After Divorce I Married a Tycoon-Chapter 180: Joel Jennings Publicly Accuses Claire Mercer of Plagiarism
Scarlett Jewel was completely immersed in the joy of making it into the top three.
She truly never imagined she could achieve such a great result.
When she had first entered the finals, the Sinclair Family had already started to see her in a new light.
Now that she was in the top three, she could finally improve her standing in the Sinclair Family.
Seeing the smug look on Scarlett Jewel’s face, Claire Mercer was furious.
As an original designer, she absolutely could not tolerate a plagiarist who had relied on a copied work to defeat other talented contestants and break into the top three.
What’s more, this person had plagiarized her own work. It was a direct provocation.
It was like she was brazenly taking a dump on her head.
Even though Scarlett Jewel had copied her design, it posed no threat to her first-place position.
But it was incredibly unfair to the other contestants, and it disrupted the competition’s rules and sullied the profession of a designer.
More importantly, she had infringed on her copyright.
Stella Thorne saw that Scarlett Jewel’s face was about to crack from smiling and said indignantly, "Claire, look at that smug expression on Scarlett Jewel."
"Are we just going to stand by and watch her get into the top three by plagiarizing your work?"
"She’s a shameless plagiarist! What right does she have to compete for the top three spots? Does she even deserve it?"
"Of course not." Claire Mercer’s gaze was ice-cold as she stared at Scarlett Jewel.
"She’s so brazen because she’s certain I can’t produce any evidence of her plagiarism."
"Claire, besides that sketchbook, don’t you have any other evidence to nail her for plagiarism?"
"Of course I do. I save every single piece of clothing I design to my cloud drive."
Stella Thorne said, "Then let’s expose her to the organizers right now."
Just as the host once again announced the contestants who had advanced to the top three,
Claire Mercer said to the host, "Excuse me, I have something very important to say."
Seeing her serious expression despite having just received the highest score again, the host was a little puzzled.
However, a contestant wanted to speak, and she was a popular one at that, so the host handed her a microphone.
Meanwhile, Scarlett Jewel, who had been ecstatic just moments before, saw Claire Mercer cast a meaningful glance in her direction:
Her heart was pounding with nervousness. Her eyes were glued to Claire Mercer, and her palms had begun to sweat.
’Joel Jennings will knock her off her pedestal any minute now,’ she tried to comfort herself.
’But if Claire Mercer really exposes my alleged plagiarism right now, I’ll be thrown into the heart of the storm.’
She was incredibly anxious.
Even with multiple cameras on set aimed at the contestants,
she still found it difficult to control her expression.
A venomous look appeared in her eyes as she stared at Claire Mercer.
She immediately shot a look at Joel Jennings, who was still on stage.
Joel Jennings received her gaze and understood what she meant.
Just as the host handed the microphone to Claire Mercer and asked what she had to say,
Joel Jennings strode forward and snatched the microphone right out of Claire Mercer’s hand.
Everyone was stunned by his extremely rude action, and many frowned.
Their gazes toward him were filled with displeasure.
The host was also momentarily stunned by his stunt.
In all his years in the industry, he had never seen a contestant so arrogant and conceited.
But he quickly recovered, though he was very unhappy with the contestant’s actions.
He still managed to ask Joel Jennings politely, "This contestant, you are..."
Joel Jennings rudely interrupted the host again.
"I have something very important to say." He pointed his right hand at Claire Mercer. "This Claire Mercer..."
"Not only did she cause my model partner to get an upset stomach before the competition,"
"but also, most of her works throughout this competition are suspected of plagiarizing the famous, big-name designer, CC."
As soon as he said this, the host and other contestants burst into an uproar.
The gazes of all the judges and audience members in the venue focused on Claire Mercer.
Even the live television broadcast cameras zoomed in directly on her,
as if waiting for her response.
But Claire Mercer said nothing, her cool eyes fixed on Joel Jennings.
Throughout this entire competition, she couldn’t remember ever offending this Joel Jennings.
Except for the first round of the national finals, where she was drawn against him and defeated him.
Other than that, they hadn’t had any conflicts at all.
She really couldn’t understand why he looked at her as if she were his mortal enemy.
’And now he’s publicly slandering me for plagiarism on the stage of the grand finals?’
’Is it just because I beat him once before?’
’So he’s held a grudge against me this whole time?’
Heh!
’Stella Thorne had been right. People like him truly are narrow-minded, dark-hearted, and vindictive.’
Seeing that she wasn’t giving any response, the audience below began to whisper among themselves.
"Did Claire Mercer really plagiarize? No way, right? I quite like her. She’s beautiful and talented."
"I don’t think it’s possible either. Her style is a bit similar to Instructor CC’s, but it shouldn’t count as plagiarism."
"Speaking of which, who is Instructor CC? I haven’t paid much attention to the fashion world, so I don’t know this Instructor CC."
"Instructor CC hasn’t designed many works, but two clothing lines she previously designed for a high-end luxury brand became instant bestsellers of the year."
"But for some reason, she suddenly vanished two years ago. No one knows if she retired from the fashion world, or..."
"So, is that why Claire Mercer is plagiarizing so unscrupulously?"
"There’s no solid proof she plagiarized yet. We shouldn’t jump to conclusions."
"Yeah, if Joel Jennings is going to publicly accuse Claire Mercer of plagiarism, he should show some evidence."
"Let’s not jump to conclusions for now. Just wait and see what happens. Maybe there’s a plot twist."
"..."
The audience’s chatter naturally reached the ears of Adrian Sutton and the others.
When Roxanne Peyton saw someone publicly accuse Claire Mercer of plagiarism, she was completely dumbfounded.
"What’s going on? How could Claire possibly plagiarize?"
"And what’s that man saying about Claire making his model sick to sabotage the competition? He’s just spouting nonsense."
Mrs. Rowan was also furious.
She couldn’t stand by and let someone slander her goddaughter like this.
"Roxanne is right. Where did this monster named Joel Jennings crawl out from? He’s talking complete nonsense."
Silas Rowan calmed the two of them down. "Don’t get agitated. We have everything under control."
"But Claire is being slandered for plagiarism right now! Didn’t you hear them all speculating wildly?"
Adrian Sutton said, "Most netizens are rational these days."
"They won’t be led by the nose by one person’s one-sided story."
"Silas has already arranged everything. You don’t need to worry."
After calming Mrs. Rowan and Roxanne Peyton’s emotions, Adrian Sutton and Silas Rowan kept a close watch on the activity on stage.
The host was clearly very displeased with Joel Jennings’s conceited behavior.
A perfectly good competition was being thrown into turmoil by the public scene Joel Jennings was causing.
Even if Claire Mercer had really plagiarized or really had caused his model to be unwell, those were problems that could have been brought to the organizers in private.
He shouldn’t have caused such a scene right when the top three winners were about to be decided.
He was just about to try and get the situation under control when he received a notification from the live broadcast’s director.
"Ask Claire Mercer about it now. Keep this topic going."
"This way, the competition’s ratings and viewership will definitely skyrocket."
After receiving the instruction, the host asked Claire Mercer:
"Claire Mercer, regarding Joel Jennings’s claim that you caused his model to get an upset stomach, as well as the suspected plagiarism of Instructor CC..."
"Regarding these two points, do you have anything to say?"
