Starting August 20th, the five members began following their new class schedule.
Dance classes not only focused on building fundamentals every day but also required learning many additional dance moves. Vocal lessons systematically trained their vocal cord closure, breath control while singing, and more technical skills.
Teacher Qiao also taught them extensive music theory, helping them understand the patterns of harmonic modulation, and arranged old songs for them to practice repeatedly.
FTM’s debut process was actually a case of the higher-ups forcing growth through “exam-oriented education” intensive training—they were directly given the test questions and only needed to memorize the answers.
Although their debut performance was successfully completed, their fundamental skills weren’t solid enough, and they lacked team chemistry—this was the biggest flaw of FTM’s hasty formation. They needed to make up for these shortcomings as quickly as possible.
The news of FTM’s upcoming variety show appearance was officially announced one week in advance. Many investment fans came out in force.
“Wow, does this obscure group already have a variety show?”
“Not bad, looks like investing in them wasn’t a mistake.”
“Next Friday evening on Taohe Platform’s ‘Red-Blue Competition,’ got it, I’ve set an alarm to watch on time.”
“I’ve never heard of this variety show… Oh well, an unknown group naturally can only appear on unknown variety shows, I’ll watch it.”
Some people also came out to mock: “Having a variety show right after debut, they’re truly resource-privileged stars.”
This comment was followed by several hundred replies:
“Other boy bands can appear on variety shows before debut, why don’t you mention that?”
“Who’s being sour about our small unknown group? They debuted with zero fan base, what’s wrong with them promoting on a variety show?”
Mo Xun scrolled through the hashtag page and found that investment fans were actually defending them? It was quite heartwarming.
The intensive classes made each day pass quickly.
In the blink of an eye, it was Friday, August 30th, the scheduled time for the variety show recording.
After dinner, Manager Xu called to urge them to gather in the garage, taking them to get their makeup and styling done.
On the way, Manager Xu handed a stack of documents to Mo Xun, saying: “Here’s today’s show procedure, share it with everyone to look over first.”
Mo Xun passed the information to his teammates, casually rotating the second-row seats so everyone could face each other and study the show brief.
This was their first variety show after debut, an entertainment program produced by the Taohe video platform called “Red-Blue Competition,” where guests played various games, divided into red and blue teams to compete.
The popularity of this variety show in the industry could only be considered third-rate, certainly not comparable to top-tier shows with high national viewership.
But it had a consistent audience with stable ratings because it had a special feature—live broadcasting.
Manager Xu explained: “Most variety shows are pre-recorded, but ‘Red-Blue Competition’ is live. The selling point is that red and blue teams composed of guest participants compete in three rounds of games, while the regular hosts place bets, receiving punishments if they bet incorrectly.”
“At the same time, viewers watching the live broadcast can also place bets in the Weibo topic area, with those guessing correctly eligible to participate in a drawing for celebrity signatures.”
Fang Yinnian had a sudden realization—wasn’t this actually a gambling game?
Public gambling would certainly not be allowed, but this method of “playing games, betting on wins and losses, and receiving punishments for incorrect bets” was very clever.
Since the program was live, no one knew who would win or lose, giving audiences more of a sense of participation as they played along.
Fang Yinnian said: “Isn’t live broadcasting a variety show quite risky? If there’s a mistake, it can’t be edited out, right?”
Manager Xu smiled and said: “Don’t worry. This kind of variety show is just for fun. Guests won’t be criticized by viewers whether they win or lose. Viewers actually enjoy watching the punishment segments. Just relax and play a few games.”
Only then did Fang Yinnian feel relieved.
Tan Junwen asked curiously: “Are there 5 more guest participants today forming another team to compete against us?”
Manager Xu said: “That’s right, the other five are all actors.”
Fang Yinnian’s knowledge of the film and television industry was quite lacking. He hadn’t even heard of the male lead in the popular drama Tan Junwen had been following recently, and he didn’t recognize any of the traffic-generating celebrities who had risen to fame in recent years.
He looked worriedly at Manager Xu: “What’s the lineup of the other team like?”
Manager Xu smiled and said: “Don’t worry, the guest participants on the other team are also obscure young people just like you.”
The five of them: “…”
It seemed this third-tier variety show was a gathering of obscure celebrities.
Then there was no need for any pressure, they could just play freely.
***
Half an hour later, the van stopped in the Taohe studio’s underground garage. The five got out of the car one after another and followed their manager to the makeup room.
Since it was a game-focused variety show, the styling couldn’t be too complex. Everyone had very light everyday makeup with simply arranged hair.
