Chapter 29: First Place! A Crazy Face-Slapping

Chapter 29: Chapter 29: First Place! A Crazy Face-Slapping

Shannon Everett looked more mortified than ever, as if she’d been stripped naked for all to see. Taking a deep breath, she forced herself to say, "I didn’t know about the bribery. I have no idea why my brother would do something like this. Even if it was for my sake, I would never accept this kind of underhanded cheating... Dancing is my faith. I’ve worked so hard for so long because I wanted to compete fair and square, based on my own abilities! I am so sorry for disrupting the competition!"

Despite Shannon Everett’s sanctimonious speech, the audience wasn’t buying it.

"She didn’t know? Shannon Everett says she didn’t know?"

"Exactly! Wyatt Everett is her brother. They’re together all the time. How could she not know he bribed the judges?"

"But Shannon Everett really does practice hard in private, and she did dance very well this episode. It doesn’t look like she cheated her way in."

"You believe everything she says? Don’t be so naive, girl!"

「Backstage.」

When Wyatt Everett heard Shannon’s words, his expression went blank for a moment.

’Shannon actually said she didn’t know...’

It was true he had never explicitly told Shannon about bribing the judges, but he had hinted at it. He thought Shannon understood.

’Just now, when faced with the crowd’s accusations, Shannon claimed she didn’t know. Was she throwing him to the wolves, or... did she genuinely not know?’

A staff member walked past, giving him a complicated look.

Although the staff members said nothing, likely out of deference to the Everett Family’s reputation, the disdain in their eyes was impossible to hide.

Wyatt Everett felt as if their accusatory gazes were burning holes in his back, and he was overcome with utter humiliation.

’Most importantly, who leaked this audio? Who sent it to the production team’s email?’

An idea suddenly struck Wyatt Everett, and he immediately looked toward Sienna Everett on the stage.

He saw Sienna Everett standing there, calm and composed. Her exquisite, radiant face was perfectly serene, showing not a single trace of surprise or curiosity about the audio leak.

A chill instantly ran down Wyatt Everett’s spine. ’It has to be related to Sienna Everett!’

’Sienna Everett must have been the one who sent that audio to the production team’s email!’

’That monster. How could she be so ruthless to her own brother? How could she be so cold-blooded!’

「Onstage.」

When Isabelle Sutton saw the bribery scandal exposed, she was so excited she nearly jumped for joy. Shaking Sienna Everett’s arm, she whispered, "Sienna, no wonder the judges gave Shannon Everett such a high score—it turns out she paid for it! I told you she couldn’t dance as well as you! This is perfect. Getting exposed in front of everyone like this, she must be dying of humiliation! I wonder which legend leaked this audio. They’re amazing! This is so satisfying. I want to give them a medal!"

Sienna Everett didn’t know whether to laugh or cry at Isabelle Sutton’s reaction.

She had recorded the audio two days ago when she came for rehearsal. She’d overheard several judges discussing the matter and had recorded them with her phone.

She had sent it to the production team’s email in advance, but she hadn’t expected them to only see it after the performances were finished.

Meanwhile, the host had listened to Shannon Everett’s response but couldn’t determine if she was telling the truth. However, he announced, "Ladies and gentlemen, the director has just informed me via my earpiece that after an emergency discussion, the production team has decided to nullify all of the judges’ scores for all contestants!"

"After careful consideration, the production team has decided to hand over the scoring authority to the five hundred audience members present tonight! Each of you will have one vote to cast for your favorite contestant. The person with the most votes will become the grand champion of *Dancing National Style*! And they will have the chance to become Teacher Eleanor Yates’s personal disciple!"

After the host finished speaking, staff members began distributing voting devices to the audience. Since each person could only vote once, everyone was very careful with their choice.

The viewers in the livestream chat were not happy.

[I object! Why can only the live audience vote? Aren’t we viewers watching the livestream part of the audience too?]

[LMAO, this is an emergency! The production team probably didn’t have time to set up online voting.]

[Actually, online voting isn’t safe either. They could just hire bots to spam votes!]

[Holy shit, everyone go look at X! The Wyatt Everett bribery thing is trending! This is a nationwide humiliation!]

[I saw it too! So many people on the trending page are talking about it, and they’re all flaming Wyatt Everett! Calling him shameless, thinking he can just steal first place from someone else because he has a little money. Such a classless nouveau riche move!]

The live voting ended, and the production team quickly tallied the results.

The host then announced the rankings.

The host looked at the card in his hand and shouted, "After tallying the live votes, the contestant in eighth place is Rowan Shaw! With 18 votes!"

A few scattered claps rose from the audience.

This contestant had made a mistake during her performance due to nervousness, so her vote count was low.

The host continued announcing the rankings, quickly reaching fourth place. "And now I will announce the contestant in fourth place—Isabelle Sutton! With 35 votes!"

Isabelle Sutton, who was just happy to be done and ready to relax, was thrilled to get fourth place. She bowed to the audience in thanks.

Next, the host announced third place, and then second. "The contestant in second place is—Shannon Everett! With 43 votes!"

As soon as this ranking was announced, a wave of surprise went through the audience.

After asking around, it turned out that some people truly believed Shannon Everett was innocent. Plus, she had danced quite well today, so more than forty people had voted for her.

Next was the announcement of the first-place winner.

The host raised the microphone and announced loudly, "The winner of the *Dancing National Style* grand finals is—Sienna Everett! With a total of 305 votes! Congratulations, Sienna Everett!!"