Welcome to part 2 everyone! If this is your first chapter then wow you're missing a lot of context for the season, but still! I hope you enjoy it. And for my small but insanely dedicated reader base that actually reads these chapters, even with the massive breaks between them, then thank you so much. I genuinely don't think I can put into words how happy I am that you guys have stuck with my story.
Anyways, I think we have another chapter to start, so let's finish the sentimental stuff and start the second part of this episode!
The episode fades back in from the ad break to later in the day near the pool, as the remaining contestants look at a board with twenty-seven smaller slots, split into groups of three. Nadia raises an eyebrow at the board but doesn't say anything.
"Aaaand we're back for round two!" Chris calls out. "In front of you, nine rows of tiles! Each of you will have to look around the pool area for three tablets with your face on it!"
"Seems simple enough," Morgan smirks. "Especially for mwah."
"Okay seriously, can you shut up?" Tegan glares at the perfect guy.
"We don't even know where most of them are," Don admits, rolling his eyes, "so it's probably not worth it coming to us."
Richard glares, before saying, "Probably?" under his breath.
"You've got about ten minutes. If it gets to that we'll have a tiebreaker between the remaining contestants to see who the loser this time is," Chris reveals. "Anyways, are you all ready?"
"No!" Almost all of the contestants yell out in response. The only exception is Nadia, who simply continues to glare intently at the board.
Confessional:
Nadia:
The Hot-Blooded seems to be stuck deep in thought. "This seems very familiar…." A moment later her eyes widen, "The challenges! They're glitzed-up remakes of the ones we've already done in the show! This is the secrets one Myron got eliminated after." Another wave of realisation strikes her face as she shivers, "They better not make us do the fear challenge a second time… I never want to see a crow again!"
Confessional Ends:
"Okay then," Chris nods along, "I guess it's time for you to start this then!"
Don then steps ahead, calling out, "Three! Two! One! Race!" Nadia and Richard quickly start looking as everyone else pauses, confused. Don realises his mistake and adds, "Oh, by race, I mean go." The other seven then take that opportunity to race ahead and look as well.
Richard's eyes quickly avert away from where he's standing as he notices everyone else walking away from the starting point. The Boring Guy then walks over to Don and Chris.
"What do you want?" Chris looks unimpressed.
"You said it was probably not worth it asking you… keyword, probably. Do either of you happen to have a tablet I would need?"
Chris and Don look at each other, surprised before Don whispers, "How'd he get that?" To Chris.
"Hey, that's all you," Chris shrugs back.
The trainee host then turns back and admits, "Not yours per se… but we do have some."
"Oh yeah," Chris rolls his eyes, "Why not just tell him which ones we have?"
Richard scoffs, before turning around, walking away over to Hannah. "Check with Chris and Don."
"But they don't-."
"They have someone's." Hannah's eyes go wide as Richard notes, "Probably, is not definite. Plus my hypothesis would only take around five seconds to prove if incorrect… this talk is taking considerably longer."
"Fine, I'll check," Hannah relents before running over to Chris.
"Okay, so you're up next?" Chris comments, clearly annoyed.
"Yep, do you have mine?"
"Well, I do," Don reveals, pulling one of her tablets out of her pocket.
"Seriously dude?" Chris raises his hands in annoyance.
"Good," Hannah nods. "Which one do you have Chris?"
"None of your buis-." Chris cuts himself off as an idea form and he smirks.
"Well, that's not a good sign," Don rolls his eyes.
"Well, if you're so down for screwing things up Don… I have Tegan's," Chris reveals, a smirk on his face, pulling the other one out of his pocket. "Say, Hannah, you wanna hold onto it? I know how friendly the two of you are."
"GIMMIE!" Hannah nearly snatches it out of Chris' hand but quickly manages to hide it as everyone looks over at her.
"Weirdo," Tegan rolls her eyes, before looking in a bush, finding a tablet, "Hey! That's cool! One of mine!" She then runs over to place it in as she notices one of Myron's on the ground near the wall. "Hey! Megan's friend!"
