"Fresh from Europe"
Story Written by Freedom Fighter

Apologies for the delay, but here's part two of the two-episode season premiere!

Disclaimer: All characters are the property of Fresh TV, Inc. The 2012 Summer Olympic Games and all mentioned licensed characters, places, and other related material are the property of the International Olympic Committee. Oh, and this fanfic is not officially endorsed by either the IOC, Fresh TV, or anyone else involved with the Olympics.


Thirty-two teens
Seventeen days
Still one grand prize

They're just... FRESH FROM EUROPE!
[presented in HD print where available]

-
Fresh from Europe
Episode Two - BMX SOS (05.15.12)
-

There are many places to see in London. Buckingham Palace. Big Ben. The Tower of London. Madame Tussauds. Piccadilly Circus. Westminster Abbey. The list goes on and on. While in London, the cast was planning to spend their down time visiting these places, and perhaps many more.

But first things first! The cast was heading for 'Future' Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, currently known simply as Olympic Park, for it was to house not only the Olympic Village, where all of the athletes from across the world were to stay during the games, but a large number of venues as well. The double-decker bus carrying them passed by some of those venues on their way to the village: the Aquatics Centre, the Copper Box, and the Olympic Stadium.

The bus stopped in the village, which consisted of a number of high-rises that, after the Games, were to be repurposed into apartments, townhouses, small businesses, and an all-years academy. For next two weeks or so, though, the 28 remaining teenagers from Canada would reside here. Or, to be more specific, in one of the buildings here.


The door to one of the apartments was opened up, and Caitlin led the way in. Unfortunately, it was not what she had imagined.

"Um, are we sure we're in the right place?"

Jen and Nikki followed her in, and they noticed it was sparsely furnished. There was a kitchen with a microwave and a refrigerator, a washer and dryer off to the side in its own compartment, and a few chairs. There were two full size beds and a dresser in each of the side rooms.

Nikki walked over to the sliding door leading to the balcony. She opened the door and stepped out.

"Nice view," she quipped sarcastically, as the view was of the surrounding buildings and the flower-filled courtyard below.

"Well, there are more people here this time," Jen reasoned. "Not enough in the budget, perhaps?"


It only took Eva ten minutes to unpack, perhaps because half of her stuff were weights and other assorted exercise equipment. Beth, Chrissy, and Izzy - three of the five who were sharing this particular apartment with her - watched as Eva did arm curls with a 15-pound dumbbell with one hand and wrote on a notepad that was on her upper left leg with the other.

"I think she's trying to figure out whom she wants on her team," Beth thought aloud.

"What do we do? I don't want to be on that... thing's team!"

"Gee, Chrissy, was it? You sure are getting worked up about this!"

"That blonde girl threw her pillow at me!" complained Chrissy.

Beth was confused. Eva was not a blonde. Chrissy tried to clarify.

"Somebody told me her name. It's Brittany, or maybe Barbara, or Brandy..."

Catching the hint, Beth shouted, "Bridgette!"

"Yeah! That's it! Like, I don't know what set her off. All I said were that jean shorts were so butch! They are, BTW."


Jen was in her room, also contemplating whom to draft for her team as her roommate, Caitlin, hung all her clothes in the closet.

"Hey-yyyy!"

The pair turned to the door, hearing a third voice cut in. Heather's.

"How did you get in here?" asked Jen.

"I let myself in, but that's not important. Jen, I have a proposition..."

"Save your breath, 'cause it's not happening. I'm not putting you on my team."

"How about ME?" asked Cody, who was trying to get past Heather and pop his head into the bedroom. "You gotta pick me!"

"Isn't your on-again, off-again girlfriend-slash-fiancé-slash-wife Sierra going to be against that? Last thing I want is for her to hate me even more."


But Sierra was already planning for that, as she had gone to Tyler's apartment to ask him a request.

"So let me see if I have this right," Tyler said aloud, "instead of you picking Cody, you want ME to pick him?"

"That's right!"

Confessional Cam - Tyler

"Cody's not the best athlete, but having him as a teammate will keep Sierra from voting us out!"


That night, the seven captains were whisked away to an extravagant dinner with the host, Allen, for an introduction to British cuisine. And it did not include fish and chips, to the disappointment of some. But although the food was nice, they had a draft to complete.

