CHAPTER 258
That night.
Arianna stepped out of the shower and sat at her dressing table. As she towel-dried her hair, she scrolled through her unread WhatsApp messages.
Rochelle was one of the first to send her congratulations for winning first place in the competition’s first round, even gifting her 5,200 bucks as a reward.
Best friends were truly the best!
There were also numerous other congratulatory messages from friends.
Starlight TV’s official account had posted the results of the first round on GossipNet, which was how everyone had found out.
But, as Arianna scrolled through, something was missing messages from Xander …
She felt a slight pang of disappointment but quickly brushed it aside. She navigated to GossipNet and was greeted by over 999 unread messages in her inbox.
At the same time, her follower count had skyrocketed by nearly a million.
Were all these people congratulating her? Had her popularity surged just because of her victory in the first round?
Curious, Arianna clicked on one of the private messages, but her eyes widened in shock at what she saw.
Rather than congratulating her, the message was filled with accusations. The person berated her for disregarding the competition’s rules, claimed she had used her status as Mrs King to unfairly secure first place, and said she had insulted her fellow contestants.
The message ended by demanding that she withdraw from the competition due to her supposedly poor character.
Arianna’s mind went blank for a moment.
She clicked on another message, only to find more of the same. The insults were relentless and even more vicious than before.
No matter how strong her heart was, it was hard not to feel hurt by the flood of negativity. She quickly turned off her private messages to block out the hate.
But she couldn’t shake the confusion. How had things spiralled suddenly? She needed to figure out what had gone wrong.
Arianna had won the first round that day purely through her abilities, and she was not about to tolerate such baseless accusations.
Her public image was crucial, especially for her future as a news anchor. No audience would ever trust an anchor with a tarnished reputation.
She didn’t even need to search for her name on GossipNet. The moment she opened the trending searches, her name was already in the third spot and climbing fast.
Curious and concerned, she clicked on the link to see what was happening.
The controversy stemmed from the official results that Starlight TV had released about an hour earlier, announcing her as the first-place winner.
Many netizens were sceptical, doubting that she was truly capable of winning the first round. The discussions grew heated, and amidst the debate, another official account posted something that added fuel to the fire.
The post alleged that there had been foul play in the competition. According to it, Arianna’s first-place result had been predetermined.
The post claimed that her abilities were slightly inferior to another contestant's, but thanks to her close connections with a senior figure at Starlight TV and her powerful backing, the more deserving contestant was unfairly relegated to second place.
On top of that, it was said that Jane, who had openly questioned Arianna’s victory, was then humiliated by her.
Allegedly, Arianna had forced Jane to bark like a dog in front of everyone at the entrance of the Starlight TV building.
There were also two videos circulating on GossipNet: one depicted a high-ranking figure—whose face was blurred—approaching Arianna at the TV station’s café. The video showed them entering an office together and spending some time there before emerging again.
The second video showed Jane being forced to bark at the entrance of the building.
Shortly after, an alleged insider commented:
[I was at the Starlight TV café when I saw the senior figure approach Arianna. I don’t know what they talked about, but they went upstairs together, and soon after, the competition results were announced, with Arianna in the first place.]
Another so-called insider chimed in [I saw it too. They didn’t even try to hide it as if they wanted everyone to know about her powerful connections.]
Public opinion quickly shifted from questioning Arianna’s abilities to accusing her of using influence and unethical behaviour to win the competition.
Netizens were outraged.
One commenter wrote: [I can’t stand people who use their power for personal gain. I used to feel sorry for Arianna because of her family situation, but it seems like she’s no different from them. Don’t let her become a news anchor—she’ll be a terrible role model!]
Another added: [Am I the only one who feels bad for the contestant who rightfully deserved first place but was pushed down to second? Her name is Harmony Jackson, right? I remember thinking she was the most talented and beautiful contestant. Too bad she doesn’t have the same connections. It’s such a shame.]
A third commenter expressed frustration: [This just makes me angry. What’s the point of us regular people working so hard to study and improve? If we have to deal with shady dealings like this in an open competition, it just proves that we’ll never be able to compete with those who have power.]
The fourth comment read: [People like Arianna, who has a rich and powerful spouse, don’t have to worry about anything their whole life. Why do they need to compete with ordinary folks just trying to make a living? It’s shameless. I strongly believe she should step down and stop appearing in public!]
The more Arianna scrolled through the comments, the deeper her frown became.
