Josh was painfully annoyed, "How the FUCK am I gonna do an interview with someone who was LITERALLY ONLY IN 1 EPISODE? At least Staci appeared in 2 episodes, and Katie/Sadie/Eva appeared multiple times in multiple seasons, despite competing only in one season. Also, the dude LITERALLY ONLY MADE SOUNDS, and I DOUBT people created a talking machine like B did to make up for it." Some noise appeared, and everyone was scared for a bit, "What the fuck is that... Oh, ugh. Hurry up, and don't do that again."
Beardo had a sheepish smile, "Sorry. I wanted to make a dramatic siren noise to announce my arrival." He ignored Josh's heavy eye roll, and sat down on the chair provided, "Alright, I'm ready to relive the show, though I was at the resort for most of it."
"I doubt you know much, but whatever. I am going to give you a picture of everyone you competed with, what your relationship with them was like during the season, and after the season up to the present day," he explained with a monotonous voice. "Amy is first."
All he did was release an exhausted sigh, "She was someone who... was tough to deal with throughout the time. Leonard and I were not getting along, so when Amy came around, we each tried to bond with her, so we could ice out the other, and so we could have someone to speak to that WASN'T one another. Since I'm the more normal one, Amy spent the next few weeks getting to know me. I thought she was misunderstood with the stuff about she and her sister, so I took her side in things, and we were able to create some music together, since she wanted to learn a cheer on the spot, and she's very inspired by music to do so. It wasn't until her sister arrived to the resort where I realized that she... LIED about the conflict with her sister, and as the season went on, I saw how she was able to convince and manipulate people on the island. Amy got REALLY MAD that I started getting to know Samantha, and whenever we would speak, she would use a bunch of nasty tactics to attempt to manipulate me. I called her out on it a few times, and it lead to some friction, so whatever interactions we had deteriorated before the end of the season, and it's been like that ever since."
Josh went to grab another picture, and couldn't hide his grinning smile, "Dave is the only person I distinctly remember you interacting with on your sole episode, and he DID NOT like you at all. What do you think of him?"
He groaned and rolled his eyes once the picture was presented to him, "David is a hater in general, and he has A LOT of insecurities. In MY opinion, he is VERY white-identified, and doesn't like any minority people, or at least from what I saw on the show." The interviewer gasped and looked horrified, as he just continued speaking, "While Leonard and I have our own issues, we BOTH agreed that David threw out some microaggressions towards us. David mentioned how we were dirty, lazy, smelly, delusional, products of the crack epidemic, and that we were scum that wouldn't amount to anything in real life. All of this was during the episode I was on, and I called him out on being a racist, and that he's ashamed of not being a white person. It caused a HUGE scenario, and then he cried because I called out how everyone else represented their ethnicities proudly but him."
"So there was a race war that was edited out... That is very interesting, but I can definitely see why the network did not want that smoke," he responded with curiosity in his voice. "Dave eventually did go to the elimination resort, so how was it like for you to deal with him in that context, and after the show in general?"
Beardo took a large breath, "Dave lost his mind after getting eliminated, and most of the cast actually... CODDLED him for a month, but I refused to. Just from the stories that I gathered, it was clear that he felt entitled to Sky, and didn't respect her as a person, which I called him out for, which caused things to become even more tense with us. I also wanted him to apologize for NOT ONLY calling me a race baiter, but for the microaggressions he threw out there, but he gave one of those "I'm sorry if you felt like I did anything to you" apologies, and wanted ME to apologize to him for the microaggressions that I DIDN'T throw out there. I essentially had nothing to do with him, but we decided to support Leonard, by going to Australia while the spinoff was filming, and Dave was SUCH A HATER. He was complaining that Leonard of all people got another opportunity, and he was a pain to deal with."
Josh just went to get another picture, "So the Disney Princess Ella is next, and she was also on your team. I don't remember the two of you having any dealings with one another during your sole episode."
