A man with a very long face, an abnormally strong chin and jaw adjusted his sunglasses, as he got out of his car, and walked through the parking lot. He combed his hair with his fingers as he entered the building, and walked into the green screen room, "Hey everyone. Never thought I would be back here... It's been an eternity."
Josh didn't even look at him, "Nice that you could spend time being a somewhat famous musician Trent, and could find time for little old us. Now sit down, so we can get this over with. I am sure that your former colleagues told you how the process works. I give you a picture of the others in a chronological order, and you tell me about your relationships with them from the show to the present."
"I see someone is over interviewing people," he muttered, as he sat down.
He saw that Trent had sunglasses on, "I don't know what it is with you folks thinking that you are big hot shots enough to wear sunglasses during an interview. TAKE THEM OFF!" As Trent took them off, he handed him the first picture, "I know you didn't compete with him, since you were irrelevant by the time of his debut, but what did you think of Alejandro from the time you did spend with him?"
Trent was getting more and more annoyed, "How was I irrelevant when I was in a successful boyband, who was topping the charts with singles and albums? I was making a living and a name for myself that had NOTHING to do with the show, and that's why people like you, Chris, and the network were mad. Anyways, the only time I really got to interact with Alejandro was when we were all on the yacht during the fourth season. He didn't do anything to me specifically, but he went out of his way to start fights with, and to pick on my friends for no reason. I remember Duncan and I arguing a lot during that time, and he had his slick shit to add in, so I had to tell him to shut the hell up. He really is awful from the time I spent with him, and everyone beat him up several times."
"Alright Trent, the next person is Beth," he announced, giving the man a picture of the brunette. "She was on your team for both of the seasons you competed together, so you clearly had to deal with her quite a bit. What did you think of her?"
"Beth was someone that I kind of felt bad for in the beginning. She clearly did not get out in the real world much, and she was very insecure about her looks. Heather and even Lindsay at times took advantage of that, and it really was not right. Her and Cody were into music, and she knew that I was into music, so she asked me to help her with learning some vocal tips, so that was something we did during the first season, and I told her to watch out for her friends, since they have reasons for doing things that don't have her best interest. We did not have much interaction during "Action", especially since she was focused on Justin and Lindsay, but it was clear that she was annoyed with me. We did not get close like that until the Drama Brothers started, and she was sexually or romantically involved with everyone else, so I was the only person she could speak to, and felt normal around. We had a lot of fun during "World Tour", though she got in a lot of drama with Katie, Sadie, and Eva, while feeling like an outcast. When the Gwuncan thing happened, I kept a cool face about it, but she comforted me about it, and I told her my genuine feelings about it. She just wasn't used to being in a lot of drama or getting a lot of attention, so I had to be like a big brother to her, and it's still like that today. I can't get into her and Justin's drama though, and I learned A LONG TIME AGO to not get involved."
Josh handed him a picture of the blonde, ponytailed woman, "I always thought that if it wasn't for Gwen and Geoff, you and Bridgette would have made a cute couple, and I think she said the same thing when I interviewed. How was dealing with Bridgette like?"
All he could do was laugh, "She really said that? Well, Bridgette really is a sweet, compassionate woman, and I do remember the four of us hanging out a lot in between challenges. She actually tried teaching me how to surf and stuff, and I remember trying to get her attention for Geoff. Gwen did tell me about her calling me a poser, so we had a conversation, which was a TENSE one about it, and she told me that she found a lot of my stories to be confusing, and to contradict one another. I understood that, and it wasn't until we were both booted where I told her generally everything about my life, so she started understanding me a lot more. Bridgette is someone that makes you comfortable confiding in. She told me about her relatively tough life before the show, and no one would expect her to have gone through half of the stuff she went through. I think that is why she defended me so hard during the Aftermaths, and I told her that I appreciated it. When her and Geoff were going through their issues, there was some slight flirtation going on."
"Really? I never knew that the two of you were flirting with one another. I heard about a foursome, but never about the two of you flirting with one another, and this was during "TDA", correct? I am assuming that's why her and Gwen almost fought," Josh narrated, with too much intrigue in his voice.