"Me?" Myron quickly questions.
"Yeah! Here's one!" She then throws it at him, which he thankfully catches.
"Thanks!"
Tegan regains her surly expression as she quickly scoffs and says, "Well, we are teaming up after all."
"You don't have to be mean all the time," Megan notes, startling the complainer and making her leap into the air. "Sorry."
"It's… it's alright," Tegan holds her heart in shock, still holding her tablet. "I'll uh… I'll keep that in mind I guess. J-just don't sneak up on me like that."
Morgan and Rory continue to look around, eventually walking into each other. The two guys glare at each other.
"So…," Rory begins. "You are aware, this cease-fire is purely for Myron's sake… right?"
"Wouldn't have it any other way," Morgan glares back before both boys glance down and see a tablet for each of them. The two glare before each grabbing theirs.
Chris looks bored before admitting, "Okay, so this is probably going to take a while so you know what that means!" Don looks confused before Chris says. "It's time for a montage!"
"Wait wha-?" Don is cut off by the start of said montage.
Assorted footage of the nine contestants looking around is shown, before Alfred cheers, holding up one of his tablets. Megan and Myron are next shown putting a tablet in each of their slots. Richard is then shown nodding as he puts his third and final tablet in, before promptly, accidentally getting pushed away by Nadia, who puts her third tablet in. She does help him back up though.
After the montage ends, Rory happily walks away from the board after placing his third piece in. At this point, the only three contestants remaining in the challenge are Hannah, Tegan and Morgan. All three have two tablets in and Tegan is desperately looking around bushes.
"Where is that stupid thing!" The complainer promptly yells.
"Aww, you're still looking?" Hannah snarks as she puts her third and final tablet in. "Maybe you just need to get good?"
"Oh shut up!" Tegan yells at her rival. Hannah promptly jumps up in happiness. A moment later she realises what she was doing and quickly stops.
"Wow, that was weird, uhhhh."
Confessional:
Hannah:
"Pffft, I'm totally not starting to feel better! Nahhhhh, I'm-I'm still really mad!"
Confessional Ends:
"And we're down to two!" Chris cuts in before any fights can continue.
"Anyways, why should I shut up?" Hannah questions, immediately picking the fight up again. "I'm still in, and you're probably out!"
On that note. Tegan's tablet falls out of Hannah's pocket, causing the Complainer's eyes to go wide. "YOU STOLE MINE! THAT CAN'T BE ALLOWED!"
"Oops, silly me," Hannah's smirking expression completely betrays any chance of what she says sounding genuine.
"THAT'S IT!" The two girls then leap on each other, beginning to fight yet again.
Nadia sighs, facepalming. "Again?"
"You haven't been here the whole time they had both been eliminated," Richard snarks back.
"And neither of you were on their team!" Katrina yells from over at the bleachers. "Anyways, should I get popcorn? Does anyone want any when they lose?" Nobody responds, but the former intern shrugs. "I'm getting it anyways." She then walks away.
"Is the tablet thing even allowed?" Alfred comments, pointing at the fight.
"Yep," Chris admits with a smirk.
"You tell us this now," Alfred groans.
Chris rolls his eyes, "If I told you nobody would do anything 'cause you'd all just steal the other's stuff. That would have gotten old like, three seconds in."
Confessional:
Alfred:
He simply nods, admitting, "Yes, I probably would have done that, but still!"
Confessional Ends:
While this fight is happening, Morgan looks around desperately, saying to himself, "Okay, where did you go?" He then steps back, tripping and falling into the pool with a yelp of surprise as the girls separate, with Tegan holding her tablet.
"YEAH! I THOUGHT SO!" The complainer screams as she stands up. "Okay, let's go!"
Morgan bursts out of the water, with his third tablet in his hand. "Yes!"
