The voice of Jesse St. James begins to speak over a black screen while flashes of images pass by the viewer's eye. "The time has come to claim the title of America's Next Top Designer. Fourteen competitors but only one will win. This season will have drama, romance, anger, but above all-design. So welcome to season four of "Capture the Flag!"
As the theme music begins to play, a camera pans inward on a very large blank design room. The floors are made of concrete and 7 long white table with 14 stools stand silent and stark, unfilfilled. Shelves and shelves of items can be seen off to the side and there seems to be at least one more door leading elsewhere.
In the back, a metal door opens and someone peeks their head in before walking in, examining the tables with hands in his pocket. He looks around, nodding his head at the space before looking back towards the door.
"My name is Dave Karofsky," he says to kick off the camera interview. He is a little heavier than a normal designer, but his baby face and nearly flat top like crew cut make him look just as young as everyone else he's competing against. "I'm 25 and I work for NTC Designs in Garamoth, Wisconsin. My style of design is simple, natural, and not all that ornate. And I'm pretty handy with a band saw, so I have that going for me."
Dave watches the door open and a girl swagger in as the door remains open behind her.
"Hello there!" she says with a smile as she swivels her hips and walks over to Dave with a strong handshake. She's wearing a mix of colors accented with a zebra coat and has under her arm a large binder of designs with an M dotted in rhinestones on the cover.
"My name is Mercedes Jones," she begins in her camera room close up. "And I am the diva of animal print! Yes, you heard that correctly. You thought it was dead, you thought that it could never look classy or cool but at Miss Jones Designs, I strive to show you otherwise."
"So, that's an interesting jacket. Is that...zebra print?" Dave asks as the door opens for a third time.
The camera room interview takes place while Finn walks awkwardly into the room. "My name is Finn Hudson and I'm a second year cabinet maker intern from Lima Tech in Ohio. I guess I like design because, I dunno, nothing else seemed to fit for me really. Well, except for my girlfriend back home. She's pretty awesome. She was the head cheerleader at our high school and she takes photography classes. Really cool. Her name is Angelique."
"The party's here!" A voice shrieks from the doorway's opening. Dave moves back a little bit as a very small woman in pink bounces into the room. "Oh, I love this space! Look at all this room! Isn't it glorious?!"
"My name's Sugar," the girl in pink says as she sucks on a pink lollipop and adjusts her pink boa in the camera interview. "My daddy says that I have the best eye for design and fashion out there and that's why his company hired me to work in their graphics department. But I like want my own space, you know, because I hate having to answer phones all day. It's really dumb and sometimes it messes up my hair."
"Look at your shoes," Sugar squeals as Mercedes looks down at her lemon yellow high tops. "They're not pink but they're amazing!"
"I know. I had them designed by the cousin of the original owners of the Keds factory in a contest. I've had them for three years."
"Seriously? These girls aren't even a challenge," Dave says low, almost whispering it into Finn's ears, causing Finn to cross his arms and nod.
"Okay, let's be real," the next voiceover states as a man in a ripped jean vest, jeans covered in tattered pieces of union jack fabric, and a bright green mohawk stand in the open door of the work room before walking in. "I am gonna win the competition, hands down. I have the experience and the drive and I'm badass. Nobody beats the Puckerone, which is why I'm here without any prior design experience. I don't need it. I built a successful lemonade business from the ground up in my hometown in Kentucky and what are they gonna do? Send me back to my trailer park now? Please bitch, I've got this."
"Hey, what's up cutey," Noah says as he sidles over to Mercedes.
Mercedes puts her hand up in her face. "Please. You are not my type."
"You're my type," Sugar squeaks from where she's perched herself on a table.
"Then you've got good taste," Puck says as cracks a muscle in his neck and then nods to the boys.
No one really notices the girl that enters behind Noah Puckerman, mostly because she doesn't say hello to any of them. She walks around for a moment, evaluating the tables. Finn finally notices her and follows her, hovering over the table while she's crouched, looking at how tall it is and what the legs are made of.
"Hello," he says downwards with a smile.
"Hi," she looks up with a smile and then pulls a marker out of her little zippered part of the outside sleeve of her jacket. She's wearing a top that looks like it belongs in an eighties secretarial pool and has about seven more Sharpies hidden inside various zippers in the jacket, along with a notebook for any ideas she might get.
She begins drawing a star on one half of the white table while Finn looks on. "What are you doing?"
Her first camera room interview explains. "People might laugh when I don't introduce myself and get to work right away, but I'm not here to make friends. People laugh when I say that my spirit animal is a star because they say that doesn't make any sense and it's not an animal, but they don't understand that a star is a metaphor and metaphors are important. I am star. I am Rachel Berry and I am the best thing to ever happen to this competition, hands down."
Santana Lopez is next in the room and she comes strolling in in a low cut blouse with teal and black stripes. She sets down her bag on one stool and then settles on another, her long glamorous legs reclined sexily. No one can see her eyes through her sunglasses and she just stairs without a word.
Finally, Dave walks over to her and extends his hand while everyone else looks on. "Hi, I'm..."
"Okay, I'm gonna stop you right there, Frosty the Ho-man. My name is Santana Lopez and I don't shake. I'm the baddest bitch interior designer in New York City and none of you best forget that."
With that, she turns away and starts writing something down in her phone after rummaging through her purse.
"Ummm...okay," Dave says with a start as he retracts his hand and just kind of looks at her.
"Wow," he says in a camera room interview when asked about his first impression of Santana Lopez. No one can tell if that wow is bad, good, or sarcastic.
Quinn Fabray clears her throat from the open door since people all just seeming to be staring at Santana and she enters in a sweet pink cupcake dress with eyelashes swept up and hair in a bun. She goes around the room like a politician's wife, shaking hands and smiling.
