Here I give you the longest chapter yet. The reasons will become clear as you read it. Let's reply to more reviews before I continue the story.
OmnipotentAbsoluteUIGodzilla: The last chapter admittedly was tamer than the others indeed.
Rockin' D-99: To be specific, the canon eating challenges are "Brunch of Disgustingness" and (partially) "Trial by Tri-Armed Triathlon" from TDI, "The Chefshank Redemption" from TDA, "Chinese Fake-Out" from TDWT, "Eat, Puke and Be Wary" from TDROTI, "Food Fright" from TDAS, and "Hurl and Go Seek" from TDPI. Another common theme is one or more horror challenges per season (which will follow later in this story). I found Max's reaction to cinnamon gum from the season 6 premiere to be amusing and decided this would be a good place to bring that line back :P. While they aren't a couple right now, Ella is correct in suspecting that Dave has begun to like her in a non-platonic way. Leshawna and Sam have inklings of that as well, though neither have found out for certain. Nice to know you liked the change of pace by having a non-elimination challenge last chapter.
Now I give you the eighth chapter!
Chris was shown smiling in his sleep. He appeared to be dreaming and could be heard muttering "I accept this award on behalf of myself."
Shortly afterwards, Chef woke him up by knocking on the door. His assistant could be heard saying "Breakfast is served. Unless you come over soon, it might be all gone when I've already served the contestants."
The host stretched and yawned while complaining "Come on, you seriously interrupted my dream at such a bad time! I sometimes need to sleep in. Also, there had better be some food left for me, or I'll fire you on the spot." prior to getting out of bed.
(Begin Confessional: Chef)
"Does the sleepyhead really think he can fire me? Perhaps I should've mentioned how our donor prohibits him from doing anything of the sort, or the donation will be revoked. Just not sure whether the guy would take me seriously on that."
(End Confessional)
Over in the cafeteria, everybody who had eaten in the previous challenge had recovered from their upset stomachs and feeling overstuffed. They along with Blaineley and DJ were happily consuming a breakfast of coffee cake and were grateful to have a light meal after recent events. Everyone could choose between one with walnuts and one without those. Chris showed up before either choice was gone and took some of each. With a mouth full of food, he instructed "After I've finished eating and have brushed my teeth, meet me outside for details on the upcoming challenge. Be sure to get your bathing suits on beforehand. I'm giving you 15 minutes to prepare."
(Begin Confessional: Eva)
"It feels weird to have our host start his breakfast after the rest of us instead of before or during. Same goes for how he slept in unusually late. I just hope Chris doesn't make people do anything that involves food today, or I just might kick his ass, even though that's something I know could be used against me and I'm still trying to restrain myself no matter how tempting it is to beat him up anyway."
(End Confessional)
McLean was later seen outdoors with his aid and all 14 of the remaining contestants. He informed them "Today will require a steady grip and good timing. You'll have to swing across gaps to a series of platforms. If you fall off one or fail to make a landing, then you must swim back to the beginning to start all over again no matter how far you previously got. Anybody who wipes out must also wait until each of their teammates has swung with at least one rope before going through the course again. Follow me to the course for a demonstration."
Everybody complied, and the host led them to a part of the beach with ropes a series of wooden platforms around poles. Two of the platforms had ladders attached to them along with "Start here" signs. One ladder had a gold Leopard icon nearby and the other was next to a silver Coyote icon. Half of the ropes were gold while the rest were silver. Chef instructed "You'll have to climb up your team's ladder and get your whole side to the finish line before the other team does. Start with one person at a time for the first rope, or you'll get penalized, though feel free to help your teammates on subsequent platforms. Follow your team's designated ropes to the end of the course. Before you begin, we'll have a couple demonstrations. Please welcome a Wonder from Down Under and her paranoid boyfriend."
Once that sentence was finished, two guests from season 6 entered the scene. They were a tall Australian girl called Jasmine walked up, and a zombie survivalist whose name was Shawn. The latter advised "This will be good practice for escaping areas infested with zombies when they invade the world and try to eat your brains, so it would help to pay attention to our swings."
His girlfriend chuckled a bit before adding "In all seriousness, it definitely is a useful skill to have, and observing us should help you in the upcoming challenge."
"I had a feeling the undead would be brought up." Dave remarked.
Each guest took a ladder to the first rope. The Aussie swinged with the golden ropes and the zombie nut used the silver ropes. Neither of them had any difficulty reaching the next two platforms in their respective paths. Since finishing the full course would take them out of eyesight, they decided to simply jump into the sea and swim back afterwards.