The costumes for the variety show “Red-Blue Competition” were provided by the production team. The five guest participants wore white casual pants and blue sports short-sleeves, while the other five guests wore black casual pants and red sports short-sleeves.
The team assignments were decided in advance, and FTM was assigned to the blue team today.
Everyone went to the changing room together to change into the clothes provided by the production team. They brought their own shoes, with all five wearing white sneakers.
After the five had their styling done, they took several photos, and the production’s photographers also shot some behind-the-scenes video material. Looking at the image of the five standing together, Manager Xu smiled with satisfaction: “Not bad, fresh young men, full of energy.”
All five members of FTM had great physiques and appearances. Even wearing the simplest white pants and blue sportswear, they looked like models.
There was still half an hour before recording began.
Manager Xu took them to meet the staff: “This is Director Zhou, and host Sister Xu Xin.”
The five greeted them politely.
The other five guest participants for this variety show had also completed their styling and gathered here.
It was normal for Fang Yinnian not to recognize them since he didn’t follow the entertainment industry. But even Tan Junwen and Fu Fei, who often watched dramas and followed celebrity gossip, said they weren’t familiar with them. Indeed, there was no “most obscure,” only “more obscure.”
The regular guests, however, were quite famous.
One of them was Cheng Kangle, a well-known comedy star in variety shows; another was Zhang Yu, who won Best Supporting Actor at a film festival last year; and the third was Xu Jia, an actress specializing in playing villains, with several iconic roles under her belt.
“Hello, teachers.” The five members of FTM weren’t familiar with either the guest participants or the regular guests, so they bowed politely and addressed everyone as “teacher,” not daring to offend anyone as newcomers.
“Hello,” the other guests greeted them courteously in return.
“FTM, the idol boy band that debuted this month, right?” Cheng Kangle walked over with a cheerful smile and said, “All newbies—your first time on a variety show!”
“Yes, teacher,” Mo Xun replied with a smile.
“Let me tell you something—variety shows are all scripted. Today, you five are guaranteed to win, and the other team will intentionally lose according to the plan. Got it?” Cheng Kangle said seriously. “I’ll bet on your team winning, and the other two regular guests will bet wrong and have to face punishment.”
“??” The five looked at each other in confusion. Is that really how it works?
“You understand now?” Cheng Kangle smiled at Fang Yinnian. “Later, I’ll give you the script.”
“Do we need to act according to the script?” Fang Yinnian asked earnestly.
“Old Cheng, stop teasing the rookies!” Another guest couldn’t bear it anymore and stepped forward to clarify: “Don’t believe his nonsense. This variety show has no script—winning or losing depends entirely on your performance.”
Fang Yinnian: “…”
“Hahaha! The rookie is so cute; you actually believed me.” Seeing Fang Yinnian’s innocent expression, Cheng Kangle patted him on the shoulder and said, “You won’t survive in the entertainment industry like this—you’ll get tricked.”
Fang Yinnian blushed slightly. He had indeed heard that many variety shows were scripted beforehand, so he had almost believed it.
“Teacher Cheng really knows how to joke,” Mo Xun stepped forward with a smile and said, “We’re not very familiar with how this program works.”
“Just play casually; winning or losing doesn’t matter—just have fun,” Cheng Kangle said cheerfully. “Anyway, this show doesn’t have much attention on it, so there’s no pressure.”
“Thank you, teacher,” Mo Xun replied politely.
This regular guest was quite humorous—he intentionally teased Fang Yinnian for fun. People who worked in variety shows were indeed very relaxed and open; they started joking around with them right from their first meeting.
The director stepped forward and said: “All guests can rest for now. The recording will start promptly at 7 PM! Although it’s live-streamed, please don’t stress—our games are simple enough that even if you lose, the punishment segment won’t deliberately make things difficult for you.”
He waved to the host. A ponytailed female host walked over and said: “Hello everyone, I’m Xu Xin, your host. Later I’ll guide you through the games. There will be three rounds in total; the game rules and procedures are written on the program brief. Please familiarize yourselves with it first—if there’s anything unclear, feel free to ask me.”
This variety show had a “game card pool,” where three games were randomly drawn for each episode. For today’s episode, they drew *Pictionary*, *Fun Relay Race*, and *Blindfolded Battle*.
Mo Xun asked: “Excuse me, host—what kind of content will we need to guess during Pictionary? Idioms, single words, or sentences?”
Xu Xin replied: “The simpler ones will be single words; harder ones might be long sentences—it depends on what your teammates draw from the card pool. You can discuss beforehand who will do the drawing.”
