Authors Note

Hey everyone, sorry for the long wait. I've been writing some of the "Pahkitew Island" writeups, and they are A LOT harder than I thought they were going to be, and it's causing quite a bit of burnout. Even outside of that, real life is getting relatively busy. Anyways, might as well post the ones I finished writing a while ago.


The "Total Drama: All-Stars" finalist walked his way into the building, and was definitely timid, due to all of the trauma that has come from the show, and not wanting to relive it all. He had a bit more muscle, that balanced his defined frame, but still wore a similar outfit that he did during the show.

Josh was in the room, waiting eagerly for Mike to enter, where his smile only grew once he saw the nervous man enter the room, "HEY MIKE. I've been LOOKING FORWARD TO THIS ONE. WHY are you so nervous?"

He shook Josh's hand before sitting down in front of him, "Well, I did not like how my D.I.D. fueled up on the show, and I got A LOT of backlash from being on the show, especially after the second season. Not looking forward to recapping all of this."

"Oh well, especially since you are also getting paid for this interview. Anyways, I am going to get into each player you played with alphabetically, and you will describe your relationship with them from your time with the show, to the present day." He just cackled, as he saw the first picture, and knowing that things are going to get juicy, "Anne Maria is first, and we're BOTH going to love this one; for different reasons. I WILL say that she went IN on your ass."

All he did was sigh, "Anne Maria and I actually had a conversation in Italian, and it caused me to BRIEFLY think that she was a cool, reasonable girl. It became clear very quickly that she was just a mean, vile person, and I also thought that she was trying TOO HARD to prove her Italian heritage, which only added up when Zoey told me that Anne Maria was adopted, and she was born of non-italians. Having a normal conversation with her became such a pain because we had NOTHING IN COMMON, and she was so defensive about everything. I didn't understand the fact that Vito was hooking up with her, and I definitely could have handled the situation well, but I also don't know why she would want to be with someone who had such mixed reception with her."

Josh gave him the side eye, "So why didn't you tell her the truth about your disorder? Or at least the minimum of telling her that you were not interested in her outright? You made things so much more complicated than it needed to be, and even in your last sentence, you were blaming her."

"The first thing is that when I was in control, I was trying to figure out what happened, and that took a while, since it's not like the others knew that I had D.I.D. Whenever I would try to have a conversation with Anne Maria, she would not listen, and would just assume things about me. I also told her to leave Zoey alone, but she would go on these angry, threatening rants, and would call her slurs and names. After being eliminated, I had to sit Anne Maria down, and break everything down to her. What resulted was her attacking my mental illness, making fun of me, my relationship, and really took it to a personal level, where she tried to physically attack me. Playa des Losers was SUCH a miserable experience, and she went out of her way to make me as miserable as possible with potshots, throwing shade, and pulling off awful pranks on me. It got REALLY BAD to the point that right before Zoey got eliminated, we got into a HUGE fight after water and sand was thrown, and Zoey SAW US FIGHTING. They got into a fight, and then everything blew up. She then conveniently started acting like she was attracted to Lightning, and threw it in our faces for the next few years."

"Apparently the two of you had more run-ins after the show, one which involved allegedly blocking her from appearing on "All-Stars". What is your justification for this? And there was also some mess with Cameron that she kind of stirred up," the interviewer questioned.

Mike sighed again, "Yes I did make a complaint, since it wasn't fair that they are publicly making pre-season alliances, and production was complaining to EVERYONE about it. And I didn't want to play with her again, especially with the threats that she, Lightning, and even more of their people in real life were making. She then tried to make it look like we threw Brick under the bus, which I didn't appreciate. With the Cameron thing, Zoey and I weren't hanging out with him as much, and we did get our own place that he didn't live in. He felt lost without us, and made the mistake of ranting to her, who used this as an opportunity to try and get us to fight. Thankfully he came to his senses, but I did have to message her about STILL trying to stir up crap 7-8 years later. Apparently Zoey is on good terms with her, but I can't do it. Anne Maria went way too personal with me, and tried telling me that I wasn't Italian enough, which is ironic, since she isn't even Italian."

Josh wanted to get this next person over and done with, "So let's go with the next person B, who doesn't speak, and I don't remember you interacting with whatsoever on the show. What are your thoughts on him?"

