Chapter 173: Major Success

[Chapter 174: Major Success]

In Los Angeles during May, the days were a bit hot, but at night, the sea breeze blew in, making it quite comfortable.

Inside an old house, Reni rocked her daughter to sleep, closed the bedroom door, took some beer and nuts, and headed to the living room, placing them in front of Jacqueline.

Jacqueline pointed to the TV, saying, "Check out this show, it's kind of interesting."

Reni sat beside her and looked at the screen, realizing it was Paris Hilton, who had been all over the media lately. After watching for a bit, she remarked, "It's rare to see a rich girl acting all silly on TV, entertaining us poor folks."

Jacqueline's eyes sparkled with envy as she exclaimed, "I wish I had that kind of life; I'd love to try a cake made by Paris!"

"Looks like a game of Barbie dolls in action," Reni commented. However, she found it incredibly entertaining, especially for someone under immense pressure like her who was trying to make ends meet for her daughter's treatment. Watching the rich girl make a fool of herself was oddly amusing.

It felt satisfying to see someone with lesser cooking skills and common sense struggling. Plus, there was a sense of curiosity in the air.

It was a wacky show, but the antics on screen were hilariously funny.

The two of them kept laughing out loud.

As the show reached its conclusion, Jacqueline gazed at a diamond-encrusted spatula cooking steak and couldn't help but say, "I really want to taste a steak cooked with that diamond spatula; it must be amazing!"

Reni nodded in agreement, "A steak cooked with diamonds should be something special!"

They both wished they could try it, but they couldn't come up with that many diamonds.

At that moment, many Americans were having similar thoughts.

Countless people even expressed their desire to taste Paris's chocolate cake.

Maybe it had real gemstones in it!

...

At the Fox Television Center, in the film and television channel, Rooney Chasen sat in a chair outside the director's room, waiting for the first-hand data feedback.

She was paying close attention because the PR budget from the Hilton family was exceptionally generous.

Another key point was that if the show was successful, her job would become much easier down the line.

The toughest parts were all handled by Hawke Osment.

While the PR funds for the upcoming year couldn't be called easy money, they were still not much different from handling the usual issues that came with celebrity antics.

All of this was a walk in the park for Rooney.

Just then, the door to the director's room opened, and Cole emerged.

Rooney stood up and asked, "Have the viewership statistics come in?"

Cole's mood was obviously good, a smile plastered on his face as he replied, "Viewership during peak times exceeded 4.22 million -- and that's just the first episode."

"Not bad," Rooney breathed a sigh of relief. "The viewership is great; please ensure that you fulfill the contract and allocate more resources for the promotion of the second episode."

At that moment, Natasha stepped out of the director's room and chimed in, "The next two episodes must maintain high quality. It's a weekly show; we must have the second episode ready before next Thursday."

Rooney added, "The second episode has been filmed and is in post-production now. The theme is Paris and candy. The planning for the third episode has also been completed, with Paris inviting Britney to join."

Natasha looked pleasantly surprised. "I'm really looking forward to it."

...

After discussing follow-up collaboration matters for a few more minutes, Rooney left the production team and made her way to the hallway. She took out her phone and immediately dialed Hawke's number, saying, "The viewership stats are in: peak viewership reached 4.22 million."

On the other end, Hawke relaxed, saying, "The first episode was a success. You need to keep Paris in the spotlight this week. She should drink and create buzz, get in public mishaps, and definitely keep up the wealth flaunting on Twitter."

Rooney replied, "I'll communicate that to her."

"Alright, get some rest." Hawke hung up the phone directly.

...

As Rooney stood at the hallway window, taking in the night view of Century City, she suddenly understood why Caroline enjoyed working with Hawke. He always managed to tackle the toughest problems, allowing partners to earn money without much hassle. Who wouldn't like that kind of collaboration?

She dialed Paris's phone number to share the good news.

...

In a presidential suite at the Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, Paris had no concept of viewership numbers and asked, "So we succeeded?"

Rooney responded, "Very successfully!"

"Awesome!" Paris exclaimed excitedly, tossing her phone aside. She picked up her drink and said to her friend, Kardashian, "Come on! Let's toast to my success."

Kardashian raised her glass, drinking with Paris, and taking advantage of Paris's celebratory mood, she asked while pouring more drinks, "Can you mention to the director that I want a few more shots in the next episode?"

Although Kardashian also came from a decent background, she could never compare to Paris; the gap was too wide.

Raising her glass and slightly tipsy, Paris replied, "No problem, it's a small request. I'll make sure to cover for you." She called out loudly, "Bring out the fireworks, hurry up! I want to celebrate!"

Kardashian had also had her fair share of drinks, feeling just as hyped, and retrieved the fireworks she had bought earlier.