"It's neck and neck!" Chris yells. "Morgan and Tegan are now racing to get the tablet in… or they would be if one of them didn't have to get out of a pool first." As Chris described, while Morgan was able to climb out of the pool easily, this easily gave Tegan ample time to run over and slam her tablet in.
Morgan stands up, annoyance on his face, "Seriously?"
"Second out?" Chris questions, walking up. "Geez and you really think you're perfect?" Morgan simply groans in annoyance.
Confessional:
Morgan:
Morgan takes a deep breath, before saying, "Frankly, I blame my bad luck, and that's all that it is; I can destroy them all easily. But I blame my bad luck this season on this stupid outfit. Seriously? All black? What was I thinking? I look like I'm going to make some dumb, edgy joke for no reason." He then rolls his eyes. "Screw it, I'm changing."
Confessional Ends:
"Okay!" Chris yells out, "Follow me to the animal area for the third challenge!"
"Animal area?" Rory questions, confused, "We have one of those?" The scene changes to later as the remaining eight watch Chris and Don, alongside a cage with a blanket covering it.
"We do now!" Chris notes, before revealing, "Third challenge time guys! And for this… you'll be hunting a bear!"
"So it's the bear challenge…," Nadia whispers to herself. "Good to know." Everyone else looks worried at this reveal.
"Well… we don't have any bears to hunt," Don notes. "So you'll be hunting a different beast altogether."
"Please don't be the most dangerous game," Myron closes his eyes and crosses his fingers.
"Humans?" Alfred questions.
Myron quickly turns his head to the other guy. "I did not think you'd know that."
"It's not a human," Don quickly calls out, stopping the conversation from going forward.
"Good idea though," Chris admits, causing his co-host to glare at him. "Geez, ever heard of a joke?"
Don shakes his head, annoyed before saying, "You're hunting something else! Love!"
"What?" Everyone questions in unison, confusion evident on their faces.
"Yeah, isn't that funny?" Chris cuts in. "That's what we named these badgers!" Don then sighs before he pulls up the blanket to show eight badgers, angrily gnawing at the cages.
"All of them?" Tegan questions.
"Yeah, they're all named Love!" At everyone's concerned expressions, Chris adds, "Don't worry we all tested them for rabies, none of them have it… I think at least."
"You THINK!?" Nadia yells out in shock, joining everyone else in looking concerned.
"We know," Don cuts in this time. "Love, Love, Love, Love, Love, Love, Love and Love are all tested for and don't have rabies… they're just particularly grouchy."
One of the Love's moves its hands across its throat, glaring directly at Rory, who stares, wide-eyed, a horrified expression on his face.
"Oh yeah!" Chris notes, "And this time we're getting two of you out! Just grab one of the Love's and throw them back in here! The last two to do so are out of the challenge!"
The remaining eight look around in fear as Chris goes to open the cages. However, as he does so, two of the Love's jump at his face. An intern quickly runs over to help Chris as the host quickly grabs one of the badgers and throws it away. As this happens, the other six run out and start to run about and attack random things in the general area, including contestants.
The Love that Chris threw flies through the air into Alfred's hands. The pair stare at each other for a few moments, blinking in confusion, before the Love hisses and attacks the rich boy. In response, Alfred runs around screaming in fear.
Elsewhere, Richard and Hannah stand next to each other. The former says, "I have an idea," before turning around, saying, "Give me a minute," and running away.
Slightly further away, Nadia looks at Richard running away, before whispering to herself, "Well, if he's so confident, I should be able to get his help."
Hannah turns back around to see Alfred struggling with the badger. This causes the hipster to pause, thinking for a moment before sighing and walking over.
Confessional:
Hannah:
"Look, I need to betray one of them at the very least soon," the hipster admits. "I'm watching out for number one! Me!" She then pauses. "Now is a bit too early though, especially with all four of those people still in, so I guess I'm going to help him."
Confessional Ends:
Hannah runs over, yelling, "Stand still!"