He just rolled his eyes, "Of course they mentioned the foursome... That happened a few times. Once during the end of "TDA", and then after Gwen and I got back together years later. But that's beside the point. I had to hold her to the fire with the whole Alejandro mess in the third season, since I saw how Geoff reacted to it, but then she was kidnapped, and the show did NOTHING for a while, which I just thought was irresponsible, so I let it go. And then they both had drug and suicide scares, and I really felt bad for them. She really found her calling with animals, and seeing them in real life, and getting to know them in their place of comfort. Bridgette has always been there for me over the years, called me out when I was acting like a jerk, and we've remained friends."
Josh had a HUGE smile on his face when handing a picture of Cody, "You and Cody have an interesting relationship, though we never saw much of it, since you two were only on one season together, and he was booted early. Of course there was The Drama Brothers that happened about a year after, but it's been made clear that the two of you had a HUGE fallout, and it's the reason why the group won't get together again. What are your thoughts?"
A HUGE sigh came from his mouth, and his eyebrow started ticking, "Cody is a VERY sensitive subject for me. I remember in the first season thinking that he was very odd, and something from the VERY beginning was telling me to not trust him. I saw him try to copy the way I walk, the way I talk, and how I interact with others. He had a lot of growing up to do, and he was very passive aggressive, so when you saw me threaten him on the Boney Island challenge, that... that is why. He shocked me when he helped Gwen and I hook up, and I thought maybe I misread Cody. I didn't, and I should have stuck to my original assessment of him. We are at Playa des Losers, and the two of us start talking about music and stuff, though he was more interested in the production. The four of us started singing together, and that was the start of me thinking if I were to ever make a band, I wanted those three in it. The Aftermaths happen, and with Gwen and I both being out, Cody was the middle man between the two of us. Stupidly in hindsight, I had him be the mediator to send messages to her, but I would later find out that he would twist my words to make Gwen more mad at me. And this was AFTER Gwen and I decided to be friends, and to move on from all of it. The Drama Brothers happened, and Cody REALLY PUSHES for me to write a song about Gwen and the breakup. I didn't want to, but ultimately agreed with him; Gwen was not happy about that song at all, and it caused for us to not speak for over a year, since we agreed that by the end of the season, neither of us had anything to revive or rehash with our breakup."
"I didn't know that he was twisting things to make you and Gwen not like one another, but that was stupid of you, since we did see in 'World Tour" that he tried to get with her, and how he reacted when she got with Duncan over him," Josh reminded him in a braggard voice. "He also said that the group broke up because you wanted more control, and that you didn't like that him and Harold were creating music that wasn't generic guitar music, so you pushed Harold out of the group, and when you did most of the second album, it flopped because of you."
His eyes widened in shock, "He SERIOUSLY SAID THAT? Listen, Harold and I did have creative issues, but we were ALWAYS respectful of one another's opinions, because we respected one another. EVEN WITH THAT situation, Cody was the middle man between Harold and I, so he would tell me things that Harold said, though he twisted it, and he would tell Harold things that I said, but twisted it. Harold later told me that Cody agreed with EVERYTHING Harold said, but when it was time for the group to state their opinions, he left Harold to hang himself. When Harold DID leave the group, Cody and I got into it BIG TIME, and he blamed ME for Harold leaving the group, though I called him out for never defending Harold, and I said that Harold was the better producer of the two. Our second album did horrible. When "World Tour" happened, and when the three of us had to start our third era early, Harold and I got REALLY CLOSE, and when Cody came back into the picture, he was REALLY MAD about that, which didn't make sense to me at the time. Now, it's clear that Cody wanted to divide and conquer. With that being our most successful album, and Cody not being a part of that did A LOT of damage to him. The VERY LAST straw was when Gwen and I started becoming friends again, he lashed out at the BOTH of us, and he wasn't defending her when his girlfriend Sierra was attacking her. Before Season 5, he tried to FORCE US to have a threesome, which never went anywhere, and he TOOK THAT TO SIERRA TO SAY THAT GWEN CHEATED ON DUNCAN WITH ME. I remember Sierra posting that after "All-Stars" aired, and it was in the middle of her and Gwen's sparring, but I had to get involved, since she mentioned me, and I told her that she needed to go back to the institution, since the info was wrong. IZZY told me that Cody told Sierra that, and then it lead to the final conversation I had with Cody, where we were screaming every name in the book at one another. He called me a sociopath, and said I needed to be in the institution instead of Sierra. Overall, I was a good friend to Cody, and he was NEVER a good friend to me, but it took me years to figure that out. NOT ONLY do I NOT trust Cody musically, but I DON'T trust him personally. He tried to send Duncan and his goons on me with that lie he created. I CANNOT reunite with someone like that, and sadly The Drama Brothers had to suffer due to it."
