Hello, it's been a little while since my last story was completed but after going over several ideas in my head, I finally sat down and wrote this. In case you couldn't tell, this is different from the typical "Competition Stories" that I've been writing for Total Drama. I kinda got burned out on writing those and wanted to try something new. Hopefully you guys like this. Also, just so we're clear, this takes place on an entirely different continuity than my other stories. It's just to simplify writing for me. Anyway, that's about all I have to say so I hope you enjoy my new story.
One early morning inside the offices of a television studio somewhere in Southern Ontario, reality television personality Chris McLean and his right hand man Chef Hatchet were in an elevator together, going up.
"Man, I got a bad feelin' about this." Chef commented.
"Oh calm down, you say that every time the producers want to talk with us." Chris replied. "They probably wanna congratulate us on a job well done."
"I dunno Chris, I'm thinkin' they're gonna fire us." Chef theorized. "Dumpin' all that toxic waste was your first strike and letting that redheaded psycho nerd take over the island was your third."
"Ah c'mon, the producers love it when stuff like that happens." Chris said. "They say it's what gives us our highest ratings. Everything's gonna work out just fine."
"Fine, but if I'm right don't say I didn't warn you." Chef told him.
The elevator doors opened and the two men stepped out into the hallway. After walking for a few moments they stopped in front of one of the rooms lining the hall.
"All right, this is the one they said we'd be meeting in." Chris remarked. "Here we go."
Chris opened up the door and entered the room. The space was well lit with a pleasant eggshell white coat of paint on the walls and several fake plants spread about as decoration. In the middle of the room was a table with two empty chairs set across from three people in suits sitting down. On the left was a bald, portly, African-Canadian man in square glasses, a black suit, and a red tie. Next to him was a blonde, middle aged, Caucasian woman in a grey pantsuit with an abundance of hairspray applied to her. And on the right of this group was a tan skinned man with slicked back black hair wearing sunglasses, a grey suit, and a small gold necklace instead of a tie. Chris and Chef sat at the two empty chairs in front of these people.
"Mr. Johnson, Ms. Johansson, Mr. Di Giovanni." Chris greeted this trio, looking at them from left to right. "How are my favourite producers doing?"
"Chrissy my man I'm doin' just fine." Di Giovanni casually replied.
"I too am also fine." Johnson replied in a complete deadpan.
"We're here to talk serious matters." Johansson added.
"Pfft, Di Giovanni gets me." Chris remarked.
"Do I need to repeat myself?" Johansson asked. "These are very serious."
"Fine, lay it on me." Chris requested.
"Well, we'll start out with the good news. We might be getting your show another season." Di Giovanni explained.
"Our network's most popular series right now is reality show 'The Ridonculous Race'. And not only that, but one of our stars, Blaineley O'Halloran, is hosting her own reality program next year." Johansson began.
"Something about locking a bunch of strangers in a house together." Johnson added.
"Man, that's a great idea. Why didn't we think of that one sooner?" Chef wondered.
"Anyway, point is reality shows are back on the rise." Di Giovanni went on. "And, one of this network's biggest shows has always been Total Drama. So the execs want to put together another season."
"Well, that certainly is great news." Chris remarked. "Man, the way Johansson was talking I thought things would be way worse."
"Well, there's a catch." Johansson told him.
"Dammit! I knew it!" Chris exclaimed.
"You see Mr. McLean, the higher-ups at this network, they don't want this show to continue on account of the… Various incidents that have occurred on it." Johnson explained.
"Don't get us wrong Chrissy baby, we love that sort of thing." Di Giovanni added.
"Yes, but with you being arrested for mishandling of toxic waste, the whole Mal business after that, and then this Scarlett character nearly killing everybody. They just don't think another season of our show is the best idea." Johnson continued.
"And with the high safety standards on Don's show, it makes us like quite bad in comparison." Johansson went on.
"So I'm confused, are we gettin' another season or not?" Chef asked.
