Let's get to the studio. Thanks for reviewing, lordgemini.
I liked the studio enough. Everyone had a single room instead of the doubles from the Playa, and there really were twenty-two, enough for everyone. The singles were large enough that any couples that came would be all right if they wanted to sleep in the same bed. Or not sleep, but I wasn't going to talk about that. Or like Katie and Sadie, who wanted to sleep in the same room and were willing to share a bed if that's what it took to make it happen. I asked Katie about it and she said "Sure, Sadie takes up a bit more room than I'd like, but I don't exactly take up much. It's worth it for us to share a room – it's like one long sleepover!"
Catering wasn't luxury or anything, but it wasn't Chef's food (or at least, not what he fed the campers – he did cook a few times at the Playa and it turned out to be good, so he apparently could cook after all). As for most of the day when we had to wait and hang out, we were mostly all hanging out in the green room, a place with lots of sofas, scoffing snacks and chatting. We weren't allowed to leave the studio grounds, but that was in our contracts for the first season. We still had some things we had at the Playa, like a few video games, a TV with all available channels and such. The only downside was that it was August. Summer would be ending soon, and we'd already been told we'd be set homework to do while we were staying here when school started, in three weeks. I really didn't want to miss the start of junior year and sitting studying up in my tiny bedroom didn't appeal to me one bit. I wasn't ready for that kind of college studying yet.
Katie and Sadie didn't seem to mind missing three weeks of school. "We mostly just hang out together," Katie explained. "We'd be doing the same thing at home as we're doing now."
"The worst thing is having to wear the same clothes every time we're on camera," Sadie added, tugging at her stripy top in distaste. "I am SO glad we're not on camera, so I can ditch this outfit sometimes. I'm almost happy we didn't end up on this season."
I'd had to bring my Season 1 top and leggings too, but I'd brought a couple of other exercise outfits and some of my regular clothes. I'd even brought jeans, which I rarely wore (I preferred skirts and dresses when I didn't need to worry about my flexibility). Right now, I was wearing a long dark blue denim wraparound skirt and a pale blue blouse. I would have preferred pink, but there were only so many things I could get in the right shade of pink – no way would I wear anything in baby pink. Only the bright ones, like hot pink (my number one favourite shade), fuschia and magenta were what I wore.
As it was, the first week and a half was mostly just hanging out. There was going to be about seven episodes within two weeks, not including a new segment called "Total Drama Aftermath". That was where we came in, and the eliminated contestants talked about their experiences. And as Chris had promised, we got to watch all the action. In fact, every time a new episode was filmed, we had to sit down and watch what was going on in the challenge. Bits were cut out before they got to us, but not everything. It was about an hour of material that would have forty minutes cut out before it got to the TV. Confessionals were uncut, instructions were longer and we saw lots of new developments. And instead of marshmallows around a campfire, elimination ceremonies were called Gilded Chris Award ceremonies and the contestants still in would get chocolate statues of Chris.
Our little group of contestants didn't grow until just before we were forced to watch Episode 2. We were all in the green room as usual. I personally was talking about how I had to read Dracula to Noah, and we started having a discussion on the origins of vampire lore, how it's been twisted in recent years and why vampires have become the seductive gods of paranormality ("Some kind of connection between the blood-drinking," he had shrugged. "You usually have to let someone get pretty close before they can reach your neck,"). Anyway, we all looked up when we heard the voice.
"Yo! What's up, guys?"
We all immediately saw two of our favourite ex co-stars in the doorway. I was the first on my feet and first to reach them. I got a light hug from Geoff and a longer one from Bridgette. I didn't understand why they'd gone first for a moment, but Bridgette didn't make me ask. "Being a new couple doesn't really work on the show," she admitted, grimacing a bit. "Geoff and I were so involved with each other, everyone was teasing us and I guess they got fed up."
I frowned. "I guess that's not good for reality TV…but still. It seems weird. You guys are two of the nicest people. I'd have you both on my team again in a heartbeat."