"We did not speak much during my one episode, and that was because she and Leonard were good friends, and they were up one another's butts. Ella was eliminated, and she told me about how it all happened, which had me feeling bad for her, and she told us about creating a song on the spot as her elimination farewell. It was really cool, and I wanted to hear her do it as well, but actually have it recorded. We bonded over our love for music, and she did help Leonard and I clear things up, so I am grateful to her for that. She did try to get Dave and I on good terms, but that was pointless too. Overall, I really enjoyed her when we were at the resort, and she helped me improve my voice as well, while I showed her how to produce and create music."
"Wow, I should have realized that you two would bond over having that commonality," he pointed out to himself almost in surprise. "Did anything happen after the show?"
He actually laughed from the memories, "What happened was that after her elimination episode aired, people were hitting Ella up, and she wanted to record it, so we could release it as a single. Ella wanted me to write and produce the entire thing, so we recorded two versions; the one that is on the show, and we added a few verses so it could be the length of a commercial release. She promoted the single, and it ended up being the biggest success since The Drama Brothers. It BLEW UP, and we did not know how to follow it up. We both got signed to a record company, but with her as a recording artist, and me as a writer and producer. I had to help produce and write her only album, and it was a success. We had that magical journey together, and I appreciate her for helping me get my foot in the business, but she did not like the music industry, and went to broadway. We have remained very close over the years, and I've always defended her against the likes of Sugar, and even dealt with her relationships."
Another picture was placed on the table, "Jasmine is someone that you most likely didn't have any dealings with during the season. What are your thoughts on her overall?"
"Wow... I am seriously thinking about that season, and I don't think we spoke one time. By the time Jasmine was eliminated, Samantha and I were friends, so I would hang out with the two of them, but Jasmine and I didn't really speak. She would mention all about hiking, going on these long walks, exercising, and being out in the wilderness, which was not interesting to me. We did have some great conversations about our races once we were out in Australia once the spinoff was filming, and I did hang out with her and Shawn a few times over the years. She is a very nice person, though we are not the best of friends, or very close.. Just not one of the people I'm really close to from the cast."
"Okay, we're gonna move onto Leonard, and I was honestly VERY disappointed that Chris didn't just eliminate the both of you in the first episode. You kind of mentioned bits and pieces of it beforehand, so go through it step by step."
He let out an obnoxious sigh, "We DID NOT get along while we were on the show. Leonard found my beat boxing and noises to be ridiculous, and I thought his warlock schtick was beyond embarrassing, especially for someone who is 16 years old. He was just very attention-seeking and desperate, where he needed validation and to be the leader of our team, and I DID agree with Dave that it wasn't a good idea. Before the season, we did not get along whatsoever, and I remember the producers telling me that Leonard and I were fighting for the final spot on the cast, so that did cause some tension between us, even when we were cast. Of course we dealt with Dave's BS, and when I thought we were becoming on the right side together, Leonard TOOK THAT, and USED IT so I could be booted over him. Once he followed me to the elimination resort, things got worse."
Josh seemed like he was somewhat getting interested, "Alrighty. I wish that they went out of their way to make that season somewhat compelling, had they edited it properly. What was it like between the two of you at the resort?"
"It was VERY tense. I blamed him for how things went down with my boot, and then he blamed me for dragging him down, which caused him to get booted right after me. We got into SEVERAL arguments over the next few weeks, and as more people arrived, we tried to get that person to go on our side. Even at Playa, production was continuing to fuel this... situation, just for their own amusement, since we weren't even on the show anymore. We had a discussion around... I am pretty sure it was the non-elimination episode, and we both realized that the production set us up to hate one another from casting finals. It made me VERY sick, but Leonard was VERY vocal to the producers about how he found them to be malicious, vindictive, and immoral for what they pulled. Towards the end of the season, we started... bonding about a lot of things, and we realized that the both of us were misunderstood. Despite being very weird, I appreciated and admired his unyielding confidence, and ability to get people on his side, while just being very open about everything. We created a bunch of activities on how to make the resort a lot more enjoyable for everyone, and we started performing together as well."
"So how did things progress between the two of you after the show stopped filming? And did this good will maintain up until the present?" he asked the big-haired man.
