Finally, the very last episode, really! Even though it isn't the last. Thanks for reviewing, OmniIBIBUltraInstinctGodzilla and lordgemini.
When we finally got to see the starting line for the finalists, there were two sets of bleachers, one each with a finalist's face.
Owen was smiling at everyone. "Hey, guys! Good to see you!"
Gwen just blushed and ducked her head, especially when Trent passed by, shooting her a flirty warm smile (I understood that after I saw the confessional where she'd insulted almost everyone on the island – she left me, Tyler and a few others out entirely, but most people got an insult and she also added that she met "five people who were actually sane", and I wasn't one of them, either).
Gwen noticed Heather's wig immediately, though, and she seemed less nervous as she remarked "Nice rug."
"Oh, bite me," Heather retorted. She had to turn around to Izzy, who was sitting behind her, to slap her hands away. "Stop touching my hair, crazy girl!"
"Whose hair?" I whispered to Leshawna, who I was sitting close to (she had an arm around me, which seemed to have become the norm when we were sitting together). "Where did she actually get that?"
Leshawna shrugged, and whispered back "Ponies? She had a few ponytails this season, so would kind of fit if she had real ponies' tails." I giggled.
But now it was time to hear what the contestants had to say about what they'd do if they won, and why they deserved it. Gwen started. "I guess I'm pretty proud of myself for making it this far," she admitted. "If I can survive this, maybe the rest of high school won't be so bad."
Izzy started laughing maniacally at that point for no apparent reason. Gwen ignored this and went on to say that she'd promised to split the money with Owen (I later found out she'd offered this in the last challenge because he helped her get Heather eliminated), and that she'd use the remaining money for travelling and then towards uni to study art history. Although I hadn't had the chance to see much of her art, I could guess that would be an inspirational starting point.
"Yeah!" Leshawna called out. "That's it! Girlfriend's got some goals!"
"Very cool," Trent agreed.
Owen just had one idea. "I'd throw the biggest hugest sickest party ever and invite everyone here!"
All of Owen's supporters stood up and cheered, and half of Gwen's supporters switched over to Owen's side. I suppose, if I was brutally honest, if I liked parties more I might have done the same. I liked some parts of parties – mainly the dancing and music – but I didn't like all the drunken guys hitting on me and asking if I chose to go hot pink because my body was the same temperature (meaning they were calling me hot). Of course, I knew everyone here, but even then, I didn't like trying to talk over the music. So in the end, I didn't switch. I wouldn't have minded Owen's party, but I liked Gwen more.
And it also helped that Leshawna wasn't switching. I was in no hurry to leave her side. However, Bridgette, Katie, Sadie, DJ and Justin (the only one I wasn't friends with) all switched.
"At least not all of you are total sellouts," Gwen muttered. I couldn't blame her.
"Oh, and I forgot!" Owen added. "It'll be on a yacht!" As he spoke, Lindsay got to her feet and also switched. Apart from Leshawna and I, only Trent and Cody remained. I didn't really care about where the party was.
But before anything else could happen, the challenge had to be explained. It was basically an obstacle course/race, which Chris said was part of the "Reject Olympics". Gwen had to wear a chicken hat and Owen had to wear a cow one. Then, they had to race to a pole each, climb to the top and retrieve a flag from the top.
After they'd jumped down the pole, they had to take an eagle egg, walk across a plank over a gorge and put the egg in the nest on the other side. The sharks were waiting below.
The ending was just a long-distance footrace to the finish line, which was just where they started, so the whole route was just a circle. And as we'd been told, we could help them out. Obviously we couldn't help them too much, but enough that Owen could possibly have a slight advantage.
"Good luck, Owen," Gwen said sincerely. "If I had to lose to anyone here, it'd be you."
"Aw, that's so nice!" Owen returned her smile. "I hope you lose to me, too!"
The race…well…let me explain. Most of us sort of ran alongside the contestants as best we could. Owen had lots of cheerleaders. They even helped him up his pole. Gwen got there first, but someone had coated the bottom half of it with butter (and before you ask how I know, I saw Heather just after she'd done it. Don't ask me how she managed to get a stick of butter in her pocket without paper and still seemed to have no grease stains on her shorts). Trent took off his shirt and rubbed the butter off, and Gwen did fine after that.
There was also something else that happened related to sabotage. Some cupcake. I heard Heather say something about a cupcake, and then Gwen mentioned it to Trent in the last leg and he didn't know anything about it. And then Owen dashed into the confession outhouse halfway through. Looked like the mysterious cupcake got to the glutton.
If you were wondering about the plank across the gorge…well, we mostly had to run through to the other side. And eagles went to attack them, but then Heather tore Justin's shirt off as a distraction, except it distracted both contestants, the eagles and the sharks, when she only meant to distract Gwen.
To be honest, I was almost sure Gwen would win after all of this. Even without the break for Owen's laxative cupcake, he was almost crawling by the time they were running for the finish line. Trent, meanwhile, was trying to prove to Gwen what she really meant by carrying a boulder, saying he was doing something really hard and still keeping up to prove how much he cared about her.
Izzy and Lindsay were what got Owen moving again. Izzy made hot brownies and got Lindsay to turn on a huge fan belonging to Chris that he let them use. She blew the scent straight towards the finalists.
Well, actually, scratch that. She did that only after she'd had it turned the wrong way and Heather's wig blew straight off.
"My wig! Can't you freaks do anything right?"
Leshawna finally did one more thing with Heather. The second the girl had her wig back on, she was unceremoniously thrown into the outhouse confessional, with a stick making the door unable to be opened. Owen may have flushed, he may not, but one flush wouldn't have been enough. When we finally let Heather out, she'd picked up so much of it that no one wanted to get anywhere near her.
And Izzy and Lindsay's ploy? It all worked. Owen got past Gwen at the last minute.
Well, I'd still wanted Gwen to win, but the party was going to be good. And even better, Gwen still got to be happy. After she made a joke about the boulder, Trent lifted her onto his shoulder instead. "Put me down!" she cried, although she sounded as if she was laughing.
"Say you'll go out with me," Trent replied. "Come on, say it!"
Gwen still sounded like she was holding back laughter. "Okay, okay, I'll go out with you!" So there was another happy ending. It seemed like almost half of us had hooked up officially by now. And I'd thought me being with Leshawna had been a daydream, not really the real thing.
We ended the episode with possibly the best thing ever. After everything was over that evening, and Owen had his cheque, Geoff called out "Yo, Owen! You know what it's time for?"
Owen nodded, and looked straight at Chris with an evil grin. Before the host could figure out what was going on, Owen, Geoff and Duncan were carrying him down the dock as he protested "No – no, guys! My hair!"
But the rest of us just watched as they hurled Chris into the water. Oh, and cheered.
"I've been wanting to do that all summer!" Chef exclaimed. "How do you like that, pretty boy? Huh?"
"Oh, Chef…" Geoff sang.
"You're next, dude!" Owen announced, and they chased him across the campground. I just watched this whole thing, smiling. The last eight weeks had been huge. I hadn't won, but I'd survived. Lots of friends, a bit of screentime, some endurance, and I even had my first ever girlfriend! And we still had an extra few days at the Playa before it was time to go home. I mean, what more could I have asked for?
Money, perhaps? Well, Peyton's got at least one more chance to reach it. Let's wait for the next one. Sorry if this episode wasn't very good. She's not really in it, so the next one will be better. Also…think about the teams in the special. I don't know if anyone will guess who she goes with, but I'd gone through all the friends she had and based on her interactions, it kind of makes sense…
