The next morning felt strange, as Melody didn't feel tired at all even after all of yesterday's work, which surprised her. That surprise was further escalated that instead of her usual 7 am morning routine, she slept till 10. She wondered whether Chris started the challenge without her, and dressed quickly to check out the situation. To her shock Chris was still at home, and he was cooking, something she never expected for him to know how to do. It did feel right though. No one made her breakfast since her mother and that was a long time ago.

"Morning sleepy head."

"Morning Chris. Since when can you cook?"

"I feel hurt that you doubted me. Now eat up before we go wake up the campers, I've got something different for the campers today."

Melody looked at him suspiciously but all he did was smirk and gesture at the big table standing in the dining room. She wanted to question him further but the small growl emitted by her stomach promptly informed her of just how hungry she was. Cautiously she tried one of the pancakes and looked up in surprise when they turned out to be pretty good. She half expected expected them to be still raw inside, but instead they were cooked to perfection. It definitely impressed her. Sensing this the man before chuckled before indulging her in a pleasant conversation about the island. He didn't probe her and he didn't bring up the allergy question again for which she was thankful to him for.

After the breakfast pancakes, they made their way to the clearing where the next challenge would happen. On the way she stumbled over a hidden tree root, only being saved by Chris's quick thinking and reflexes. His hand didn't leave her for the rest of the journey, although he simply explained it as insurance that she wouldn't fall again. Her small hand fit perfectly into his big one, and it was warm so she didn't put up much of a fight. When they finally reached their destination, Melody noted that it didn't look like it usually would, in fact it changed quite a lot. There were now two big logs facing each other on opposite sides of the clearing and between them sat a scoreboard with some kind of lotto machine underneath that, containing all of the faces of the campers still in the game. She wondered how many interns were forced to work through the night to make sure everything was in place. Her mind was elsewhere but she still had enough sense to step away from Chris when she saw that he picked up a microphone.

"Morning campers. It's time to start today's fun activity, so get your butts over to the meeting area. Hahaha."

The players walked into the clearing, some of them having to drag themselves over, still hurting from the wounds they sustained earlier. On the left log sat Shawn, Dave, Sky, and Ella while on the right log sat Topher, Jasmine, Amy (Samy), Rodney, Scarlett and then Max, separated into their teams. Sugar was the last to come into the clearing still looking and Ella offered her the end of the log right next to her to sit down, clearly still under the impression that she and Sugar could still be friends. Instead of taking the seat, Sugar just pulled her to the ground and started shouting how the girls at the end always get less camera time. It seemed something to do with Beauty Pageants since that was what Sugar was obsessed about, but Melody couldn't be completely sure.

"Haha nice try Ella. Save your power plays for the game."

She frowned at Chris's words, slightly upset that anyone could see Ella as anything but sweet and nice. Her weak protests were easily drowned out by Chris as the rest of her team glared at her, making Melody only feel more sorry for the poor girl. All she wanted to do was make some friends, something Melody could relate to.

"It's time we separated the brave from the liars. The game it truth or scare."

"Hahaha, sounds nasty. Once again Chris you've delivered the goods. If I had a hat it would be off to you."

Instead of smiling as he usually did at the compliments, Chris simply scowled at Topher shuffling closer to her. It seemed that he still hadn't quite forgiven Topher for his previous remarks about his age and looks, which seemed to be a very sensitive subject for Chris. He seemed even more touchy about it after meeting Topher, probably seeing competition in him. It would certainly explain the glares they would send each other every time she saw them, wouldn't it?

"Yes thank you Topher. Now then every round a player is chosen at random. It also chooses if you'll be doing a truth or a scare. Halo means truth, flames mean scare. Get a scare and you'll have to perform a terrifying challenge."

Gasp erupted around the clearing, and Melody looked at Chris in worry and panic. He did say that today's challenge would be different, did that still mean that less Campers would be hurt? Seeing her distress at the thought of people getting hurt, he gave her reassuring wink, not noticing the way it made her knees wobble, someone else did though, someone who was now sending even more glares towards Chris.

"Don't worry, not all the scares will be scary. Some will be disgusting. In this case Amy's gotten a truth. This means she just has to answer a question honestly, but the answer will be revealing. It will expose a dark secret that could destroy her in the eyes of her newly found friends, or not what evs."