"Maybe my time playing Pitfall! will come in handy here." pondered Sam. "There were many times where Pitfall Harry has to swing over holes using vines."
"True, though he does more than just swing throughout the game." Dakota added. "That also had ladder climbing and jumping over obstacles."
"There's only one way to find out. Get swinging once you hear my horn!" Chris instructed before playing said horn.
Without hesitation, both sides scrambled for their respective ladders. The first Leopard to reach it was Leshawna while the first Coyote was Beardo. They finished their climbs at about the same time. Chef used a megaphone to narrate "It's sassy vs. noises up first! Who will perform better? In the meantime, everybody else needs to give them some distance."
Irritated that the second-in-command tried to play showrunner, McLean took the megaphone from him and chastised "You are NOT allowed to use that thing without my permission, and don't forget that I'm the one who's supposed to narrate!" before using said megaphone to impatiently state "Now let's get swinging. I don't have all day, you know."
The first climbers from each team grabbed a rope and made their way across. Neither seemed to have much difficulty. On his way over, the human soundboard made wild jungle-call noises. This prompted Jo to request "Take it easy, Tarzan, and pass over the rope!" after she and Brick climbed up the ladders.
Her teammate complied, and she got ahold of a rope slightly before Mr. MacArthur did. Those who swung first continued onwards while Blaineley mumbled "I should've guessed that this pair would go up at the same time. It can't be a coincidence."
Max was busy picking pebbles and putting them into his suit pockets to pass the time when overhearing this, and when he didn't understand her basis for the comment, it prompted him to halt the collection and curiously inquire "What makes you say that?"
"Well, they try to put on a competition with one another both here and in the fourth season, but I couldn't help getting suspicious of how they seemingly went out of their ways to specifically outdo one another." Mildred explained. "There also were previously the occasional glances that others might miss when not paying close enough attention along with shoulder touching and accidentally-on-purpose losing at thumb war."
(Begin Confessional: Blaineley)
"Having time off from the last challenge gave me a chance to look at clips from past episodes as well as dig up secrets on people. I scored big time on that!" the former co-host of Celebrity Manhunt stated with a devious grin. "It could work in my favor."
(End Confessional)
The wannabe villain pondered "Hold on, you mean it's like they-oh wow."
"Yup, I'm sure of it." she affirmed. "I've done some digging lately, and that didn't surprise me as much as what I found on Chris or Dave-"
"Zip it now or I might disqualify you!" the host threatened when overhearing the exchange.
Upon hearing his name brought up, the germaphobe felt nervous until the host interrupted Ms. O'Halloran, and quietly took a breath of relief when her sentence was cut off. Even though this guy wasn't sure what had been discovered about him, he most definitely didn't want her spilling any secrets to the other castmates. Noticing Dave's anxiety, a certain aura-whisperer privately assured him "Any secrets you'd like to at some point get off your chest are safe with me. Unless they're harmful and/or underhanded, I promise not to tell the other competitors about those without your permission."
He could faintly be heard replying "Thank you for the offer." and began to calm down.
(Begin Confessional: Dawn)
"I didn't want Dave to be so paranoid that it would hinder his performance in the challenge, so I needed to be subtle when putting him at ease."
(End Confessional)
With Beardo and Jo swinging for the Coyotes along with Leshawna and Brick doing the same for the Leopards, everyone else tried to decide who would go up next. What did they decide on? Eva and Trent followed for their respective teams. Just as they were about to cross over, the first swingers lost hold of their ropes and fell into the ocean. The host snickered while asking them "Did I forget to mention that each side has a slippery rope? You better keep a tighter grip when reaching those again, now start back at the beginning." before starting to laugh harder.
"Knowing your sadistic nature, you probably withheld such information on purpose." Jasmine remarked.
Dawn affirmed "He totally did. I can see it all over his aura."
"Not surprising in the least." Shawn remarked.
"How do you manage to sense things like that?" inquired the Australian. "Your abilities fascinate me."
"I'll tell you after the challenge is over." replied the one who read auras.
(Begin Confessional: Jasmine)
"Chris is lucky I didn't slip on the ropes, or the money he gave wouldn't be enough to compensate for it."
(End Confessional)
In the meantime, Beardo and Leshawna had to wait before they could try again. They simply watched as each side sent over their fourth members. Just as they finished reusing the first ropes, Brick and Jo ended up losing their grip and got soaked as well! Chris taunted them with "More wiping-out means more people have to restart the course!"
"Yeah, we're aware, so no need to say that-" Jo replied before trailing off.
