Exactly three months after my last update, I give you Chapter 15. However long it takes to get through the whole story, I promise it won't be abandoned. Anyway, time for more responses to reviews:
amit avrashmi: Rest assured, Blaineley WILL get tortured in the next aftermath (Chapter 18)! Quite happy you enjoyed the challenge. I was trying to diversify some of the contestant interactions there, which was partially why Jo didn't race against Brick. Another reason is that I wanted to go for irony by having Mildred get kicked off in the same day she scored a victory while giving the jockette more incentive to save the cadet.
Danicus Green: Nice to know that Ms. O'Halloran's departure made you glad. I won't spoil how far anybody goes in the contest, but will say the winner has already been decided on long before I read your preferences and back-up choices. Keep reading to see how well they perform.
Rockin' D-99: Better late than never. Glad you enjoyed the throwback to season 1, which also takes bits from season 4 and season 6. I agree with your assessment of the bike challenge from TDI being broken as it was totally unfair how Chris kicked off Lindsay on an absurd technicality without even giving Owen and Duncan a chance to cross the finish line. The humiliation video of him was really fun to write. I finally surprised you with an elimination here, huh? It's about time :P! You don't seem to be very easy to blindside with those.
OmniIBIBUltraInstinctGodzilla: The host was indeed quite justified in disqualifying Mildred.
Chris was trying to rest when the sound of pouring rain woke him up early in the morning. He had drunk too much alcohol while celebrating Ms. O'Halloran's departure after signing off the previous episode and regretted it now when feeling hungover. The host bitterly complained "Stupid weather; I really need my beauty sleep! Getting wasted last night also admittedly wasn't the best of my ideas. At least the delay in starting today's challenge will give me some more time to recover." before pulling a pillow over his head in a futile attempt to muffle the sound.
Upon realizing 30 seconds later how it wouldn't work, the host reluctantly got out of bed to go take a shower. The cameras cut to Chef, who was struggling to fall back asleep. While he did drink with his boss the night before, the cook hadn't consumed enough to get a hangover. Before long, the second-in-command sighed before reluctantly saying to himself "Screw it; the rain won't let up, and I'll probably have to get ready soon anyway."
In the meantime, Brick was awake before any other contestant. Since it was still heavily raining outdoors, he decided to pass the time with some exercise that could be done from inside, namely push-ups and sit-ups.
(Begin Confessional: Brick)
"Just when I was absolutely certain my teammates would boot me for costing them the previous challenge, our vote got cancelled at the last minute thanks to a tape revealing how Blaineley got ahold of a picture from our host's childhood. Talk about a miracle that came in the nick of time! Perhaps I should thank Jo for giving that to Chris." the cadet stated before his cheeks involuntarily turned red, continuing with "To be honest, I didn't expect her of all people to provide him with such footage. Maybe she just wanted to keep herself in the contest and provide some proof of innocence. I can't say for certain right now."
(End Confessional)
Half an hour passed before the rain let up even slightly. While serving the contestants fruit salad for breakfast, Chef told them "There's no rush with eating today. Once you finish, feel free to kick back until the weather clears up. Chris currently isn't feeling very alert anyway after celebrating too hard over last night's disqualification."
"Does that mean the guy got really high or really drunk?" asked Jo.
"The latter." Hatchet clarified. "I don't know how long his hangover will last, but he can't properly host a challenge right now and needs to sober up."
They decided to take advantage of their free time afterwards. All of them felt it was nice to not have to immediately get prepared for any challenges. Mr. MacArthur started thinking about when to thank Jo for her exposure of Mildred. He was busy trying to think of what words to use when barely overhearing her mutter nearby "Last night was a close call."
Uncertain whether she meant a close victory or a narrow prevention of something else, he decided not to say anything at that moment. Elsewhere, a visibly worried Trent could be seen telling DJ "After what happened last night, I don't know how much longer we'll get lucky after screwing up. Half the contestants are now gone and it's hard to say who will go next."
