It was a teary episode for fans of both “CHUANG 2021” and “Youth With You 3” as they each went through the first official ranking and first round of eliminations on the March 20 episodes. Tencent and iQIYI decided to be cruel to viewers this year by airing at the same time. Fans are left with the hard option of choosing which show to watch first on Saturday nights/afternoons/mornings or Sunday morning.

“CHUANG 2021” went from 90 trainees to 55 trainees. After eliminating 35 trainees, there are only A, B, and C classes remaining. Trainees ranked from 34-55 will be placed in C class, 12-33 in B class, and 1-11 in A class. These rankings were based on votes from the “founders”.

1. Liu Yu
2. Santa
3. Rikimaru
4. Mika
5. Daniel Zhou Keyu
6. Lin Mo
7. Zhang Jiayuan
8. Caelan
9. Patrick
10. Ren Yinpeng
11. Oscar
12. Gan Wangxing
13. AK (Liu Zhang)
14. Wu Yuheng
15. Jing Long
16. Nine
17. Hiroto
18. Bo Yuan
19. Han Peiquan
20. Fu Sichao
21. Zhang Xingte
22. Yu Gengxin
23. Shao Mingming
24. Fu Sichao
25. Hu Yetao
26. Zhang Teng
27. Amu
28. Xue Bayi
29. Lelush
30. Xie Xingyang
31. He Yifan
32. Lailai
33. Lu Dinghao
34. Dai Shaodong
35. Li Luo’er
36. Ye Haoran
37. Zeng Hanjiang
38. Luo Yan
39. Nuo Yan
40. Rong Yao
41. Yu Yang
42. Huang Kun
43. Wu Hai
44. Ichika
45. Fan Zhen’er
46. Wei Ziyue
47. He Zhenyu
48. Xu Shaolan
49. Eisho
50. Gui Shangqi
51. Zhang Zhang
52. Wang Xiaochen
53. Jiang Dunhao
54. Qu Boyu
55. He Yijun

On the “Youth With You 3” side, the show went from 119 trainees to 60 trainees.

1. Tony (Yu Jingtian)
2. Liang Sen
3. Lian Huaiwai
4. Rimiko (Li Junhao)
5. JOJO (Tang Jiuzhou)
6. Wei Hongyu
7. Sun Yihang
8. Jun Liu
9. Jerome.D (Deng Xiaoci)
10. Chase Lee (17)
11. Kachine (Sun Yinghao)
12. Nemo (Xu Xinchi)
13. Xu Ziwei
14. Luo Yizhou
15. drrchen (Chen Junhao)
16. Waston (Chang Huasen)
17. Jiang Jingzuo
18. X (Duan Xingxing)
19. G.G (Zhang Siyuan)
20. Liam (Yan Xi)
21. Jeremy (Deng Zeming)
22. Zi Yu
23. IKELILI
24. Krystian (Wang Nanjun)
25. He Derui
26. Vic Wei (Wei Xingcheng)
27. Wang Jiachen
28. Crayon (Chen Yugeng)
29. Qiu Danfeng
30. Kingston (Yi Xuan)
31. Zheng Xingyuan
32. Neil (Liu Guanyou)
33. Ayu
34. Yang Haoming
35. Wang Haoxuan
36. Jacky (Du Tianyu)
37. Alan (Huang Hongming)
38. BoogieFish (Cao Yu)
39. (Dow) Bai Ding
40. Keerlijun
41. Zhou Zijie
42. Niu Zaizai
43. S. Titch (Zhao Jinyao)
44. Yuchoen (Wan Yuchen)
45. Kin (Li Qin)
46. Cole (Ke’er)
47. Owen (Gong Yixing)
48. Kaiden (Liu Junhao)
49. DING (Chen Dingding)
50. Hans (Han Jingde)
51. Yuta (Hashimoto Yuta)
52. Casper (Xu Zhuolun)
53. Jaydon (Chen Junyu)
54. Otter (Cui Yunfeng)
55. Bai Lu
56. Li Mingxu
57. ONE (Zhong Junyi)
58. Han Ruize 
59. Ailizati
60. Jason. K (Wang Linkai)

What was especially heartbreaking was LilStar (Liu Xin) placing 61st, which was 1 spot shy of escaping elimination in the first round. A day before the first public performance, Liu Xin received news of his grandfather’s passing. However, he couldn’t return home. After the first elimination recording on March 15, an account reported seeing Liu Xin crying and shaking en route to the airport for his grandfather’s funeral on March 16. It’s reported his Qin’s Entertainment labelmate, Mu Ziyang, who is from the group ONER and also participated in iQIYI’s “Idol Producer”, accompanied him home. It’s also reported Liu Xin grew up in a single parent family and was raised by his grandfather.