Thank you all for reading this story, and continuing to support it. Writing Courtney's chapters have been the most fun ones so far, and it will probably remain there as I work through the cast.
Courtney has disassociated with "Total Drama" completely since "All Stars" ended, which has been clear by there being no social media posts about it since "All-Stars", rarely following anyone from the series, not being pictured with anyone, and no interviews talking about it since. Josh and the producers knew that she would be a tough person to crack, so they gathered as much research as they could to combat whatever narrative she would sell, "So, we went to the streets of social media, and other avenues to find out dirt that will cause her to open up or react to. I imagine she is going to come here, and demand entitled stipulations that she feels like she has earned to pin a narrative. We've got this."
Clanking high heels made their way through the hallway, and the guys in the room could hear them. Courtney (and her Victoria Beckham bob haircut) walked in with her tight skirt that went below her knee, and her buttoned up blouse, with a "take no prisoners" look on her face. She didn't even bother to say hi, before sitting down, and putting down a book on the table, "Brigette told me about your... harsh interviewing methods, and I came in with some stipulations. Anything slanderous, defamatory, offensive, and simply stupid IS grounds for a lawsuit from me."
"We figured out that you would do that to avoid talking about your VERY messy history. Not even Alejandro did that, and speaking of, he is first. How was your interactions with him like during the show, and how have they been since the show?" Josh retorted, with the same demanding energy that she was giving.
"There is no interaction, and there barely was then. We did not speak for the first half of the season, outside of the generic formalities. He used his charm while I was weak and vulnerable to pretend to bond with me, and play me. He used my love for education, competition, and my Hispanic nature to bond with me, and I supported him in the finale because he technically did not betray me, and I knew he wanted to boot Duncan with my help. He proved himself to be a complete asshole after the season, and only exemplified it through the entirety of "All-Stars". There is NOTHING else to discuss," Courtney replied harshly, crossing her arms defiantly.
Josh rolled his eyes, "We know that more happened. Not only due to Al's words, but because we actually have PICTURES that prove so." He went in his binder, and pulled a picture of her vising Alejandro in the hospital, "After he told us that you were the only person that visited him in the hospital, we did some digging, and found proof of it. There are SEVERAL pictures from different days that proved that you were a regular visitor. Also, you also confirmed in "All-Stars" that you kissed him off camera, so clearly more happened."
An angry expression appeared on her face once she was faced with the hard-core truth, "I did visit him, because I thought that what... what happened to him was horrible. He... made a lot of false promises to me, that I won't delve into, but I realized that it was a lie once we were on the yacht, and saw him over the course of that time. It REALLY pissed me off, and I realized what a manipulator he was. Bridgette told me stuff afterwards about what he did to her and Leshawna, but for them it was game-related, but he made it REALLY PERSONAL with me. Once I saw him in "All-Stars", I just saw RED. I refused to engage with him, and the few times I did, I lost it. Seeing him REVEL in faking his illness, after I spent MONEY on his physiotherapy pissed me off, and he thrived in his misogynistic way of booting the girl he planned to be with. What they DIDN'T show was that he could walk from A MONTH AFTER "WORLD TOUR" FILMED. So he FAKED HIS INJURY FOR OVER 2 YEARS, AND MOST OF IT WAS NOT GAME RELATED."
"He did say that you saw him and Heather in a pretty compromising position during "Revenge", and you knew that seeing how they looked at each other, that he would always love her."
Courtney rolled her eyes, "That was the final tipping point, but the FIRST instance was about a week earlier, I overheard him speaking to Tyler about how he's struggling with interacting with Heather, how she refuses to talk to him, and how he's PISSED OFF that he's SO HURT that she isn't talking to him, and that a deep part of him will ALWAYS want her. He also said to Tyler that I was... I was NOTHING!" She felt herself crying, and was doing her best to stop it, "I... I NEVER got why he would want to be with someone who PARALYZED him, even if it was for a month. What did I do to him? I LEGITIMATELY DID NOTHING TO THAT MAN, but he felt the need to HUMILIATE ME, and it had NOTHING to do with the game. He's disgusting, and I'm DONE with this conversation."
Josh was taken aback, but knew that she was on the verge of a serious breakdown, "Alright, we are going to move onto Beth. What do you think of her? You two had a heated conflict during "Action", and we have been told that you two didn't get along at Playa de Losers either."