His ally advised "Don't psych yourself out like that. From personal experience, I can tell you doing this won't help anything."
After taking a breath to calm himself down, the musician surmised "I assume you're talking about what happened in season 3."
"Yes indeed, and don't make the same mistakes I did. You'll otherwise regret it big time." the gentle giant confirmed.
(Begin Confessional: DJ)
"In order for us to get far in this game, I had to help keep Trent's head on his shoulders, and I would hate to see him wind up like me in the third season. I wouldn't wish that experience on anybody. Thankfully paranoia no longer is such a hindrance to my game."
(End Confessional)
15 more minutes passed before McLean's hangover started to subside. He was in a better mood, and the rain was also slowing down. While the skies hadn't yet cleared up, the host felt well enough to speak with the contestants. Upon finding them, Chris declared "I have some good news for you all as we wait for the rain to stop. We're dissolving the teams today, and as a reward for making it to the merge, nobody will get eliminated tonight for as long as you don't invade my privacy or try to embarrass me like Blaineley did yesterday!"
As he expected, hearing this prompted every player to cheer with joy. Chef came in during the middle of it and inquired "Should we wait to tell them what the upcoming challenge is?"
"Yeah, it'll stay fresher in their memories that way." his boss replied.
(Begin Confessional: Ella)
"I'm very glad to have reached a milestone I couldn't in my first season! Once the next elimination ceremony arrives, I just hope it isn't me who gets kicked off."
(End Confessional)
(Begin Confessional: Sam)
"Did I really make it far enough to see the teams get disbanded? Talk about long overdue! What makes the experience even better is also having my lovely lady around."
(End Confessional)
(Begin Confessional: Dakota)
"Very glad I finally got to the merge today! It's a new experience that I'm kind of worried about, but still feel ready for, especially with a certain guy having my back."
(End Confessional)
(Begin Confessional: Jo)
"I do like how my team ended up getting more victories with 6-5. Now that those arrangements are no more, who should I make a deal with next? I already have voting arrangements with each of my remaining former teammates. It's a good thing Dawn is already out of the game since she undoubtedly would otherwise blabber to everyone about that and try to get rid of me."
(End Confessional)
Eventually the rain stopped altogether. Once it did, the host instructed "I need everybody to come outdoors ASAP; it officially is challenge time!"
They quickly complied and gathered near the entrance of their hotel. Chef brought in a cart with nine baskets and many red eggs, stating "Today's challenge will involve keeping as many of these in your basket as possible while dodging balls. You'll start with 20 in all and get a penalty for each lost egg. There will be 3 rounds that each last 5 minutes. Once the first round is through, we'll swap your remaining red eggs out for yellow ones, and you should keep those safe too as you move around. After the second round, they'll be switched with blue eggs. The more of them you have in your baskets at the end, the better. Whoever drops the fewest overall will win, and anybody who loses a whole basket's worth before a round ends is automatically out of the challenge. Something that'll help is to remember the five D's of dodgeball: dodge, duck, dip, dive, and dodge."
"You just said 'dodge' twice." DJ added.
"What happens in the event of a tie?" inquired Trent.
"You would share tonight's prize, which is a free movie night." Chris replied. "We could very well have multiple winners today and they're free to choose anything from our catalog. Details on that to follow."
(Begin Confessional: Leshawna)
"A free movie, huh? Never would've expected that as a reward."
(End Confessional)
The cameras cut to each player holding a basketful of red eggs as they glanced at what was ahead. There was a room with nine dodgeball launchers.
"How fast are those things?" Sam inquired.
"Do we get any bonus points for catching or deflecting balls?" Dakota asked.
Chef's answer was "While there are no bonuses, it would be impressive to see anybody catch one and not spill a single egg when these machines fire them quicker than our tennis ball launchers. Remember, the more of those you maintain, the better. Watch your steps and baskets carefully."
"Can we knock balls away to knock eggs out of our opponents' baskets?" questioned the jockette.