"GYAAAAAAAAH!" Alfred screams, continuing to flail. Hannah simply rolls her eyes before grabbing at the badger.
"Well Love, here's a concept for you!" Hannah yells out, before screaming even louder, "HATE!" She then throws the badger into the cage as it closes. Don quickly looks at the cage before pressing a button, seemingly turning the badger off.
"That's Hannah's!" Chris yells, having long since gotten the other badger off of him, though the intern that helped him is seen struggling in the background.
"Are you kidding me?" Alfred complains as Hannah shrugs.
"Ah well, I'm off," Hannah turns around, smirking before walking towards her rival.
Meanwhile, Myron and Rory struggle with another badger, desperately trying to keep a hold of it. It then slips out of their hand, running away.
Rory is the first to speak, "Crud, where'd it go?"
The two guys follow its path, running ahead before Myron accidentally runs into Megan.
"Ow, sorry," Myron says, groaning as both get up. Myron turns around to see Rory, whose face is white as a ghost, shock and horror evident. "What's wr-?" Myron asks this as he turns back around, and he gasps, moving a finger up to point at Megan.
"Is it one of the badgers? Where is it?" Megan questions, fear on her face. As Rory and Myron slowly point to her head, her eyes go wide in fear, as even the badger, now revealed to be perched on top of the Band Geeks's head looks worried. "Please don't tell me…." The two guys stay silent, respecting her request.
Behind Megan, Tegan slowly walks up, trying to surprise the badger…. Unfortunately, Megan begins to scream, running around, flailing her arms. This angers the badger, who begins to attack, though Megan is quickly able to throw it off into a bush.
"How'd you throw that while it was attacking you?" Rory questions as he runs up.
"You pick up some strength carrying parade drums." Megan then shakes her head.
"I was so close to grabbing it," Tegan sighs as she meets back up with her group. She then steps ahead, saying, "Okay, let's grab it. Guys, stay back and be backup."
As Rory and Myron shrug and stand back, Hannah sarcastically yells, "You're doing great! Where'd you learn that?"
"Shut up!" Tegan screams back as she and Megan open the bush. Strangely, nothing is inside.
"Okay… where's Love?" Megan asks, clutching the top of her head and looking around worried. The badger in question then runs around, trying to attack her again. As she screams, Tegan runs over and tries to pull the animal off.
"Baby don't hurt me!" The complainer yells out, before shaking her head. "Or her! Don't hurt her no more!"
"That's not how the song goes!" Megan screams out in a mix of fear and annoyance as the two girls try to keep the badger still. Another three of the badgers run up to try and attack them.
Myron runs ahead, trying to help the girls, leading to Megan offering him the one the girls are holding, saying, "Get him in."
Myron looks shocked, "You sure?"
"We need to get at least one of us to finish early, do it!" Megan's response causes Tegan to roll her eyes, but accepts, letting Myron grab the badger.
"Sorry!" Myron yells out desperately holding the badger and running away as Rory runs up to help the girls. Myron quickly makes it to the cages before throwing the badger into the cage.
"And Myron is in the next round!" Chris calls out happily as Don presses the button for that Love, turning it off.
"Wait, they're robots?" Myron asks the pair.
"Yeah?"
"Why'd you make us worry about rabies then?"
Chris and Don look at each other awkwardly as the shot cuts to Richard running back over with what appears to be a large bundle of berries in his hands.
"Alfred," Richard calls out, his voice slightly raised, "hold these!"
Alfred looks back, genuinely confused as he says, "What?"
"Badgers eat berries, create a path to the cage." Richard then looks at Hannah and says, "You too."
"I'm done," Hannah reveals. "Give me a few though, I have a… plan."
"Sure," Richard shrugs. After handing her a few the hipster runs away. The two guys then begin to make a path as Nadia runs over.
Nadia stares directly at Richard, saying, "Can I have some?"
"Why should I give them to you?"