Bridgette managed a smile. "I'd say the same to you. Geoff and I had a fight on the way here because we were so shocked and hurt, but we can't stay mad at each other for long." She paused. "I'm going to try to regulate my time. Geoff understands that I need time for my friends, too, just like he does."
I smiled back at her. "So," I said, changing the subject, "Did they tell you about the aftermath show?"
Bridgette suddenly blushed. "Oh yes…um…about that. They asked me and Geoff to host."
"What?" I missed a beat before I realized what they said. "Oh!" I smiled. "Congratulations!" I wasn't jealous, exactly. A little envious, but I was happy for them. Maybe the producers had just wanted the perfect kids-next-door to host. That would make sense. They'd appeal to most of the audience.
After a little while, two more people arrived. First, two days after Bridgette and Geoff had settled in, Izzy arrived, although she refused to answer to the name "Izzy", calling herself "Kaleidoscope" or "E-Scope". Even in the episode, Izzy at first refused to leave because Chris called her Izzy and she said it wasn't her name. The footage showed that she'd been filmed in a scene where the actor (now one from each of the newly formed teams of the Screaming Gaffers and Killer Grips) was trying to make Chef show emotion. Duncan had managed to beat Izzy in a landslide, even though they'd both been given the wrong scripts. There was also a reward challenge later on, which proved Trent was getting very stressed. That's why I wasn't very surprised by the next elimination.
Three days later, the day before the first Aftermath show but before we saw the fifth episode's footage, Trent arrived at the studio, looking very upset.
"What happened?" I asked him sympathetically.
Trent looked even more upset. "I don't want to talk about it right now," he said, "But you might as well know before you watch the footage – Gwen and I broke up."
I stared. "Oh! Um…I'm really, really sorry." I knew Gwen was getting concerned by the fourth episode. They were on different teams, and Trent had started throwing challenges – mainly because Owen told him that "the girl likes winning" after trying to spy on them whenever they met up.
As it turned out, the break-up had been partly because of throwing challenges. Then Justin, who was on Trent's team (Grips), found out, told the rest of his team, and now they were saying Gwen owed them for Trent's actions, even though she'd clearly signaled to him that she didn't want him to throw the challenges. I felt terrible for Gwen.
Still, I felt worse for Trent. His team voted him off, and his last protest was "I can't leave without saying goodbye to Gwen!" He'd said he understood when she (apologetically) dumped him, but clearly, he hadn't let go of the relationship yet. I left him alone.
Katie and Sadie, however, were not that subtle. "So does that mean Trent is on the market?" Katie asked me excitedly, after we'd seen the episode.
"I don't think he's ready to date again right now," I said evasively. "I feel really bad for him. I thought he and Gwen were a perfect match."
"Oh, me too!" Sadie agreed. "But if Trent is single again…" She gave a sigh. "Either way, I feel really sorry for him now."
"That was so rough," Katie agreed. "I guess we'll just have to wait."
"Not too long, though," Sadie added. "He'll have tons of girls after him now – we need to get there first."
Katie nodded, then she turned to me. "Speaking of the episode, what did you think of Leshawna's afro?"
It had been unusually warm, so Leshawna's hair had sprung into a giant afro. Well, she still had a beautiful face, didn't she?
I shrugged. "I like it better down, but that wasn't a bad look on her. It's her I love, anyway, not the hair. You should see her when she wears it straightened and loose."
The next day, the Aftermath setup was revealed to us. On one side, there were bleachers for us, the "peanut gallery". On the other was a couple of couches for the "guests", mainly the eliminated contestants, to talk about their experiences. In the middle, Bridgette and Geoff got their own couch to host from.
So us non-competitors got settled on the bleachers, the blonde couple sat on the couch and Izzy and Trent waited in the green room to be called.
The first Aftermath was about to start.
Yeah, a boring chapter, sorry. Trent's Descent will be next!