The host responded with "Hit those as much as you like, but it won't get you ahead of the contest unless there's only two people left with eggs and the one smacked loses all of theirs. I personally doubt it'll come down to that."
"Will losing any of these before reaching the switching point affect how many yellow eggs are given?" inquired Ella.
"Yes; the number you'll get will match however many remain in your basket." McLean answered before kicking off the challenge with "On your marks, get set, go!" and subsequently blowing an air horn.
Hearing that prompted everyone to pay close attention to the shooters as they began firing away. While dodging a few shots, Max pondered "How much longer until the little minions hatch so I can raise them to do my bidding?"
From the sidelines, Hatchet interjected with a megaphone "They're not fertilized and therefore will never hatch into any living creature. Drop them and they'll just make a messy splatter."
"I've said this before and I'll say it again; you don't get to use that, especially not without my permission!" Chris reprimanded while taking back the megaphone.
(Begin Confessional: Chef)
"How often does the guy need to hog that thing? He's overly possessive of it. Maybe I could just get one of my own."
(End Confessional)
About halfway through the first round, McLean was surprised to see nobody had dropped a single egg yet. He pondered "How have you not spilled anything? We should take things up a notch or two."
"Maybe we should wait until the next round for that." suggested his second-in-command.
Chris ignored him and slightly sped up the firing. Not long afterwards, the aspiring evildoer was hit hard enough to be knocked to the ground and drop his basket, which broke every egg it contained. He complained "Curse these balls!" as Dakota and Sam were also hit and a few of their own eggs splattered.
The host chuckled at this and taunted them with "Now that's more like it! We also have our first out of the day, so hit the benches, shrimp."
Upon hearing that last word, Max shouted angrily "I'm not a shrimp!" and retaliated by chucking a dodgeball at his stomach before complying.
(Begin Confessional: Chris)
"Hitting me like that isn't going to do you any favors. I've got my eyes on him."
(End Confessional)
The cameras cut to the timer reaching zero, with an accompanying buzzer going off once it expired. By that point, everybody had lost at least a quarter of their eggs. Chef called out "That's the end of round one. Now get ready for a swap and more dodging."
One of the season 5 finalists, an 18-year-old man with spiky black hair named Mike Albright, came in to collect the intact red eggs and give yellow ones to everyone except Max. Prior to exiting, he told them "Best of luck keeping these intact. I know it wasn't easy the first round."
Soon afterwards, the aspiring evildoer tried to distract the others from the side benches with "I hope you all get empty baskets!"
"It's one thing to be upset over your loss, but it won't help you at all to say things like that as they just make you sound bitter above all else." advised Mr. Albright.
That got a response of "Bitter or not, it's how I feel." right before the machines started up again.
(Begin Confessional: Mike)
"Let me guess, he thinks it's 'evil' to want others to suffer like him in the first round. Yeah, I saw his antics from last season. Either way, it was nice to see some familiar faces, and I'm glad Chris paid me for my appearance today. I've been trying to find a new home to move into and this might be just enough to buy one without taking any mortgage loans. Anything left over will be spent on furniture and groceries."
(End Confessional)
The cameras cut to the remaining players, who did their best to maintain as many eggs as possible. It was no simple task. In the middle of a dodge, Leshawna happened to get smacked in the back of the head, which made her spill all remaining eggs. She angrily lashed out with "That totally was a cheap shot right there!"
"Like it or not, that puts you out of the challenge, so go join Max on the benches." Chef replied.
The sassy one took a sigh of irritation while complying with the instruction. Upon taking a seat, the wannabe villain tauntingly commented "At least I'm not the only one who ran out today."
Her response was "No need to rub it in."
During the second round's last minute, the ball machines began to slow down. The showrunner complained "That wasn't supposed to happen!" and tried to repair them. However, he couldn't do so before the buzzer went off again, much to his disappointment. Soon after it did, another guest came in to swap out the remaining yellow eggs with blue ones. They were switched by an 18-year-old redheaded woman with pigtails and a flower on the right side of her hair named Zoey Fulton, who was the other finalist of season 5 and still happily in a steady relationship with Mike. She tried to encourage everyone with "You're almost done for the day, and I wish you luck!" before heading off to the benches.