Josh started chapping his mouth, "Wow... I am mother fucking parched. That was some good tea Trent, and A LOT of information to take in. The Drama Brothers definitely lived up to it's name." He handed Trent another picture, "So Courtney is next. Did you two bond over being screwed over by Gwuncan?"
"Not really. I remember her being really bossy, and the one conversation I did have with her on the island involved me telling her about my lawyer father, and she tried to get more information out of me, since she wanted to use him for connections. In general, we did not gel at all from what I remember of our interactions in the first two seasons. She got too caught up in the game, and in getting revenge overall, but I was thankful that Sadie interrupted her EVERY TIME Courtney tried to talk to me in the Aftermaths."
"But Courtney revealed that you DID send her some salacious text messages right before the third season," Josh cooed, seeing Trent's eyes widen as he got nervous as hell. " And some of these salacious texts involved you sending her dick pics. That surely isn't nothing Trent, so you WERE interested in Courtney."
His face grew red, and he buried his hands in his face for a bit, "I was DRUNK AS HELL when I did that, and I was in my douche stage. That was when Gwen and Duncan holding hands and going out RIGHT before the season was made public, so I was in my feelings. She should not have mentioned that, but when I sobered up, we talked about it, and that nothing should ever happen, and it wasn't the way to go. Nothing happened afterwards, and we haven't spoken generally. I wanted to get back at Duncan, but that wasn't the way to go. I was wrong, and I admit it."
Josh wanted to move on, as he shook his head, "I never thought that you would be the type to send sloppy nice pics, and not even care to think about who you sent it to. Anyways, DJ is next on the list. Were you two close?"
"We somewhat were. He was so easy to talk to, and was not about the drama at all, and that was refreshing, especially with the cast we were around. What makes DJ cool is that he is a genuine listener, and is engaged with what you are saying, so I just started speaking to him. But the main thing about him is that he's a Duncan follower, who I didn't even have an issue with yet, but I think he knew that he could not get too close to me or whatever, and I didn't like them messing with Harold. He told me about his lack of a father figure and how his mother really controlled everything in his life on the yacht right before the merge, and we had a really good time. He was such a lightweight, and we had to carry him around, though we pulled a few pranks on him while he passed out." He took a breath, and looked at the picture in front of him before continuing, "I noticed that there was a stark difference in our friendship after the whole breakup mess happened. At Playa, we were side by side, I watched his rabbit, and we entered the season wanting to work together. I noticed that after Geoff left that he made comments about him, and that was due to Duncan talking bad about him, and whenever Duncan and I were feuding, instead of playing neutral, he catered to Duncan once again. Even after he quit, things were not the same between the two of us, and it's a shame. There was him and Geoff fighting at the aftermaths, which I had to mediate, and he claimed that I caused everyone to turn on Gwen, when the breakup was my fault. During the third season after he arrived, we were getting ready to speak again, but then he tried JUSTIFYING Duncan and Gwen hooking up, and I was essentially done with him."
"Speaking about Duncan, now it's time to talk about him," Josh maniacally hissed, as he handed Trent the picture, who was already folding it up, and was clearly getting distressed. "He spat on your picture when I handed him it when I was interviewing him."