A huge sigh came from the woman, "What is there to say? Beth was a lame, nerdy loser on her first season, so she kissed up to people she thought would be cool. Once she realized that she was never going to be cool, she decided to be promiscuous as a way to get attention. I rightfully won my suit against the show, and came back to the show. Beth thought that she and Lindsay deserved to be the STARS of the season, and knew that I was coming back with a vengeance. Beth tried to get the entire show shut down, which I found to be ridiculous, and she caused me to HAVE to share my PDA with the others. I just found her to be VERY annoying and fake. You can tell that she wanted to be a star, and was REALLY MAD when Chris decided to give me my own doll line. Her confusion about whether she was dating someone, or wanting to flirt with all of the guys, her victimization antics, and her hiding her unappealing traits from the cameras was too much. We did fight once things got to the end, and I tried to bond with her for strategic reasons, but she was just so grating. Beth then went on a smear campaign, claiming that I ruined the show, but her desperation helped ruin the show. And despite all of that, Beth is STILL the most forgettable finalist ever. We were bridesmaids at Brigette's wedding, and we argued then too, but we made sure to not do it in front of Bridgette or Geoff."
"Throughout the entire franchise, and most likely your entire life, Bridgette was the one friend you made, and seemingly maintained after all this time. How did that end up happening, and how do you describe your relationship with Bridgette," the Manhunt" former host asked, with a lot of shade intended.
"You need to stop with the rude, passive aggressive remarks, and it IS borderline libel for you to insinuate that I have no friends," the former C.I.T. replied angrily. She composed herself before responding, "I always thought that Bridgette was a beautiful, and calming person to be around. She was a guys girl at first, so it was hard to speak to her, as well as her just in general being a clutz caused me, a perfectionist to get mad at her, since it did cost us a few challenges. Despite that, she was always cool and serene throughout everything, and she had what people call "it factor". When she accidentally injured me with the spotlight, she apologized to me 20 times, and went out of her way to make it up to me for the rest of the season. Somewhere around that time, we started to bond, and she asked me about how she could become as confident as someone like me, which was shocking since I always saw her as someone who was close to perfect. We started confiding about being the normal people on our team, and about our crushes. We both let out guards down, and for a brief time in our lives, I saw the good in a lot of other people. Of course that did not last."
He saw a glimpse of vulnerable sadness in her face, and he wanted to capitalize on it, "Why did it not last? You seem sad about it, and she did mention that you deep down want to be a carefree, fun, light-hearted person, but a lot of people let you down."
Courtney got defensive again, "I do NOT want to be all of that stuff. Bridgette loves to romanticize things, until she can't anymore. What happened was that I was rigged out of the game, and the producers did nothing about it. When I told Bridgette what happened, she was mad, but she wasn't mad at Harold, which I called her out on at Playa de Losers. She said that she would do anything to help me, and she knew that I was planning on suing the show, even back then. I only went about it for sure when I wasn't on "Action" initially, and she helped me with every step of the way. When the Gwent situation happened, she took it to heart since her and Geoff spent a lot of time with them, and she felt like Gwen was wrong. She did not like how I was made a fool of, and agreed with me on EVERYTHING in that regard. I go on the season, only to come out to realize that Bridgette almost... flipped her opinion, and was now BFFs with Gwen. She felt like she was put in the middle, but no one put Bridgette in the middle of that but herself."
"So you distanced yourself from her. She was also going through her own issues, but it seemed like you didn't give a crap Courtney," Josh lectured, pointing out that she played a part as well. "Her relationship with Geoff went down the drain, and her tongue was stuck to a pole, but you did not give a fuck. You can't expect respect, if you don't give it, and this goes to everyone."
"What was I supposed to do? As soon as they broke up, they got back together. And plus, I knew they had an open relationship at the time. I was brought into... never mind. I didn't like how she handled balancing her friendships with me, Gwen, and Leshawna, so I stepped back. It sucked seeing her get stuck to that pole, and get booted right afterwards, but I did not know the details between her and Alejandro until AFTER the season. Her and I were not talking much during the season, no one knew exactly what happened, and Al wasn't going to divulge much information as we were getting closer. The only thing that I knew was that her and Geoff agreed to be in an exclusive relationship, and that she cheated, so I called her out on it. While she did agree with my sentiments, it caused more distance," she responded defensively.
Josh wanted to get to the bottom of things, "So what happened afterwards? You both were off the show, and seemed to have not hated one another in the years since?"