He was silent for a while, "We did not have a chance to speak much on the show, since we were on opposite teams, and he was booted so early on, but I figured he knew more than he lead on. I would see him giving me these looks, like he knew I was hiding something, and he hung out with Dawn a lot, who also had that intuitive vibe, so I just avoided him whenever I can. I told him later as to why I did it when I was at Playa des Losers, and he understood, since he did tell me that he knew about my D.I.D. It took a while for B to tell me that he had a speech impediment, which was why he did not speak, and it took him a while for him to learn how to speak. B roomed with Cameron while they were going to school, so I did see him here and there, but were never close like that, and kind of kept to ourselves. After Cameron graduated, B became even more anti-social, and I haven't dealt much of him in years."

"So we mentioned Brick, and the situation with the casting change, so I want to know how he reacted to it. But before that, I want you to go over your dynamic and interactions with him over the years," Josh quickly instructed, while handing him the picture.

Brick's picture was placed in front of Mike, "Well, we were not close for several years to be honest. I found Brick to be confusing, just like he found me to be confusing. He had this tough, intimidating appearance, but seemed more fearful than everyone on the cast. Brick was anti-bullying throughout his time on the show, but would hang out with the more mean, and bully-ish people on the show on our off-time. Everyone with their senses saw that there was this weird... and intoxicating tension and chemistry between him and Jo, so when I asked him about it, Brick got really defensive, and tried stirring the triangle as a way to deflect, which I didn't respect, and I wasn't even coming at him. He did have a turnaround during his last challenge, where he helped Zoey, Mike, and I, which is why I DID join the other two (who had better relationships with him) to salute him when he was being eliminated. I joined him in Playa not long afterwards, and I did ask him to be the mediator with Anne Maria and I, to somewhat get us to move on, which caused us to have a bond, and he told me some of his life story, with his father kind of hazing him for being closer to his mother, and some of the outright assault he went through in boot camp, while I told him some of my traumas and assaults that contributed to my... situation. Ending the season, I thought we were on good terms, but he never spoke to me after that, and he hung out with a lot of the people Cameron, Zoey, and I did not get along with, so he felt like he needed to choose a side."

Josh wanted to get outright messy, "So how did he feel when the people who saluted him were some of the main reasons why he was robbed of a second opportunity, especially when it's alleged that you all had pre-game alliances too. To me, it seemed like he was friends with most of the cast, and the three of you wanted him to choose a side. When he refused to do so, it seemed like y'all made the choice for him."

"Brick saw it as an attack against him, and it wasn't, but I would be lying if I said I trusted him. Brick was not hearing what we had to say, and thought we were just creating excuses, so he cut off all contact with us for quite a few years, but he would make comments TO Sam about us, and I did not like how he supported Jo and Lightning against Cameron, when he wasn't even in the season to judge. If I remember correctly, Brick got drafted into war for a little bit, and we were all told about the updates regarding his state after his short run in the military. I had to be the bigger person, and invite him to be a part of my mental illness convention, since I started a non-profit organization, and wanted to have representatives there to tell their story. We planned the first event together, and it was nice to just catch up, and have fun together. He's been a part of all the events I have held since then, and we've been in a good place over the last few years."

He did not care about this part at all, "So what is it with you and Cameron? Also, don't BORE me to death while describing your nauseating friendship?"

Mike tried hard to not glare at him after that statement, "What an unnecessary comment Joshua. Cameron was someone I felt bad for from the very beginning, and I was curious as to why someone so small and meek would sign up to the show. I was genuinely curious about Cameron and his life, so I asked him a lot of questions, and he responded every single time. Of course he would ask me questions, and I wasn't comfortable answering them, but he seemed genuine out of all the guys, and was confident within himself, which I respected. It wasn't until the underground challenge, when we really started to bond, though he was trying to help with the annoying triangle situation. Like everyone else, I was trying to pick up the pieces, but then he told me that he knew about my disorder. We got closer during the last two weeks, and it was pretty nice. I hated putting him in the position to lie to Zoey for those last two weeks, and I do regret that, since she felt like it was a 2-1 situation. I was thrilled that he won, though him and Zoey saw one another a lot more in between seasons, since they lived close together, and I lived in a different province."

"You two are on "All-Stars" the next season, and he advised you to make peace with certain people, and you refused to do so. When you two are on the season, it seems like everything is fine, but then Mal appears, you don't tell anyone, and Cameron is manipulated by him, as he thinks you are yourself, and Cameron makes a bunch of bad decisions. I heard that it did lead to some tension after the season," Josh kind of asked, but kind of narrated at the same time.

