It's the 23rd chapter, and I have more reviews to respond to before continuing any further.
OmniIBIBUltraInstinctGodzilla: Only Trent won the most recent challenge and not Leshawna, but still nice to know you liked his victory. It looks like Jo's clue on payback didn't get past you when it came to Sam going out soon after Dakota was axed.
Rockin' D-99: Now that you've caught up, I'll reply to your comments for both Chapter 21 and Chapter 22 here at the same time. You aren't the only one who prefers the less extreme types of challenges. Max admittedly was always a contestant I planned on taking far as a contrast to how so many other fics kick him off pre-merge. One might say it helps the story stand out more among those that involve the guy. You seem quite apt at picking up on foreshadowing based on how soon in advance you saw the two most recent eliminations coming. Was that head start for Max really such a dead giveaway for how the gamer would immediately follow Ms. Milton in leaving the contest even before anybody finished the mountain race? Either way, I'm glad you liked that challenge :).
Time to find out who that donor is!
With the sun shining brightly in his face, Chef woke up a few seconds before an alarm was scheduled to go off. He said to himself "Today is going to be quite a big day." while getting out of bed.
Chris heard that from the other side of the door and added "You got that right, buddy! I'll meet you outside in 15 minutes."
"Hold on, what will we feed the contestants with this morning?" inquired the cook.
"No time for that now: they need to learn about the challenge before our donor arrives, and maybe this will help us save some food for whoever that might be." his boss replied.
"Alright fair enough. They do plan on showing up early today." Hatchet said.
(Begin Confessional: Chris)
"OK I lied about letting the donor have any food here. Whoever that is probably gets plenty already. There's other tricks I have up my sleeve for today and the rest of the season."
(End Confessional)
After both were dressed, the host used his megaphone to instruct "Rise and shine, everyone! We've got another challenge starting soon."
When the final 4 complied, they were noticeably tired, and stomach growls could be heard. Leshawna asked him "Can we please eat first?"
"On the subject of food, your goal today is to find a large chest full of snacks somewhere on this island." McLean replied. "The first one to get that wins, and by the way, nobody will get booted this evening in honor of our donor showing up. This will however be the last non-elimination challenge of the season. Don't let your guards down for even a moment."
"That doesn't answer when you'll feed us." Max remarked with impatience.
Realizing it was futile to keep beating around the bush, the showrunner's next words were "That will be your breakfast. I figured the extra hunger would give you more incentive to find it sooner."
This didn't sit well with anybody else. It prompted each of their jaws to drop in shock, including Hatchet, who added "What in the flying fuck!? Please tell me you're joking. I knew you wanted them to find snacks for the challenge and share details prior to feeding, but you never said anything about letting them starve in the process!"
"Not a joke, and I intentionally hid that part because I knew you wouldn't have cooperated with me." the showrunner admitted before threatening "Don't you dare interfere now or you're fired."
An irate Trent chastised him with "This makes you even more of a sadistic son-of-a-bitch than I would've guessed, and that's saying quite a lot!"
"You better give us something to chow on pronto!" Jo angrily demanded.
"I have to agree with them, and I draw the line here. We're filling their stomachs." insisted Chef.
"You'll be gone the moment you feed them a single bite, so enjoy being unemployed." Chris replied. "How could a lack of hunger motivate them to search for nourishment?"
A voice could be heard saying "You won't fire anybody today."
It belonged to a tall redhaired woman in her 30s. She walked closer towards everyone and was accompanied by two bald policemen in their late 20s. Max inquired with curiosity "Are you the one who funded our current season?"
That got an affirmation of "Yes indeed, and my name is Francesca Vanderbilt. I'm a crown attorney, and I would like you meet these gentlemen."
McLean told her "Nice to know, but I don't understand what they're doing here or how you have any say in me getting rid of my aid."
Francesca explained "When I donated the money to him, one of the conditions I insisted on was that he couldn't get fired this season unless I state otherwise. Another condition was for Hatchet to provide me early access to footage of the episodes before they publicly aired or at least some notes of what the challenges involved. This was to see whether you'd go crazy again, and simply put, depriving your contestants of necessities like a meal before they start the day when you have more than enough to feed them with is completely inexcusable."
