Episode 10. Oh yeah, Alejandro got eliminated here, right? Thanks for reviewing, Ali6132.

Courtney wouldn't even shut up about Scott dumping her that morning. "How could Scott dump me? Kissing Cameron was an accident! And he kissed me!"

Zoey tried to talk to her, telling her that she just needed to talk to Scott, and at least she had serious status, getting kissed by two guys in one day.

"How many people have you kissed on this show, Courtney?" I asked sweetly. "Three or more?"

Courtney scowled at me, but she answered. "Four."

"Duncan, Scott, Cameron..." I paused. "Who else did you kiss?"

Courtney looked angry again, but this time, it wasn't directed at me. "Alejandro." she answered, her scowl getting more and more furious. Oh yeah...I'd forgotten about that. After Duncan got with Gwen, Courtney was heartbroken, so naturally, it was the perfect time for Alejandro to start working on her. She fell for him harder than Leshawna or even Bridgette, so it made sense that they would've kissed, since Courtney managed to stay on the show for quite a few episodes. After all, he found a way to kiss Bridgette the same episode she was eliminated in.

But I agreed when Courtney begged Zoey and I not to tell Gwen about everything ."I haven't exactly been easy on her about the whole kissing thing."

The challenge that day was a callback to the obstacle course from the first season during Chef's boot camp. Chris even made the last person to the forest do fifty push-ups – that was Alejandro, by the way. Meanwhile, Zoey whispered to me and Gwen that "Mike" had told her that he saw Alejandro letting Cameron fall into the river Gwen pulled him out of later on. I didn't believe it, but I couldn't tell Zoey that yet. She firmly believed Mal was Mike and that meant I'd need more time to explain to her than I had. But I knew that Alejandro, cutthroat as he was, wasn't an intentional killer. Yeah, he did throw Cody to the sharks in the third season, but that was to win. He had something to gain from that, but nothing to gain from causing Cam's fall.

Our challenge was: get through a bunch of tyres, climb up one of the four ropes on the rope slope, get across the "snapping" monkey bars above a pool, then run through the "duck and cover" zone. And because Scott scoffed at it, we all had to wear a heavy pack or face a penalty.

I saw Mal and Alejandro quietly talking at the start of the challenge. When I got close enough, I heard Alejandro say "Your hours here are numbered, pal. Or should I say...Mal."

In answer, Mal simply twisted one of Alejandro's wrists. I heard the sickening crack and winced, remembering that day when I was thirteen, when he'd sprained my wrist.

"Wait!" Alejandro exclaimed. "My people have a saying: Burros muertos no hablan!"

"Dead donkeys don't talk?" Mal translated.

Chris burst out laughing but I didn't realize why until he said it. Burromuerto was Alejandro's surname. Burro meant donkey, muerto meant death. Wow, that was hilarious.

"It's more poetic in Spanish." Alejandro said. "My point is, your secret is safe with me."

That was rich. He spent the whole challenge trying to warn people. First, we were on the tyres, and I heard him trying to talk to Gwen. As for me, I was lucky enough to dodge most of the booby traps on the tyres.

"MY FOOT IS TOUCHING MY FACE!" I heard Scott yell behind me as I passed.

When I was climbing up the rope to the far right, Alejandro was climbing up the rope to the far left. "Shannon," he began, "I have to talk to you. I have a warning: I know you're close to him, but you can't trust-" he stopped as his rope broke and he grabbed the slope to stay on.

"If you were talking about Mike, way ahead of you." I answered, getting to the top of my rope. As you may have guessed, I was nowhere near first place. Zoey and Mal were far ahead of me, and so was Gwen. Scott and Courtney were slightly behind.

Next were the snapping bars. Mal swung across them, followed by Gwen and Zoey. I got there just behind Alejandro, and decided to copy his technique of going above. There were snapping turtles below, so it was easier to just crawl across. In fact, I pulled ahead of Mal, although Alejandro was still ahead of me.

I headed for the "duck and cover" zone, while Zoey drew up level with me. As we passed a rock, Alejandro appeared from behind it. "Zoey, Shannon, we must talk."

"Mike saw you let Cam fall!" Zoey yelled at him. "Try and handsome-talk your abs out of that!"

