Chapter 546 - The laurel of the Most Unpopular Celebrity Award! (1/2)
Chapter 546: The laurel of the Most Unpopular Celebrity Award!
At 12 o'clock sharp.
Weibo's Most Popular and Most Unpopular Celebrity Awards polling begins.
”It's beginning!”
”The polling system is up!”
”Haha, supporting Heavenly King Chen!”
”Supporting Sister Zhang!”
”This year still belongs to 'Fatty Wu' whose acting was incredibly G.o.dly! He fully deserves my vote!”
”Supporting Zhang Ye with one vote! Teacher Zhang has had a difficult year!”
”d.a.m.n, I despise your vote for Zhang Ye!”
”Same here, despising your vote for Zhang Ye. I can give my vote for the most popular celebrity to anyone but him. He is even trying to call for people to support him? How is he not embarra.s.sed? Going around scolding and offending people with that character of his, as long as it doesn't have the world's 'most popular' in it, I will be willing to vote for him! Come to think of it, Zhang Ye has got such a thick skin. The Korean celebrities, literary world, crosstalk world, and so many others have all been offended by him before. Yet he dares to ask for supporters to vote for him? Go figure! How could any normal person be as thick skinned as him?!”
”I'm supporting Zhang Ye for his role in bringing glory to our country by proving the global mathematical conjecture!”
”Pfft, if Zhang Ye hadn't used 'On Horses' to scold our Chinese mathematics world, I would have voted for him for sure!”
”Willing to give a vote to anyone but Zhang Ye. During the Lunar New Year, that Brain Gold commercial kept playing so much that I vomited more than 10,000 times!”
”To add on, that wretch even tainted the crosstalk and skit compet.i.tion.”
Zhang Ye's current status in the entertainment circle was too eccentric. You wouldn't be able to find another celebrity as controversial as him in this business.
The contention for the rankings began furiously!
Every celebrity used novel ways to canva.s.s for votes. In the blink of an eye, the top 100 names were already out. Of course, they were not consistently placed as the vote numbers kept changing. Because the rankings were refreshed every second in real time, there wasn't any delay with the rankings. They were seen clearly by everyone. The first page only showed the top 100, and even though the latter rankings could be checked as well by navigating to the next few pages, the netizens were mainly only concerned with the top 100.
On the rankings for the most popular celebrity.
Continuing from her previous post to call for supporters to vote for her, Dong Shanshan suddenly posted another Weibo update that had no text. It was but a picture. It was a selfie, apparently taken at home. Dong Shanshan did not have much makeup on, but her clothing was on the s.e.xy looking side. In the picture, Dong Shanshan posed with both her hands under her chin and sending out flying kisses. From this, it was evident that she had placed great importance on the outcome of this award.
”Shanshan, we're here!”
”My G.o.ddess!”
”Everyone, let's vote together!”
Within the first few minutes, with a Weibo post attached with a picture to canva.s.s for votes, Dong Shanshan's votes kept rising steadily and her name was pushed into the top 100. At one point in time, it even hit 89th place and stayed there for a while before getting pushed out of the top 100 spots before finally settling at around 300th. As Dong Shanshan had only debuted a short while ago, she was still not at the height of popularity, even though her WebTV program had very good viewers.h.i.+p, she was beautiful looking, and had a lot of diehard fans who treated her as a G.o.ddess. She was still just an E-list celebrity. Briefly ranking in the top 100 at the start was already an outstanding achievement.
Although Yao Jiancai had risen into the C-list celebrity rankings after the crosstalk compet.i.tion, since he did not ask for voting support, and with no new works recently, he was placed outside of the top 500.
Similarly, Zhang Yuanqi did not ask for voting support, but being a heavenly queen, even if she did not explicitly state it, she would still have the support of her countless fans. From the minute the voting began, Zhang Yuanqi was already firmly placed in the top 10, hovering between 8th or 9th place.
Lee Anson was currently in 105th place—since the incident at the Spring Festival Gala, his popularity in China had been greatly affected. He didn't even get into the top 100.
Korean singer Lee Parkwoo was in 59th place.
Crosstalk actor Tang Dazhang was currently 233rd.
Songstress Grandma Zhang Xia was in 399th place currently.
Famed skit actress Ci Xiufang's placing was the 421st spot.