Beardo started to smile, "I think he started getting with Sugar, and he asked me for some advice on that, and I outright told him to dump her. We decided to leave our beef in the past, and we spoke here and there through the show airing, and hanging out a few times, but we were not the closest friends. I remember when he got the call to be on the spinoff, I was genuinely happy for him, and held a party that the cast went to for him, before he went to film the spinoff. He was thankful for all of us supporting him, and me being one of the biggest supporters of his. We hung out quite a bit after the show, and are friends today, but not the best of friends."
Josh had a soft smile, "It's great that you two were able to find common ground. Max was just as weird as you were on the show, but while you didn't speak, he spoke WAY TOO MUCH. I was shocked and disappointed that he was not an early boot. What did you think of him?"
"I didn't deal with him much, and it's clearly for a good reason. Max was too much for me from the little time I was in the game, and I was worried for his mental state, especially after he got eliminated. All I remembered was him threatening to bomb Scarlett's prison due to her turning into a lunatic, and stating that he wanted to do everything she did. The cast wanted him to get a psychiatric evaluation, since he was iced out, and it was determined that he was not a sociopath, or mentally ill. After producing Ella's album, and seeing how successful it was, he asked me to produce for him. I hesitated for a while, and then he started going on one of his tirades, but then I accepted it. The song had minimal success, but he still uses it today for his ringtone, and whenever he would arrive somewhere. Ehh overall."
He outright groaned when he pulled out the next picture, "Holy fuck. I deal with one freak, and then pull out another freak from this pile of shitty casting choices. Anyways, Scott's disordered cousin, what do you think of him? I don't know if they are actual cousins or not."
Beardo rolled his eyes, "They actually are cousins, but... VERY distant cousins. Anyways, I'm sick and tired of you insulting all of us, especially since there was a point where we were more famous than you at a point, and you CURRENTLY NEED US to revive any sort of a career you have." Josh just glared at him, and the plus-sized man just chuckled, "Anyways, didn't get a chance to get to know him on the show, but once he did join the resort, we got VERY close. I felt like he was VERY misunderstood, especially when he told me his backstory of his mother abandoning his family when he was very young, and how he had a speech problem when he was younger, which partially contributed to how he spoke to women, and the struggle of it. Both of us struggle from anxiety, so we bonded about all of that together, and we both told one another about our family lives. He was helping me with my weight, and building a lot of muscle during our time at the resort, and even for the time afterwards. Things started to change once he got into Amy's leeching claws, and was lead astray."
"Ooh, this is interesting. What did you think about him and Amy, especially since you mentioned that you got to know Samey at this time? It seems like he is easily manipulated, and has a lot of unchecked mental issues."
"It seems like you're trying to use mental illness as an attack, and you've been alluding that about everyone in our cast. Rodney had A LOT of traumatic events happen to him, that I won't disclose. He went down the wrong path, and it caused him to fall out with A LOT of people, including me. Rodney has the tendency of leeching onto the more dominant person's personality once he pairs up with someone, and this even happened when he was temporarily in touch with Scarlett as well. We are okay now, but we aren't as close as we once were."
Josh wanted to move on, "So we have discussed this next person a few times, but never in much detail. How do you feel about Samey, and how was it like dealing with her throughout the years?"
He instantly made the correction, "Her name is Samantha, and you all knew that, so you should respect that. Obviously, I did not get the time to know her while I was in the game, and it wasn't until after she was eliminated where we were acquainted. She was shocked that Amy and I were on decent terms at the time, and Amy told me her side of the story regarding their interactions and lives. I always thought that there were many holes in Amy's stories, which I ignored at the time, but the one main truth was that Samantha poisoned her to eliminate her, which Samantha confirmed was true. She told me her side of the story, and it was very consistent, where Amy changed her story so many times. My heart went out to her, and seeing how Amy treated her over the next several weeks, and how territorial she got over me just showed that she was not a very good person, and she had something to hide. Sam saw this, and told me that she would never demand people to choose between us, and it just showed how Amy views people. I saw a lot of her cheers, and we bonded over music and a bunch of stuff. We hung out a lot after the show ended, and I even went to their house for quite a bit, and it was cool seeing her become her own person, becoming more confident, and not take anyone's crap. We were close for about 4 years, but we all just went in different paths, and are just acquaintances now, since the novelty of being on the show went away, it got cancelled, and everyone went to focus on their own careers."