Trent looked up to glare at him, "And if I see him, I would do MUCH WORSE than spit on him. Out of everyone from the cast, he is the ONLY one that I GENUINELY HATE. Not even Cody brings out hate in me. In "Island", I never interacted with him a whole lot, though it was clear that he was a bully to people he thought was less-than. In general, he never did anything to me specifically, so I didn't have a reason to outright loathe him, and when it came time for the gender challenge, we actually got along. He seemed relaxed, and didn't seem to have a stick up his ass, but I think it was mainly because Harold just got booted, and he spent HOURS rambling on that. We all claimed that we were going to be brothers, and we told some personal stories there, but I did remember catching him glare at Geoff and I when I was speaking to Geoff. It wasn't until later on, like the night when Geoff and Bridgette were booted that he told me before the elimination that Duncan didn't like me. RIGHT AFTER that, Duncan started making fun of me, and treating me like he did Harold. They didn't even show HALF of it. He ruined my clothes, put laxatives in my food, and tampered with my hair and face products. I spoke to the producers about it, and they did nothing. Duncan literally got off on the relationship issues I was having with Gwen, and he was telling her a bunch of stuff that wasn't even true, like the 9 thing."
Josh remembered something, "You did call them punk wannabes, and you were jealous of their friendship, when it was a friendship at the time. You know how petty Duncan was."
"I KNEW that he wanted her, and I KNEW that he was also trying to piss off Courtney after that shark event on the island. I let the entire situation go, and was able to be in a good place with Gwen, especially since he never arrived to the Aftermath hotels. The Drama Brothers are happening, and he is CONSISTENTLY TWEETING ABOUT US. What caused me to snap was that in one of his tweets, he mentioned my grandfather's death, and then said that my music will send my parents to rot in hell with my grandparents. I of course tweeted back, and said that his mother should have swallowed, she was packing his shit up while on the show, and told him to not drop the soap once he goes back to juvie. All of this happened BEFORE "Action" even aired, and then we had to relive shit that happened a year ago. Interview upon interview, he mentioned that I used the show to boost my music career, how I was a sociopath, blah blah blah. Duncan was mad that despite making it through two WHOLE seasons, he ended up broker than everyone else, and I actually made a living for myself outside of the show. Even at the end of "World Tour", Gwen and I agreed to be friends after she was eliminated and we hung out, but Duncan arrived and DEMANDED that she was NOWHERE NEAR ME. Harold and Leshawna invited me around to their house, and it set Duncan off," he ranted angrily, still not over the antics that happened over a decade ago.
The huge grin on his face could not be contained, "Duncan blamed you for his relationship with Gwen deteriorating, and due to some information about a song being in one of the later hits about the Drama Brothers, he showed up at a concert to beat your ass. Apparently the song was about their deteriorating relationship, Gwen told you all of the information, and she was fine with it being released. He is also VERY stern on the fact that she cheated on him with you."
Trent let out an evil cackle from Josh's words, "DUNCAN is why his relationship with Gwen ended. He stole money from her, he caused the feds to look at her, kind of like how he had the feds look at DJ and Geoff, he was disrespectful to her family, and verbally abused her through THE ENTIRE RELATIONSHIP. Gwen wanted me to write a song about a traumatized girl in an abusive relationship, she gave me every detail, and didn't even want to be added as a songwriter. The funny thing is, NO ONE exposed that the song was about him and Gwen until HE revealed it on social media, and he DID NOT beat my ass. He showed up at a concert, and attacked me, but I attacked him back, since I've wanted to lay hands on him for years. That was the last interaction I had with him, and when I did see him at Geoff and Bridgette's wedding, I refused to speak to him. And Gwen didn't cheat on him at all, she was emotionally neglected by him, and he knew that."
"Anyways, let's get these two fodder fucks out of the way in Eva and Ezekiel. You only competed in one season with them, and neither one of them lasted long. With that in mind, you must have spent quite a bit of time with them in the Aftermaths."
