With hands shaking from what she was about to see, Grace went to the Pop Star Academy to see what people were saying.

She could see that multiple posts were already listed with hundreds of comments that were increasing as she watched, and after taking a deep breath, she opened the first one.

[Heeeee’s Back! Captain Crashout Is Back At It Again.]

[Everyone was trying to convince me that Ariel has changed, grown, become a better person, a team player, yada yada. They’re trying to say that the production team has done him dirty, so he has a right to be angry, but there’s a reason that, at some point, he was voted the contestant nobody wanted to debut. We saw that he clearly didn’t attend practice for the performance showcase. And now, there’s clear evidence of him crashing out so badly that he’s slamming the door, packing his bags like a little kid who didn’t get his way, and leaving his teammates hanging when the final performance is so close that they have no choice but to go get help from the PD. Mind you, since they have to create a song, his team probably can’t do anything without him since he’s the only other producer remaining apart from Jamie. I’ve said it before, and I’ll confidently say it again: Ariel is a selfish, immature brat, and I’m so sad for Carlos and the rest of the team who have to deal with someone like that. If he doesn’t want to be here so badly, just kick him out and give the kids who do the opportunity because clearly he doesn’t deserve it.]

└ You’re absolutely right, OP. I think his behavior is unacceptable, and if he’s negatively affecting his teammates like this, then he should be kicked out.

└└ +1

└└└ I think you all are stupid. If the person who literally stole a song, beat up a contestant with a tennis ball, and tried to break another one’s leg while playing soccer hasn’t been kicked out, why would they kick out someone who hasn’t done anything?!

└└└└ You call abandoning your team because and throwing a temper tantrum because he didn’t get his way, not doing anything. This is why you all suck, and everyone hates your contestant. Can’t wait for him not to debut!

└ First of all, screw this stupid post. How many times are you guys going to fall for the PD’s editing to paint the kids badly? It’s clear they just stitched things together to cause drama because all the contestants know how they operate by now!

└└ So it was editing that caused Ari to slam the door and stomp out with his clothes in a bag? It’s the editing that causes Carlos to go crying to the PD that they hadn’t been able to contact Ariel because he was angry at the production team?

└└└ It’s suddenly a crime to slam the door when you’re frustrated? Stop calling a kid names because you don’t know the whole story.

└└└└ When it’s against your teammates, yes! And notice how you didn’t answer the last part? Ariel went missing, his team hasn’t been able to contact him, and you expect me not to call him names? He’s a f**king punk, is what he is! He’s making it hard for the other kids for no reason.

└ Carlos never said a name, yet all of you are putting the blame on Ari. Why does it have to be him? Can you use your brains for once? It could literally be anybody else. For half of the episode, we never once saw Ari’s face. But once they decided to show a clip of Carlos complaining, that’s when they decided to show us, Ari, leaving the room? It reeks of evil editing and stitching together clips. Wait until next week instead of passing judgment and trying to ruin a kid’s reputation.

└└ AAs always gotta defend their little golden boy, who they think can do no wrong? Who else would it be if not for f**king Ariel? Who else has had constant issues with the production team and complains at any given moment if not for him? We’ve seen how he acts when he’s angry. It’s obviously him! Just admit it!

As Grace scrolled through, she saw that it was an absolute bloodbath in the comments, with other fans slandering Ari and Ari’s fans fighting back with a frustrated fury.

Biting her lips in anger, Grace scrolled through the main page, trying to avoid posts with titles meant to incite an argument, and clicked on a reasonable-sounding one.

[Does anyone think it’s weird that they didn’t announce the ranks this time?]

[Maybe I’ve just been reading too many conspiracy theories online, but I think it’s so weird that the production team didn’t announce the ranks when they’ve almost always done so. It makes me feel like they’re hiding something and gives me a bad feeling. Also, why are they always zeroing out the votes during the elimination rounds? Are they allowed to do that? I feel like they don’t like the lineup of contestants in the debut ranks, and they keep trying to see the new batch of votes align with the vision that they’re going for.]

└ I think you’re correct that they’re probably hiding something! My theory is that William is back, but they don’t want to let us know yet.