The two wild women lit up the fireworks inside the presidential suite.

As smoke and flames erupted, it looked almost as if the Hilton Hotel was on fire from the outside.

Setting off fireworks indoors immediately triggered the smoke alarms, and the hotel management scrambled into action.

Guests on the floor below even called 911 to report the chaos.

Fortunately, the suite's butler responded quickly, rushing to open the door and put an end to the escapades of the two wild women.

However, several guests reported the incident, and since the Hilton was a high-profile establishment, three police cars rushed to the scene.

Paris Hilton's room was notorious for past antics.

When something like this occurred, it was a given that explanations would be required.

The hotel manager's phone call came in, and the suite's butler began to chatter nervously. Reality hit Paris, and she sobered up slightly.

In that moment, instead of calling her PR manager Rooney Chasen, her first thought was of Hawke.

Thinking of Hawke, Paris grabbed her phone and made a call.

...

Hawke was practicing 'shooting' with Erika when he heard his phone vibrate and hung up the call without answering.

Just three seconds later, his phone buzzed again.

Erica woke up from her daze, got rid of Hawk's entanglement, picked up the cup of water, drank some water and rinsed her mouth, and at the same time patted Hawk's strong body and asked him to answer the phone first.

Hawke checked his phone, saw it was Paris calling, and picked up, asking, "What's going on? Why are you calling this late?"

Paris quickly explained, "The show was a success tonight, but I had a few drinks and set off fireworks in the hotel suite. Now the police are here. The guests who reported me say I'm endangering public safety. They will definitely take me to the station..."

Hawke thought to himself that she should be consulting her PR manager, Rooney Chasen, about this mess.

But considering how quickly Paris had paid her fees, he hesitated and asked, "Is your bag carrier still there?"

Paris replied, "Yeah, she's in the room with me; she had some drinks too and helped with the fireworks."

Hawke instructed, "While the LAPD isn't here yet, tell her that the fireworks were her doing alone and not yours. If she admits that, when we film and edit the third episode, you can ensure she gets more screen time."

Paris lit up at this suggestion, recalling Kardashian's previous request. She felt much more at ease and said, "I'll talk to her right now."

...

After hanging up, she quickly mentioned the idea to Kardashian, who agreed without hesitation.

If it meant more airtime on the show, Kardashian didn't mind taking the blame.

In fact, to ensure she got more screen time, Kardashian even plotted to make Paris drink another cup, pretending to be too drunk to notice anything.

She took all the blame and got taken away by the LAPD.

...

In the Ferguson villa on 20th Street, Erika emerged from the bathroom wrapped in a towel, asking, "Did I hear you mention the LAPD earlier? Do you need me to make a call to the West Division?"

Hawke didn't want Erika to owe anyone a favor for such a trivial matter. He said, "Paris set off fireworks in the Hilton presidential suite, and several guests reported it. It's not a big deal; let it be."

He then curiously asked, "Do you have anyone like Paris in your family?"

"Yes," Erika said simply. "My uncle living in Washington; one of my cousins there only knows how to party, unlike Brian."

She paused briefly and then added, "But he has one good quality; he's very low-key and never appears in the media, simply living off family dividends."

Hawke replied, "Sounds like a good life..."

"You want that too?" Erika teased mischievously.

Hawke dismissively shrugged that off and took action, pulling her down.

...

In Paris' Company really made waves once it aired.

The next day's repeat saw over 3.3 million viewers tuning in.

In the past, the public could only passively consume Paris Hilton's gossip, but this time they could reach out to her directly.

That was because Paris Hilton had launched her own Twitter account.

Before the rerun the next day, Paris posted two tweets, one apologizing on behalf of her assistant Kardashian concerning the fireworks incident in the Hilton hotel, responding to media reports.

The other tweet revealed the poster for the second episode, which had the subtitle "Candy."

The comments on that post were flooded with reactions from the viewers of the first episode "Cooking."

"Barbie's extravagant cooking highlights; I laughed so hard, I nearly spit out my midnight snack."

"You mock Paris for being terrible, yet she mocks you for being broke with a credit card."

"Did you think this was a cooking show? It's actually Paris Hilton's alternative way of flaunting wealth!"

"The lives of the rich are so dull; they miss many exciting experiences, like suffering hardships, toiling hard, and worrying about poverty."

Of course, such a show was only for laughs, satisfying the voyeurism surrounding Beverly Hills socialites and clueless beauties.

It appeared somewhat absurd but hit the audience's sweet spot.

However, when the second episode aired, the viewership numbers for In Paris' Company: Candy skyrocketed to 5.5 million.

Paris became wildly popular, and her Twitter, which she updated daily, experienced a surge in new user registrations.

*****

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