The judges marveled in their hearts for a minute before they began to comment.
"My dear, at first glance, I thought you were kissing Mr. Acheson," Jeffery said, clutching his chest.
Zhou Yun Sheng widened his blue peach eyes, his face glowing red enough to drip blood. He didn't know how to respond to this sentence.
Bonnie and Eureka smiled, apparently they felt the same way.
Jeffery gave the boy a playful wink, and continued "But after looking carefully, I saw that it was a confrontation. The faithful servant had overstepped his bounds with his arrogant and noble master, so they ended up in this position. I see a sad, melancholy and romantic story in this photo. So it can have a happy ending, I'll give you 10 points."
"I'll also give you 10 points, I hope you can treat your faithful servant better." Bonnie joked.
"I take back all my previous judgments. THIS is the most brilliant photo I've seen so far. There seems to be a pattern, every time you come up, my record is broken. I like that. So you can impress me more in the future, I'll give you full marks." Eureka wrote a '10' in the air with her ballpoint pen.
Zhou Yun Sheng blinked and gave his thanks to the judges.
Bonnie asked before she gave the net score, "Do you want to see the audience's assessment of this picture?"
Zhou Yun Sheng looked up and nodded.
Bonnie snapped and a woman with colorful hair immediately popped up on the big screen.
She had two blood-stained toilet paper in her nostrils, and after adjusting the camera, she popped the paper out and seriously commented, "I saw a lot of swimwear on the official website, the contestants apparently wanted to show off their sex appeal, and I have to say, I admire how you guys weren't afraid of Acheson and Bonnie. But, you guys had the wrong mindset. Real sexiness doesn't come from exquisite looks and perfect bodies, but deep self-restraint and your character."
"Some people can wear the most conservative clothes, their shirt neatly buttoned up, even covered with a scarf, but they're unable to hide the sexiness radiating from their bones. I can understand why Mr. Acheson trapped Romeo in the coatroom, he must've been fascinated by his sexy little master. Their body language and eyes collided in passion and inexplicable tension. In that moment, the picture's beauty and style was instantly raised to the sophistication level of an oil painting. I gave you 10 points. Finally, I would like to say a word to Mr. Acheson – let go of Romeo, let him come to me!"
Zhou Yun Sheng was amused, he nodded at the fan on the screen in thanks.
Bonnie laughed earnestly before giving the net vote.
His high scores left all the players behind, even if Romeo's photo was not perfect, his fan votes alone could ensure that he wasn't eliminated. The contestants didn't understand where the millions of people who hated him disappeared to. Romeo has just been a little quieter lately, was that really enough to attract so many viewers?
But after seeing him laugh, his ocean blue and starry eyes complimenting his pure looks, the contestants seemed to understand the viewers' thoughts.
Hayden once again stood in front of Bonnie as one of the two potentially eliminated players, ultimately winning by a small margin. The eliminated contestant wanted to hug him, but he pushed them away. This indifferent and ruthless performance lowered the judges and the players' opinion on him even more.
Back at the villa, Hayden started drinking again. Because of the last light and display case smashing incident, the program group had brought him to a psychotherapist to help him ease his stress. That had caused him to feel very embarrassed, so this time, he didn't take out his anger on Romeo's photo, but his words were slanderous enough to cut.
Zhou Yun Sheng silently encouraged in his heart, "Curse me, curse me more. The faster you slander me, the faster your elimination approaches." Then he had a peaceful night's rest.
The ratings once again soared after the episode broadcasted. Romeo's fans rose by the hundreds of thousands a day, which attracted the attention of ABC, causing them to repeatedly ask the program group to not eliminate Romeo.
"Even if his next picture looks like a lump of shit, you have to keep him." These were the exact words of the CEO.
The audience's obsession placed the boy in an undefeatable position. If he doesn't get into the top three, the program group's website will undoubtedly crash under the angry users' protests. They loved Romeo too much, and their love seemed to be increasing.
They loved seeing his tender and fresh look after coming out of the bath, they loved seeing him gaze at Hayden with melancholy eyes, they loved seeing him and Ivana goof around, and they really loved his seriousness when he modeled.
Not only could he cook, he was a talented artist, in just a few minutes he was able to transfer the scene in his mind to a sketch more sophisticated than a real photograph. Many of the professional illustrators in the audience saw this scene and praised the boy's superb skills, saying how not many people could achieve this level of skill at such a young age. At this point, his fans included cat lovers, beauty lovers, mother hens, BL lovers (women and men), and the newly added fine art lovers.