Nadia looks around quickly saying, "I mean, you want two people from that group out, right? You may as well lend me a hand here so it's two versus three rather than three versus three. I'm a free agent and I'm more focused on keeping myself safe over knocking others out." Richard pauses, thinking about the offer before saying.
"Very well, but you're with me and Alfred on this one."
"You're letting her?" Alfred questions, to which Richard shrugs.
"She raises a good point, and to be honest, it would be easier with three people."
After Richard gives the hot-blooded a handful of berries, the three ex-contestants create a path towards the cage. This entices three of the badgers to follow after them.
The badgers follow the bait, grabbing the berries as they walk towards the cage. After they finish eating, they look up at the trio, before squealing and leaping at them. All three dodge, letting the badgers fall into the cage.
"Alfred, Richard and Nadia all finished at the same time!" Chris calls out, genuinely surprised. "Wow."
"WHAT!?" Tegan, Rory and Megan all yell at the same time, realising what this now means.
"Yep!" Chris smirks. "Only one of you is making it to the next round now!"
Rory quickly stands up, saying, "Look, it really should be one of you two, I really don't want to come back to the game as much as others want to. I'll help you, but just know I'm happy losing."
"Really?" Megan questions, surprised by Rory's generosity.
Tegan frowns, before admitting, "Great, now I feel bad."
"You'd feel better with THESE!" Hannah quickly yells, before throwing the berries at Tegan, causing them to fall to the ground.
"What was that for?" Tegan yells. Unknown to her, the badgers stare intently at the berries. Megan notices this and quickly picks one of the berries up. Right after this, Tegan trips over the berries, falling on top of them and crushing the rest.
The badger's all gasp before their eyes turn red, and they begin to growl.
"Oh no…." Tegan gets back up and slowly backs away as the badgers begin to chase after her. Hannah laughs in the background.
Megan holds the berry in her hands as she calls out, "Hey!" she then holds the berry in her hand to show the badgers. The red eyes change back to normal as they run after the band geek.
Megan quickly runs over to the cage and throws the berry in as the remaining three badgers all leap into the cage as it closes.
"And Megan makes six! Rory! Tegan! The two of you are out of the challenge!"
Tegan groans in annoyance, facepalming as Rory shrugs, a slightly disappointed expression on his face.
At the same time, Nadia sighs with relief.
Confessional:
Nadia:
"It looks like the groups are eating each other alive right now," the hot-blooded notes. "Which means, I'm not a target here." The girl sits back with a smirk. "See? It's just as good not being in a group, then it is to be in one… even though Morgan and Katrina were the first two out… but to be fair Katrina wasn't competing and Morgan probably did it to himself some way, I don't know I wasn't paying attention to him."
Hannah:
"That was for getting me out of the game earlier!"
Confessional Ends:
The scene swaps to the remaining six contestants, Chris and Don standing in what appears to be a massive fountain.
"How did we miss all of this?" Nadia is the first to speak.
"Oh," Don begins, nonchalantly. "Playa De Losers is a robotic recreation too."
Nadia blinks, before admitting, "That's a wild thing to drop on us like that."
"Honestly though," Myron turns to Nadia before saying, "we probably should have expected that."
Don then adds, "Sorry guys, I've got to explain the challenge. In this fountain, you are standing on a pile of coins. You have a minute to collect them, put them in one of these six treasure chests. The two contestants with the least amount of treasure in them are out. That's right, it's a double elimination here again!"
Megan and Myron look at each other concerned.
"You're not allowed to take from another person's chest, but you are allowed to move from your own if you really want to for some reason."
Chris then adds in, "We've got a scoreboard for each of you, so we don't even have to count them either!"
The remaining six all look upwards at the scoreboard getting lowered on wires, before nodding in understanding.
"Without further ado," Don says, stepping forward. "I think it's time for you all to get ready to start the challenge!" As this is said, everyone prepares to run, Don steps back before beginning the countdown. "Three… two… one! Race!"