"Pfft, the producers and audiences love me!" a smug Chris scoffed. "They'll let me continue my tenure the show for as long as it runs."
"On the contrary, we've been consulting with the show's executives, who feel you've violated too many ethics after reassessing past episodes. You only have yourself to blame for it." one officer added.
The other followed that up with "The three of us talked with them after yesterday's challenge, and they gave us authority to terminate your position as host upon noticing any poor conduct during our visit. This deliberate withholding of food when plenty can be found nearby was the final straw."
Now feeling worried, the host nervously gulped and stammered "Y-You only are trying to p-pull some prank, right?"
"Not at all. You officially are fired effective immediately. Chances are you'll end up facing a life imprisonment for repeatedly endangering others and any other crimes from before this season you somehow never faced consequences for, which baffles me." answered Ms. Vanderbilt. "Either way, we'll soon escort you out to your upcoming trial."
"Wait a moment, who will host the rest of the season?" asked the musician.
"That shall be me." Hatchet informed him. "Also, if I didn't supply details on the challenges sooner, then our donation would've been revoked."
Chris angrily condemned the cook with "You snitch piece of shit!"
"It was inevitable these things would've been uncovered at some point regardless of what he did." remarked the sassy one.
"Yeah, it's only a matter of time until the episodes get aired and show what happened." added the jockette in agreement.
Francesca requested "Gentlemen, please take him away.", and both cops quickly complied.
While being dragged to a car, McLean begged "No please; I cannot go back to jail! You should at least wait until the season is over. The ratings will decline without me! This all feels too sudden, do you know what I mean? By the way, Chef is no longer my friend for ratting me out, and this better not get leaked before the episodes are broadcast."
"Don't waste your breath. Nothing will change my mind." she replied prior to closing the door on him and asking the newly promoted host "For the future, can I still trust you to not be nearly as dangerous as your old boss was?"
"Of course! You can count on that." he promised, and the car took off shortly afterwards.
(Begin Confessional: Max)
"Holy shit! I never thought Chris would lose his job mid-season."
(End Confessional)
(Begin Confessional: Leshawna)
"Good riddance, McLean. You won't be missed."
(End Confessional)
(Begin Confessional: Jo)
"After giving it some thought, that bastard deserves life imprisonment after he got fired today."
(End Confessional)
(Begin Confessional: Trent)
"Chef taking over as host should be interesting."
(End Confessional)
Once the donor's vehicle was out of sight, Hatchet stated "I've got a new idea in mind for today. It shall still be a non-elimination challenge with that load of snacks as a prize for the winner, though. Let's first have a meal."
Breakfast that morning was crème bules. Not entirely sure of what to expect, Leshawna swallowed a mouthful before questioning "Do you plan on running the rest of the season by yourself without any new assistant?"
"Yes; there's only three more challenges after today and none of them are extreme, so I can handle those by myself." the cook confirmed.
"That doesn't sound so bad." remarked the guitar player, who was relieved to not endure anything worse than what Chris had planned.
25 minutes later, everyone had finished eating and could be seen outdoors. There was a large safe with a set of locks and 30 switches for each contestant. Chef instructed "Each door leads to today's prize, and the goal is to unlock yours first. The sets of switches need to be pulled in a certain sequence to do so. Only I know the correct answer on which to activate when. You must figure it out on your own. They will shine lights when used at the right times, and if you make any mistakes, then every light from your set will turn off and you'll have to start all over again. Try to remember the orders you've worked with as you go along. This won't be simple, but I'm sure you can get through it."
"If two people happen to finish the correct sequence at the same time, then who will win?" inquired the aspiring evildoer.
"Whoever grabs the prize first after opening their door." answered the cook.
"I'm ready to kick their asses, so let's begin!" requested the jockette.
Chef replied with "You may now start." right before blowing the airhorn his ex-boss used.