Why did she pause? Because Brick had just surfaced without the tank top he normally wore while swimming. The cameras had never previously shown him shirtless, not even for these conditions. A few seconds passed before he inquired "Are you looking at something?" while reaching for said top and putting it back on.
That made her retort "Me? No way! I just simply saying Chris doesn't have to remind us about starting over." as they swam back.
(Begin Confessional: Brick)
"That pause was unusual for sure. I didn't mind it though-wait, what am I saying?"
(End Confessional)
(Begin Confessional: Jo)
"Have any of you seen Mr. Military without a shirt before? That threw me for a loop when the guy always has a shirt or tank top or something on him. It wasn't something I felt used to seeing. Underneath those, he happens to be quite muscular and handsome." The jockette explained before gasping upon realizing what she let slip and began involuntarily blushing, which was followed by a panicked "Oh crap!" and the tape briefly going static before coming back in the middle of an attempt to reclaim that footage with an angry "I want that tape back, give me the tape! How do you open this thing?"
(End Confessional)
The fourth members of each team to begin the course were Dawn for the Leopards and Sam for the Coyotes. As they made their way across, both were wary of the slippery ropes. It didn't help seeing Trent and Eva lose their grips and fall into the water, with the lattermost chastising "Not cool, McLean! You're just lucky I didn't land on hard ground."
"I know I'm grateful that we didn't." added the guitarist as they made their way back to the beginning.
Before they could restart the course, both sides contemplated who to send out fifth. Dakota followed for the Coyotes along with Dave for the Leopards. They took caution when observing those ahead of them. Following some thought, Sam came up with a new idea and decided to use it. He reached higher than those before him when grabbing for the rope, and just barely reached the other side without falling off the slippery rope that others wiped out with. Not wanting to give away his strategy to any opponents, the gamer simply exclaimed "It is in fact possible to use that rope!"
Somebody who figured out this method anyway was Dawn, who replicated it shortly afterwards. He stayed back a bit to help his girlfriend, who was quickly approaching. Ms. Milton wasn't as lucky as when crossing over. After failing to hold onto the slippery rope, however, she managed to catch onto the ledge of a platform without landing in the ocean and her boyfriend assisted with climbing back up. They carried on together and she gratefully told him "It's nice to have assistance".
A certain germaphobe stated "This more difficult, but yeah, still safe enough to carry out." after clinging onto the ledge and pulling himself up when unable to keep ahold of the rope.
Without anybody to help him up, Dave took longer than Dakota to make it onto the platform. The aura-reader had already swung over to the next one by the time he had arrived there. A couple seconds later, Ella cautioned "Watch out; I'm about to head over!" as she and Max prepared to use the slippery ropes that everyone prior to Sam and Dawn failed to cross.
The aspiring evildoer pondered "It was devious to create a faulty rope, but perhaps me getting past it would show that EVIL is hard to outwit. I simply have to figure out how to use it right."
"Perhaps it would be best to wait until I-" Dave suggested before stopping mid-sentence when realizing his words were too late; the princess and the wannabe villain had already begun swinging over.
It was Max who had better luck crossing over because he jumped in the air prior to grabbing a slippery rope, allowing him to hold onto it from a higher point. However, the guy landed face-first on the platform and his legs were dangling off the side. He simply pulled himself onto it afterwards. In contrast, Ella lost hold of a rope before making it over, though a set of arms grabbed hers in time before she could fall in the sea. Those other arms belonged to the germ hater, who helped pull her up. She quickly thanked him with "Very much appreciated!"
"Of course. This helps us save more time in the long run, now let's get ahead of shorty while we still can." the object of her affections replied.
Max overheard the "shorty" remark and it infuriated him. He growled and started to pull pebbles out from his pockets, angrily tossing them at both Dave and Ella while screaming "Shorty!? Can a shorty do this? What else do you wanna call me, a half-pint beansprout midget? I'm still growing, you backwater desert idiots!"
The germ-hater was closer to said pebbles and ended up taking the brunt of them. Neither could go far without getting hit, and whenever they did, both were slowed down. As much as this hurt, he decided to act as a shield for the princess and told her "Sneak off while you can still minimize your injuries. You didn't do anything wrong in the first place and shouldn't have to deal with this."
"Are you sure about that idea?" she inquired out of concern for his well-being.
"100%, now go on!" Dave insisted, and did his best to dodge the pebbles while Ella reluctantly complied.
(Begin Confessional: Sam)
"Going out of his way to protect a lady from painful hits, and taking a page from my book by helping said teammate onto a platform? That just confirms my prior suspicions on how the guy's into her, whether he admits it or not."