The tension running through Courtney started to subside, "When we were stuck together during "Revenge of the Island", we stuck together. She knew that I didn't really speak to anyone, and she herself was turned off with how Gwen and Duncan were gloating their relationship in front of everyone. She felt bad for me, and started to check on me, which she did when they were doing that in the beginning of "Action". We talked through everything, and we actually had a lot of fun while we were there. It was reminiscent of the "Island" days. Both of us truly wanted to put the show behind us, though I was of course drawn into "All-Stars", but even then, she didn't get involved in the mess with Gwen and I. I don't see them too often, but there are times where they would come over, and would spend a week with me, or a week with them. Bridgette is a great person, and I'm glad I met her. She made me a bridesmaid, which I was VERY shocked by."
"Alright, let's move on. What do you think of Cody?"
"Who? He's just an annoying, weak nerd who tries to get people to feel sorry for him. He was an annoying Harold enabler on "Island", and an annoying "Gwen" enabler from every season afterwards; two people that I didn't care for. All he did was hide behind the others, because he knows that he's small, not as smart as he thinks he is, and generally has no personality. He uses it to his advantage, and is a "nice guy" archetype", she ranted with a bored tone in her voice.
Josh could tell that she was starting to clam up her answers, but decided to move on, "DJ was on your team the Killer Bass, is friends with your ex boyfriend, and your only friend ever. How do you feel about him? You've had to have had a lot of encounters with him."
Her face went blank for quite a bit, as she thought about her experiences with DJ, "I did see him at the wedding last year, and he seems more relaxed and confident, which is assuring, since he was REALLY annoying on the show. It annoyed me that he was scared of EVERYTHING back on the island, though he was the tallest and strongest person out of the entire cast. It just made no sense to me, and it frustrated me, so I did yell at him when he would try to back out of a challenge. I knew he wanted me gone from fairly early on, but was too chicken ironically to pull it off. He tried to deny to everyone at Playa that I was rigged out of the game, and I lost complete respect for him after that. When he was booted from "Action", I bombarded him with questions about what the FUCK happened with Duncan and Gwen, but not only would he NOT respond, but he was ENABLING GWEN. DJ continued to enable Duncan's bad antics once we got to the real world."
He was shocked to hear about this more negative side of DJ, and wanted Courtney to spill, "You are REALLY giving the dirt on Mr. Mama's Boy. What did he do to make things worse, and what did he do that made you continue to lose respect for him?"
"So the restaurant we were at during the infamous dinner breakup was at a place that DJ sponsored for Duncan. It was a surprise, and I was brought over there, still being mad about Duncan getting arrested earlier. I wanted him to stay in jail for a bit to learn his lesson, but NOT ONLY did DJ bail him out, but arranged this date, thinking that it was going to change everything. They, and Geoff were a part of some sort of drug scheme, and they would come to MY HOUSE in order to handle it. Geoff splintered from them, so it was Duncan mainly, but DJ continued to enable him. I haven't spoken to him since the wedding, and he wanted to clear things up with me. We talked through a lot of issues that were water under the bridge for me, especially since we were heavy in planning the wedding for Geoff and Bridgette."
Josh knew that this next person might cause trouble, and didn't know if he wanted to change things up, "I'm confused with what I should do. We usually save the lovers for last, but you have... quite a few, so that would be VERY extensive."
Courtney crossed her arms in frustration, "How about we just don't talk about it in general. You have already taken some shots at me, and I STILL have contact with the lawyers I used in the second season, so I'm a speed dial away from suing you if you try anything."
"You won't need that, since I have receipts for my accusations," he sassed back. "Just give me brief descriptions of your interactions with him over each season, and add more context for stuff that people haven't seen or heard of. It's really simple."
"Fine. He was really annoying for a lot of "Island", and found his behavior to be really repulsive. Whenever he did something to piss me off, he would do something that's sweet, and showed another side to me. From what I remember of the camping challenge, Bridgette burned down the tent, and he was talking about his favorite Disney movies and songs. It somehow lead to us cuddling, and then him fearing Celine Dion made me see another side to him. Things didn't really cause me to change my opinion until I saw him luring a rabbit with a carrot, and he told me that he was trying to not only cover for Geoff, but to not have DJ mourn. I hadn't seen him do something selfless beforehand. For the last few challenges, I didn't want to see him break the rules, since I didn't want to get him kicked off. One thing lead to another in my last challenge for that season, we talked about why the other behaved the way we did, we bonded over personal stories, and we ended up... kissing. It was a lot of fun." A small blush appeared on her face, and a slight sense of watering eyes, which she quickly batted away, "But I should have stuck with my first instincts. He is a no good, cheating, selfish, manipulative, barbaric DICK, who is a waste of time."