As Richard, Alfred and Hannah run ahead, Nadia quickly makes her way over to Megan and Myron.
"Alright, I'm gonna make it quick, we're all against the first out trio, so we may as well truce and make sure to try and get two of them out this round, right?"
Megan and Myron look at each other as Nadia turns to Myron and adds, "Hey, this is sort of the return of our alliance, right Myron? Just with Megan instead of Jake."
"I… guess?" Myron shrugs, before turning towards Megan. "I mean, I'm down if you are."
Megan shrugs, muttering, "Uh, alright? I guess I'm game."
"Sweet!" Nadia smiles. "Here's to us then!"
The trio then begin to pick up coins, as Nadia says, "You can hand 'em to me if you want, I'll run them back, and you keep looking."
Myron looks up at her before half-jokingly responding, "We don't trust you that much, sorry,"
"Actually, that's pretty fair, the more I think about it," the Hot-Blooded admits, chuckling awkwardly. On that note, Nadia and Myron find some coins and run off to put them in their treasure chests.
As this happens, Alfred, Richard and Hannah huddle together to talk to each other quickly.
"Okay, so we have the numerical advantage on them," Richard starts, nodding.
"Nope," Hannah says, pointing at Nadia working with the duo.
"Hmm," Richard sighs, annoyed before saying. "My strategy could still work well anyways. My idea was that potentially, two of us can team up to slow them down while the other one gets coins for everyone. From there it should be easy to dispose of whoever's left, preferably Nadia, next challenge. However, Nadia is fine to eliminate now too."
"Are we changing who's doing it partway through or something?" Hannah questions him.
"It'd take too long," Richard admits. "To be completely honest, I would be far more confident in this challenge if I was the one to collect coins."
"Fine, whatever," Hannah rolls her eyes before grabbing Alfred's arm.
"Wha-!" Alfred grunts in surprise as the girl pulls him away.
Myron, Megan and a slightly further away Nadia continue to grab coins and watch out for each other, before Hannah walks over, whistling, as she walks to Megan. Hannah then slams her hands down on Megan's handful of coins, knocking them to the ground. Alfred watches from the background awkwardly.
"What was that for?" Megan yells out, surprising everyone with her raised voice.
"Oops, my bad, that was an acc-."
She is cut off by Myron's annoyed shout of, "Hey!" Before slamming his shoulder into Hannah, knocking her over. "Oops, my bad… that was an accident."
Confessional:
Nadia:
"Okay, good to know… don't mess with Myron or Megan."
Confessional Ends:
As this happens, Richard drops some coins into his, Alfred and Hannah's treasure chests, before running off to grab more.
Alfred looks around before sighing, showing uncharacteristic guilt while saying, "L-look Megan… I know we get along so please don't take this personally."
Alfred closes his eyes before weakly smacking Myron's hand, knocking three coins out of the handful. The duo look at Alfred quickly.
Megan frowns at him, asking, "Alfred? Why are you doing this?"
"Well, we're… we're against each other," Alfred admits, quickly, though he does seem to look a little guilty.
"Seriously?" Nadia questions as Hannah stands in front of her. "I'm not even in a group with them!"
"You're working with them though," Hannah deadpans back. "I saw you join them."
"Okay, you've got me there." Nadia then looks at Megan and Myron, seemingly starting to plan her defection.
Over at the loser's bench, Rory sits, looking worried at the group before realising, "Hey, so where's Morgan?"
"I… don't know," Tegan admits.
"He said something about changing what he's wearing," Katrina responds with a shrug, holding the popcorn she grabbed earlier, before offering it to Tegan. "I dunno anything else."
Megan and Myron look around, seeing Alfred and Hannah standing near them, watching their moves.
"It's like they're hawks," Megan whispers.
"I know, right?" Myron says back.
Looking at the pair, Alfred asks, "How're our scores going with Richard?"
Hannah turns around without a word to look while Alfred keeps an eye on the duo. He quickly winks, before turning around, allowing Megan to lead Myron away, running off to grab even more coins.