As the buzzers went off to begin round 3, Brick proclaimed "A good soldier sees things through to the very end!"
Chef responded with "We'll see how far you stick it out."
From the sidelines, Leshawna muttered "There's no doubt I could've stuck out further without such absurd fire rates."
Zoey sympathetically told her "Sorry things didn't work out, but I know you did your very best out there. At least you got through the first round and don't have to worry about getting hit more."
That got a grateful response of "True, and I appreciate that. It just would've been nice to go further and win it all."
(Begin Confessional: Zoey)
"Had it been me out there, I would've felt the same way as her, but personally I'm glad not to be one of the dodgers out there today. Chris already put me through lots of agony on this show, and the paycheck he offered to appear for only one episode wouldn't have been enough to entice me to compete in any challenges. I wish the guy would take things down a few notches."
(End Confessional)
During the first minute, nobody was hit by any balls, in part because of the slower firings. However, it became harder to dodge once the machines began to shoot even faster than the beginning of the challenge. Chris joyfully declared "Hooray for the boost!"
About 30 seconds later, Trent lost the last of his eggs and complained "This had to happen NOW when I was getting close to the finish? That totally sucks."
"We've got another benching." added Chef as the guitarist moaned and escorted himself to the benches.
(Begin Confessional: Trent)
"As disappointing as it is to not complete today's challenge, I feel lucky to have even reached the merge this season. We'll see what follows."
(End Confessional)
During the final 40 seconds, everyone was struggling to maintain their eggs. One other person failed to keep all of theirs intact, namely Jo. She tried to talk her way out of the benches with "Maybe you could give your best athlete something extra, like another chance, for helping you out yesterday? It can help prove yourself to be the best host in television."
"It's not even funny how transparent your efforts are to sway me. Just go to the benches" Chris insisted.
Jo sighed dejectedly before complying. On her way over, a certain aspiring evildoer decided to pick up a stray dodgeball that had rolled near him. After proclaiming "Try dodging this!" with a mischievous grin, he chucked it in Brick's direction. However, the jockette impulsively ran towards the ball's path and caught it without flinching. She subsequently tossed that right back at its thrower right as the buzzer went off and warned "Don't you ever try something like this again or I'll kick your ass!"
"The challenge is now over!" Chef announced before asking Jo with a knowing smirk "Care to explain why you went out of your way to intercept that ball?"
"In all honesty, I was surprised by it, and would like to say thank you." Mr. MacArthur said in gratitude.
(Begin Confessional: Jo)
"So much for sucking up to Mc-Lame. It was worth a shot, though. I also admittedly did like chucking that ball at Max."
(End Confessional)
Now realizing the implications of that interference, the jockette's cheeks involuntarily turned red while she tried to bullshit her way out of it with "You're welcome, and um, his throw was a form of poor sportsmanship that would've unfairly impacted others."
"Come on, nobody here is gullible enough to believe that." added Mike from the sidelines, having already figured out the ulterior motive.
Zoey was also aware of it and followed up with "You can just share the truth yourself or I will."
Continuing to beat around the bush, Jo nervously claimed "I wanted to show off my reflexes and how they make me the strongest player still competing."
"More credible, but I can tell it also isn't the real reason." Ella commented, trying not to give anything away too easily.
"It gave me an opportunity to avenge our host getting socked with a dodgeball?" the jock weakly suggested, failing miserably to fool anybody.
"Can you please just spit it out already without bluffing?" Leshawna requested.
"Let's make this snappy: we still have some totals to count!" an impatient Chris interjected.
Finally getting a clue, the soldier inquired "Wait, does it have to do with protecting me?"
"Of course, and I'm shocked you didn't notice this sooner!" Sam answered.
"I just never expected that from her." Brick mentioned.