└└ My theory is that Ari is first, and since they clearly hate him, they keep trying to start a hate train against him to knock him down a couple of pegs and hopefully out of the debut lineup.

[The production team is hiding the fact that William is back, and I have the evidence to prove it.]

[Firstly, let’s take a look at the elimination ceremony. There were 14 seats on stage, and 6 contestants got eliminated. There’s absolutely no way that the production team would set up 14 seats if it wasn’t going to be used, right? So it means 14 contestants went on to the next round(img attached, video attached)

Now let’s start identifying the contestants one by one.

Please notice which camera angles of the contestants were shown. I counted 9 clear contestant faces, and the other 5 are ambiguous. Or so you think (img attached, video attached.)

We see Benjamin sitting up front toward the middle and Jamie sitting up front as well, yet we never see who’s sitting in between the two of them. Let’s say that they were seated by rank(Benjamin was previously 2nd, Jamie was previously 4th, Ari was previously 1st). If Jamie moved up to 3rd place and Ari and Benjamin maintained their ranks, then the person sitting between both of them is Ari, so that’s one person down with four remaining for identification.

Even without the ranks, based on this trio’s sitting pattern in previous elimination ceremonies (knees turned inwards, arm slung over chair, Ari’s sitting position, it matches my assessment that this person is Ari.)

But it’s a ranking ceremony, so if we continue to assume they’re seated by rank, Carlos /Daniel are 5th/6th respectively, Levi is 4th, and the person in 7th place is Suzuki Rei (identified by his hand jewelry).

The first row rankings look like this [7 5 3 1 2 4 6] or [6 5 3 1 2 4 7], with my assumption being on the latter.

The staff tried to hide it, but I think they refilmed a scene and Levi and Rei ended up sitting by each other with Rei at the end. You can see that they wear similar style silver rings, but right here, we see a right hand and a left hand super close together and bending at strange angles, which doesn’t make sense anatomically. Here are the pictures of the rings these boys have worn and their hands to prove my point (img attached)

...

So in conclusion, based on all the evidence, William is in 13th place, sitting between Jerome Tyler, who’s 14th, and Choi In-su/Rex, who are in 12th place. They’re including William, and they’re hiding the fact from the public for some reason. Please follow me on my TokTik channel because I’ll be going live and identifying which boys are which in the practice rooms in 30 minutes and breaking down some other hidden hints you might have missed.]

└ Yooo, why is this kind of making sense?

└ You’re so delusional, OP, just full of assumptions and vibes

└└ What vibes? She attached screenshots and videos to prove the point. The evidence makes sense

└└└ I’m wondering how she noticed all these details, posted, and wrote this up so quickly. The episode literally just ended

└└└└ Autism.

└This was really well written OP. I’m going to join your live.

└└ I will as well

[Is He Really Gone?]

...

[William is Back Baby!!!!!!]

....

[Is William Really Back, or Is the Production Team Bread Crumbing us?]

...

[What do you think the teams are (I hope Ari isn’t on my kids’ team cause he’s a mess)]

...

[What are we going to do if we find out that the production team is inciting drama?]

...

[Here’s my prediction of the kids’ ranks (including William)]

...

[Insider Information - The Production Team Brought William Back and That’s Why Ariel Was Upset With Them!]

Post after post was going up, with the comments either devolving into a mudslinging fight involving Ari and other fans, speculation as to if Ari would be kicked out next episode, or conspiracy theories as people wondered if William was secretly back and if it was being hidden.

The community, which had seemingly calmed down, was reignited as the discussion spread to other social media platforms.

After understanding the general trends, Grace went back and began rewatching the episode in full analytic mode.

She absolutely didn’t believe the story that the production team was pushing about Ari, and she needed to find a way to quiet the haters who were using this opportunity to pile on him because this wasn’t fair at all.

Gritting her teeth in anger, Grace passed the night staring at her laptop screen.

**********

After he finished watching the episode with his team, as the ads played in the quiet room, Ari just sat quietly, closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

[......]

[Are you okay?] 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝐰𝚎𝕓𝐧𝚘𝘃𝗲𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝕞

[You look a bit angry.]