Phil knew very well that if he followed the path of ordinary people, the chances of failure were too great.

Although he had a large amount of funds at his disposal, this would not necessarily be an advantage on the path of ordinary people, and might even be counterproductive.

Previously, a wealthy man had participated in a superhero talent show, adding screen time for himself by stuffing money to the production team, getting the mentors to give higher evaluations, and having some contestants cooperate with his performance.

However, this behavior aroused the audience's resentment and resistance. Although it gained some popularity by burning money when the talent show was broadcast, it disappeared before reaching the second stage.

It must be said that becoming a superhero not only requires money and popularity, but also strength, at least to be liked by the public—no matter what type of liking.

After thinking about it, Phil felt that if he participated in a superhero selection show like everyone else, he would simply be following the same old path. Would the audience like him? The probability of not liking him was high.

Because a rich man participating in a superhero selection is naturally a disadvantage.

The audience prefers superheroes who come from the common people, have tragic backgrounds, and show a strong sense of social responsibility.

And although Phil had fans, in the minds of most of the public, he was an irresponsible playboy, naturally giving people a feeling of "unreliability."

What's more, the motive for a rich man to participate in a superhero talent show is obvious.

Therefore, Phil decided to take another path: personally fund a superhero talent show.

Currently, the exclusive naming rights for several popular superhero talent shows have almost exceeded 100 million dollars.

Of course, the production costs of these talent shows are also extremely high.

Because superhero talent shows are different from ordinary talent shows. In addition to the regular venues, these superheroes also have to run a lot of outdoor scenes, and there are some arranged special events.

In addition, if a talent show wants to have enough influence, it also needs to invite superheroes with enough fame and influence as mentors, and their appearance fees are astronomical.

Therefore, Phil had to spend at least 200 million dollars for his plan to succeed.

The risk of doing so was enormous. This price could get the exclusive naming rights for many superhero talent shows, and the exclusive naming rights could have a good advertising effect on the Simmons family's real estate business.

In other words, taking this money to buy the exclusive naming rights for other talent shows basically wouldn't lose too much.

But Phil couldn't get the naming rights, at least not the exclusive naming rights. On the one hand, this attitude was still too obvious, easily arousing the audience's suspicion and affecting the overall plan; on the other hand, without sufficient benefits, other large consortia would definitely not participate.

Therefore, Phil's plan was to join forces with the consortia behind the two most popular superhero talent shows to organize the variety show "The Successor" in the name of these two consortia.

On the surface, the Simmons family would completely distance itself from the variety show "The Successor," not naming it, so even if someone thought there was a transfer of benefits behind it, they wouldn't think it was too excessive.

And the two major consortia were already fighting fiercely in the superhero field, so letting them jointly name the variety show "The Successor" would give this show extremely high popularity and attention before it even aired.

For these two major consortia, they could get the naming rights to a huge superhero talent show without any investment, worth at least tens of millions of dollars. Why would they refuse such a good thing that was offered to them?

And Phil Simmons' only request was that the production team for this variety show be entirely his own people, ensuring that the show developed according to his designed script.

Phil would serve as a mentor on the variety show "The Successor."

There were a total of four mentors on the show. In addition to Phil, there was also a superhero, a golden agent of a superhero, and the director of marketing for a superhero's company.

The other three mentors were all well-known figures in the superhero field, and the entire meaning of their existence was to act with Phil, creating the illusion for all the viewers that "Phil is on the same level as these people."

In fact, with Phil's abilities and knowledge reserves, it was absolutely impossible for him to show the same level of performance as the other three mentors in this kind of situation.

But it didn't matter, he had a script in his hand.

As long as he acted according to the script, Phil would be invincible.

Phil didn't have any experience in producing superhero talent shows, but with a great reward, there must be brave men. As long as he was willing to spend enough money, as long as he invited the right people, then all these problems could be solved.

Not every top superhero is interested in being a mentor on such a variety talent show, because it's a bit like children playing house, but as long as the money is enough, you can always find the right candidate.

After Phil spent a lot of money, "The Successor" was entrusted to a very powerful television station in Hope City for production, and the audition and filming work were quickly put on the agenda.

The production of "The Successor" was similar to other superhero talent shows. The audition was conducted normally, discovering potential newcomers from all over the country who hoped to become superheroes, and determining the final winner through a series of exercises and competitions.

There were only some innovations in the rules of the show: adopting the rules of mentors snatching people and team competitions.

Four mentors form teams by snatching people, and the four teams compete against each other to determine the final winner.

And on the basis of these rules, Phil got the script for "second place."

The reason for taking the second place script was that the first place was too flashy. According to the script's arrangement, the team Phil formed would be a "seemingly weak, but actually very strong" team.

That is to say, this group of people would deliberately perform not so well during the audition, and at this time Phil would see the shining points in them and recruit them. In the formal team competition, these people would show a new look, but their hard strength would still have a certain gap, so they would be defeated with regret and finally get second place.

In this way, the audience would think that these people were a group of mediocre people, and under Phil's guidance, they all had excellent performances.

Getting second place in the end was not a problem with Phil as a mentor, but that the team members were too weak to carry.

In this way, most of the audience would feel that Phil was a playboy on the surface, but actually a very capable person, on the same level as the other three bigwigs.

And this would lay a solid foundation for Phil's next plan.

Soon, "The Successor" became popular even before it aired, just after releasing the list of mentors!

These lists included well-known superheroes, golden agents, and marketing directors, all of whom were industry insiders in the superhero field, and all had high reputations. But in addition to these three people, there was also Phil Simmons, the well-known playboy and rich second generation with many followers on Twitter?

A wave of questions immediately appeared online: Phil Simmons may have a good education and is also the CEO of a company, but is he really qualified to be a mentor on this kind of show?

However, this questioning was quickly overshadowed, because the production team of "The Successor" then announced the competition system of the show: four mentors would snatch people among the contestants and start team competitions.

As a result, those viewers who had previously questioned Phil Simmons began to gloat, wanting to see Phil Simmons make a fool of himself on the show.

Although the four mentors had the same "enrollment quota," the best and most potential people would definitely be snatched away by the other three mentors, and Phil could only pick up some crooked melons and cracked dates with a notch lower strength.

At that time, the team battle would probably be one-sided, and Phil's team would undoubtedly become a point-giving baby, and it would be difficult to win even a small game.

So under this huge topic heat, the first episode of "The Successor" officially aired.