"The rest of us all did, and it since you don't seem to have caught onto the obvious yet, maybe I should just spell things out right now." suggested Dakota.
"OK fine, I may as well admit it: I didn't want that wannabe villain to hurt the hottest and strongest guy to ever compete on this show! He deserves better than that." Jo suddenly blurted out while blushing even harder, not wanting anybody else to share her feelings aloud.
"I'll have you know that I'm not merely a wannabe!" Max insisted from the sidelines.
Initially baffled by this, the cadet took a moment to process it before saying "In other words, anybody who said you were into me was right all along."
Taking a breath, she dropped the façade to show some vulnerability and confirm "Yes, they were indeed, and I guess I can't keep denying this any longer. You're the only competitor whose speed and agility even come close to mine, you look damn good without a shirt and shouldn't hide your muscles, also I deep down admire your dedication to being a team player both now and when we were teammates in season 4. Me trying to be your rival was all a mask to hide how I truly felt. I didn't say so sooner because I wanted to focus more on winning the game first and based on how relationships among contestants can end badly, I figured that the best way to not get your heart broken is to pretend you don't have one."
"That would explain why you've kept people at arm's length." DJ remarked. "By the way, I already figured out that your plan to get rid of Dawn was to protect him from elimination, and same with how you ratted out Blaineley last night for embarrassing Chris."
"Quite frankly, it isn't the best defense mechanism I can think of." added Trent. "I just don't know how they didn't see sooner that their desires were mutual."
"In that case, it looks I have nothing to lose in saying I've also liked you for quite some time and I didn't want romance to interfere with my gameplay either. We don't need to hide behind a competitive rivalry anymore. Your athleticism is remarkable, and I somehow knew there was a softer inside beneath the rough exterior, even before knowing you felt the same way about me." Mr. MacArthur confessed as his cheeks turned red.
(Begin Confessional: Max)
"The jocks were in love all along, huh? I'm not exactly surprised. This gives me a very EVIL idea on how I can get some payback for Beardo's premature elimination! Neither of them can know about that yet, though, so I'll have to be subtle."
(End Confessional)
Hatchet declared "It's about time those two admitted what we knew all along!"
"Now that they have, our guests of the day will track the eggs that stayed in one piece and announce who maintained the most." added McLean.
A couple minutes passed as Mr. Albright and Ms. Fulton took inventory. The second-in-command inquired "Which players had the biggest scores?"
Mike replied "Well, with four players running out of eggs entirely, we only had to count among five contestants."
Zoey added "Believe it or not, we had a three-way tie today."
"Will you please give us the verdict already, or should I just do so myself?" inquired the host, nearly out of patience.
Not wanting to send Chris over the edge, both season 5 finalists simultaneously answered with "Our winners today are DJ, Ella, and Brick!"
While the named contestants cheered for their joint victory, Sam and Dakota sighed in defeat, though still felt accomplished for not having all their eggs break.
Trent gave his ally a fist bump and congratulated him with "Way to go, man!"
"Thanks, and you did pretty well yourself." the gentle giant replied in gratitude.
"As promised, the winners of today can decide what to watch at tonight's movie night, plus will have dinner brought to them." McLean added. "Our guests of the day are free to join them for the screening."
"I guess it depends on what movie gets chosen." added the flower-haired girl.
"Hopefully it isn't something too long because we have to be up early for a flight tomorrow morning." said her boyfriend.
"Might I make a couple suggestions?" inquired Hatchet. "Come over for a huddle."
The three winners and both season 5 finalists gathered to do just that with him. After some inaudible discussion, they disbanded and DJ told the host "We've made a decision, and Chef is happy to set everything up for us!"
His response was "Sounds good to me. I'm going to get some rest in the meantime." prior to exiting, and most of the others followed suit.