"It's time to begin the draft. But first, we need to determine draft order. Tyler and Eva, please come up."

The two got up from their seats and approached Allen. He had a one pence coin in hand.

"Eva, you have the honor. Heads or tails?"

"Tails."

Allen tossed the coin and it flipped end over end in the air. It landed tails.

"Tails it is. Eva, you have the first pick. Tyler, you're second. As for the rest of you, there is a small white ball taped to the underside of your chairs. I'd like to ask for you all to pull them out right now. The number on it represents your number in the draft order."

After seeing their balls, the rest of draft was going to go Ripper, Broseph, Jen, Ty, and Sierra. Everyone then, including Eva and Tyler, took their seats. The draft then gets underway, but it was not shown on screen.


A couple hours later, the captains returned to the Olympic Village. Outside of their building, they found the other 24 competitors waiting for them. They had been separated into groups of three, with each aware that the fourth member of their team would be one of the seven captains. Many of the usual suspects already appeared unhappy without knowing who selected them. Kelly was standing with Trent and Wipeout. Duncan had Justin and Bridgette alongside him. And Heather was grouped with Chrissy and Cody.

Each of the captains was wearing a shirt in his or her newly established team color, and they had three more shirts in hand to give to his or her selections. Eva, dressed in gold, was first.

"My team's going for gold!" she exclaimed.

To Kelly's horror, Eva walked over to her group. Trent was smiling, though uncomfortably, and Wipeout was dancing with glee. Tyler was next, and Sierra had a scowl of displeasure on her face. Because she already knew what was coming next... Tyler walked past the group with Cody in it and instead handed his silver shirts to Fin, Izzy, and... Harold.

"Sweet!" Harold shouted. "I wasn't picked last!"

Confessional Cam - Tyler

"I know I was supposed to pick Cody, but in the heat of the moment, I forgot and selected Harold instead! What was I supposed to do? There weren't takebacks!"

Ripper high-fived Reef, whom he had selected for the Bronze Team, along with a delighted Emma and a confused Nikki. Broseph, captain of the Red Team, walked over to a weak-on-paper group of Jude, Caitlin, and Serena. They were happy regardless.

Jen, on the other hand, had what looked to be the strongest group of the bunch as she handed her white shirts to the 'Total Drama' trio of Duncan, Bridgette, and Justin. Ty was next, dressed in a maple shirt. He was the one who ended up with Cody, Chrissy, and Heather.

As the others started heading inside to mingle and begin discussing possible strategy, that left one captain and one unclaimed trio.

"Welcome to Sierra's Superstars!" the Blue Team captain proclaimed.

Beth clapped with glee, Johnny was just happy to be on a team, and Jonesy was wondering how he got saddled with such a team.

[End Act One]


The sun had just come up the next morning, and already several of the competitors were scrambling. A fruit and muffin basket, one of which had been delivered to each of the six apartments being used, was sitting on the counter in the room in particular.

Confessional Cam - Emma

"So this morning, we get this cute basket of goodies delivered to us! There was also this phone in it, that when we turned it on, had a text message sent to us already."

Flip to another apartment, where Johnny was seen reading said message aloud to Ty and Ripper.

"Today's challenge is at the BMX Track, located next to the Velopark. Be there by 8:30. Dress in team shirt, long pants, and sneakers or any other comfortable shoes you aren't afraid of getting dirty."


The group was greeted once again by overcast skies as they arrived at the BMX Track. Most of the girls were bringing up the rear, as they had to rush there after a hectic morning.

Confessional Cam - Chrissy

"What madness! Like, how can they expect six girls to share one bathroom? I had to cut my 40-minute soak in the tub in half! HALF, PEOPLE!"

To their surprise, Allen was not waiting for them alone. With him this morning was a certain whale mascot...

"Wipeout?" Johnny shouted. "How? When? What?"

"Never figured the finhead to be a morning person," joked Duncan.

"Good morning, everyone!" Allen greeted.

He got a mix of greetings back, from happy and cheerful to dark and despairing.

"Today, weather permitting, you'll be taking on your second Summer Olympic discipline... the BMX Cycling event!"

Behind Allen stood the outdoor BMX track, which included a huge dirt slope from the starting gates into the course, as well as ramps, banked hairpin turns, and a tunnel. Again, there was a mix of reactions depending on how excited or not each competitor was.