Josh saw her slight tears, and the defensive walls immediately pop back up, but he wasn't going to let her get away with this, "Courtney, you are only saying that because of everything else that happened, which YOU ALSO played a part of. You were enjoying recalling the moments, and almost let the mask slip, but of course put the walls up when you realized that you screwing up was coming next."
She slammed her hands against the table, insulted with his defiant responses to her perspective, "EXCUSE ME? WHO ARE YOU to accuse me of that? WHAT did I do to deserve EVERYTHING that happened? I was RIGHT about him from the beginning, and I CONVINCED myself otherwise, because I was DELUSIONAL. I WILL take responsibility for being delusional. Whenever I DON'T trust my instincts, things always go wrong. I take accountability for that."
"In the special for "TDI", you two were in a good place, but you abandoned him while he got injured, and HELPED YOU GET THE CASE in the first place. How you treat people when they are down, hurt, or unable is a testament to your character Courtney. You were selfish, manipulative, calculating, ruthless, and honestly immortal. This was around the time where you told DJ, Cody, Tyler, and Owen that you wouldn't mind watching them die in front of you."
Courtney gasped at the nasty vitriol that came out of his mouth, and went for her phone, "THAT'S IT. I'M CALLING MY LAWYERS". She started dialing, before Josh snatched her phone. Courtney tried to reach for it, but he held it over his head, "GIVE MY PHONE BACK YOU LUNATIC."
Josh refused, "NO. We are going to SIT HERE AND TALK. I have held EVERYONE I've interviewed so far accountable for their actions. You were always going to be the most difficult, but you are NOT exempt. You SAID IT ON TAPE Courtney." He looked back to the producers, "Play the clip please."
"FINE, FINE, FINE..." the brunette screamed in defeat, which shocked everyone. She started shaking, and the tears started coming out, "Just... PLEASE do not show any footage. The LAST thing I need is to see any footage from the show... I didn't mean that I wanted them to die. I... I was so traumatized from what happened, and Duncan and I were arguing for over a week, him trying to not get me to sue the show. E... Everyone was gaslighting me like it never even happened, and I... I didn't care in that instance because no one cared about what happened, and they told me that. Just... PLEASE don't mess with my phone, and give it back."
They both sat down, and calmed down, as Josh put her phone on the table, "Let's keep it here for now. Anyways, how did you feel watching Duncan for the first half of the season, and what were you thinking when you returned?"
Eyes were looking at the table, since she felt herself tearing up, and didn't want to look at anyone, which will make things worse, "I... I knew that he was flirting with her, and liked her. He claimed that he was still thinking of me, which may have been true. But we did not end on good terms when he went on the season. I saw the way he was looking at her, playing with her like he played with me once we got along, and it hurt like HELL. He KNEW what he was doing, and wanted to get revenge on me for abandoning me, which he told me minutes after I booted Owen. He told me that was what he did when I did make my return, and he fainted when he saw me because he KNEW HE WAS GUILTY. Seeing him make fun of me for making the MOST out of the opportunity, knowing that I was rigged out of the last season, which he was SEEMINGLY SAD ABOUT made me mad. We did not get along for a few episodes, and it wasn't until the merge spy challenge that things looked up for us. I was worried about him, called him "Dunkie" in front of everyone after he was tranquilized, and he... put he in a corner, literally. He called out my bluff, and we... made out, knowing that I cared for his safety. The first merge vote happened, and we worked together to get Leshawna off, which to me seemed like everything was in a good place with us, so we... slept together. The same thing happened after I was relieved that Duncan was spared over Justin in the next vote."
Josh sighed, and shook his head in agreeance, "That all adds up. In the next challenge, you two are seen going on a date, you are flirting with him, and LOSE YOUR MIND when you see Lindsay take him with her on the reward."
Courtney shook her head horizontally, knowing how pathetic that looks and sounds, "We started... sleeping together, and I was telling him behind the scenes that I wanted us to work, but he didn't want to claim me, or make that fulfilment, which only made me more paranoid. He was being intentionally elusive about what he and Lindsay did on that reward on purpose, and was spending more time with that stupid spider over me. We agreed after the challenge that we would get into a relationship. I did draw up a list, with a bunch of demands. A lot of them were legit, and... a lot of them were false, and I added them just to mess with him. He had enough, and backstabbed me. I was mad about it for a bit, but I soon got over it, remembering my actions in the special, so it was fair game. I was rooting for him HARDCORE in the finale, and we got back together."