Sammy clearly gulped. She seemed to have the biggest secret out of all of the others, with her pretending to be Amy. What's worse, Melody had her suspicions that Chris was well aware of that fact, which would make keeping that secret only ten times harder than it would be normally. In fact, he probably designed this challenge for Sammy, to make her spill her secret.

"How will you know if we're telling the truth?"

"For that we spared no expense. Meet clucky the truth seeking chicke. No lie gets past this bird. She's former CIA and runs her own law firm 'Cluck Cluck and Bwcack'. If you have a secret this poultry polygraph will pluck it out."

Melody almost rolled her eyes at all the chicken puns Chris managed to sneak into those two sentences but managed to stop herself at the last moment. She watched as Clucky poofed up her feathers and landed on Chris's head surprising everyone about the fact that he didn't seem to be too bothered about the way she was messing up his hair. He treated that hair better that he would his own child.

"Completing a challenge or telling the truth gets your team a point. But if you fail a challenge or tell a lie, your whole team gets a shock."

"Erm what do you mean shock… also what are these metal collars Chef's putting on us?"

Melody looked cautiously at the collars that Chef was putting on the camper's necks, managing to figure out from the word shock and Chris's grin, what this particular challenge meant for the competitors. She just hoped that Chris didn't put them on the highest setting, though knowing him he probably found a way to make it hurt more than usual. She could say goodbye to her hopes of not treating anyone today evening.

"You just answered your question. Let me make it clearer."

Chef passed two remotes with two red buttons on them to Chris, who didn't even wait a moment before pressing them both. The shocks hitting the campers were enough to knock some of them off the logs from surprise, and make their hair stand up on end, slightly charred. It was definitely not a safe voltage he was using.

"You tested these right?"

"Yep. I just did and you're still alive, congrats."

Melody gasped in shock and glared at Chris in frustration. He knew he was using a high voltage and he didn't even test them before using them on live people? He could have killed them! She was well aware that his challenges could be violent, hence her presence here on the show, but she never suspected that he would go as far to risk killing them. Hearing her gasp Chris's eyes turned to her, but she turned away avoiding his gaze.

"Aw come on, don't be mad…"

Looking around Chris noted that all of the campers were still trying to pick themselves up and calm their hair, and so no one was looking at the two adults. Taking advantage of that and the fact that Melody was avoiding his gaze, he strode forwards and wrapped his arms around her waist from behind, drawing her into his chest and making her gasp sharply. He could feel the warmth of her body seeping into his, and for a moment wished he could stay like this forever. Then again there was still the show that he had to consider, and he wouldn't allow Topher to make him look any less than the host he was.

"I'm sorry ok? How about this if you talk to me again I will let you read out all the truth questions."

That proposition snapped Melody out of her rapid thoughts, making her look up at him in astonishment. He took his job as host more seriously than anything, and the last time Topher asked to say something, Chris almost bit his head off. So why was he offering it to her? Chris seemed to read the silent question in her eyes and answered, but not without it's usual weight of arrogance.

"Ha got you to look at me. Anyways the producers like you and want you in the show more often. You always tend to stay behind the camera."

Melody could feel her heartbreak slightly at the reasoning behind his proposition, but promptly shook it off. She was stupid to think he could think any more of her than someone on his show, even a friend not to mention more. She steeled herself and nodded in agreement, putting on a fake smile, something Chris didn't seem to notice.

"Let's start the game. Amy…"

"Amy, who do you dislike the most?"

As soon as she asked the question, Clucky walked up to Sammy and jumped up onto her knee, watching her carefully. The girl in question started sweating profusely knowing that she had to say the truth, but at the same time not wanting to reveal her deepest secret. It took her a few seconds but eventually she blurted out the answer in a hurried panic.

"Ok, ok the person I hate the most is...Amy!"

Gasps sounded around the clearing as the campers realised the answer that Sammy gave, though still trying to figure out the meaning behind it. Chris grinned maniacally as clucky nodded, excited to cause more chaos between the different teams.

"Clucky says that was a truth."

"You hate yourself, deep."