"My name is Quinn Fabray. I am a dress designer from Sydney's Wedding Boutique in Palisades, California. My assistant freaked out when I told her I was coming on this show because we are the fifth most in demand boutique for wedding design in the nation but I think my team can handle it without me for awhile. Fabric is kind of my thing and I notice one of the other girls here is kind of a pink fiend. So we'll either get along fine or we'll kill each other on the way to the top. You never know what's gonna happen," she shrugs with an unassuming smile.
Tina and Mike walk in from opposite sides of the door way at the same time and plunk themselves down at a table while smiliing around.
"So, we asked to come in together," Tina begins in the camera interview, "because we work as a team. We've been a team since the fourth grade when we had to dissect a frog together."
"Yeah," Mike continues, "she's kind of the brains of the outfit and I'm the brawn. She helped me design a dance studio in Florida that got us placed in Architecture Review, which is pretty impressive really. That's why we got this call and we decided it was us together or nothing."
"It's really cool of the creators of the competition to take that into account," Tina says with a nod. "And yes, we both know we're Asian. And no, we're not dating. Mike might as well be gay for all I know."
"What?" Mike asks as the interview ends with him looking at her with a startled face.
"Holla now!" Artie says as he wheels himself into the room and Mercedes gives a scream.
"Artie!"
"Mercedes, girl, what are you doing here?"
"I didn't know you got in!"
"It's your fault," Artie says as they hug. "You're the one that said you were auditioning and I thought what the hell and now I'm here."
"My name is Artie Abrams and I'm a professional set designer for both the Memphis and Nashville historic playhouses. My genre is considered Hollywood classic temporary and I am the fiercest bitch in a wheelchair you will ever meet. Rupaul told me that herself when I was on her show in the second season. What?"
Artie crosses his arms as a gangster would as his interview ends.
Lauren Xiszes stands in the open door with her arms crossed for a moment and watches Artie as he goes around saying hello. She sizes up the competition and bursts forth when ready. "Hello everyone, I'm Lauren. Sad to say that all of you are gonna be leaving before me because i'm the best there's ever been at design. And chocolate eating contests, but that's neither here nor there."
"Good to know you have confidence, I'm Finn," Finn says as he extends a hand. Lauren grabs it and gives it a mighty squeeze until Finn gives a little grimace.
"Hand shake like a girl. You the gay one?"
"What?" Finn asks as he wiggles his fingers to make sure they still work. "No. I have a girlfriend back..."
"Right," Santana calls out from her stool, the outline of her long legs more visible as she moves them just a hair more than is necessary. Noah seems pleased by this. "He can't be gay. Just look at his custard-filled nipple chest."
"Okay, that's not a good way to start out a competition," Rachel states.
"Oh, look who's got a crush."
"No. I am married to my design work. I mean, we should wait to see what everyone designs in the first challenge before we start to size each other up like hungry wolves."
"Star girl is right," Tina nods and gives her a smile. "I mean, we don't have to be enemies."
"Look, I don't need any friends. I don't want them. In fact, I actually ate one once that pissed me off." The room looked apalled. "Geez. It's just a joke. Cause I'm plus size."
"Look, I'm a fat bitch," Lauren says in her interview. "Why hide it? I've got nothing to be ashamed of and style to spare."
"Hey everyone" Sam says as he enters the room, combing his hands through his hair to try and dissipate his nervous energy. Sam's wearing board shorts and a tank top over an open button down in blue plaid.
Mike shakes his hand. "Welcome to the game."
"I'm Sam Evans," he says to the camera earnestly. "I'm a member of the Notovny Design Network, utilizing grants and commercial funding to make supplies for Habitat for Humanity houses. I guess I'm pretty much the good guy of the group, probably. I don't do well with drama and I know there's probably gonna be some drama here. It's not really my thing, though."
"I wonder who the last guy is?" Dave thinks out loud as he counts the number of people and stools in the building.
"It's me." Comes the reply through the open door and Kurt Hummel struts in, causing several people to blink and try to figure out what he's wearing.
"Is that a girl's sweater?" Mercedes asks, trying to sound polite but failing.
"Fashion has no gender," he retorts with a wiggle of his finger. He stands there, hand on hip, looking at the other contestant.
"Well," Dave sighs in an interview. "Now we know who the gay guy is. And geez, he's like super gay. I mean, do you have to push it that much?"
"Oh shit," Kurt says in his interview, "that was my first thought. Santana Lopez and I have lived in this city for five years and have butted heads about a million times since I opened my own loft out in Queens. I can't imagine this going well."
"Well, I guess this is season four," Quinn says as she looks around and rolls her eyes as Puck gives her a wink.
"You're quite right," a voice says as he enters from another door. The camera pans in on Jesse St. James as he smiles in his gray houndstooth tailored suit. "Welcome to Capture the Flag. You fourteen were chosen because you represent the best of the best upcoming artists in all the country. You may remember that on seasons past, we started with only twelve contestants but now we've got fourteen here."
Several faces nodded as Jesse continued on. "Unfortunately, not everyone will survive their first day. I hope you're not comfortable because..."
With that, two work men come out of the open metal door and grab two stools, flipping them over a table and then begin removing the table quickly. "There are only twelve spots up for grabs to stay. Two of you will pack up tonight and won't even see the space we've got prepared for the remaining contestants. Ready to know what your first challenge is?"
Tensions in the room became high almost immediately. More than just Rachel look over at the table where her star had been placed before the work men had taken the table away. There's at least one audible gulp.
"Your first challenge," Jesse began while savoring the moment, "is the white room challenge."