"There are three rounds. We'll start with the qualifying round, which consists of four heats featuring one rider from each team per heat. The first four to reach the finish line in each heat move on to the semifinals. Same thing in the semis... two heats, and the top four again move on. You want to get to the final, because the first person to cross the finish in that race wins today's challenge for their team. Sounds simple, right?"

Everyone nodded.

"Before we get started, we have to get you all fitted for helmets AND BMX bikes. And there's ALSO one surprise."

Allen turned to his left. Everyone else did the same, and to their surprise, they saw four familiar faces walking their way, all wearing violet-colored shirts.

"Look, who's back, baby!" Lo shouted with authority.

Sure enough, she, along with Darth, Wyatt, and Lindsay, walked up to the group, with smiles on their faces.

"We thought we were rid of you!" growled Kelly.

"Lindsay!" Tyler cried. "My Lindsay's back!"

"Wyatt's back, alright!" exclaimed Jude. "And Darth, too!"

"So," Allen cut in, "when I said yesterday that the four losers might be going home, I actually meant not at all! Everyone, the Violet Team!"

After the foursome was welcomed back with mostly open arms, they all calmed down and turned their attention back to Allen. There was a challenge to do, after all.

"I suppose this is a good time to remind you all of Elimination Challenges. For those of you who were with us back in Vancouver in 2010, the only way out of the competition is to lose an Elimination Challenge, or EC. ECs usually require the participants to repeat the event, usually in a smaller portion. The last team or individual to finish the EC is eliminated and is sent home.

"There are several ways to be forced to compete in an EC. The first is to finish the challenge in last place. In today's case, we'll consider last place to be any team that does NOT have any of its members make it out of the qualifying round. The second is by being voted in. The team that wins the challenge can select any one team and throw them into the EC.

"This time around, there is a third way to get dropped into the EC. In certain challenges, the team or individual that escaped elimination in the previous event will be given an additional stipulation in the following event that they must meet, or they will be forced to compete in the EC once again. Violet Team, you were informed of this new rule last night. What you weren't told was what your stipulation is. I'll tell you right now so that everyone here knows what it is.

"Violet Team! To avoid being forced automatically to be in the EC, at least one member of your team must not only make the final, but start it as well."

The Violet Team nodded, understanding.

"Note that even if you do meet that stipulation, Violet Team, if you do not win the event, you are still subject to being voted in by the winning team, just like everyone else. Everyone got it?"

"Don't worry," Wyatt said aloud. "We'll do our best to win."

"Sounding confident there, Wyatt. Good. Now, the winning team, in addition to earn immunity, each member of that team wins today's prize: a Lumix DMC-TS20 Digital Camera, courtesy of Panasonic, one of the proud sponsors of the 2012 Summer Olympics. And you can enjoy them all after the race."

The group seemed pleased with the prize offering.

"Alright, let's get you all suited up and drawn into heats."


There was no wind, as there had been yesterday, but the overcast skies and the threat of rain pushed for the competition to start as soon as possible. After a quick walkthrough of the course and the drawing of heats and lanes, the competition began.

[Preliminary Round, Heat One - Lane Assignments:
1-Justin 2-Izzy 3-Reef 4-Eva 5-Wyatt 6-Jude 7-Chrissy 8-Beth]

The eight riders in Heat One were in position, on their bikes and in the starting gates. A five-second countdown of beeps initiated, at the end of which the gates would open, and the race would begin.

BEEP. BEEP. BEEP. BEEP. BEEP. BEEEEEEP!

The gates flew open, and all eight riders flew down the slope and onto the course. The first turn was a lefthander, but the course narrowed to the right before it, which meant those in the higher-numbered lanes had to get over as fast as possible.

Reef and Eva are neck-and-neck at the front, with the latter, trying to beat the former to the choke point. But she could not pull ahead, and with Reef not giving her any room, she was forced to slow down to avoid hitting the barrier. And she was not happy about it.

"HEY!"

"No betty's beating me, even one with muscles!"

Her slowing down causes a small bottleneck behind her, but Jude and Izzy manage to get by on the outside. Reef has the clear lead after the first banked hairpin turn. Jude is on the inside of Izzy as they emerge side-by-side for second, followed by the rest of the field all bunched up, with Eva second in that trailing group of five.