"Yes, we saw the matching tattoos, you two holding hands a lot in public, adopting that raccoon, and even living together. We talked about the dinner mentioned beforehand, that caused you two to break up, but then you get back together. I want to discuss the process of that time."
"Everything went well for the first...8 months. "Island" was wrapping up airing once we got back home, and we really were happy. Seeing how everyone responded to us in real life was reassuring, and we wanted to build our lives together. Our parents were shockingly... okay with us dating, and everything went by smoothly. I mentioned earlier that Duncan, Geoff, and DJ were engaging in things that they shouldn't have been engaging with, and hanging out with the wrong people. The police were called on us, and my house was raided. I never felt so exploited in my life. He went to jail, and I wanted to keep him there for a bit, until he learned his lesson. What was supposed to be a date ended up being a confrontation, and we broke up. By the time of "World Tour", we got back together. I don't want to talk about the rest of it."
Josh knew that things were about to get tough, "You know we have to Courtney. What were you thinking during "World Tour", and why did things end so rapidly? It seemed like the two of you were on good terms, and then he flipped on you on a dime."
Courtney felt her fingers balling up into fists, and she started doing breathing exercises, before speaking, "There was nothing that I did that warranted what I had to deal with on that season. You saw me encouraging Duncan every step of the way during the first two episodes, you see me worry about his being for the entire first half of the season, I am defending him to others, claiming that he can do anything he sets his mind to. I was nothing but supportive to him, and we got along ever since getting back together. We had a conversation before the season that we would clear up any issues between one another, before things got out of control, and without telling people first. So when you see me in London talking to him, off camera, and without anyone around, I was following what WE BOTH AGREED TO DO BEFORE THE SEASON STARTED. TALK TO ONE ANOTHER TO SOLVE THE ISSUE. I said that DESPITE HIM ABANDONING ME, I told him that I missed him, and I loved him. In the past, Duncan has NEVER had ANY issue with telling me any issues that he had with me. What the FUCK changed this time? Remember the list I made in "Action"? I made a similar one in "World Tour", and mentioned that I love his flaws, and that love does crazy things. I don't give a SHIT about what ANYONE has to say. He gaslight me that season, and it was UNWARRANTED. Duncan is a gas-lighter, and I had to realize after "World Tour" is that the ONLY way to deal with them is to ignore them altogether. I ignored him on the yacht, ignored him on "All-Stars", and have never spoken to him since. It's been over a decade since we last had any sort of competition." She saw Josh pick up a folder, and he patted it, which angered her, "What do you have in your hand?"
"I have receipts that prove that you're lying about never speaking to him since. What I have shows otherwise," he cackled, watching Courtney furrow her eyebrows, and start to panic. "We have EXCLUSIVE pictures that prove you're lying. Bridgette and Geoff's wedding had the both of you involved, and the after party was a private affair, that... wasn't so private."
Courtney was soon shut up when Josh presented several pictures of her and Duncan together. One of them showed them sitting beside one another having a laugh, another picture showed them dancing, the third picture showed Duncan grinding on Courtney, the fourth picture showed Courtney throwing a cake at Duncan in a laughing matter, a fifth picture showed Courtney liking cake off Duncan, a sixth picture showed Duncan leading Courtney out of the room. She let out a slight gasp, and her face turned red, in anger, and by embarrassment, "I'm going to KILL HIM."
Josh couldn't help but giggle, "Their wedding was a year ago, and this one wasn't on Duncan. Geoff's a messy bitch. It looks like you two had a rendez-vous."
She sprung out of her seat, and went for the camera man with a swiftness, "EDIT THIS OUT! NOW! I WANT THE FOOTAGE DELETED." Josh had to run to grab her, so she could avoid any interaction with the producers. She started hitting and shoving him away, "GET THE FUCK OFF ME. HOW COULD HE DO THIS TO ME?"
As he was leading her to her seat, he went to kneel beside her to ease her nerves, "We had to badger Geoff really hard to give us any sort of information he had. The producers gave him some sort of deal, and threatened to cancel it if he didn't hand over what he knew. While you're seething, you can rant to us about how you feel about Geoff, and you can slide Eva and Ezekiel in there, since they're alphabetically first."
