"Damn it!"
William casually tossed the coin-sized potato into the weighing box, and the number on the scale changed to 76,381 grams.
The website instantly updated the winner count to just over 4,000 people. Although this would cost William around $8 million in rewards, it was far from satisfying the bloodthirsty desire of the viewers to see him suffer a massive financial loss.
The audience grew rowdy again, chanting for William to continue digging through the remaining pots.
If this weren't a global broadcast, William would've cursed them all to hell and told them to get lost.
However, sometimes even a public humiliation could have its benefits. Viewer numbers had initially dropped by over 300 million after the winning results were revealed, but with this new drama unfolding, more than 100 million viewers had tuned back in.
Television stations weren't fools either. Seeing this new surge in interest, they quickly broadcasted text ads across all channels, urging those who had switched away to come back.
While William hesitated, the viewer count steadily climbed.
Still, he wasn't about to humiliate himself twice in one day. Taking off his armored gloves, he searched through the soil by hand.
He wasn't going to risk finding any more overlooked potatoes. The first oversight might have been forgiven, but if he made the same mistake again, he'd be labeled a fool by the entire world.
Additionally, every extra potato he found would either force him to acknowledge new winners or further enrage the existing ones who had guessed correctly. Either way, no one would be grateful.
So, William meticulously sifted through the soil of all 40 pots, turning it over twice for good measure. Unsurprisingly, he found nothing more.
With no further evidence of hidden potatoes, the final number of winners stood at 36,000.
After washing his hands, William smiled and said, "Good thing I only made one mistake. Otherwise, I'd have made a complete fool of myself today.
This final winner count means I'm sending out 36,000 prizes, including 10,000 bottles of red wine and 26,000 Devonshire gold coins. And the value of those coins?"
William paused as if calculating, then furrowed his brow and exclaimed, "Wait a minute… only $52 million?"
Pretending to mumble the math under his breath, he quickly broke into a grin. "I thought I'd be giving away 100,000 coins as a worst-case scenario, but it turns out you guys were pretty weak! Over 2 billion people participated, and in the end, only 36,000 of you guessed correctly?
If I hadn't made that one mistake, the number would have been just 4,000!"
William's expression suddenly shifted to mock horror. "Oh my God... If not for that stupid little potato, those 4,000 people would've split the wine among themselves, and I wouldn't have had to shell out 26,000 coins. That's a $52 million mistake!"
The viewers froze for a moment before bursting into laughter.
As they recalled the rules, it dawned on them—William was absolutely right. If fewer than 10,000 people had guessed correctly, they would have shared the wine instead of taking the gold coins. Because of a single 10-gram potato, William had lost an extra 2.6 tons of gold.
This bizarre twist would undoubtedly make headlines worldwide. Titles like "A Potato Worth $52 Million" were practically writing themselves.
Viewers who had been bitter about their losses suddenly felt vindicated. Even if they hadn't won, at least William had been hit with a massive penalty. Sure, $52 million wasn't much for him, but it was still a blow no one could shrug off easily.
"That's enough to buy a long-range private jet," someone muttered.
"Or sign a world-class soccer star," William groaned, frustrated. "Hell, I could've expanded the Chelsea training grounds by a hundred acres with that money!"
Chelsea fans across the globe winced at his words.
"No way," William's eyes gleamed mischievously as an idea struck him. "We can't end it like this. How about... we do this again?"
The moment he said it, the Facebook comments section exploded with agreement.
One clever user quickly caught onto what William meant by "too cautious" and posted: "Make the next game simpler. Guess the weight by the kilogram!"
"You think I'm stupid?" William rolled his eyes theatrically. "If I let you guess by whole kilograms, 760,000 of you would've hit the 76-kilogram mark last time. Do you have any idea how much that would cost?
$14 billion. You'd be cleaning out half my bank account. And if the next batch of potatoes weighs anywhere near the same amount, over 100 million people would guess correctly. I'd go from one of the richest people on Earth to being billions in debt overnight."
Viewers laughed nervously at his outburst.
"So forget it. If we're going to play, it has to be fair," William continued.
Ignoring the playful complaints, he fell into deep thought for a moment. Under the watchful gaze of tens of billions of viewers, his frown gradually gave way to a grin.
"Here's the deal," he announced. "I'm not going to keep footing the bill without getting something in return.
Starting tomorrow, anyone who wants to join the next game must meet one condition:
You'll need to register on Facebook and purchase a $1 trial membership to qualify.
Since the bar has been raised, I'll adjust the rewards too.
If you guess the exact weight, you'll still get a 100-gram gold coin worth $2,000. But if you're within 10 grams, you'll receive a 10-gram coin valued at $200.
A $1 entry fee for a chance at $200 or $2,000—it's up to you whether you want to play or not."
William paused dramatically, letting the offer sink in.
"This time, I'll randomly select potatoes from today's harvest and replant them right here, live. As for the yield? Well, that's up to God. I won't be pampering them like I did before. Aside from watering them occasionally, I'll leave them to grow on their own."
"Damn you, Devonshire!"
The chat exploded with outrage. Everyone knew that without careful attention, the next harvest could be a disaster. Poor soil quality, lack of nutrients—there were too many uncertainties.
But despite their frustrations, users flocked to Facebook. In just a few days, millions of people signed up for the $1 trial membership, eager for a second chance at fortune.
(End of Chapter)
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