The racers head down into the tunnel and out the other side, and go into the second hairpin. Eva gets by Justin to get back into the fourth and final transfer spot, but the miffed look on her face showed that she wanted more.

Into the rhythm section, and Reef, not sure how to take it, slows down. Jude and Izzy are slow through it as well. But not Eva, who passes them and makes it to Reef's back wheel by the time they get into the third and final hairpin.

In the homestretch, Eva navigates the final few hills well enough to pull alongside Reef...

"I'll show you!"

And she sticks out her left foot and kicks Reef's bike. He falls off instantly, tumbling into the dirt and stopping one hill short of the finish. Eva laughed as she crossed the finish line, the winner of the heat.

"Oh, come on!" Reef cried. "That's a foul!"

Reef walked off the course, not even thinking about finishing, as Jude passes him to take second, followed by Izzy and Justin. Wyatt and Chrissy are further back, and Beth had decided to walk off the course at some point, leaving her without a finish as well.

After the race, Allen made a ruling.

"Eva, sorry to say, but you've been disqualified for unsportsmanlike conduct."

"Whatever," Eva grumbled. "The fuzzbag deserved it."

Reef pumped his fist with glee. "That means I move on, right?"

"You would have... if you had finished the race. Since you were still capable of doing so, you would've only been compensated had you finished AND not been one of the first four across. You didn't finish the race, so you can't advance."

"WHAT? How come no one told me I had to finish?"

"I thought it was obvious. Anyway, with Eva's disqualification, the next finisher not already moving on will take her spot in the semis. That means Wyatt, you're moving on!"

"I am?" Wyatt exclaimed. "Alright!"

He high-fived his teammates.


[Preliminary Round, Heat Two - Lane Assignments:
1-Emma 2-Lindsay 3-Jonesy 4-Jen 5-Broseph 6-Heather 7-Harold 8-Wipeout]

The second heat started off fast, as Lindsay, Jonesy, Jen, and Heather go all out for the 'hole shot.' At the back, Wipeout lived up to his name and wiped out after the first hill. Since it was his own fault for landing badly, the race continued on.

Jonesy and the trio of girls form a straight drafting line as they exit Turn One and head for the tunnel and Turn Two. Heather was in second, followed by Lindsay and Jen. Emma and Harold were trying to keep up, both a few bike lengths behind the group.

The front four remained in line until after Turn Two, when Jen pulled out to make her move. She passes Lindsay and is on Heather's outside as they go into the final turn.

On the homestretch, Jonesy has pulled away, and the three girls spread out, racing each other to the finish. But Harold had caught up to them, and he attempted to get by one of them to try and snatch the final transfer spot away. Jonesy won the heat without doubt, but positions two through five had to be determined by photo finish. After analyzing the photo, Harold learned that he had come up just short - Jen had beaten him for the final transfer spot by less than half a wheel.


[Preliminary Round, Heat Three - Lane Assignments:
1-Darth 2-Nikki 3-Duncan 4-Tyler 5-Sierra 6-Kelly 7-Cody 8-Caitlin]

Heat three started off as hectic as the previous one, as everyone except for Darth and Caitlin fought for the hole shot. The boys in the group move to the front when disaster struck right after the last hill leading up to the narrowing point and the first turn. Cody, attempting to move over, did not have his bike pointing straight ahead when he came down. As a result, his front wheel came down first, and at an angle. He could not handle the unbalanced impact, and Cody went flying off of his bike. He hit the dirt ground, rolling a few times before stopping near the inner barrier. Sierra, who was right behind Cody, managed to dodge him. Kelly tried to do the same, but Caitlin, who was right behind her, could not stop in time and she ran into her, knocking both of them off their bikes.

"CODY!"

Sierra jumped off her bike and ran back to check on Cody, the race continuing on without her. She already saw the on-site paramedics heading over, but she started taking preemptive action by slowly moving Cody so that he was lying on his back, then she worked to unlatch his helmet from his head. The helmet had a small dent in its crown, but otherwise was still intact as designed.

By the time Sierra had gotten the helmet off, the race was over, and Tyler, Nikki, Duncan, and Kelly - who had gotten back on her bike and had made a miracle comeback just to advance - were moving on. But that was the last thing on Sierra's mind, as she saw that Cody was breathing, but had been knocked unconscious by the crash.