He grimaced from the memories, "I will start with Eva, since I spent more time with her. When she came back at the merge, she has SEVERAL rants/meltdowns, and I don't even think a quarter of them were shown. She really tortured the girls, and it was uncomfortable to watch. I remember getting eliminated after her, and she got really annoyed with me playing music at Playa. I was still confused as to why people thought I was phony, despite Heather setting everything up, and Eva felt the need to tell me why, which... whatever. We got into a few arguments on the Aftermaths, since she felt like I played victim during the breakup with Gwen, and felt like I was a douche overall. I didn't get why she had this hostility, and I had to report her to the producers several times, and she felt the need to harass me, since I represented toxic masculinity, and anti-feminism or whatever. With Ezekiel, he tried to talk slang to me and everyone else on the "Action" Aftermaths, and it was very uncomfortable to deal with. He liked gassing Geoff up, and I didn't like that. I remember trying to tell him to use this opportunity to get to know more people, and to learn about the world, but he didn't take it. Never spent much time with him overall though."
"Speaking of Geoff, he is next," Josh stated, handing him a picture of the blonde man, "Throughout the interviews, I have grasped that the two of you were closer than what was shown, and it eventually caused some drama with Duncan, and then you and Geoff eventually fell out throughout the years. What are your opinions on this?"
An unreadable expression formed on his face when Geoff's picture was presented to him, "We were close, even in "Island", because he was just a cool, chill guy who wanted to have fun. He would pay a visit to the Gophers after every challenge, and asked if we wanted to join them in their celebrations. He reminded me a lot of myself, where we don't like drama, and want to get along with everyone, but you DO NOT want to piss us off, since we both have dark sides to us. We also would tan together a lot as well. It became clear that he wasn't as close as DJ and Duncan were, so he would be off by himself at times, and he asked me advice about winning a girl over, since Duncan never cared to help him, though he helped Duncan with Courtney. This was when we, Gwen, and Bridgette would hang out with one another in between challenges, and it was great. You guys didn't get to see us on the yacht after winning the challenge, but Geoff and I were glued at the hip, and he told me that he couldn't trust DJ and Duncan like that. He told me EVERYTHING about his life, and I really looked at him in a different way, since he was a lot more insecure than he let on, and that's how I was at the time too. As soon as I left the yacht, I knew that Duncan did not vibe with me, and I knew that him and DJ were annoyed that Geoff managed to get to know someone on his own. He told me the night of his "Action" elimination that Duncan loathes me, and he is planning on taking me down this season. I was VERY confused with that revelation, but his words came to pass, as you would see over the next few episodes."
He saw an opening, and went for it, "He did say that his friendship with Duncan got in the way of your friendship with him, but that was your choice. I remember Geoff attacking you during the first Aftermath, so how do you feel about that?"
"I was... VERY confused as to why he was so hard on me, especially with him telling me that he felt that I was the only guy he could be 100 percent honest with. At the time, I didn't know the reason, but I later found out that he mainly did it because Bridgette said that if she did not hook up with Geoff, she would have pursued me, so I think he used me to try to get agency of his relationship. He handled it the wrong way, and then I saw how he was treating a bunch of people throughout the weeks, so I told him that he is everything that he feared he would come, and was everything that people said; shallow, vain, mean, a douche, and a druggie. I remember Geoff saying that I played victim, and was everything Duncan said I was. We did not make up until near the end of "Action", where he apologized to me, and we ended up... Gwen, and Bridgette joined, but that was a mess. Anyways, we didn't get to speak after the season, and it wasn't until we were both rejected for "World Tour" where we became really cool again. He was away from Bridgette, and had to learn how to be on his own. It was like the times of "Island", and the three of us, with Justin being the third had much fun together, and it was even better when Harold joined us. I started worrying for him because of the cheating, and all of the other baggage that came with it, so I DID become very protective of him. Geoff even became on honorary Drama Brother, and recorded a few songs with us. We talked almost every single day for the next 3-ish years, and we always hung out. I even met his bro Brody, and he DOES NOT introduce many people to Brody, since he's very protective of the latter, so it meant a lot."
"But he said that as soon as him and Duncan became friends again, you dropped him like a bad habit. Why did you do this? You clearly didn't give a shit about him, but cared more about hating Duncan more," Josh interrupted.