"Scarlett is next on the list, and I'm pretty sure you had no interactions with her, since she did not go to the elimination resort, and was arrested for quite a bit after the show ended. She never even got the chance to deal with being on a televised show, and being in public regarding it."
The redhead's face was put on the table, and he shrugged, "Exactly. She was very mundane when I was in the game, but that was clearly an act. I don't know why she did what she did, since going under the radar brought her far in the season, and she would have probably won without going all evil. Even if she didn't win, she could have rallied a bunch of people to sue Chris and the network, where her reputation would have improved, and she could have used that to get herself into the most prestigious institutions she wanted to, and she could have gotten a lot of money from suing. Actually, we DID interact about 4-ish years after the show, since she was released due to being a minor at the time, and she was behaving well in the institution/prison she was at, whether she was faking it or not was another thing."
"Really?" Josh asked in shock. "Please do spill the dirt on this."
"It was around the time she got out, and managed to convince Rodney to be in contact with her, since he was getting tired of dealing with Amy. I advised him to avoid Scarlett, since she had no interest in him as a person during the show, Rodney and I got into an argument about that, and he told Scarlett about my words. She WENT OUT OF HER WAY TO RUIN MY LIFE, with convincing labels and studios to not work with me, spread horrible rumors about me, and then even triggered some of my weight issues against me by revealing my medical information to the public, which she went out of her way to cover her tracks on. We had a HEATED phone call, which I recorded, since I wanted to lock her up again, but she didn't give me enough ammo to do that, though she did tell me that she hoped that I ate so much that my stomach blew up, causing me to die."
The interviewer wanted to get things over with, "There really isn't much here, and I definitely was right. Anyways, the winner of the show Shawn is the next topic of discussion. What was your interactions with him like?"
Beardo went on a blank for quite a bit, before he finally responded, "I liked hearing about his bravery, and overcoming his anxiety issues throughout the season, though I never had much time to actually speak to him. He did treat me quite well during the one episode we did share with one another, and he didn't hate on me like anyone else. But I did remember him saying that I would make good bait for the zombies... We did hang out here and there during the airing of the season, and it was mainly due to Samey and a few other people. He rambled ON AND ON about his fallout with Dave, and I honestly did not care, especially with how Dave treated me over the season. I did not care whether they made up, or whether they fought for the rest of their lives, but I heard him out. He did take me on some hikes for the next few years, and doing those hikes did teach me a lot about perseverance, character building, and all of the typical stuff men learn on those hiking retreats. I would be lying if I said that we speak or hang out much in recent years though, but he isn't as crazy as I thought."
"Alrighty, alrighty. I doubt you have much to say about Sky, so if there is anything, just state your minimal interactions with her, that isn't told in a boring way," Josh carelessly continued the interview.
A laugh came from his mouth, "Oh no, we've interacted a lot. Sky and I are really cool. During my VERY short time on the island, she was one of the few people who could tolerate me, but I think it's because she hated Sugar, and Sugar wanted to keep Leonard around, so she wanted to keep me. We had discussions about her First Nations heritage, and wanting to be good representation, which I found to be inspiring, and I did tell her that I do have some Indigenous blood in me. We didn't get a chance to speak for the rest of the season, but she was pained about the drama that happened to her, especially with Dave, so I reached out to her, and told her that she did nothing wrong. We just started speaking for moral support, and I told her that Dave didn't deserve her. While it seemed like she got the message, and to just focus on herself, she... succumbed to Dave."
Josh's eyes threatened to pop out of his head, "WAIT, WAIT, WAIT, WAIT. SKY WENT FOR DAVE AGAIN? HOW DID THAT HAPPEN?"