Brick was about to do the same when Jo held him back. Her next words were "Since I don't know when we'll next get any privacy from the others, there's something I'd like to say now. First and foremost, I'm sorry for the crap I've given you in the past. I really shouldn't have done that, and you didn't deserve it. As competitive as I can be, I truly do think you're more qualified than the others to compete on this show. Secondly, as the best contestants Total Drama has to offer, I feel we should join forces for votes. No more teams divisions are around to prevent that. Just please don't let anybody in on our plans or one of us could go home. It would kick ass to make the finals together! Third, maybe we could, you know-"
"Let me guess: try being a couple know that the cat's out of the bag?" surmised the soldier, and after she nodded her head in affirmation, he continued with "I'd be happy to do that and vote together. You're also forgiven, and us acting as rivals wasn't entirely on you as I also tried to show myself off as the most athletic competitor."
The athletic duo smiled while briefly sharing a kiss before parting ways. It was impossible to miss how both were relieved they got that out of their systems and could now be more open about their mutual attraction. Mr. MacArthur really wished she could join him at the movie night. His rival-turned-girlfriend felt the same way. What she didn't let on was her plans to try to talk the host into letting this happen.
(Begin Confessional: Brick)
"When first entering Total Drama, I never would've expected to end up dating a fellow contestant, but here I am now doing so. Had anybody told me during season 4 that this would happen, I probably would've brushed it off as crazy talk."
(End Confessional)
Over in another room, Chris was trying to get the second-in-command to disclose the movie choice with "Come on, you HAVE to tell me what they're watching!"
"No way! The one condition our winners and guests made me agree on for giving them ideas was that I keep it secret from you." Chef insisted.
"Is that so?" his boss questioned.
Having overheard their conversation, Jo offered "In exchange for letting me join in on movie time, I could let you know what that is."
"All you actually want is a personal night with the military guy who probably is now your new boyfriend." Hatchet quickly remarked.
"OK yes we did just become a couple, and it admittedly would be nice for us to have alone time, but I really am willing to share their choice." the jockette truthfully stated.
"Sorry, it's not for losers like you." added the host.
"Even when they pelt whoever threw a dodgeball at you or help expose who shared that childhood pic of you with Stumpy?" inquired Jo, not willing to give up so easily.
"As grateful as I am for both of those, my answer remains no." McLean responded, making her pout in defeat before walking away.
(Begin Confessional: Chef)
"The real reason I wouldn't say what film was selected is because my boss would've tried to interfere with it. In fact, it was me who made them swear not to tell him instead of the other way around. Maybe you viewers will get some clips of that later."
(End Confessional)
(Begin Confessional: Chris)
"Whatever Chef is trying to hide from me, I eventually am bound to discover the answer."
(End Confessional)
The cameras cut to the dining hall where all the day's losers were eating pulled pork sandwiches. Still feeling bitter about coming in last place, Max declared "I will be sure to dominate the next challenge and prove how I'm the most threatening villain this show has ever seen!"
Trent dismissed such words with "Don't flatter yourself; there's no way you have enough brains or skills to pull that off. Sugar was more dangerous than you could ever be, and she's already gone."
"Glad somebody said it!" added Leshawna in agreement while giving the guitar player a fist bump.
His response was "It had to be done sooner or later."
(Begin Confessional: Trent)
"When will this guy take a hint that he's not so dangerous after all?"
(End Confessional)
Elsewhere, the winners and guests were laughing their asses off along with Chef as the six watched a movie. While the cameras never showed what was on the projector, its dialogue was quite audible. The first line heard was a young child's voice inquiring "What's that, Stumpy? You want me to go where?"
An unidentified adult said off-screen "Stop talking to a log, Chris. It can't hear or say anything."
The kid insisted "Yes he can! I just don't know why I'm the only one who seems to understand him."
"How did you get these childhood clips of your boss?" asked Ella.
"I asked his parents about Stumpy, and they sent me this old recording." explained the cook. "Just remember that you CANNOT let him know I showed you any of it. In return, I'll let you use the movie theater for as long as you're in the contest, and you can bring in whoever you'd like after subsequent challenges. As for Zoey and Mike, since the two of you are only around for one episode, hopefully the little extra gifts you got from me is enough for you both to keep it a secret."