Everyone promptly began thinking of ways to obtain the answer. None of them could correctly identify the first switch within their first five attempts, and it annoyed them to keep seeing lights shut themselves off. The cook got a minor chuckle out of this, though didn't laugh nearly as much as Chris would at the scenario. Who was the first to get a correct answer? To everyone else's shock, the wannabe villain. It prompted him to brag "Leave it to EVIL to get things done right."
The other three quickly copied his answer, and like him, they failed to get the second one correct right away. A certain guitarist complained "Why couldn't this be easier?"
(Begin Confessional: Chef)
"There's a reason we call these CHALLENGES. I couldn't just let them have a super easy task. It's still better than letting everyone starve before we start the day."
(End Confessional)
20 minutes later, each contestant had got the correct order for at least 6 switches, though hadn't even reached 10 right answers. Leshawna complained "I had no idea how difficult things would be today, and it feels over-the-top."
"As much as I personally agree, whining won't help anything right now." Jo added.
That got a response of "Eh, fair point there." before they continued onwards.
It took another 15 minutes until someone reached the halfway point, namely Trent. He muttered to himself "That took much longer than I would've liked." and quickly got another wrong answer, much to his annoyance.
As the musician was in the middle of starting over, everyone else managed to get the 16th switch right. This only made him feel even worse. Right after finding the 18th one, Jo chose an incorrect option and growled in frustration afterwards, which made the other three smile. She angrily yelled "Wipe those stupid grins off your faces!"
To her satisfaction, Leshawna and Max also chose wrongly not long afterwards, with the lattermost whining "This shit sucks."
Chef's phone began to ring. He quickly picked up and asked "Can you get back to me back later? I'm not done yet with filming today's episode." before getting a response inaudible to anybody else and finishing the call with "OK that's sooner than expected. Have a nice day."
"Who just called you?" inquired the jockette.
His answer was "Our season's donor, and I just learned McLean's trial has officially begun today."
"For the love of humanity, I hope he gets imprisoned for as long as possible." said the musician.
"Quite honestly, same with me." his sassy friend added in agreement.
(Begin Confessional: Jo)
"To the season's donor: I'd like to thank you in advance for whatever punishment our former host gets. Not that I'm an angel myself, but there's no way I'd intentionally starve others."
(End Confessional)
When the cameras returned to the contestants, one of them was nearing the answer. It was none other than Leshawna. However, she failed to get the 28th switch and growled in frustration. While feeling sorry for her, the cook simultaneously couldn't help chuckling a bit at the thought of coming so close only to miss the answer. Leshawna heard that and scowled at him while snapping "This is definitely not funny!"
(Begin Confessional: Chef)
"Someone needs to lighten up. I know it was already tough to find the answer, but there's something about coming super close only to get that wrong that amuses me."
(End Confessional)
After another 10 minutes, Jo was almost out of patience. She snarled "How long could it possibly take to solve the damn thing?"
Unable to give a definitive answer, Max remarked "Your guess is as good as mine."
"Beats me, but I wish we could be done with it all sooner." Trent added.
To the disappointment of all three, Leshawna managed to get the right order and victoriously proclaimed "At long last I finally got it!" before opening the chest to find a mixture of various candies.
That immediately prompted the cook to congratulate her with "Well done on winning! The prize is all yours. By the way, dinner will be served in our movie theater tonight. I have something to show that you'll probably enjoy."
(Begin Confessional: Leshawna)
"I was starting to worry I wouldn't get any victories post-merge. Thankfully today proved otherwise."
(End Confessional)
The cameras cut to the jockette getting massaged at the spa. She muttered to herself, "It's a good thing today was a non-elimination challenge, or I probably would be screwed."
Max walked in soon afterwards, having overheard this, and replied "Yes indeed, and your days are numbered." while laying down on another table to get his own massage.
Jo subsequently asked him "Sometimes I'm surprised I didn't try to get rid of you sooner, but do you honestly expect to win?"
He answered "Never underestimate my abilities. I didn't get the top five twice in a row for nothing!"
Her next words were "Even so, if I do get eliminated next, then I can guarantee that both of the others would team up to take you out during the final three. You stand no chance against either former Leopard on your own."
"What makes you say that?" inquired the aspiring evildoer.