(End Confessional)
(Begin Confessional: Dave)
"Be careful when talking about Max's height in front of him."
(End Confessional)
(Begin Confessional: Ella)
"That was just unnecessarily cruel to get hit repeatedly! I do however appreciate the protection."
(End Confessional)
As Blaineley and DJ carried out their first swings, McLean made a pun from the sidelines with "It seems like somebody has a short temper."
Beardo followed this with a "Ba-dum-tss" drum sound effect after hearing the host's joke and took off with Leshawna to restart the course, being permitted to since everybody else had used at least one rope by that point.
(Begin Confessional: Chris)
"Nice to know somebody can appreciate my humor and add to it."
(End Confessional)
The cameras subsequently focused back on the former co-host of Celebrity Manhunt, who cautioned her teammate "You should think about moving soon, or I might bump into you." as she and DJ approached the slippery ropes.
Max was still seething from being called a "shorty" and had just finished throwing pebbles when hearing that warning. His target couldn't get far when getting hit, and quickly took a chance to get ahead as soon as that had stopped. The wannabe villain moved onto the next rope before Mildred could crash into him. On the other side, the gentle giant was only concerned about slipping, though managed to safely make it across.
Those who had previously failed to cross with the slippery ropes were more successful on their second attempts, having a better sense of what to do when reapproaching them. Over the next 5 minutes, nobody had any wipe-outs. Their host found this boring and decided "It's time to amp things up!" prior to pressing a switch.
That prompted the platforms to started to wobble. Unfortunately for Eva, she was getting ready to make a jump right as the switch was activated, prompting her to wipe out. The athlete turned to bark at McLean "You've got some nerve to do that right now!"
His response was "I can do as I please, now head back to the start.", and she complied as everyone else struggled to avoid falling off. Another person to slip was Brick, who commented "I should've guessed this would happen." and subsequently swam towards the beginning of the course.
Dawn tried to encourage her teammate with "At least you now have a better sense of what to expect when going through this again, so you can use that to your advantage." while continuing onwards, which did help somewhat.
As the most recent wipe-outs prepared for their third run-throughs, everyone else had a harder time landing their swings when the platforms continued to move around. A certain contestant eventually made it to the end before anybody else. Who was that player? None other than the one who could read auras, followed closely by a gaming enthusiast. Feeling more excited now, Chef used a megaphone to proclaim "Dawn brings the Leopards into the lead by finishing first, and Sam gets through it all before any of the other Coyotes! Who will get through it next?"
Seeing his assistant use that device angered Chris, who took it back before reprimanding "How many times do I have to remind you not to make announcements that are meant for me to give? If it happens again today, then you're fired! I'm dead serious about this."
In the meantime, Dakota was next to finish the course. Ella reached the end soon afterwards, with Dave close behind. The player who got there before anybody else complimented "I must say, you've all done well with the odds against you."
"It was a pain to go through, but thanks." Ms. Milton replied.
A few seconds later, Max completed the challenge and triumphantly declared "That was nothing EVIL couldn't handle."
"Dude, you could've gotten through it all sooner without wasting time by needlessly throwing so many pebbles. That only slowed us down and you overreacted big time." the gamer added, making the princess and germaphobe smile in gratitude for how he criticized his teammate.
"Don't make me angry. You wouldn't like me when I'm angry." warned the wannabe villain. "I'm sure today's events already made that clear."
(Begin Confessional: Dakota)
"Does anybody here even like Max in the first place regardless of anger?"
(End Confessional)
The next contestants to arrive were DJ and Blaineley, who finished at about the same time. This prompted Chris to announce "We now have 4 completions on each side. The rest of you better hurry it up to avoid losing!"
"If that host keeps being such a pain, then I just might snap." Eva angrily muttered.
Leshawna overheard this as they made their way through and cautioned "As much as I understand the frustration, you do realize that could be used against you, right?"
"Of course, and I've tried to keep myself together, but I don't know how much longer it'll be until I run out of patience." the athlete replied.
Several more minutes passed before anybody else reached the end. The next ones to do so were Trent for the Leopards and Jo for the Coyotes, arriving at roughly the same time. Upon completing their challenge, the guitarist commented "I should've guessed we wouldn't be let off so easy after yesterday's gorging, but that's Chris for you. At least the bad part is over."
"You can say that again!" Dakota added in agreement.
Both teams now had only 2 members left to finish the course. Who would end up finishing next? Those who were already done watched in eagerness. Beardo and Brick were neck-and-neck as they approached the finish, and it was impossible to tell which of them reached it first. Both were simply glad to have gotten there and be done with the challenge. That left only Eva for the Coyotes and Leshawna for the Leopards.