His unparalleled charm radiated into every corner of society. When he interacted with Acheson, the ratings instantly soared to a staggering degree. An elegant and mature man, and an innocent teenager, a humble servant and an arrogant master, so refreshing.
When Acheson refused to give the boy wine and poured him milk instead, the audience laughed and rolled on their sofas. When the two faced off in the coatroom, the distance between them close enough to kiss, the audience covered their faces and squealed. When the two ended their cooperation and parted ways, the audience gave a regretful sigh. They liked seeing the two get along, it felt very natural.
But the sensitive to rot, the BL lovers, found things fishy and immediately expressed their thoughts online:
"Did you feel that Mr. Acheson was particularly gentle when dealing Romeo too?"
"Mr. Acheson obviously wanted to take pictures with Romeo, and I felt that he was most focused with Romeo. He was very absent-minded with the other players." As evidence they attached a screenshot of Acheson with dull eyes.
"Yay! I wasn't alone in this! Acheson always peeped at Romeo, really it's true, you have to observe carefully." They also attached a few screenshots of Acheson sneakily peeking at the boy.
"I feel that Mr. Acheson's devotion to Romeo was not part of the act. My whole body heated up when they flirted. When they stand together, Acheson always leans a little forward, as if he wants to pull Romeo into his arms. I drew inspiration from them, so my next fanfic will be about them. The loyal servant looking upon his master in forbidden lust. A dark story full of imprisonment play, water play, BDSM, candles, whips, the whole shebang."
This user started a post to advertise their own fanfic, but quite a few people were interested in buying it, and private messages were exchanged.
Acheson declined to comment on these remarks, and the vast majority of people just took it as a joke. Romeo liked men true, but Acheson was a straight man, there had been several rumors of him and a few popular female stars.
Acheson's fans were known for their possessiveness, and anyone who coveted their idol would be unconditionally attacked. The stars involved in the past rumors faced their wrath, they were humiliated and scolded, and some even ran out in front of the media to beg for mercy, crying about how unbearable the harassment was getting.
But the rotten women's shipping miraculously didn't provoke their overreaction. Although some people protested, most fans remained silent. They really felt favorable about the clean and pure teenager, especially when he said that Acheson was the sun and he was just dirt. That generous and humble reverence directly resonated with Acheson's fans.
He worshiped their idol, his heart was about to explode from nervousness just from working with their idol. He was even willing to belittle his crush to boost up their idol. How can Romeo be so sweet and so lovely ah! No wonder Mr. Acheson is so kind to him.
The fans identified with Romeo and began to support him.
Seeing this trend, Acheson was really relieved. He regretted hiding in the closet for so long, if he'd had the courage to face life like Romeo, he wouldn't have fallen into this predicament where he had to hide his love.
Everyone thought that Gustav Acheson was a straight man, even his Kitten also thought so, how could he get Kitten's heart? This problem plagued Gustav, giving him restless sleep for days.
Ivana's valiant character also won the audience's favor. Her number of fans finally surpassed Emily and took second place.
Emily's watching the pot while eating from her bowl behavior [To be greedy. Modernly used to describe infidelity] provoked a large percentage of the audience's disgust. Although all the female players were panting after Acheson, most of the hostility landed on her. Except for Ivana, all the female players suffered varying degrees of reduction in online votes.
As for Hayden, his image had turned from being a tough guy and an aristocratic son, to an arrogant and annoying buffoon. When he showed off his muscles to Bonnie, a majority of the audience ridiculed him. He even boasted that Bonnie was captivated by him and became his loyal fan.
But in fact, after Bonnie finished the shooting, she gave the camera a big eye roll, showing how she thought he was a fool.
The editing gave this contrast a very comedic effect, causing the audience to laugh hysterically.
"I think Hayden should drop out of the game and do sitcoms. He'll make good comedic relief."
"I stalked my own TV this week just so I can see Hayden as soon as possible. Hayden never lets me down, I can always get a good laugh out of him!"
"Hayden baby is so entertaining, he brings me joy. But I still have to be honest, this high level game isn't suitable for him, he should be a circus clown. I would definitely take my family to a show."
This kind of 'praise' and aggressive scolding was numerous. If Hayden could see the audience's messages on the official website, he would dig a hole to bury himself. He thought his confident performance would attract the audience's favor, but he'd incorrectly estimated the line between powerful and foolish.
It was only the fifth episode, yet his fans had dwindled to a couple thousand people, and most of them were ironic fans, hoping he would continue to embarrass himself on the show.