The season 5 finalists were quite grateful to have been paid additional money in exchange for promising to not share the truth with McLean. They nodded their heads in affirmation, not wanting to talk with their mouths full of pulled pork, before swallowing and stating in unison "No problem at all!"
"You can count on us." DJ promised.
(Begin Confessional: Brick)
"I needed those laughs this evening! No complaints over what Chef recommended for a film."
(End Confessional)
(Begin Confessional: Ella)
"Normally I don't like to laugh at other people, but tonight's movie was too funny for me to not do so, especially after Chris was highly unfair to me last season! Let's just hope he doesn't find out about it."
(End Confessional)
An hour later, those who had watched the childhood clips of the showrunner exited the theater, still chuckling at what was shown. This included the cook, who managed to suppress his giggles after a few seconds. He reminded them "Remember; what I showed you is top secret!" as they headed towards a dock where a boat would pick up Ms. Fulton and Mr. Albright.
"Is it so private that you have to keep the details from me?" asked Chris, having overheard him.
"They were behind-the-scenes clips that we cut from earlier episodes." Chef quickly bluffed, which received nods from the guests and winners of the day, having agreed to use it as a cover-up.
McLean's words were "Whatever, just let me know in advance next time you try to keep things confidential among past and present contestants."
"Sure, I can do that." said the second-in-command.
Shortly afterwards, the boat arrived for the season 5 guests. Everybody else came by to see them off. Sam called out "Farewell, and it was nice to see a couple friendly faces return!"
Dakota added "I wish we had it as easy as you did today, and hopefully you enjoy your time off!"
Before either of them could verbally express their gratitude, the host interjected with "We don't have time to drag this out, just get them out of here!" and impatiently shoved the guests into the boat, feeling suspicious they knew something he didn't want them to learn about.
"Best of luck with the game!" added Mike.
"Don't let Chris get you down!" Zoey pleaded.
The boat took off once they finished speaking. As soon as it was gone, Leshawna stated "You really didn't need to rush their departures like that."
"Let's just say I had my reasons." replied McLean.
"It regardless was quite rude." the princess remarked.
"Do you honestly think he cares?" Hatchet inquired.
"Knowing him, I doubt it." said Trent.
(Begin Confessional: Chris)
"How gullible does Chef think I am? There's no way he could possibly have access to scrapped footage when I keep that in a secure place that only I know of, which is far away from wherever we film episodes! Maybe I'll end up firing him for trying to sneak things past me without my approval. Just not sure what was really known in the theaters tonight."
(End Confessional)
The cameras cut to the cook trying to sign off the episode with "We've now reached the merge, and half of our players are still around. That won't last much longer since somebody IS getting cut next episode. Who will it be?"
He was interrupted by his boss dashing onto the screen and blurting out "Hold it right there; you aren't allowed to do the closures when I'm around! Try that again and you'll undoubtedly regret it. Anyway, there still are nine contestants remaining, but only one will win. How will Brick and Jo fare with their new romance now that they've admitted the obvious? Keep watching to learn who our next loser will be on Total. Drama. Generation Showdown!"
Nobody had to face elimination here, and Jock (Jo x Brick) officially became a couple. I couldn't just have them stay in denial for the whole contest. Kudos to amit avrashmi for correctly predicting in a review for Chapter 9 that these two would admit their affections at the merge (with an alternate guess being they would do so after a team swap)! This was something I had planned well in advance even before seeing that comment. Not sure how you came up with that, but I was quite impressed by it. Anyway, Chapter 16's voting ceremony will be the first to involve contestants from both teams.
Elimination Order:
Sugar (18th place), Justin (17th place), Rodney (16th place), Anne Maria (15th place), Eva (14th place), Beardo (13th place), Dawn (12th place), Dave (11th place), Blaineley (10th place)
Remaining Players:
Brick, Dakota, DJ, Ella, Jo, Leshawna, Max, Sam, Trent
Chapter posted: April 21, 2022.