"Cody? Cody! CODY!"

[End Act Two]


The third heat of four in the preliminaries had just concluded, but one of its participants was still lying on the course, unconscious. Cody was out like a light, and Sierra was in a panic as the paramedics had arrived. They began their diagnosis.

Up at the starting gates, the participants in the fourth and final preliminary heat waited anxiously, some of them walking up to the starting gates so they could see what was going on, as Cody again had crashed near the end of the first straightaway. One of the riders up there, Trent, was especially concerned.

Confessional Cam - Trent

"Cody and I are good friends, so seeing him getting hurt is devastating. I really, really hope, he's okay."


As the diagnosis continued and the other participants, who were now gathered around the starting gates, they were beginning to fear the worst. Particularly when they saw an ambulance driving onto the course nearby. Several members of the gang were devastated as a gurney was wheeled out and a few other paramedics had come over to assist in getting Cody off of the ground and onto the gurney.

Everyone was silent as the paramedics did their thing. Once he was safely on the gurney, they started to wheel him over to the ambulance.

"DON'T WORRY!" Sierra yelled up to the gang. "I'LL STAY WITH CODY UNTIL HE'S SAFE!"

With that, Sierra followed the medics off the course towards the ambulance. Cody and Sierra's bikes had since been removed from the track, and the dirt was being moved around and the barriers checked for damage. Back up at the top, those scheduled to run in the last preliminary heat now had to go through the uneasy process of psyching themselves back up for competition.

Confessional Cam - Lo

"I'm honestly scared right now. I don't want to end up like Cody! I'm too young to be knocked out by a pile of dirt!"


The decision was not easy to make, but the challenge had to resume.

[Preliminary Round, Heat Four - Lane Assignments:
1-Johnny 2-Serena 3-Trent 4-Ty 5-Ripper 6-Fin 7-Bridgette 8-Lo]

Still, you could tell Cody's crash had an effect on the challenge, as this group was riding more conservatively than the previous two. There was very little bumping, if any, and more giving way to others. Ty, Ripper, and Fin pull away from the group, and they all cruise easily into the next round. The only real drama is for the final transfer spot, which Serena edges Trent for at the line. There was also more tension when Bridgette was thrown from her bike in the first rhythm section after a bad landing of her own. Thankfully, she got back up quickly and finished the race.


During a short break between the preliminaries and the semifinals, the ambulance carrying Cody departed from the venue. Sierra was seen in the back window of the vehicle as it left.

Confessional Cam - Sierra

"When we had that so-called wedding at Niagara Falls, I vowed to be with you until death do we part, Cody! I... I... I just hope... WAAAAAAAAH!"


As Cody made his way to the hospital, the challenge moved into the semifinal round.

[Semifinal Round, Heat One - Lane Assignments:
1-Justin 2-Jude 3-Lindsay 4-Jonesy 5-Heather 6-Jen 7-Izzy 8-Wyatt]

The gates opened, and they were off! The racers became aggressive as they fought for the hole shot. Jude led the way, but he was on the outside of Jonesy going into the first turn. Heather, Jen, Lindsay, and Izzy were bunched up right behind to form a lead pack of six.

Jude continued to lead into the tunnel. Into the second turn, Jonesy turned late, and Heather followed him, as Jen dove to the inside and passed them both. Heather then goes inside Jonesy, who was now way outside, allowing Lindsay and Izzy to get by him.

Jen caught up to Jude on the homestretch, and he let her by without a fight. The battle to watch was behind them. Heather was faltering down the stretch as she could not navigate the rhythm section. The fourth and final transfer spot again needed to be determined by a photo finish between Izzy and a charging Jonesy. The end result? Izzy, by a nose, advanced to the final along with Jen, Jude, and Lindsay.


[Semifinal Round, Heat Two - Lane Assignments:
1-Duncan 2-Serena 3-Ripper 4-Tyler 5-Ty 6-Fin 7-Nikki 8-Kelly]

Back at the start, the second semifinal heat was about to begin. Once the gates went down, things get chaotic. The race was on to get the lead. Ripper succeeded in getting, followed by Tyler, Duncan, Ty, Serena, Fin, Kelly, and Nikki. Surprisingly, there were no incidents.