"I don't know, nor do I care for all of the details, but she was dumb for entertaining him again. I guess there was a big "what if" that was bothering her for years, so she wanted to give it a chance I guess. That caused A BUNCH of drama with the cast, and there was a split regarding who thought it was a good idea, and who thought it was a bad idea. We got into a few arguments about it, especially since word got around that Dave was telling people in the cast that he was planning on getting her back. I don't know what they've been doing since, due to me blocking most of them, and just not caring."
"Alright, so we have two more people to deal with. Sugar was on your team for your only episode, and she seemed close with Leonard, so I assume that the two of you were not on the best terms, correct?"
He groaned, and started pulling his hair when the thought of Sugar came up, and when her picture was presented to him, "She's AWFULLLLLL. One of the most IGNORANT people I have EVER met, and that says A LOT with a cast that has Dave, Leonard, Topher, Amy, Max, and Scarlett in it. Sugar threw out almost EVERY insult and slur you could imagine from the little time I was in the game. When Leonard and I had our issues, Sugar went out of her way to stir the pot, and yelled HORRIBLE things to me, like I was a neanderthal who needs to shave, how I am a gross fatass, and that they need to stop casting people who could not speak, and called me B from the second cast. Of course once she joined the resort in the final week, she started crying because she lost a talent contest, and I told her that it was fitting. Everything she accused me of was what she just proved herself throughout the season, and it was SO FUNNY to not only hear it as the season took place, but to watch it afterwards. Of course she essentially forced Leonard to date her, and I made fun of that relationship of convenience for as long as I could."
He brought out the last picture, "Lastly is Topher, and he literally did not interact with anyone on the show from what we've seen. I am not expecting that you dealt with him much either."
"On the show, not at all. Even on the only episode I was on, he was too focused on the production side of the show, and was clearly forgetting that he was a contestant on a show. After he was eliminated, Topher had a HUGE meltdown, because he realized that he fucked up by not focusing on the game, and trying to take over as a host mid-season, when he is not only a minor, but a contestant blew up in his face. He didn't handle any of it well, and no one cared to help him through it for the first few weeks at the resort. I got to know him a bit as the time went on, and he really is misunderstood. He's a pretty decent guy, but he doesn't know how to socialize with people, which was something I related with him about, since that was my entire point of going on the show. He offered to help me with my weight and to give a makeover after the show, and it did give me confidence. Throughout the next 2-ish years, I would say that we were friends, but he started hanging out with the wrong people, and right when he thought he was going to get a hosting opportunity, and move up on the celebrity level, he told me that he only hangs out with people who know how to elevate," he explained.
"Alright, have you been close to any of the Generation 1 or 2 casts?"
Beardo just shook his head, "No I have not on a general basis. People like Cody, Harold, Brick, and Cameron are guys that I thought were cool, and B is someone who I like, but I haven't dealt with many of the others. Both casts were very judgmental of our cast when our seasons aired, and while we did hang with the second generation cast in a cabin for a few days after our season aired, and we hung out with the first cast as the spinoff filmed, there was generally some distance."
He sighed, before asking his last set of questions, "Alright, so here it is, we are damn near finished. What have you been up to since your VERY short time on the show, and what have you learned from your ONE episode on being a part of the franchise?"
He just grunted, and slowly breathed to calm himself down, "Ignoring the attitude... I learned how to open up, and to be social with people, which was a HUGE struggle for me, and was the main reason why I applied for the show to begin with. Being eliminated first was actually a blessing, since I was able to get to know the others when the pretense of the game was over, and there was no need to lie, con, or manipulate people, since I got to know everyone after they were eliminated. I made some good friends, and being on one episode did A LOT for my career. I mentioned that Ella wanted me to produce her single, and when that did well, I produced and co-wrote her album, which was the second most-successful album by a Total Drama player, with The Drama Brothers being the most successful. After that, I started producing and writing for a lot of people, but then a lot of stupid politics came into play, and stingy artists would have me write several songs for them, and would refuse to listen to anything I wrote for them, so it caused me to leave that side of the business. In general, I am focusing on my first love, and being a DJ, where I tour around North America for venues, and I am planning on broadening my horizons to be a global DJ."
"That is great... You can leave now," Josh bluntly spat out, without even looking at the man in front of him. He heard Beardo grunt as he got up to leave.