It could be seen that Weibo's most popular celebrity rankings varied from the official Celebrity Rankings by a lot. The latter relied more on comprehensively collated data, with specific objects affecting the overall ranking. It was thus the most authoritative ranking list around. It presented the celebrities' overall strengths through the rankings and was recognized by everyone. As for the popularity award poll by Weibo, it was just an unofficial ranking with aims on finding the current ”most popular” celebrity. It had more motivation behind each vote, possibly from fan base cohesiveness, ma.s.s appeal, or recent news and activities. Of course, it also had a direct effect from whether a celebrity canva.s.sed for votes on Weibo. Because of all these factors, there was such a large fluctuation in rankings making it a much more interesting selection. Otherwise, if the rankings mirrored the official Celebrity Ranking system, then what meaning was there to all of this?
As for Zhang Ye's ranking right now?
At his maternal grandma's house, his three sisters were yelling!
”Brother, I've already voted for you!”
”Seven of my cla.s.smates have also voted for you.”
”What rank are you at now?”
Zhang Ye had also conveniently cast a vote for himself before scrolling through his phone with his sisters to check the rankings. Wow, it looked like his canva.s.sing for votes had worked to great effect as there were already 70,000 votes for him! He was currently in 58th place.
His third sister clapped happily and said, ”One spot above Lee Parkwoo?”
”It's still not enough,” said his second sister. ”Our brother has the strength to be within the top 50!”
Zhang Ye laughed and said, ”I like what I hear.”
His eldest sister said excitedly, ”I will ask my cla.s.smates if they still have any votes!”
His third sister stood up and said, ”My parents are Weibo users too! I will get them to vote!”
Actually, Zhang Ye knew that being placed 58th currently was already a very good result. As he was still only a C-list celebrity, though not far from the B-list, his popularity was still not there yet. There were many others who were more popular than him. Just the number of S-list and A-list celebrities, together with those foreign celebrities that were very popular in China, would already take up the top 50 spots. In fact, there were probably even more than that, so for a C-lister like Zhang Ye to get his current ranking was definitely down to his proving of a global mathematical conjecture. The momentum that he got from that incident had not died down yet. With the constant coverage on the newspapers, the people were still actively discussing about this matter. Just these past few days alone, the headlines on Weibo were still focused on him. Because of all these reasons, Zhang Ye managed to get a rather good ranking at the start of the voting.
Zhang Ye's fans were out in full force!
”Charge!”
”Teacher Zhang's already in 58th place!”
”Is that all we got?”
”Keep pus.h.i.+ng it up! We can't let Teacher Zhang's first battle after his comeback end with a fizzle. We need to kick this up a notch! Only that will suit our usual style!”
”Well said! Let me get my friends to vote too!”
An hour pa.s.sed.
56th place……
50th place……
49th place……
Votes for Zhang Ye steadily increased as he edged forward in the rankings. However, it could be seen just how much effort it took for him to climb up the ranks. Those singers, actors, and foreign celebrities had fans that numbered more than 10,000. So being able to move up the rank by one spot took everything from his fans. Luckily, being able to get into the top 50 was already a form of achievement. Before the voting started, no one had expected him to be able to get such a rank!
On Weibo, many of those who disliked Zhang Ye could not bear to watch any further.
”Holy sh*t!”
”That Zhang Ye actually advanced into the top 50!”
”Why did so many people vote for him?”
”We can't let him get up there! We have to stop him!”
”Down with Zhang Ye!”
”Fellow victims of the Brain Gold commercial, let's do this!”
Countless people started taking action. For example, those who Zhang Ye offended before, the crosstalk world, the literary world, and so on, the fans of those who had ever been scolded by him and even those who were here just to have fun, all of them were trying to stop Zhang Ye's advance together! The action they took was to naturally vote for Zhang Ye in the ”Most Unpopular Celebrity Award.” Since the two awards were separate, it meant that, even if they voted for him in the unpopular poll, it wouldn't affect the popular poll. If everyone was not able to stop him from rising in the positive rankings, then they could only take it out on him on the negative rankings!
Zhang Ye was eating right now.
In the house, lunch was served. His three sisters were called by the elders to eat. The whole family sat in the living room, but as there were too many people, they were divided into two tables. The tables that drank and the one that didn't.
His grandma asked, ”What were you kids doing just now?”
His third sister said cheekily, ”Voting for brother on Weibo's Most Popular Celebrity Awards. He's already in the top 50 and the only C-list celebrity there. The others are all celebrities from either the A- or B-list.” For Lee Anson, Lee Parkwoo and other foreign celebrities, the Chinese Celebrity Rankings did not include them. Even though Lee Anson was also a C-list celebrity, he was a C-list in Korea, so it was a different matter.
