The Ex-Wife's Burning Elegance novel Chapter 691

As soon as the new rule was announced, it sparked a storm of discussion and widespread praise among the public.

If a contestant chosen by popular vote ended up impacting the outcome of the competition, it wouldn’t be fair to the other participants. There was also the risk of things turning ugly—vote rigging and other dishonest tactics weren’t unheard of. But on the other hand, if the voting was purely ceremonial, with no real reward or significance, then what was the point of holding it at all?

To solve this dilemma, the organizers came up with an ingenious solution.

Stella Cameron had barely finished her performance when her votes began to soar, shooting up so quickly that the online voting platform started to lag. She hadn’t even had a chance to give her thank-you speech, and already the system was struggling to keep up. At the same time, the livestream audience numbers spiked dramatically, the broadcast suddenly as popular as those of the hottest internet celebrities.

In an age where looks seem to rule everything, who could resist such a stunning and charming young woman? Stella’s beauty was striking and memorable—far from the cookie-cutter influencers filling everyone’s feeds these days.

In the control room backstage, the technical director stared at the screen in disbelief, his words tumbling out in excitement.

“Director, we’ve gone viral! We’re blowing up!”

The man in charge, Howard Shaw, was a third-tier director whose career had never really taken off. Honest to a fault, Howard was notorious for refusing to play political games or fake results, a trait that made him unpopular among industry insiders. As a result, he’d always been shut out of the big, prestigious shows; he couldn’t even land a spot on a proper television broadcast.

These days, even talent shows and competitions that looked fair on the surface often had their outcomes scripted behind closed doors. But Howard refused to take part in anything underhanded. Now in his fifties, his reputation and résumé had stagnated for years.