuit was extremely conservative as it only exposed her arms.
As for the other female guests, they were all scantily clad and exposed everything they had, regardless of whether it was appropriate to do so or not.
The interesting thing was that the producers were worried the show couldn’t get past the censorship on local television. Hence, they sent the other female guests back to change into something less revealing.
After some back and forth, the outfits were all resolved, and the first round of swimming began.
With some warming up, Ning Ran jumped into the water and swam forward with all her might.
Wang Xiaoou quickly reminded her to hold back her strength in the first round so that the increase in performance for the second round would be more significant.
However, Ning Ran wasn’t willing to take Wang Xiaoou’s advice. She felt that she should give it her best instead.
Given that the producers had set a rule like that, they would definitely be aware of the loophole it created. Therefore, they would be expecting people to take advantage of it.
Since the focus of the program was being true to oneself, Ning Ran felt that holding back would result in her being punished.
Although she didn’t know how the producers were going to determine whoever that was swimming slowly was faking it, she believed that it would be wrong for her to do. Thus, she didn’t want to put up an act the first time she was invited to such a popular reality show.
But when Wang Xiaoou saw how Ning Ran was swimming her heart out, she screamed in her heart.
How stupid can she be? Why doesn’t she listen to what I tell her?
What is she putting in so much effort for? In fact, is she trying to come in first place?
All the other celebrities are obviously swimming slowly on purpose. Only she is giving it her all. Is there something wrong with her brain?
Ning Ran put her best foot forward and didn’t notice what the other celebrities were doing. She was only focused on swimming forward as fast as she could.
When she lifted her head to take a look, she realized that she was in the first place.
She then felt awkward.
As for Wang Xiaoou, she felt like pushing Ning Ran’s head in the water so that she could calm down after choking on some pool water.
Now that you got yourself in the first place, how are you going to improve on your result later on?
After that, Ning Ran exited the pool before drying herself. Covering her head with a towel, she looked at Wang Xiaoou, who was fuming.
She quickly turned away to avoid making eye contact because she knew Wang Xiaoou was angry.
Earlier on, Ning Ran’s intention was just not to come in last. However, she didn’t expect all the other celebrities to fake their performance to the extent she ended up in first place.
They were simply holding back by ridiculously.
When the other celebrities came out of the pool, they looked at Ning Ran before exchanging glances with a smile.
In their minds, she had shown she was clearly a newbie to have done something as stupid as to obtain first place.
At that moment, the host came over. “Alright, now that you have finished swimming the first round, I will announce the results.”
Once he was done with the results, the host looked towards Ning Ran. “Now, let us congratulate Ding Mi for winning the first round of the swimming contest! Congratulations!”
All the other celebrities exchanged glances and smiled. They were all mocking her in their minds for being stupid and coming in the first place.
Ning Ran also felt embarrassed as she knew everyone was laughing at her for being dumb.
Life is tough. Since when did being true to oneself was perceived as being stupid?
“And in last place, we have Ms. Shen Yue.”
Shen Yue was one of the biggest stars of the show this season. She had started her career in Korea before returning to develop her career domestically. Hence, she was the most popular figure on the show.
She had gone through many rounds of plastic surgery and looked like the stereotypical beauty. However, she had a sexy figure and was daring in the way she dressed. With a sharp tongue, she was well-adored by her adolescent fans.
Most of the words she used to attack other celebrities were turned into memes on the internet. They were then used by other netizens to swear at the people around them.
“Damn it, how did I end up in the last place? This is terrible. I don’t know if can still continue filming given how embarrassing this is,” Shen Yue remarked with a smile.
She then walked towards Ning Ran. “You must be Mi Ding. Your performance in the pool was great. Did you grow up planting wheat or raising hogs? To be able to swim so fast with such an ugly technique, you must be relying on raw strength alone.”
She knew that Ding Mi was a newbie. Therefore, she purposely picked on Ding Mi by inverting her name to Mi Ding, so as to show her condescension.
The mockery that followed was even more rude.
Shen Yue’s style had always been like that. Every word that came out of her mouth sounded aggressive.
She was one of those uncivilized characters who was well-loved by netizens. It was simply incomprehensible.
Meanwhile, all the other celebrities burst out in laughter as they always enjoyed watching Shen Yue insult others.
All Ning Ran did was to smile without responding.
As she was still new, she didn’t want to get into a conflict with one of the permanent guests on the show.
If she dared to talk back and it was broadcasted, she would be berated by netizens even if she were doing the right thing.
The reason was simple. The netizens didn’t know Ning Ran well enough, but they are familiar with Shen Yue.
To the long-time fans of the show, Shen Yue could do no wrong. As for everything the newbie did, it would never be right.
Therefore, Ning Ran had to endure it.
“Since your surname is Mi, are you related to Mickey Mouse? Oh, I forgot that rats can swim very quickly too. Now that explains how you came in the first place.”
Just as she spoke, she burst into laughter.
Meanwhile, the other celebrities joined in. Even the production crew couldn’t help but laugh.
“Ms. Shen, you’re contradicting yourself. First, you claim that I raise hogs, and then you accuse me of being a mouse. Have you ever seen mice raising pigs? Hahaha.”
Despite laughing outwardly, Ning Ran was burning with rage inside. Therefore, she began to fight back indirectly.
However, Shen Yue didn’t expect Ding Mi to talk back at her, so her temper flared.
All this while, the guest stars of the show would show her respect no matter how important they are. How dare this small-time actress talk back at me? Are you disrespecting me?