Eager to stir up drama, Chris pondered through his megaphone "Which slowpoke will win it for their team? I hope none of our viewers decide to stop watching now; it's about to get quite good! Perhaps I should up the ante somewhat."
That was the final straw for Eva. Her rage could no longer be contained. Not wanting to delay too much progress by getting physical, she briefly turned around to loudly threaten "Don't even think about it, fuck-wad, or I'll beat the shit out of you once I finish the challenge!" before increasing her pace to get through it all quicker just in case the host tried to make things even harder.
(Begin Confessional: Eva)
"To be honest, I'm surprised I didn't end up yelling like that sooner. It was the only way I could let off steam without throwing the challenge by just immediately running up and hitting McLean's stupid face. I otherwise probably would've been too sidetracked with anger to focus on the course ahead of me. While this didn't entirely calm me down, it did feel quite good."
(End Confessional)
Leshawna had managed to get somewhat ahead in the meantime, but her opponent soon retook the lead. Nobody was sure which of them would get to the end sooner. It alternated who was ahead of who for a few minutes. Eventually, one of these ladies scored a victory. That contestant was…
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Leshawna! She ended her team's losing streak by a mere second. The show runner declared "After three losses in a row, the Roaring Leopards win today! Since it's an elimination challenge, one of the Howling Coyotes will get voted off tonight."
This prompted the Leopards to cheer victoriously as the Coyotes moaned over their loss.
(Begin Confessional: Leshawna)
"That's how I roll! It's nice to get another victory."
(End Confessional)
(Begin Confessional: Trent)
"I was starting to worry we might lose four consecutive challenges. Nice to know that I was wrong."
(End Confessional)
After everyone had changed back into their normal clothing, Shawn could be seen outside of the hotels talking with Dave. The zombie nut commended "You seem to be managing pretty well these days. Chef gave Jasmine and me some recaps of this season's past episodes, and I'm proud of you for how you've managed to turn yourself around for the better since the most recent finals. Keep it up, bud."
His germaphobic friend smiled and gratefully replied "Much appreciated, and it's partially thanks to your help in between seasons that I could pull that off. I don't know how far I'll go in the contest, or what it'll involve, but I promise not to go nuts again like before. Too bad you couldn't return to compete again."
That prompted a response of "All I can tell you for now is that some of us past contestants were chosen to only visit for specific challenges instead and that more will come in the future. Chris prohibits us from sharing any names unless they've already had their guest appearance, otherwise I'd gladly specify who else you can expect to show up."
The germ-hater told him "I understand. That guy does like to keep secrets from us."
"Speaking of secrets, I couldn't help overhearing Dawn offer to keep some for you when Blaineley mentioned digging things up on you as well as Chris, Jo, and Brick. I just want you to know that I promise not to tell anything to the others that you don't want them to know about. Today's challenge gave me a sense of what that might be." Shawn remarked, which prompted a shocked gasp.
"M-Me, having a secret?" a startled Dave asked, being caught off guard by that comment, and anxiously chuckled before saying "I'm not sure w-what gave you that idea."
His buddy explained "It involved Max's pebbles and protection. I already heard about you forming a closer friendship, and seeing you use your body as a guard after aiding with climbing onto a platform suggests that maybe there's more to it that you haven't let on."
"Regarding Ella, we did form an alliance early on, plus I do enjoy the friendship we have and regret previously underestimating her value and capabilities." said the germaphobe.
Shawn followed that up with "No surprise there based on what our cook has told me, but that isn't what I was talking about."
"I beg your pardon?" inquired the one who despised germs before nervously gulping, and his eyes subsequently began darting back-and-forth to see whether anybody else was in hearing range.
This was answered with "There are only two reasons anybody would do what you just did for that girl. Either you're suddenly much more altruistic compared to last season or—more likely—you've become attracted to Ella and wanted to minimize her physical pain. Just be sure that doesn't lead to you getting zombified in a scenario where both of you are trapped in some place with the undead."
Dave was speechless for a moment. After some thought, his next words were "You left out the third option: um, I w-wanted to build up endurance and felt it could help me get more accustomed to any hits I couldn't dodge.", not at all sounding confident with that sentence.
The zombie nut didn't buy this for a moment and responded with "Pfft, come on, we both know that's a blatant lie! You can't fool me so easily. The question isn't so much whether you dig the princess as it is when and why you started to feel that way."