That would not last long. On the way down into the tunnel, Tyler fell off of his bike while holding second place. Everyone behind him scrambled to avoid landing on him or his bike. All of them succeeded in dodging him. The incident, though, allowed Ripper to race out to an insurmountable lead.

Ripper easily wins the heat, and Duncan and Serena pull away enough to comfortably move on as well. Ty and Fin cross nearly side-by-side at the finish, with Ty getting the call by photo finish to move on.


[Final Round - Lane Assignments:
1-Izzy 2-Serena 3-Jude 4-Ripper 5-Jen 6-Duncan 7-Lindsay 8-Ty]

It was time for the final race. The first rider to cross the finish line would win the event for their team. Six of the eight teams had a chance to earn immunity.

BEEP. BEEP. BEEEEEEP!

Teammates Jude and Serena beat everyone to the first turn, with the other pair of teammates in Jen and Duncan had Ripper sandwiched in between them. Jude takes the inside line heading into the tunnel with Ripper pushing up to third, but trapped where he was with Serena hanging to his outside.

Jude opened up a bike-length gap heading into the rhythm section. Ripper and Duncan gave chase, leaving the girls behind.

Jude went wide in the last turn, opening the door for Ripper to steal the win. Ripper pulled along to Jude's left and it was a race to the line. Jude did his best to hold him off, but it was no use. Ripper edged Jude at the line, beating him by a wheel. Reef, Emma, and Nikki celebrate as they mobbed their teammate in the finish area.


Afterwards, the Bronze Team received gold medals for winning the event, and received applause for their efforts.

"Congratulations, Bronze Team! You guys are today's winners, all thanks to Ripper, who won the final."

Ripper took a bow for his performance.

"All four of you get a Lumix DMC-TS20 Digital Camera, courtesy of Panasonic. But even more valuable is the opportunity to choose who competes in the EC. Now, since all eight teams had at least one person advanced out of the preliminaries and the Violet Team had at least one person get to the final, that means that no teams are automatically in the EC. Thus, Bronze Team, you will have to pick two teams to send into the EC. You guys have a minute to think about it, and then I need your selections."

Ripper, Reef, Emma, and Nikki started discussing off to the side.

"I say we throw the Maple Team in," suggested Reef. "Heather needs to go first. Again."

"But Ty's on that team!" argued Emma.

"Yeah. And so is Cody. He may not be an athlete, but I'm not adding insult to injury."

"What about the Gold Team?" pondered Reef. "We all don't like Kelly, and Eva is scary, dudes!"

"Point taken," Nikki said. "But they have the whale. His presence alone pushes them down on the list of threatening teams."

"How about the Blue Team?"

"They're down Sierra," said Ripper. "And Jonesy..."

"Non-issue," Nikki told them. "We may be dating, but we're competing against each other. He'll be fine either way."

"Violet Team, guys?"

"Can't," Emma stated. "Lo's on that..."

"Emma, stop trying to save everyone!" growled Nikki.

"Shiela's right, Em," Ripper added. "We gotta put someone in."

"Reef, back me up on this!"

"Like I care about Miss High Maintenance? See ya, Lo!"

"But..."

"I think we have our two teams," Ripper said.

They broke their huddle and Ripper told Allen of their decision.

"We select the Blue Team and the Violet Team."

The Blue Team was not happy, while the Violet Team was not surprised.

Confessional Cam - Lo

"Ugh, again with everyone singling me out as the weakling! Why do they keep doing that?"

Confessional Cam - Darth

"Well, Julie, I guess I'm booking an early ticket home."

Confessional Cam - Johnny

"So much for all that training. Sigh..."


The two competing teams were back up at the start of the course. Everyone else was waiting at the finish line to see which team would survive the game's first elimination.

[Elimination Challenge - Lane Assignments:
1-OPEN 2-Lindsay 3-Beth 4-Wyatt 5-Jonesy 6-Darth 7-Johnny 8-Lo]

"Violet Team, everyone thought you guys were already sent home yesterday. Blue Team, you are participation in the EC down one person. The ONLY number that should matter to both teams is the number one. This first EC is a survival race. The first rider to reach the finish line saves their team from elimination and guarantees themselves at least another day in London. The other team goes home. For real."