He cringed when that was brought up, "It was a tough time. I wanted nothing to do with Anne Maria at the time because there was a lot of toxicity brought up, and a lot of race, as well as adoption shaming. Forgiving was just not on my mindset at the time, and he would bring it up EVERY TIME we spoke every 2 weeks. We were excited to play together again, and we really had a good time during the first few weeks, despite the villains trying to pick on him. Obviously, I had no idea about what happened with Mal and Cameron, so seeing him confused at me was hard to deal with. All of the stuff with Mal didn't matter, but the stuff with him, Sierra, and Gwen after the season is what drove the wedge, since I don't see her raping Cameron, and from what she had told US, we just didn't think anything happened. Cameron got mad, and didn't want to speak to us, though we didn't treat him like that when he still communicated with Anne Maria. He felt like we were accusing him of lying, when that wasn't the case at all. It seemed like neither one of them were lying, since they are both poor liars, but both sides conflict and contradict the other side. Sierra and I were in the same rehabilitation institution after "All-Stars", and Cameron didn't even want to visit me."

Josh could see Mike starting to get emotional, and tear up, "Okay Mike, I don't want to trigger you. But I also want you to delve more into this situation. So we heard that even when she came out, you didn't even want Cameron to visit you."

Mike was sniffing, and wiping the tears from his face, "I didn't because... he cut off ALL CONTACT with me, and I thought that was so cold, since I ALWAYS stood up for him, and even when we disagreed, I NEVER cut off contact with him. So when Sierra left, and it was just me, I didn't want to hear from him at that point. The others had to intervene, and we let everything out, but that was when we were already in university, and had our different groups. We were back in contact again, visited him every few weeks at his campus, and we had our different spaces, but then the three of us started living together, and it was weird, since Zoey and I are planning our future together as a couple, and Cameron has a tendency to want to be babied. I get why he's like that, but he vented to Anne Maria, which turned it into another situation, and he had to move out. We are still very good friends now, but we went through A LOT."

"Alright, I am glad that you two are still good friends, and am pretty shocked that you two went back and forth a bit, though I heard it from Cameron already," he responded earnestly. He handed Mike another picture, "So Dakota is next. What is your opinion on her?"

All he did was shake his head, "I don't know how she deals with Anne Maria, but that's beside the point. Dakota wanted some intel and gossip about what's happening with the rest of the cast, since she had to spend time in the production tent when she was an intern. She offered me a lot of dirt on Scott before she returned to the game, and was one of the reasons as to why I wanted him out. She is a prime example as to why you do not judge people by their looks, as she is so much sweeter than I thought. I felt so bad when she had the Dakotazoid incident happen, and I wanted Zoey to not see her as a danger, which caused me to think that she would view me as a danger with my disorder as well, so I did relate to Dakota with that. The two of them just would not get on good terms with one another, and it was a shame."

Josh raised his eyebrows, and made a shocked noise, "Oh wow... I never even thought of it like that. A very shockingly insightful comment from you. Did you two remain close?"

"Not really, but we always remained on good terms. After my stint at a rehabilitation institution, I suggested her a few to go to when she was going to make her transition back away from Dakotazoid. Dakota was pissed off at us for voting out Sam in the next season, but also thanked us for defending him, since a lot of our cast started picking at him due to being on the season, feeling like he was not deserving. I tried getting her and Zoey on good terms again, and that took a while. We're social media friends, or a bit more than that."

"Interesting. I don't remember you interacting with Dawn whatsoever on the show. How was it like dealing with her through the years?" he asked simply.

Mike gave a conflicted look, "Honestly, I avoided Dawn as much as possible throughout the season. She let it be known to everyone that she could read auras, understand and decipher our biggest secrets, and all of that jazz. Clearly, I had a big secret that I did not want out there, and I didn't trust Dawn enough to speak to her, since a part of me thought she did all of this to be nosy. It was hard to get a read on her, and she didn't have the best social skills from what I saw of her either, so many people just did not trust her. We did not speak until after I was eliminated, and I had to apologize to her for avoiding her throughout those 5-ish weeks. Dawn understood, and we really bonded about mental health discussions, and she taught me some exercises about being in tune with my soul, and inner peace, which would help me more. I know she wanted me to help her with communicating with Zoey during the last week as well. Outside of those few weeks, we never had the opportunity to be very close, though we would have the general conversation during each cast meetup."

Josh grabbed another picture to present to him, "Jo was booted right after you in your first season, and she's the only other woman in the second cast outside of Zoey that you competed in another season with. Despite all of that, just from what was on the show, I have NO idea how you feel about her."