Courtney shoved Josh away, "Go back to your seat. And since Geoff sent these pictures to you, and it's his turn, let's talk about him. Bridgette cannot be mad at me, since Geoff came for me FIRST. On "Island", I thought that Geoff was VERY corny, but he was cute enough for Bridgette, but I wanted him to step it up. Be a man. Be the man that Bridgette deserves, and not a COKE-ADDICTED, ALCOHOL-CONSUMED, FOLLOWING IDIOT. Did you SEE that tacky present he gave Bridgette? He ripped out a picture of him and DJ, and put a separate picture of her in it. The PRODUCERS GAVE GEOFF DRUGS, AND HE GOT ADDICTED, so they told him to be "CAPTAIN HOLLYWOOD" so he could GET A FIX. I was told that he was OFF the drugs, and he became more likable. Once Bridgette and I made up during "Revenge", Geoff apologized to me for helping Duncan with that drug scheme, and causing my house to get raided. We slowly started getting along, and I started to see him in a different light, until he PULLED THAT bullshit. Geoff promised THE BOTH OF US that there would be no pictures or videos at the after party. I see that Geoff is STILL a drama queen after all these years, though I thought that his antics would just be him faking an injury like he did on Boney Island. I'm going to sue him after this."
"Okay, what about Eva and Ezekiel?"
"They're both irrelevant. Ezekiel is creepy and sexist. He tried to flirt with Bridgette the entire time on "Playa", and didn't learn when to take a hint. I hit him with the light during the Playa episode because he was creepy, and needed to get a hint. Eva is a rage-a-holic who harassed the girls the entire time we were at Playa, during "Island" AND "Action".
He nodded his head in complete agreement, "Yup, pretty much. They are irrelevant, and everyone else has said the same thing so far. We just moved on from one tough person, but now it's time to talk about the other one. Gwen."
Courtney growled once that name came out, "I never interacted with her much during the first 2 seasons. What I remember is accidentally throwing oats at her, since Heather dodged, and her throwing a dodgeball back at me for not apologizing, whatever. She started mocking my jello fear to get me thrown off, and I just recall her not being a team player, or a good sport with... anything. She just seemed so miserable, and like she was "too cool" for everyone. When "Action" happened, I was NOT fond of her closeness with Duncan, and no matter what they said, it was inappropriate. I confronted her about it once the "Aftermath" happened, and of course she denied it, but that clip showed otherwise, and I have VERY good intuition. Those VLOGS she made once we got home, claiming that I lost the "best thing that happened to me", and admitting that "he's hot" proved that I was right. Before the season, I saw Gwen initiating a bunch of texts between herself and Duncan, and he SHOCKINGLY blew her off every time, so entering the season, I claimed that she was a thirst bag, and didn't think anything of him. We argued for that reason, but once Duncan was gone, we started to get along, but I think it was due to us hating Heather. Another reason was that I was somewhat sad that Bridgette was voted off, and Gwen was sad that Bridgette and Leshawna were booted so quickly, so I helped her get over that blow. Gwen was distant towards them both, I was having issues with Bridgette, and I fell out with Leshawna the season beforehand."
"Noted, I will get to that once we mention the latter," Josh noted, shocked with the revelation. "So it seems like you two got along due to your issues with others, instead of forming a legit bond. You two are at Newfoundland, and Gwen makes a claim that a rock looks like Duncan. How were you not suspicious of this?"
"I was suspicious of it, but once Gwen took the blame of it to protect me from Heather's wrath, I decided to let it go. Notice a pattern. In "All-Stars", Gwen was... DENYING that Duncan and I were together at the time to absolve blame from herself, and... I decided to let it go". Courtney felt herself crying and hyperventilating slowly, "I was the bigger person EVERY. FUCKING. TIME. In London, we are talking about our love for London, all of the projects we did together, and we realized that we were... nerdettes together. I made her a remedy to heal her sunburnt hand, with NOTHING IN RETURN. Choosing to not lash out at Gwen in the way that I usually would have in "All-Stars" showed me being the bigger person. Me hearing her cry in the confessional, and feeling bad for her after she admitted to only come back to make up with me, was me being the bigger person. By the egg episode where Heather got voted out, we agreed to make up, and that was only exemplified in the boxing challenge, though she was STILL gaslighting me by claiming that him and I were not together when she kissed him. When we were on the yacht, I was the bigger person when I did not react to her and Duncan's PATHETICALLY PDA to mock me."
The host just raised his eyebrow at Courtney, "I don't know if all of that calls for you being the bigger person overall in the situation. Being a decent person, and not reacting violently, or in a bratty way doesn't mean that you're being the bigger person."
