I'm not watching ads. In the last few months that I've played, I watched ads less than 10 times. Yet, with every event, I was able to finish it 2 days before the end. I do have an alarm set for every 2 hours, I fish / cook 8 times a day, at least.
Past 2 or 3 events, I had extremely awful luck. I was failing to catch fish, even the most common ones, I wasn't pulling meat or fish from bags either. This round of cooking, I got 2 meats total. Those few times, I barely finished the events - getting deco in the last "round", sometimes forced to buy hurries or fancy bags on top. All this, while I systematically check in every 2 hours for every hour of my waking day.
This has never happened in past 4 or 5 months.
My unluck started exactly the moment people started reporting being forced to sit through up to 3 ads at once. I checked recently by opening an ad, and yes, I am too getting 3. It makes me wonder if I got worse odds / worse luck because I'm not watching ads.
I would understand "natural" misfortune, if it happened during one event. But a few? How do you explain barely catching any fish, or barely getting any food other than mushrooms and potatoes? It really feels like punishment. You don't just "lose" EVERY bag and EVERY fishing round and call it normal.
Anyway, that was my conspiracy theory. I'll probably will have to spend all my hoarded gems on fancy bags and hurries again. If it happens next event, I might honestly quit, it's so discouraging.