All he did was grunt with the person he was presented with, "Jo was a miserable person from the very start, to the current day. The Mutant Maggots needed leadership, and I said that I think Brick should be the leader, but she bullied everyone into making her the leader. My main issue with her is that her methods regarding teamwork and accomplishing goals were crossing every line possible, and she never compromised with anyone, but outside of that, she would pick at everyone's insecurities because it made her feel better about her insecurities, though everyone knew that she was the most insecure person on our team. It was clear that she was always stirring the pot, and telling one person what the other said, but she would omit and twist things. She started doing this with Zoey and Anne Maria, at my expense, so I had to defend myself. I mentioned that she clearly was mad that Brick wasn't accepting her as a love interest, and from that moment on, she LOATHED me, and it stuck her in a way I would never predict."

"So she would throw a bunch of objects at you during the fashion challenge, due to something one of your personalities did. How was it like dealing with her then, and afterwards?"

"I feel like she used that opportunity as an excuse to get back at me, especially since she put herself in a vulnerable position to be girlier, but then it didn't work out the way she thought it did, and Brick did not react well to her. After that, I generally ignored Jo, but her picking on Cameron became a huge issue, where Zoey and I had to call her out, in order to get her to stop. At Playa des Losers, Jo did continue to stir stuff up, especially with Anne Maria and I. In the next season, she THREW A FIT because Sam was put on the cast instead of Brick, and called us fake ass bitches for reporting him. I asked her why did she care, outside of needing allies, and it was a HUGE thing during the first week or so. But once Jo was booted early, and I didn't go to Playa, I thought that was the end of it. But NOPE! Jo decided to do SEVERAL interviews before, and during the interviews, where she just attacks my mental disorder, and attacks me as a person, which fueled A LOT of the hate I got from the fanbase and public during the season," Mike elaborated as calmly as possible.

Josh brought out another picture, "Lightning is the next person, and I'm sure you didn't like him from his interactions with Cameron. But did he do anything to you specifically?"

A roll eye came from his eyes, "Honestly, we didn't even have a lot of interactions, and thank goodness for that. But it became CLEAR TO ME that all of the girls were ignoring him on the show because he thought he was the best looking, and then got mad at ME because some of them had crushes on me. We didn't really speak like that until AFTER the show, though I was offended with the plethora of ignorant comments he made during the filming of the season. For some reason, he thought I cared about him sleeping with Anne Maria, since neither one of them had any other options, and purposely would make out or do PDA together in order to bother me. Outside of that, Lightning continued to sell horrible stories about Cameron and his family, causing me to defend Cameron against Lightning, made fun of Zoey and I for not having our first kiss or doing any PDA, and he also sold some stories, as well as outright bashing my disorder in front of me. Luckily he flopped on the next season, and I never had to deal with him again."

"So we are going to move onto Sam, who is someone you competed on two seasons with, but I have no idea what your interactions were like, just based off what was on the show, or what wasn't on the show," Josh explained, while handing Mike a picture of Sam.

"I knew that Sam... did not feel comfortable with the Toxic Rats, and he would spend more time trying to get to know the Mutant Maggots, so we did speak and have a... repertoire of some sorts, and we liked a lot of the same shows, books, and games. There wasn't a trio at this point, and Cameron was closer to Brick, so I got to know Sam, and was hoping that there would be some swap. We never got the chance to be very close, but I did feel really bad for him with how his teammates treated him, and the Dakotazoid ordeal, especially with how they dealt with it in real life. Whenever we went to group events, we would have fun with one another. And despite popular belief, we didn't champion for Sam to be on the show over Brick. When the network made that choice, we supported him."

Josh raised up an eyebrow, "So you three felt so bad for Sam regarding what he went through on your initial season, his turbulent relationship with Dakota, and for people feeling like he was undeserving to be on Season 5, but you all voted him off earlier than he was on Season 4. What was that about?"

Anguish came over the young man, "Oh goodness, that... that was a REALLY hard vote, and they only cared about "cheating" by the way, because they wanted to save Alejandro. I really enjoyed my time with Sam on the season. He wanted to support Dakota by becoming mutated as well, I saw a more confident, free, and lively person. Sam told us a lot of personal information, and it was great getting to know him, but he kept on being used as a punching bag, was becoming dehydrated, and the producers were clearly against him at every opportunity possible. He was just declining quickly, Duncan and Sierra were VEYR gung-ho about voting off Sam, and Zoey went to their side, so I followed. Sam was very hurt by this, and didn't talk to Zoey or I for YEARS due to it, since he felt like we stabbed him in the back. It wasn't until him and Dakota broke up, where Sam had to find himself where he initiated contact. During that period, we did a lot of things together, went out together, went on trips one another, and seeing how he matured was great. We are still good friends today."

"This one is gonna be a good one, hahahahahaha," Josh laughed, as Scott's picture made its way on the table.

to be continued...