A large index finger was pointed closely to Josh's face, "SHUSH IT, AND LET ME FINISH FOR GOODNESS SAKES. In both seasons, I told Gwen some VERY PERSONAL THINGS about my life, my dreams, my past, my traumas, my vulnerabilities, my insecurities, etc. After the merge in "All-Stars", and from Paris-onwards in "World Tour", and Gwen ALWAYS manages to throw me under the bus." Her voice started to choke over the last sentence, as she felt herself crying again, "Gwen knew that I was very competitive, and she told me in the past that she would've cut Leshawna and Bridgette for Trent if she had her way. She knew that I was sick of being portrayed as a villain, and that I did NOT trust the producers of the show. Instead of letting me explain myself, she thought the WORST of me. I soon realized that she wants people to give her all the chances and explanations in the world, but she NEVER does that for others. She didn't do that for me, she didn't do that for Trent, and ugh, she didn't even do that for Duncan."
"Gwen was also at Bridgette and Geoff's wedding last year, so you would have had to interact with her. How did you handle that? It would have been your first interaction with her in like 6-7 years?" he asked with genuine curiosity.
Courtney dried up her eyes a bit, and went with a few meditative methods to calm her down, "Bridgette told me ahead of time that Gwen was going to be there, so I was prepared. The day was about Bridgette and Geoff, so I didn't want to ruin it. Like you said, it had been several years, and I truly moved on from everything regarding the show. Leshawna and Bridgette wanted Gwen and I to clear the air, with only the two of us talking, but they would babysit the conversation. I told her that she never gave me the benefit of the doubt, and that I wasn't pretending to be her friend, but I'm not going to stress over the situation, and I genuinely wanted to move on with my life. I had to apologize for ever hurting Gwen, and she apologized too. We are cordial, and were able to get along to have enough fun for Bridgette and Geoff, but that's it. We both agreed that being in a friendship is too draining, so we never tried it afterwards."
Josh smiled, and went to grab Courtney's hands to reassure her, "You made it through the hardest parts. The two people you probably dreaded talking about is done. Harold is next."
She swiftly removed his hands off hers, "Harold... he annoyed me from the very beginning. Whether it was people complaining about his gross antics, snoring, being generally useless, spirting out useless facts that he thought were impressive, I could not gel with him at all. Harold would walk around in his speedo, and looked HORRENDOUS in them. I have NO idea what Leshawna sees in that man physically. The way he TALKS just grinds my gears, and I saw his corny love letters to Leshawna from around the 5th challenge, so he was ALSO corny AND had no game. Harold also tried to outtalk me, and lecture ME about the legal system. Overall, we didn't get along, and I was tired of seeing his peanut-butter shit underwear everywhere. Once the producers told me that he rigged me out of the game, all I saw was red for that entire time. It was perfect that I found him during the "Playa" episode, so he could get pummeled on camera for the heinous act he did. He also played a HUGE part into why Leshawna and I started feuding."
"Ooh, what happened?" His curiosity was risen, since he hadn't heard of anything like this before, "Was this in "Island" or "Action" that this happened?"
"Leshawna got booted at the end of the episode, and he went to pull his yt man tears on her, about me beating him up, but IRONICALLY didn't tell her WHY I did so. She starts to argue with me, and she looked a fool when I told her what he did. Despite lecturing him about it for a bit, she still took his side. Once I returned to the game, it was clear that there was A LOT of mistrust between Harold and Leshawna. I manipulated fact with fiction to get him to vote her out. We all knew that Leshawna was doing a lot of deceitful stuff, knowing that she had a certain image to get a reward challenge for herself, and we also knew that she wasn't giving him any play, because he's a cassette tape in a world of MP3s, according to her. I told him that Leshawna told Beth, Lindsay, and I during the merge sleepover we had that she was using Harold as a side piece, while she got herself a hood gangsta for her real husband. It was a lie, but she has been pretending that they weren't having any relations whatsoever, when they snuck off every night together. He started singing my song on the next episode, RUINING the brilliant vocal performance that I used on it, and he sung it throughout the entire episode. He started doing weird stuff, like playing with yoyos, keyboards, magnifying glasses, and he overstayed his welcome, but he was right about Owen. Harold started doing THE MOST during the final few episodes of "World Tour", and I found it to be VERY unfair that he was able to sing, but I wasn't given that opportunity. We got into it after the last aftermath over it, and he purposely volunteered with being Cody and Heather's biggest advocate to piss me off, since he knew I was going to be Al's. I briefly saw him at the wedding too, and he was STILL very annoying, but I paid him dust, like his vocal chords did for his entire music career."