"Your skills aren't as strong as theirs and those two already became friends before this season's merge." she explained. "From one Coyote to another: think carefully about who you choose to kick off next."
(Begin Confessional: Max)
"I already have given lots of thought on who I'd like to vote off when the time comes. Jo desperately and transparently trying to save her own skin won't change my mind."
(End Confessional)
Elsewhere at the pool, Trent was shown swimming peacefully when the day's winner arrived. He congratulated her with "Props for your victory today. I frankly wasn't sure when any of us would solve that thing!"
"Thanks, and me neither." she gratefully replied while entering the water. "Just glad it wasn't one of the others who won."
"Trust me, that feeling is mutual." added the musician in agreement.
Before either of them could say anything else, Hatchet used the intercom to tell everyone "Your next meal is ready to be served! Please come on over to the theater so we can get the movie started sooner."
The sassy one shrugged her shoulders, stating "OK I should've timed myself better here, but at least we'll probably watch something good."
(Begin Confessional: Trent)
"With or without kicking anybody off today, I'm really proud to have made it this far. Losing out on the most recent challenge didn't feel like a big kick in the teeth with how difficult it already was."
(End Confessional)
At the movie theater, Chef served barbecue ribs for dinner. He asked each contestant "Are you ready for tonight's presentation?"
With a mouthful of food, a certain jockette impatiently told him "Of course we are, just start it!"
The newly promoted host complied right away. A screen could be shown displaying a music video for a track titled "Painful". It was by a band called "Fame Town" with baldheaded kids as members. All four players quickly recognized their host as a child in this and burst out laughing at this sight. The song's opening lyrics were "Making trouble is easy to do, but making you love me is painful."
Hatchet couldn't stop his own laughter either and remarked "I knew you'd like what I had in mind!" while the video continued to play.
Not even food could interfere with giggles. After Trent swallowed a bite of rib two minutes later, he stated "Good thing your old boss isn't around to interrupt this! No way would he allow it to be shown."
"Is there any chance someone like you would've been able to coach them to sound better given how off-key everybody's vocals are here?" inquired Max before resuming his chuckles.
The guitar player's response was "Nah, they were beyond help, and I don't know how anybody ended up liking their material."
(Begin Confessional: Leshawna)
"Tonight's feature was much more hilarious than I expected! While I don't know how much of the music video will be shown in this episode's final cut, let me tell you viewers that it'll make you crack up with how terrible that is!"
(End Confessional)
(Begin Confessional: Jo)
"No wonder Mc-Lame feels so ashamed of being in a boy band: he couldn't sing well to save his life!"
(End Confessional)
Chef signed off the episode with "That wraps things up for the day. I look forward to hosting more episodes, even when most of the season is over, so be sure to stick around for the rest of Total. Drama. Generation Showdown!"
How many of you expected Chris to be fired close to the season finale and have his second-in-command take over? To those who dislike McLean in any capacity, feel free to think of that as an early Christmas present. Believe it or not, a user known as amit avrashmi had somehow predicted this would happen when reviewing Chapter 15 (after I came up with the idea and it's beyond me how they can come up with such guesses so far in advance). I must tip my hat to them. It was something I had planned early on, and Chef's secrecy on Francesca's identity was a hint that he knew that it would be something his boss disapproved of. The cook was too smart to give him any inkling on what she was ready to do. In the two previous chapters, I gave clues on her involvement with law through the urgency of calls and a mention of being legally forbidden from disclosing a name before showing up on screen. Crown attorneys aren't someone McLean should mess around with. I opted to have Ms. Vanderbilt visit during a non-elimination challenge so the debut wouldn't get overshadowed by any contestant leaving the game or vice versa. On another note, the fourth and final aftermath will be next chapter, and feature interviews with Brick, Dakota, and Sam. Any questions you'd like Lightning and Cameron to ask them must be submitted January 3, 2023 or sooner. They can be left in your reviews or shared in a PM to me.
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), DJ (9th place), Ella (8th place), Brick (7th place), Dakota (6th place), Sam (5th place)
Remaining Players:
Jo, Leshawna, Max, Trent
Chapter posted: December 22, 2022.