Mo Xun nodded in understanding and gave his teammates a look. They linked arms together to form a circle and lowered their heads to strategize.
Mo Xun lowered his voice: “For the first round of Pictionary, Junwen will handle the drawing—is that okay?”
Tan Junwen smiled confidently: “No problem—I draw quickly.”
The rules of Pictionary were simple: one teammate sees a word or phrase displayed on the screen and describes it by drawing while the others guess. Correct guesses earn points.
Since Junwen had studied art before, having him draw was definitely reliable.
Mo Xun continued: “For the second round—the Fun Relay Race—we’ll go by age order. Xiao Fei will start first, followed by Junwen, Tang Che, Yinnian, and finally me.”
Everyone nodded in agreement: “Sounds good.”
Mo Xun added: “As for the third round—the Blindfolded Battle—I’ve never played it before either; we’ll just rely on instinct. Points are calculated based on how many times you hit your opponent. Everyone should try to move quickly and hit more often—it’s fine since we’ll be using inflatable hammers that don’t hurt when they hit.”
Everyone laughed lightly at his explanation and nodded their approval for the plan.
He decisively said: “Let’s go with this plan. The games aren’t too difficult—we’ll try to win one or two rounds, which should be good enough.”
Mo Xun proactively put his hand forward: “FTM!”
Everyone shouted together: “Let’s go!”
Time quickly reached 7 PM, and the variety show recording officially began.
At the same time, the Taohe Video App promoted “Red-Blue Competition” with a pop-up on its homepage: “New group FTM makes their first appearance as guest participants. Which team will win—red or blue? Stay tuned for this week’s Red-Blue Competition!”
This variety show was live-streamed with randomly selected games each episode. It had a dedicated audience, and today many of FTM’s investment fans had also joined in.
As soon as the livestream began, the bullet comment section became very lively.
[The small unknown group is making progress, already appearing as guest participants?]
[Coming to check out the small unknown group’s first variety show]
There were also fans of other guests and variety show fans commenting:
[Here to support Brother Xiang]
[I only watch Old Cheng, he’s so funny!]
[I don’t recognize any of today’s guest participants]
[Seems like there’s an idol boy band?]
[Place your bets! I’m betting everything on the blue team today, going for the big win]
At the recording site, the director gave the signal to start.
Host Xu Xin smiled and said: “Audience friends, good Friday evening to you all. Welcome to the live broadcast of the 30th episode of ‘Red-Blue Competition.’ Let’s invite this episode’s guest participants with warm applause!”
“First approaching us is the Blue Team—FTM Group!”
The control room had real-time post-processing, displaying special effect name tags for each guest as they appeared.
The Blue Team was led by team captain Mo Xun walking in front, with the others following behind. There was a close-up camera in the entrance area where guests needed to greet the audience.
Mo Xun confidently smiled and waved at the camera, and Fang Yinnian imitated him, also smiling and waving. Tang Che nodded expressionlessly, Tan Junwen relaxedly gave the camera a wink, and Fu Fei beamed with a bright smile while making a heart gesture with both hands.
[Wow, this team has such high visuals!]
[That guy called Tang Che with the cold expression looks so cool]
[Is the first one who came out the team captain? He’s quite handsome]
[Who’s that curly-haired guy who just winked? I’m a bit smitten!]
[This is the FTM boy band!]
[Welcome to follow our small unknown group, the kids are a bit nervous for their first variety show hahaha]
[Reporting Fang Yinnian for being lazy, directly copying the captain’s greeting]
[Hilarious, Yinnian probably thought that as a group, they should maintain consistent greeting gestures?]
[But the formation was broken hhh]
Both teams of guests quickly completed their entrance.
The host began explaining the game rules: “The first game is Pictionary. Each team will select one representative responsible for drawing, while the others guess the answer together. Within the allocated 10 minutes, whichever team guesses more correctly wins!”
“Now, let’s have our three regular guests place their bets. For the first round of Pictionary, who do you think will win—the Red Team or the Blue Team?”
The regular guests were familiar with the audience. Cheng Kangle, who specialized in variety shows, smilingly dropped his betting ball into the blue box in front of him and said: “I’m betting on the Blue Team. They’re a boy band, so they should have better chemistry. I think they’ll win.”
The other two guests immediately took the opposite stance: “Then I’ll bet on the Red Team!” “I’ll also bet on the Red Team—after all, Old Cheng is super jinxed. Whoever he bets on loses, hahaha.”
FTM: “???”
Senior, could you please not jinx us?