Melody could tell that Chris was going to say something more, and tried to warn him about teasing her, but the host was ready for her attempt. His hand reached out and grabbed hers in full view of everybody in the clearing, making a scarlett blush appear on her face. If she caused a fuss now, everybody would see their hands and that was something she would be glad to avoid, so she stayed quiet only sending Chris a failed glare causing him to chuckle. Damn that man, he knew her too well for his own good.

"Care to explain Amy?"

"Well I erm…"

"I'll explain it."

"Jasmine no please."

"The truth is that Sammy is...not your fault Amy. Don't hate yourself for your sisters shortcomings. You did what you could."

"No one is blaming you for Sammy's weirdness."

"That girl was all bun and no hot dog."

"Reeks of failure."

"Eh ok ok enough. I feel much better, thank you."

Melody sighed in relief at Jasmine's interruption, although Chris seemed less pleased since no juicy secrets were revealed. Sammy herself seemed grateful to jasmine though the comments from the other campers clearly annoyed her. They still obviously believed the lies that her older sister told them, and with her 'absence' it only seemed to make her even more of a punching bag. Melody just hoped that Chris wouldn't push the topic further, since it would be much harder to get out of that situation a second time, people would get suspicious.

"Next we'll have Rodney doing another truth."

"The question is, in your opinion who is the most attractive girl on the island?"

"Eh could I get a different question. I can't hurt those gals like that, just look at those loving faces."

Poor Rodney. He still seemed to be under the impression that he was dating every single girl in his team, though Melody doubted whether they were aware of it. The man couldn't even talk straight with them, not to mention ask them out. His eyes skipped from one girl to the other desperately, trying to figure out what to do, in order not to hurt any of them.

"You're running out of time Rodney."

He stood still for another moment, still undecided until Sugar stood up indignantly and gave him another option. Her raised voice was enough to tell everyone that she saw herself as the most beautiful out of all of the other girls here.

"Duh, it's me!"

"Er, yes, perfect. It's Sugar."

Once the final decision was made, Clucky jumped over to Chris pressing her beak against one of the buttons. Rodney and everyone else on his team was shocked once again, their hair jumping back up to it's previous shocked look. It was pretty clear to everyone that Rodney had lied.

"Liar, liar, Rodney's on fire and by fire I mean electrocuted."

"That was truth check your chicken. Your chicken's broken!"

That made Clucky angry, and giving Sugar a glare she pecked the second button, effectively shocking Sugar and her team this time. Chris didn't protest, and in fact seemed happy that everyone was getting hurt and not just some people. Ella tried to brighten up the atmosphere slightly but only seemed to make it worse.

"I'm sure that Rodney thinks you're the second prettiest. No shame in that."

"What! I Ain't no runner up!"

"Oh goodness no. I was...I was only…"

"Calm down, and Ella stop picking fights Sugar."

"But I wasn't , I just…"

"Next Sky doing a scare. Sky, to earn a point, you will have to drink an entire jug of...mineral water."

"That's it? No problem."

"You have 30 seconds, go!"

To everyone's disappointment however, instead of taking big gulps, Sky started to drink the water in the jug in small sips, barely making a difference by the time the timer reached half of the designated time. Ever her team seemed to realise that she wouldn't win like that.

"What are you...really?"

"Oh dear, oh my oh my."

"I drink maple syrup faster than that!"

"15 seconds left."

"Sorry, this is as fast as I can go."

"I got this."

Shawn stood up and took the jug from Sky, starting to shake it back and forth and making it bubble. No one beside him seemed to know what he was doing though.

"Eh, what's the plan here?"

"No time, you want to win this or not?"

After finishing shaking the bottle, Shawn let go of the top making water spurt into Sky's mouth, violently knocking her clean off the log. She came back up having swallowed the water but looking extremely green. Her hair and clothes were soaked and it seemed that some of it even went up her nose.

"Half of it went up your nose but that still counts as drinking. Team Maskwak get's a point, with 10 seconds left on the clock. Well done Sky. Sky?"

Sky's bloated stomach rumbled threateningly, making everyone on her team move away from her as far as possible while staying on the log. Even the team sitting opposite her, opted to hide behind their own log in case she finally exploded. Her hand went to her face trying to stop being sick.

"It's a 1-1 tie, but it looks like a contestant might get blasted off the island early and we won't even need the cannon. Stay tuned to find out on Total Drama Pahkitew Island!"