"Wait a minute, Zoey!" I tried to protest.

At the same time, Alejandro tried to warn her. "No, Zoey, Mike is not who he seems, and I can prove-" he was cut off by a leech hitting him in the eye.

"Forgot to mention," Chris said through a loudspeaker, "This is Chef's favourite place to unwind with some leech target practice!"

"Okay, now I get the duck and cover name."

Right on cue, Chris added "So you better duck, and you better find cover."

Zoey got hit next, but I ducked, just dodging another one that hit Alejandro. "Madre mia..." he groaned. I smirked and kept running alongside Zoey, humming the ABBA song Mamma Mia.

Soon enough, I fell behind Zoey, getting hit with a few leeches myself.

Gwen and Courtney caught up to me, and it turned out that Courtney had accidentally outed herself as a multiple kisser to Gwen, and now she wanted to find out about it. To make matters even worse, Scott suddenly ran up and said "Courtney, I need to talk to you. Did you kiss Alejandro?"

"Okay, I'm out of here." Gwen said, and I agreed, running just enough to pull ahead of her.

Mal and Zoey made it just ahead of me. The finish line was across a zipline over a canyon. As it turned out, the penalty for losing our packs was not having the equipment for the zipline. There were two, so I hooked my line onto one, just as Alejandro caught up and went across one. I would've gotten there first, if Mal and Zoey hadn't gone on the same zipline, then Mal caught up and jumped across to Alejandro. As I stopped, having to hang there, I heard Mal say "Now tell me where the DVD is!"

"Never!" replied Alejandro, and that was when they fell. I got across just after Zoey.

"Way to go, Zoey!" I heard Mal yell in his "Mike" voice from the lake at the foot of the canyon.

I discussed elimination with Zoey. "I need to keep a closer eye on Mike." she admitted. "I'm not sure whether he's himself, or Mal."

I gave a sigh. "Zoey, open your eyes, please!" I begged. "He's Mal, I'm sure of it! I was going to vote him off tonight."

"Wait, Shannon!" Zoey said urgently. "Don't vote for him, please. Even if he is Mal, Mike's still in there. All we need to do is find a way to get him back out, and we need him to stay on the show to do that. It would be better, us being here keeping an eye on what he does, than it would be for him to be able to terrorize the unsuspecting All-Stars that have already left. I know Duncan knows about him, but he thinks Mike is the alternate personality. We're the only ones that can bring Mike back."

"Well...Cameron knows." I said lamely. Zoey had a point. "Fine." I sighed. "I know everyone's voting for Alejandro, so I will too. He may have been better this season, but he still doesn't deserve to win.

As it was, Alejandro was the only one that voted for Mal. Instead of crossing him out, though, he drew devil horns and a beard on the picture of Mike.

"But," finished Chris, "Everyone else wants Alejandro to surf the porcelain wave machine!"

"Aww, man..." sighed Alejandro.

"Gee, what a shame." Chris remarked. "Not really. First, since Zoey won the challenge, she and a camper of her choice get to enjoy the spa along with yours truly, and Gwen-" Oh yeah, Chris was staying in the spa hotel since Duncan blew up his place.

"Nuh-uh, no way!" Gwen suddenly protested. "I can't take another night stuck in that hotel with you!"

"Fine." Chris said, obviously insulted. "Boney Island it is."

"So, Zoey, who're you bringing?" Chris asked her.

I gave Zoey a pleading look, but she didn't see it. "Mike! He's the only reason I won!" I gave a sigh. Strategy.

Mal gave her a hug. "Aww, really? You're the best!"

Alejandro gave his goodbye speech as he left. "This show just got one hundred percent less beautiful! But I'm not the real villain! A greater evil is lurking!"

Chris pretended to yawn. "Boring." He pressed the button.

Zoey was there, and she listened to Alejandro's last words as he was flushed. "The truth is in the art! It's in the art!"

Both Zoey and I wondered what he meant, but we'd have to discuss it tomorrow. I headed back to the cabins with Courtney and Scott, both who were too interested in each other to talk to me. It seemed that Courtney had made Scott get back with her before the challenge.

All that time, I wondered who would get voted off next.

Who, indeed, Shannon? She'll have to find out next time.