His mother said, ”He's ranked that high?”
Zhang Ye who was drinking with his grandpa said, ”Of course, your son, me, is no longer a common person. My fans number in the tens of thousands, so my appeal is for real.”
His father raised his chin and said, ”Alright, stop boasting.”
”How am I boasting? It's the truth,” Zhang Ye said, not liking what he heard.
First Aunt said, ”Ahem, seems like a lot of of people are scolding that Brain Gold commercial.”
Zhang Ye waved his hands and replied cheerfully, ”First Aunt, just because a lot of people are scolding me online doesn't mean I am unpopular. Actually, they're not really scolding me at all. In fact, they like me a lot. I think you can see that from the rankings, right? If everyone does not like me, why would they vote so many times for me? Would I be able to garner so much support just by saying a few words? Don't be fooled by some criticisms you just see online. They are all fake and come from my enemies' fans trolling me. If you don't believe it, just go online and asked around. I'm sure 99 in 100 like me and support me.”
His eldest sister laughed without saying a word.
His second sister rolled her eyes, not bothering to explain either.
Only his grandma agreed, ”Yes, no one can compare to our Little Ye.”
”See? Grandma is the only smart one around here.” Zhang Ye took some food and gave it to his grandma.
Suddenly, his third sister who had been looking at her phone all this time exclaimed, ”d.a.m.n! What the h.e.l.l is happening here?”
”What's the matter?” asked his first aunt.
His grandma stared at her. ”You gave me a fright! What a loud girl.”
Zhang Ye also looked at her with a smile and said, ”My ranking went up again, right? What place am I at now?”
His third sister didn't know whether to laugh or cry. ”Brother, take a look yourself. When you see it, you'll understand!”
”Heh, you're even trying to make this suspenseful?” Zhang Ye took out his phone from his pocket and browsed to the most popular celebrity rankings, ”It's still at 49th. There are no changes?”
Zhang Ye's mother, second uncle and aunt also took out their phones to check Weibo.
His third sister sighed and said, ”It's not the most popular celebrity rankings. You should be looking at the most unpopular celebrity rankings instead!”
Zhang Ye scoffed at this. ”Why should I be looking at that? Your brother here is a famous national celebrity who is being called 'the celebrity with a conscience' by the people in the industry. How could I be on that list of ranking?” Saying so, he still proceeded to scroll through the list as he was curious who would be voted into the top 10 of this year's most unpopular celebrities.
Each year, at the Weibo celebrity rankings, people did not pay the most attention to the most popular celebrity rankings but were always more interested in the most unpopular celebrity rankings. Why? This was the kind of mentality that most people had when they sensed trouble for others. Whichever most popular celebrity, most s.e.xy celebrity, most outstanding song, most talked about movie, etc, there were too many of such kinds of rankings around. Whether it were domestic or international rankings, they were usually focused on the positives and it had become the norm for ranking selections. However, a most unpopular ranking selection was almost unheard of anywhere. A green leaf would stand out if it were placed in the middle of a thousand flowers, like a national treasure. These sort of reverse trending rankings were rarer than rare. And so, because of these reasons, everyone adopted a joking mentality when they approached such ranking selections and always paid the most attention to the most unpopular celebrity award, curious to know who would be the unlucky one to walk away with the ”honors”!
Last year, the top 3 most unpopular celebrities were a close fight and had a very tight finish. It was settled between 3 directors and deputy directors involved in the scandals of unspoken rules within the film industry.
The year before, the fight for this ranking selection was between 3 people involved in the production of a repugnant viral song, namely the lyricist, singer, and music composer. It was as though the people had come to a common understanding when it came to voting for them. Their positions were only decided at the very last minute of voting as the voters finally agreed that the lyrics to that viral song was the worst of it and therefore voted the lyricist into first place.
As for this year, there were some discussions earlier about who should be the most unpopular celebrity. The most discussed celebrities slated to be in the top ranks of this award were those who had taken part in the filming of River, a movie with big investments and a highly acclaimed director and top actors. But when it premiered, it was so disappointing that everyone could only curse at it from beginning to end. They all felt that this film was basically rubbish and shouldn't be watched, so naturally, the film's director, screenwriter, and main lead became the top contenders for the award. They were also slated to do a clean sweep of the top 3 ranks—Well, that was what everyone thought anyway.
But what happened in reality?