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Chapter 128
“Wow!”
The audience was suddenly all hyped up!
The host, trembling with excitement, asked, “So, you never ever contradict her? Is that true?”
Egbert chuckled lightly with his gaze still fixed on Eileen.
The host, taking a deep breath, turned to Eileen. “Ms. Lopez, if I may ask, what’s your relationship with
Mr. Reed?”
Eileen picked up the microphone and coolly replied, “I’m his boss.”
Seeing everyone fall silent, Eileen continued, “If anyone bullies him, I’ll step in and protect him. I also
take him to collect his winnings, so being his boss shouldn’t be a problem, right?”
Egbert calmly said, “Let’s move on to the next segment.”
The host stammered, trying to guide Egbert to his seat. Suddenly, he received a notification from the
director through his earpiece. “Put Egbert in the judges’ seat. We paid him 500,000 for his appearance.
He should be on camera more!”
The host felt awkward, turned off his microphone and whispered into his earpiece, “Director, isn’t that
inappropriate? The four coach seats were specially made, we can’t just add one.”
The director said, “We can add one to the celebrity coach seats. He was invited by Eileen, so they can
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇtsit together. Just keep them chatting. We’re arranging the seating.”
The host resigned himself to the situation, turned his microphone back on, and continued chatting with
Egbert.
Egbert seemed oblivious to the behind-the-scenes maneuvers, and amiably chit-chatted with the host.
Five minutes later, the seating was arranged. The host personally invited Egbert to sit next to Eileen at
the judges’ table. Aurora couldn’t help herself and asked, “Isn’t the guest seat over there?”
The host quickly explained, “Well, actually, Mr. Reed isn’t just Ms. Lopez’s guest today. He’s also our
honored judge and award presenter! That’s why he’s sitting here!”
The titles of honored judge and award presenter were obviously made up on the spot. But hey, they
paid him a whopping 500,000, right? That was a cool half-a-million bucks!
He was here, so why not make the most of his star power? Otherwise, wasn’t that money just going to
get wasted?
Did you know how hard the director had to work to get that appearance fee approved? He almost had
to beg at the door of the station head office!
As Egbert calmly took his seat, the host announced the start of the stage performance.
Just like the first performance, after each group dance, the coaches, and the celebrity coaches gave
their reviews.
Once the coaches finished their reviews, the audience started voting. The coaches’ scores and the
audience’s votes are combined for the group’s final score.
Most of the morning performances went well.
Until Hubery’s group hit a snag.
During their dance, two contestants started stepping on each other in a bid for the center spot. After the
performance, both contestants started crying. One accused the other of stealing her spot. The other
contestant retorted that she was supposed to be in the lead to begin with, having practiced for five
days. But the night before, the coach switched her out after a talk with the other girl. She found it unfair.
This sparked a public argument! The cameras all zoomed in on coach Hubery.
Hubery, holding his microphone, coldly told the switched-out contestant, “I didn’t switch you out
because of someone’s complaint. I watched your performance and thought you had problems with your
steps as the lead.”
The contestant straightened up and asked, “So, she has no problems? I practiced the lead’s steps for
five days. But she was made the lead at the last minute and couldn’t keep up. We had to reduce our
movements to match her steps. Is that fair to us? Did we waste the past five days for nothing?”
Hubery suddenly stood up, angrily saying, “If you can’t accept my decision, why did you join my team? I
made adjustments after discussing with the dance teacher to improve the overall performance. If you
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏmhave any issues, you could have talked to me privately. Did you consider the feelings of the other
members when you caused this scene?”
The contestant was left speechless. She covered her mouth and sobbed uncontrollably.
Hubery sat back down and told the host, “Let’s go to the next group.”
The host, microphone in hand, was about to wrap up the incident. Eileen suddenly interjected, “You’re
Cecilia, right?”
The sobbing girl looked up at Eileen, tears streaming down her face.
Eileen looked at the contestant’s information in front of her, paused for a moment, and said, “You’re a
provincial street dance champion, and a city-level tap dance champion. You’ve been dancing for nine
years, won 12 provincial awards, six city-level awards, and last year, you were admitted to the top
dance school in the province as the top freshman. Great achievements. But do you know why you were
switched out?”
Cecilia stared blankly at her.
Hubery sensed something was off, frowned, and looked at Aurora, whose face turned serious.
Eileen casually said, “You were switched out because you chose the wrong coach.”
Eileen chuckled. “The girl next to you, the one who replaced you, her name is Tania. She’s Aurora’s
niece. So, Cecilia, do you still think it’s unjust that you were replaced?”
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