Realizing no further denials would be taken seriously, the germaphobe sighed before reluctantly confessing "OK fine, I may as well tell you: I have started to like her as more than a friend. Just promise not to share that with anybody! I want them to instead hear it from me when the time is right. Chances are Dawn already knows this when able to read people's auras, so no point in trying to hide it from that contestant, but I felt worried that the old lady was about to expose it without my consent and use that to torment me."
"Your secret is safe with me." The zombie nut promised. "Just for the record, I doubt anybody will mock you for liking someone. At what point do you think you'll be ready to admit it to everyone else?"
Hearing that made Dave smile. He gave an answer of "To be honest, I'm not sure when that'll be, and I haven't told my ally this or tried to initiate any romance because I'd hate to mess up a good friendship by taking it to a non-platonic stage. You know how badly things went when I previously tried to date someone on the show, and by no means do I wish to repeat such a fiasco. It could also be awkward to ask for a relationship after I inadvertently broke her heart last season by mentioning how I was into Sky, which I feel terrible about."
"I see what you mean. Tell me what first attracted you to her. Chef already filled me in how you were grateful that Ella was willing to be your friend and give you some benefit of the doubt after all that happened." his pal requested.
The germaphobe continued with "Something that led to it was how she narrowly prevented me from falling off a boat in the middle of some rough sailing during the fourth challenge and cleaned off my vomit that got spilled all over me when I felt seasick and hurled into a bucket. Another factor was going out of her way to check on me after the race was over and bringing ginger ale as well as saltine crackers to help my stomach. The cameras might not have showed this, but Ella helped me out during the mountain climb we had for the next challenge by giving tips on how to minimize the filth I'd get with our climbing gear and chalk. While certainly not the most experienced climber, I admittedly was impressed by what she knew on the matter. That's what officially won me over. I even found myself reaching out to grab her arm on the way up when the girl slipped and lost footing. This was when I knew I couldn't deny to myself that she was special to me, whether I told anybody else at that moment or not."
"As someone who knows how much progress you made in recovering from going berserk with that rage attack in the most recent finale and generally improving yourself, I can tell you won't make the same mistakes as before. It doesn't take a genius to figure out how Ella still likes you as well, so whenever you feel ready to tell her the truth, you've got nothing to lose." Shawn replied confidently.
"Are you certain of that?" his friend inquired.
The response to that was "Completely! Just follow your heart on this. She obviously knows you have one, and without a doubt would take you in with open arms. Good luck with whatever follows."
"Many thanks for all of that." Dave replied while briefly giving a grateful hug.
"You're very welcome. Now, I must get going since Chris is expecting me back soon. See you around." Shawn informed his friend.
(Begin Confessional: Dave)
"Even though I'm not going to just throw caution in the wind, and today feels too soon to ask Ella out, maybe dating her won't end so badly. I just need to be sure I know what I'd be getting into. Having some privacy for that moment would be preferable. It could come before the season ends. I also owe her an apology for past heartbreak, intentional or not."
(End Confessional)
(Begin Confessional: Shawn)
"Not sure whether people already know this, but following the season 6 finale, I served as a middleman between Sky and my germ-hating friend. After hearing how both felt awful about their disastrous falling out, I helped them mend fences. While they ultimately decided not to date, I'm glad the two were able to apologize and can now be civil with one another. That alone shows personal growth. Today just adds to that, and as a bonus, the paycheck I got for my challenge duties can go towards more supplies for a future zombie invasion."
(End Confessional)
Later that day, a certain aura-whisperer could be seen elsewhere on the island talking with Beardo as well as the day's other guest. The human soundboard commented "It's too bad your abilities can't be taught to just anybody. They're quite remarkable!"
"I most definitely concur!" Jasmine added in agreement. "Just so I have this straight: being able to read auras is a capability one either is born with or will never possess?"
"That's correct, or I'd gladly give you both lessons on them." Dawn affirmed. "I inherited this from both of my parents, and they gave me lessons on how to use it when I was a young girl. It's hard to keep secrets from any of us."
"Well, how long did it take you to master that skill?" Beardo inquired.
"About four or five weeks. It becomes easier with practice." said the one who read auras.
"Not too surprising. I envy whoever else is capable of doing what you are." the Aussie remarked.
Dawn followed that up with "Oh well. We can't always get what we want." and a shoulder shrug.
Jasmine parted ways by saying "True that, and I should go meet up with the host before he gets too impatient. Best of luck to you both in future challenges." and walking off.
(Begin Confessional: Beardo)
"Even though I don't think I'm likely to get voted off tonight, it still sucks that my team had to lose. At least I regardless got to learn more about Dawn's magical ways before leaving the game."