Trent sighed with Josh's antics, "Geoff has a tendency of... being a flip flopper, which even Duncan and DJ said themselves. Him and Duncan got into it SO MANY TIMES over the years, and he would always want me to defend him, and he would tell me EVERYTHING. This happened while on the yacht A LOT during the fourth season. After all of the things Duncan did to Gwen, all of the things Duncan did to HIM, and all of the things he did TO ME, all of the things he did to Bridgette, I thought Geoff would have known better. Duncan only contacted him because Duncan just got out of jail and had no home, while Geoff just won "The Ridonculous Race", and was getting a bunch of opportunities. I don't think Duncan and DJ were speaking during this time, so he literally had no one else. As soon as they made up, Geoff acted differently towards me. He would not want to hang out as much, he started lying a bunch, and then he would try to defend Duncan for the horrible stuff that he did. I didn't want any drama in my life at that point, and Geoff was trying to push for us to make up, when he knew that NEITHER ONE OF US wanted that to happen. So I did distance myself from Geoff, though we text every once in a while. It wasn't the same, but I wanted to support him, so I went to his wedding. I also found it harsh how he cut off Justin at the same time too, and Justin had been NOTHING BUT SUPPORTIVE to Geoff, so that rubbed me the wrong way. And we both knew about this because Harold is dating one of Bridgette's best friends, so the telephone game happened. I like Geoff, but I REFUSE to be put into compromising positions because of the people he surrounds himself with."
Josh knew that this was a way to tie into the next person, "Speaking of Harold, how to you feel about him?
His eyes widened, and then he started to chuckle, "Harold is a... character. We didn't speak much through the first season, and it wasn't until I was booted where we started to speak. I didn't like what the other guys did to him with the bullying stuff, and I was hoping he would make it to the genders part, but I did tell him what the others were saying about him. He was proud that I stood up for him in that moment, and we started talking about music quite a bit, and he was just as passionate as I was about it. We didn't spend much time together in "Action" for obvious reasons, but we did bond a lot over music at Playa des Losers, and once there was a discussion of starting a group, I was in. The two of us REALLY VIBED, as we did a lot of the producing, writing and vocals, and once you're in that musical vibe, things are GREAT, and it connects you in a different way that no one else understands. Harold really is multifaceted, but because we were both so into it, and wanted things to go right, we started to clash. You have the management and label pitting you against your groupmates, he felt like they were pushing me to be the sole lead during the second album, since they wanted my songs about Gwen to be the main focus, I thought he was being selfish with planning a solo album behind our backs, and was tanking the group. Cody was behind a lot of the tension as well. When you interviewed the group, Harold and I have already gotten into several arguments by that point, and adding onto the personal problems he had with Justin, and Cody putting the battery in his back, while leaving Harold to dry was a recipe for disaster. It was shortly before the special, where Harold and I decided to have a phone call, we both apologized to one another, worked everything out, and we wanted to be friends again."
"He didn't mention anything about Cody pitting the two of you against one another. What he DID mention was that you two and Justin had to rush record the third album, and most of it was done without Cody. There was also some tension with you and Leshawna during the Aftermaths, and you had some tension with Harold once you and Gwen started speaking again," Josh lamented.
"Before we got to properly reunite, Harold and Cody got called in for the third season, so Justin and I didn't have much to do. Luckily for us, Harold didn't last long, and he told me EVERYTHING that happened with him and Leshawna on the season, so I told him to write a song, hell write a few songs about it, which is how that album came about. Due to the producers wanting us to sing more, Harold wanted us to help him promote the song "Baby". That song ended up leaking, and then radio played the hell out of it, so we had to start working on the album without Cody, since you can't lose momentum in the music business once it starts. Harold and I vibed with one another throughout the entire process, and getting that album done, while it eventually becoming our biggest-seller brought us together. We started doing collaborations together, whether it was singles, writing and producing for other songs together. Almost like a Lennon-McCartney situation. With the Gwen thing, he did help the two of us get together, but he told me that I needed to remember that I am an individual, and to not be co-dependent on her, so that is where some of the apprehension came from on his end. We go on vacations together once or twice a year, he has remained a good friend of mine throughout the years, and we were supposed to propose together, but he beat me to the punch. Harold's a great person."
to be continued...