Jonesy smiled in Lane 5. He could easily tell that he was by far the best rider in the field. And he believed everyone else thought it as well.

"Good luck to you all, and see you at the finish."

A couple minutes later, after Allen had made his way to the finish line, the countdown lights started going off.

BEEP. BEEP. BEEP. BEEEEEEP!

The gates dropped, and the riders were away. A determined Lindsay led early, but Jonesy caught her and got to her inside going into Turn One. Lindsay was the Violet Team's only hope of surviving, and she could not let Jonesy get away from her.

Jonesy looked back to see how close Lindsay was. She was almost on his back wheel. As they headed into the tunnel, his eyes wandered down towards Lindsay's cleavage. That was enough to distract him, causing him to again go wide in the second turn. Lindsay waved goodbye as she got past and started leaving him in the dust. As Jonesy got his momentum, Wyatt got alongside him.

"Go away, Wyatt!"

"Sorry, Jonesy, but I'm not ready to go home!"

Into and through the final turn, and Lindsay was still in front. Jonesy had the inside line and he used to clear Wyatt. But was there enough time to catch Lindsay? He pedaled with all his might, clearing the last few hills. But the gap was too great, as was Lindsay's will. The buxom blonde was the first to cross, beating Jonesy to the line by almost a full second.

"I won?" she asked, playing dumb. "I WON! YES!"

Lindsay hopped off her bike and celebrated as the rest of her team came in, all congratulating her on a great ride. Meanwhile, Jonesy was in disbelief, while Johnny and Beth sighed in defeat.

Confession Cam - Jonesy

"We didn't need Sierra for that challenge. I could've and should've won that and I let myself get distracted! Stupid, sexy Lindsay! Wait... Nikki's gonna see this later, isn't she?"


"At this time," Allen proclaimed, "Violet Team, I deem you safe from elimination. You may rejoin the other teams."

The Violet Team did so, leaving the Blue Team with Allen.

"I'm sorry, Blue Team. We don't ever want to get rid of anyone, but this is a competition. I'm sorry, guys. Time for you to go."

Once that declaration was made, Lindsay was bawling her eyes out as she ran over to give Beth one last hug goodbye.

"I'm sorry I'm sending you home! I... I want you stay!"

"It's alright," Beth said as she let Lindsay cry into her shirt. "You did what you had to do."

"Are you going to be okay?" Emma asked Johnny.

"Yeah," he said, holding back tears. "I... I just have to figure out how to prepare for these things better."

"We'll miss you."

Emma hugged him, and she was quickly joined by Fin, Lo, Reef, and Broseph. Meanwhile, Nikki was having trouble coming up with words to say to Jonesy.

"So much for spending time together to figure out this long-distance thing," Nikki said nervously.

"We may have been together a day or so this time," Jonesy said, "but there's no other girl I'd rather be with than you."

He and Nikki kissed, resulting in a few aww's from the others. With that, the trio headed out the way they came in.

"The first four are gone," Allen said, "but there's still 28 of you left. Which team will be the next to leave? You all can head back to the Village, and I'll see you tomorrow."

The 27 present members of the remaining teams turned around and filed out the venue. But they were not looking ahead to what Olympic event they would be trying tomorrow...

Instead, they anxiously wondered about the status of one of their own.

To be continued...


(Next time, on 'Fresh from Europe'...)

"I really hope Cody makes it," Jen admitted aloud.

"Yeah," sighed Caitlin. "I hope so too."

(What's going to happen to Cody?)

"Why so bummed, bro?" Jude asked Broseph.

"Isn't it obvious, dude?"

"Here's the latest news on Cody..." began Allen.

A lot of gasping can be heard.

(And it's time to swim...)

"Breaststroke," said Reef with a grin. "Such a funny word..."

Confessional Cam - Serena

"I admit. I'm jealous. Just... look at her!"

Fin chuckled. "You're telling me you can swim? With THOSE?"

(And Bridgette shows her dark side...)

Jen was holding Bridgette back as she laid a verbal assault into one of her other teammates.

"I swear, Duncan, I will NEVER forgive you if we go home because of you!"

"Oh, blow it out your dolphin hole!"

(On the next all-new 'Fresh from Europe,' next Tuesday night!)