(End Confessional)
The cameras showed Eva playing solitaire with a nearby deck of cards in the lounge. Blaineley entered the room and was holding something behind her back. Feeling uncertain about earlier events, the former asked "Any hard feelings over my outburst earlier? I'm sorry I couldn't hold that in before completing the challenge, but McLean just pushed too many buttons today and I was bound to do either that or go over and beat his face in."
"Nah, I would've done the same thing in your situation. He knows how to really get on people's nerves." The latter answered.
This made athlete take a sigh of relief before saying "I'm glad you understand."
"There is however something I've recently discovered." Mildred replied.
"Not sure what you're talking about." said Eva.
That was when the former co-host of Celebrity Manhunt grinned deviously while pulling out a soaked megaphone that was still dripping and explained "I found this after today's challenge was over, and I think we both know what happened."
Her teammate's jaw dropped in shock before inquiring "How did you come across that?"
"Quite simple: it washed up near our shoreline after being chucked into the ocean. The only surprising part is that it came back so quickly." Mildred stated. "I could easily tell Chris about how one of his prized possessions just got destroyed. Everybody in the game knows how angry he gets about people touching his property."
Sensing the host would disqualify anybody who did such a thing, Eva desperately pleaded "Don't let him know about it! The sleazebag had it coming anyway when testing our patience, but I'd rather go out fairly than have that guy kick me out on the spot! You understand, right?"
"In exchange for keeping this a secret, you will vote with me for as long as both of us are still in the game. Do we have a deal?" asked Ms. O'Halloran, which prompted a silent nod in response.
(Begin Confessional: Blaineley)
"Never underestimate the power of blackmail! I didn't think I could sway Eva so easily, but that just makes things even better."
(End Confessional)
During dinner that night, Jasmine and Shawn had both decided to stick around and could be seen eating with all the other contestants. They could choose between either grilled eggplant or roasted lamb. As everybody ate, Sam asked the latter guest "Have you ever played Plants vs. Zombies? It's a pretty fun game that I imagine you would be good at."
That was answered with "I have, but it doesn't give you a realistic idea of how to fend off the undead. Lawnmowers are no good unless they can somehow destroy a zombie's brain. That would take too long. Same goes for whatever you might grow in the ground. Also, who owns five different mowers? Nobody needs that many to cut their grass, and they won't help you escape in a hurry!"
"Try telling that to PopCap Games, who developed it." replied the gaming enthusiast.
"Believe me, I did send them warnings about how they gave players the wrong idea, and nobody at the company ever seemed to address my concerns." the zombie nut informed him.
(Begin Confessional: Sam)
"Nice to know I'm not the only one here who's spent time playing zombie games."
(End Confessional)
Several minutes later, the cameras cut towards Hatchet holding a wrapped gift for Chris. He walked up to his boss and informed him "I got something that you might like."
McLean was very eager to see this and quickly unwrapped it. The gift was a new megaphone that hadn't yet been taken out of its box. Upon seeing that, he gratefully replied "Why thank you Chef! I don't know where my other one went, but this came right when I needed it. In fact, I might even give you a raise in return for the favor." before pulling it out of the packaging.
"Beats me. I'm just lucky a replacement could be found and purchased so quickly." said the cook.
Right afterwards, the host used his new possession to instruct "To the losers, I hope you've made up your minds on who should head home, because the time has arrived for you to vote. Our winners shouldn't forget to show up as well."
Within two minutes, the day's losers had gathered on log stumps and the winners were all seated in bleachers. Both guests were standing close by these groups. McLean initiated the ceremony with "Welcome back to elimination, Coyotes! It's been a while since you had to send anyone off. Hope you didn't forget how it feels to be here when the Leopards lost three rounds in a row. Once you've all voted, Chef will give out keys to all but one member."
(Begin Confessional: Max)
"My choice for this evening was quite easy."
(End Confessional)
(Begin Confessional: Eva)
"Here's hoping I don't get betrayed. Anyway, it didn't take me long to decide on a vote tonight."
(End Confessional)
"Ready or not, here come the keys." Hatchet declared after the votes had been made.
"Our first contestant to receive one tonight is Sam." announced the host.
"Sounds good to me!" the gamer replied with gratitude while collecting his key.
"Next up is Beardo!" Chris proclaimed.
The sound producer grabbed a safety symbol and remarked "Nice to know the team values me."
"Jo is safe too, and there were also no votes for Dakota or Blaineley." McLean informed the team as his assistant distributed their keys of safety.