Heather's picture was put on the table, and he wanted to gage Courtney's reaction, "Honestly, I thought that you two were going to get along, since you are both so similar. Very competitive, ruthless, selfish, controlling, bossy, but very beautiful and guarded women. I was honestly disappointed that you two never hit it off, since you got along with other difficult weirdos like Gwen, and even Bridgette."
A huge gasp came from Courtney's mouth, "How DARE YOU compare me to her. We are NOTHING alike. Everything I did was because I felt like I was provoked. Heather actively went out of her way to torment people because she wanted camera time, and because she's awful. Thankfully, I did not interact with her much during the first two seasons, but the few times we did pontificate was not good. She teased us (but mainly me) for losing twice, and sending Eva home, so I tried to hit her with oats, but missed, which she then mocked. She would have been a good competitor without her tactics, like reading Gwen's diary, provoking others unwarranted, throwing that ball at Tyler, kissing Trent, and sucking the producers off. Once I returned, she would gaslight me AGAIN by saying that I was eliminated fair and square. I cursed her off after I was spared, and talked about her sucking the producers off. Thankfully she didn't last long, but she was obsessed with my hair for some reason, only for me to later watch that she cut some of it off. If these people were going to trash me, I'm going to record BTS stuff from them, so I sent what I could to the Aftermaths."
"You people need to stop saying things that could get the network sued," the interviewer panicked, looking back at the producers, "Anyways, I do remember Heather making several videos making fun of your relationship, and insinuating that Gwen was trying to get with him when you all got home. Once you both got to "World Tour", the tension picked up quickly."
All she could do was grimace from the memories, "Since Heather finally wasn't bald, she started feeling better about herself, meaning she became intolerable again. She felt like she was the leader of our team for some reason, when I've had legit experience throughout several activities and jobs of being a proficient leader, and she started making fun of my relationship again. Another example of Heather's producer privilege was when we arrived to the sled at the same time at the Yukon, but I had to be the dog to be whipped because my alphabet came first. WHAT? So she started whipping me, which was way too far in my opinion. The producer influence came in once again when she was spared from elimination, since everyone knew from day one that she was going to be booted first. And it wasn't even like she's a good producer pet, since she was a self-involved, lazy, useless, formerly bald dimwit. She threw out one of the prizes that we got from New York, when it was OBVIOUS that it was going to help us."
Josh wanted to interrupt, "So from what I recall, you knew that Heather liked Alejandro somewhat before the halfway point, but then you start to flirt and hook up with him knowing this. Also, this was after you two started to bond after you were being cheated on. Why did you do that? She was also on your side, until you threw the challenges, and didn't tell anyone about it."
Courtney crossed her arms, as she defensively told her story, "I didn't owe Heather anything, so I didn't have to tell her that I was throwing the challenge. And she also has no right to get mad at me about Alejandro, since she also tried to get close to Duncan while him and I were together at the end of "Island", and sometime during "Action" because no one wanted to screw her, and she knew he found her hot in the beginning of the series. Heather BLEW IT with Alejandro, but wanted him to chase after her, while never claiming him. He was single, and I was single too, so she's just an entitled twat. Alejandro was the reason why she targeted me, and it was stupid because she would have been on the bottom with Sierra, Cody, Duncan, Owen, and eventually Blaineley in the merge. After leaving Australia, Alejandro and I kissed, and once that news made it to Heather, she literally attacked me. I found it ridiculous that she was doing this, since she was whining about Leshawna attacking her, and Leshawna had GOOD REASON to attack her, but the producers weren't on her side, so they edited everything out. Heather humiliates Al, we are on the yacht a year later, and she sees that I have a meltdown due to Alejandro playing me. She comes up a day or two later, and states that she could have him ANYTIME SHE WANTS, and I just lost it. I pounced her, and beat her up worse than Leshawna did in Germany. We barely spoke on "All-Stars", because I actually had things going on, and Heather was irrelevant, so voting with her to get out Al was fine, since he was the person who made promises to me, and didn't live up to it. A large part of me was happy to see her get idoled out, since it showed that she's nothing without her producer privilege, and she was gonna get voted off after he did anyways. Heather tried to start several physical altercations during the "All Stars" premiere and finale parties, and I haven't spoken to her since."
to be continued...