[step:Introduce the threshold scale $c$, optimise, and identify $M_0^{1-\theta} M_1^\theta$]
Repeat the argument from Step 2 with the truncation threshold $c\lambda$ instead of $\lambda$, where $c > 0$ is a free parameter. The bounds in Steps 4--5 become
\begin{align*}
I_0 = \frac{(2M_0)^{p_0}}{p_\theta - p_0}\,c^{p_0 - p_\theta}\,\|f\|_{L^{p_\theta}}^{p_\theta}, \qquad I_1 = \frac{(2M_1)^{p_1}}{p_1 - p_\theta}\,c^{p_1 - p_\theta}\,\|f\|_{L^{p_\theta}}^{p_\theta}.
\end{align*}
(The factor $c^{p_0 - p_\theta}$ in $I_0$ comes from the inner integral $\int_0^{|f|/c}\lambda^{p_\theta - p_0 - 1}\,d\mathcal{L}^1(\lambda) = c^{p_0 - p_\theta}\,|f|^{p_\theta - p_0}/(p_\theta - p_0)$ after the substitution $|f(x)| > c\lambda \iff \lambda < |f(x)|/c$; symmetrically for $I_1$.) Combining,
\begin{align*}
\|Tf\|_{L^{p_\theta}}^{p_\theta}\le p_\theta\,\|f\|_{L^{p_\theta}}^{p_\theta}\,\biggl[\frac{(2M_0)^{p_0}}{(p_\theta - p_0)\,c^{p_\theta - p_0}} + \frac{(2M_1)^{p_1}\,c^{p_1 - p_\theta}}{p_1 - p_\theta}\biggr].
\end{align*}
Differentiating the bracket in $c$ and setting the derivative to zero,
\begin{align*}
c^{p_1 - p_0} = \frac{(2M_0)^{p_0}}{(2M_1)^{p_1}}.
\end{align*}
At this $c = c_{\mathrm{opt}}$, the two summands of the bracket are proportional, and a direct substitution yields a sum equal to a finite constant times $(2M_0)^{p_0(p_1 - p_\theta)/(p_1 - p_0)}\,(2M_1)^{p_1(p_\theta - p_0)/(p_1 - p_0)}$.
**Identification of the exponents.** Set $\beta := (p_\theta - p_0)/(p_1 - p_0) \in (0,1)$. We claim $p_1\beta = \theta\,p_\theta$ and $p_0(1 - \beta) = (1 - \theta)\,p_\theta$. From the convex-combination definition of $p_\theta$,
\begin{align*}
\theta = \frac{1/p_0 - 1/p_\theta}{1/p_0 - 1/p_1} = \frac{p_1(p_\theta - p_0)}{p_\theta(p_1 - p_0)},
\end{align*}
the second equality by multiplying numerator and denominator by $p_0 p_1 p_\theta$. Hence $\theta\,p_\theta = p_1\,(p_\theta - p_0)/(p_1 - p_0) = p_1\beta$. Symmetrically, $(1-\theta)\,p_\theta = p_0\,(p_1 - p_\theta)/(p_1 - p_0) = p_0(1 - \beta)$.
Therefore the minimum of the bracket equals $C^*\,(2M_0)^{(1-\theta)p_\theta}\,(2M_1)^{\theta p_\theta}$ for a constant $C^* = C^*(\theta, p_0, p_1)$ collecting the geometric prefactors $1/(p_\theta - p_0)$, $1/(p_1 - p_\theta)$ and the optimisation constants. Substituting and taking the $p_\theta$-th root,
\begin{align*}
\|Tf\|_{L^{p_\theta}}\le C(\theta, p_0, p_1)\,M_0^{1-\theta}\,M_1^\theta\,\|f\|_{L^{p_\theta}},
\end{align*}
where $C := (2 p_\theta C^*)^{1/p_\theta}\cdot 2$ depends only on $\theta, p_0, p_1$. This is the strong-type bound.
[/step]