Brick could be seen silently taking a breath of relief in the background. He was grateful none of his teammates seemed to notice. Only two contestants remained: Max and Eva. Neither of them wanted it to come down to this. The former felt anxious and questioned "How could anybody do this to me? I wasn't supposed to get any votes!"
"Don't act so shocked when you wasted time throwing pebbles and going nuts over some remark on your height." Chef told him.
"It was rather detrimental and uncalled for." Ella remarked from the sidelines, still wary of the attack.
"You can say that again!" Dave added in agreement.
"Moving on, tonight it's down to both of the people who couldn't control their tempers today." the host interjected. "With that said, our final key of the night goes to…
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Max!"
Upon collecting said item, the wannabe villain bragged "EVIL doesn't go down so easily!"
"Eva, you're out following a 4-3 vote." McLean added.
"I kind of expected this after losing the challenge." the newly eliminated contestant said with some disappointment in her voice.
Out of spite, Blaineley decided to rub salt in the wound with "Yeah, and you chucked a megaphone into the ocean in retaliation for him pressing your buttons."
"What!? You promised not to tell him, you back-stabbing bitch!" Eva barked.
"For when we were both in the game, sure, but I'm not really bound to that with you gone and no longer able to vote alongside me." retorted her blackmailer. "I can truthfully say that I didn't vote for you tonight, though."
"In that case, your team was right to get rid of you!" Chris bitterly remarked. "It's a good thing I was able to get a quick replacement. Let's get over to the giant boot already."
Chef took the loser of the night over to the giant target and asked her "Do you have any parting words for your fellow competitors?"
"I most definitely do; be sure to get rid of that old hag ASAP!" Eva answered.
"Hey, I am NOT old or a hag!" insisted Mildred.
Since Chris was too impatient to let the athlete say anything else prior to departure, he simply grabbed the button that activated the giant boot and used it to send her away. Soon after she was gone, a boat showed up to collect both visitors of the day. They decided to bid farewell to the other players.
"That's our ride, so this is goodbye." said Jasmine.
"May the best survivalist win it all." Shawn remarked.
The couple subsequently got into said boat and departed. As soon as they were out of sight, the remaining 13 contestants went back into their hotel. McLean decided to sign the episode off once they had all left. He told the cameras "The scores are tied again, this time 3-3. Can Brick and Jo do something that isn't competitive? Will Dave ask Ella out before the season ends? You can only find out the answers by watching more of Total. Drama. Generation Showdown!"
It's now 3 wins for the Leopards, and 3 wins for the Coyotes. We're also now back to the eliminations. Surprised by the Jock (Jo x Brick) teasing? Well, after noticing some potential hints of an attraction hidden beneath their rivalry during season 4, I decided it would be fun to explore this idea. To be specific, he stares at her in episode 1, she puts a hand on his shoulder when talking about how they helped their team win the first challenge during episode 2, Mr. Cadet accidentally-on-purpose loses a thumb war in episode 3, the jockette is smiling while glancing on his direction during episode 5, and episode 7 has him ask whether the girl is wearing perfume and says the scent suits her (before realizing he was instead near a mutant gopher in the dark). There might be other moments I haven't listed. Even though it's just unverified speculation whether they felt that way during TDROTI, it admittedly reminded me of the dynamic Heather and Alejandro had in season 3 (seemingly going out of their ways to specifically outdo one another in an attempt to mask mutual affections) where I suspected these athletic rivals may have deep down been into each other when I first watched the season. As for the Della (Dave x Ella) development, our germaphobe has admitted in private how he felt, but you'll have to see what follows for him and the princess. Dawn obviously knows about it and was trying to be discreet when offering to keep secrets from him.
Reason for elimination: Eva cost her team the challenge, plus there was a joint decision among everyone else (aside from Beardo and Mildred) to go for the bigger of two threats by taking this contestant out instead of Max when both stalled their progress, even when she didn't get as angry as him. I also liked the irony of having an athletic challenge where a jock ends up going home, and decided to go with that. This ousting may have been a predictable outcome, but oh well.
Voting results:
Max: 3 votes (Beardo, Blaineley, Eva)
Eva: 4 votes (Dakota, Jo, Max, Sam)
Elimination Order:
Sugar (18th place), Justin (17th place), Rodney (16th place), Anne Maria (15th place), Eva (14th place)
Remaining Players:
Howling Coyotes: Beardo, Blaineley, Dakota, Jo, Max, Sam
Roaring Leopards: Brick, Dave, Dawn, DJ, Ella, Leshawna, Trent
Chapter posted: April 24, 2021.