Episode Summary
Episode 5 set list and order of performance is as follow:
| Name | Team | Song |
| Bin JunJie, Xia ZhiGuang & Chen ZeXi | Red | “Don’t See Me As Only A Little Lamb”《别看我只是一只羊》 |
| Han MuBo, Wu JiaCheng & Gu JiaCheng | White | “I Want To Loudly Say I Love You”《好想大声说爱你》 |
| Xiao Zhan, Peng ChuYue & Bai Shu | Red | “Childhood”《童年》 |
| Guo ZiFan, Zhao Lei & Yan XuJia | White | “Insects Fly”《虫儿飞》 |
This episode opens up with a disciplinary action. All 12 competitors were seen gathered together in the dance studio as Long DanNi walks in. Nobody spoke, everybody looked nervous. It turned out Chen ZeXi broke the show’s rules and left the dorms on Nov 21, at 1am in the morning to meet up with friends outside. They had all signed a contract on the first day before moving into their dorms, which states that all competitors are forbidden to venture outside the production’s premises by themselves. Because he broke the rules, all of his fellow competitors must endure the punishment with him. And on top of that, he caused his group’s rehearsal schedule to be completely cancelled.
The drama with this group did not end here. After giving it their all on stage, the BOSS group still tore their performance apart:
“Chen ZeXi doesn’t act much like the Grey Wolf. The Grey Wolf in my mind is cutesy stupid. Chen ZeXi is full of American Chinese personality. Another thing is, the kids really danced very well. So well that I’m afraid they stole your spotlight.”
Hua Shao
“Today I feel the song is too childish. It’s too far removed from you guys. Your dancing needs to be stronger. The kids really danced very well.”
Su Mang
“My first thought when I saw your performance is your group dynamic is very weak. Chen ZeXi and Bing JunJie are already adults. So to grow up is easy, but to return back to innocence is extremely difficult. So, to [tell you to] use 3 mins being consistently cute and innocent to express the song is basically forcing you into a dead end. I totally agree with everybody: I think the kids stole the show from you guys.”
Long DanNi
The BOSS group’s critiques were too harsh. Even Xiao Zhan reacted out loud with an “Oh my god!” Meanwhile Shu Qi felt each word like arrows aimed directly at her and she felt like they were basically telling her that she failed as a mentor. There’s no acting here nor is it scripted that she really felt badly hurt by their words. She kept repeating, “You guys are too harsh, too cruel.” She even turned to Chun Chun and said that she doesn’t want to come back next week. After the White team’s performance, which the BOSS group gave pretty good reviews (go figures), Shu Qi was on the brink of tears and the show had to cut to a break. Xiao Zhan and his teammates all felt really bad for their mentor and they went to comfort her, but she told them to wait outside.
After Xiao Zhan, Bai Shu and Peng Chu Yue saw on the monitor that their mentor is prepared to continue on with the show, they were full of determination to give her their best performance no matter what the BOSS group ends up saying later.
“We will for sure give Qi Ge a very good performance. But whether if it can surpass 0.5 points, it’s not up to us to say.”
Bai Shu
“It doesn’t matter. Because today the BOSS group’s behaviour is a bit strange.”
Peng ChuYue
“We’ll focus on ourselves and do our best.”
Xiao Zhan
One other thing that stood out for me in this episode was what happened with Bai Shu and the public opinions on social media attacking him for that one small shade he threw at Gu JiaCheng in Episode 4. As Peng ChuYue said, it was just a joke between Bai Shu and Gu JiaCheng. These guys have been around each other for a large chunk of 2015! They’ve been training together 24/7 so how can they not get along?? But public opinion is a wild beast. Entering the entertainment industry and becoming a public figure is really not for the faint of hearts.
Xiao Zhan really wears his heart on his sleeve. Just watching his concern for Bai Shu and then Shu Qi, how he wants to make them feel better with a bowl of noodles or with reassuring words. It’s so heartwarming.
Xiao Zhan’s EQ is very high and he picks up on things that people say very quickly. When he heard Peng ChuYue’s comment about the BOSS group’s behaviour being weird, he quickly jumped in, shifted the focus back to themselves by saying, “We’ll focus on ourselves and do our best.” Because reality is, it doesn’t pay to risk offending anyone on the panel when you’re in a survival competition.
Other notable moments: When Xiao Zhan saw White Team’s Guo ZiFan, Zhao Lei & Yan XuJia’s stage setup, the designer in him was really impressed and he exclaimed, “Wah! So well thought out!”
Xiao Zhan shared a bit about this episode in his Dec 18, 2015 weekly vlog and talked about his own childhood.
To watch some behind the scenes of this episode, be sure to check out X-Fire Dreams Episode 5!