"Officially, it's up in the air." Johnson explained. "They want us back because we're good for ratings, but they don't want us back because we're dangerous. They'll only let us back on one condition."
"And what would that be?" Chris inquired.
"They want to look at some of your more… Unstable, contestants. Shawn, Izzy, Leonard. People like that and make sure they're not… Well, dangerous." Johansson explained.
"Ah, they're not dangerous. They're just eccentric." Chris replied. "Besides, even if they were dangerous it'd make for great television."
"Chrissy baby, we know." Di Giovanni replied. "But we're gonna have to evaluate these guys if we want another season."
"All right, fine. I'll do whatever it takes to keep this show running." Chris said. "So did you guys hire some sort of psychiatrist or something to look at our contestants?"
"Pfft, what kind of money do you think we have?" Di Giovanni replied.
"Most of our budget goes into designing challenges and fending off lawsuits." Johansson told Chris. "So we're going to have to find an alternative to a psychiatric professional."
"We were thinking of using someone who seemed familiar to these contestants." Johnson explained
"Ah, I see where this is going." Chris remarked. "You want me to evaluate them instead."
"Oh, absolutely not." Johnson replied. "We've found you have a very negative effect on most of your contestants. So we're going to use someone more neutral. But someone who isn't a professional either on account of our budget."
"And who are you choosing then?" Chris asked.
"We figured that Chef Hatchet would be our best choice." Johansson answered.
"Wait, what? Why me?" Chef asked. "I don't know nothin' about who's dangerous and who's not."
"Relax, we've got some training material that'll help you." Di Giovanni told him.
Di Giovanni reached beneath his seat and pulled out a book with a picture of a cartoon doctor on the cover titled 'DIY Psychological Analysis'.
"Really?" Chef asked, sounding unamused. "Where'd you buy this, the bargain bin?"
"Wait, there's more." Di Giovanni said, oblivious to Chef's surly mood.
Di Giovanni grabbed a DVD with a blank cover out from under the chair. The words 'Anger Management' were written on the DVD case in marker.
"This some kinda instructional video?" Chef inquired.
"No, it's the movie 'Anger Management' with Jack Nicholson and Adam Sandler." Di Giovanni explained. "I just couldn't find the cover. But I figure there's something useful in there."
"This really the best you got?" Chef asked the other two producers.
"Heh, we got budget constraints." Johansson nervously explained. "I'm sure you can make do."
"Shoulda gone back to culinary school…" Chef muttered to himself.
"So how many people does Chef here have to evaluate before we're allowed to go for another season?" Chris wondered.
Johnson grabbed a manila folder stuffed with paper from beneath his chair and placed it down on the table.
"In here is a comprehensive list of former contestants we want you to have a chat with." Johnson explained. "All you need to do is evaluate whether or not they're a danger to others."
"Wow, that's a lot of paper." Chris remarked, laughing a little. "Good luck, Chef."
"You're fine with this, aren't you Mr. Hatchet?" Johnson asked.
"Doesn't seem like I got a whole lotta choice." Chef replied. "It's either I do this, or I don't and our show goes off the air."
"Don't worry Chef. I'm sure you'll do just fine." Johansson reassured him.
"Yeah, and I bet you'll have lotsa fun too." Di Giovanni added.
"Let's not go that far." Johnson said. "This will be very serious works."
"Don't worry, Chef will do anything to save this show." Chris proudly stated.
"I don't get paid enough for this crap…" Chef muttered to himself.
And that was the introduction. I know it was on the short side but I didn't want to force it to be too long. Hopefully, the rest of these chapters will be longer. Not also not too long either. I'm hoping to find a nice middle length. I'm actually mostly done with the next chapter so it'll probably be up soon (Maybe even tomorrow). But that's enough about what's to come. I do hope you enjoyed this intro despite it being kind of short. Leave a review if you want to tell me your thoughts. Thanks for reading.