After being sufficiently comforted about their scores, Hannah and Alfred turn back around. Realising the pair they're watching is away.
"Good job, you let them get away!" Hannah chastises her ally.
"Look, we can find some other way of stopping them," Alfred responds, annoyed as they walk off. Nadia tiptoes around the background.
A few moments later, Megan and Myron return and both drop some coins in their chests. Myron then turns around to see Alfred and Hannah standing in front of them, blocking their path, though Alfred looks considerably less enthused.
As this happens, Morgan walks back onscreen to sit with the rest of the people out of the challenge, now wearing a white shirt with a black trophy on it. His pants now being grey and with a pair of white socks and shoes to complete the getup.
"You could signal a boat with that colour scheme," Katrina quips, eyes rolling.
"Black was harshing my flow," Morgan reveals. "White on the other hand? That means watch out, 'cause I'm gonna kick your butts!" [1]
Morgan then notices Rory being out of the challenge and laughs.
"Shut up," Rory frowns, arms folded.
Back with the ex-contestants still competing, Nadia continues to get coins, as Myron and Megan run over. "Can you help us?" Myron questions her.
"Sorry guys, I've gotta ditch you," Nadia admits awkwardly.
"Wait," Myron says as Nadia runs off. The hot-blooded grabs a handful of coins before running over and dropping them into her treasure chest.
Alfred and Hannah run over to Richard, a large handful of coins in his arms. The rich boy comments, "Looks like we're doing well."
"Indeed," Richard nods back. "We're far ahead of Megan and Myron score-wise."
"Good," Hannah smirks, Alfred looks somewhat guilty but quickly nods.
"Y-yeah!"
Hannah rolls her eyes before asking. "So I guess you have remembered to fill everyone's, so I have to give you credit for that."
"You assumed I wasn't going to?"
Hannah scoffs before saying, "Yes, try to keep up, yeah?"
Richard then puts the coins in the treasure chests.
Elsewhere, Nadia continues to carry coins to her treasure chest. As she drops a few in, she pauses, before looking downwards. She then facepalms as she sees coins right in front of the chest.
Confessional:
Nadia:
"I can't believe none of us…," she begins to complain before cutting herself off, "y'know what? I can't complain, things just got much easier for me."
Confessional Ends:
"And we're down to ten seconds!" Chris yells as everyone looks shocked.
Myron's face twists to fear as he looks at the points he and Megan have and the fact that they're below everyone else by a good amount. He then looks at the pair's score again before a determined glare forms on his face.
Confessional:
Myron:
"No… we're not both losing this one…."
Confessional Ends:
Myron glares, before running over to his pot of coins. He quickly grabs out a handful and drops it into Megan's chest.
"What're you doing?" Megan questions, running over to her friend.
"Letting at least one of us make it to the next round," Myron says, determination on his face.
"Oh no you don't!" Hannah yells, running over with Alfred. However, Myron manages to drop another handful into Megan's pot.
"Five!" Chris yells. While this is all happening, Nadia is simply grabbing heaps of coins from the ground nearby and putting it in her chest on the other side of the argument, not paying any mind to the fight about to break out.
Hannah and Alfred make it over and try to pull Myron away, but Megan stands in front of her friend, trying to shield him with a saddened expression on her face.
"You think you can fit through?" Hannah asks Alfred.
"I guess I might be able to?" Alfred shrugs.
"Good," the hipster smirks before pushing her wealthy ally into Megan, knocking her, Alfred and Myron over. Unfortunately, the scuffle causes Alfred's chest to be hit and for a handful of coins to come flying out. Hannah however, simply smirks, grabbing them and dropping them quickly into Megan's treasure chest. Richard watches this happen from a short distance away with wide eyes.
"Time's up!" Chris yells, before running over as Megan stands back up, glaring at Hannah and Alfred.
"I swear I didn't know she'd do that," Alfred admits, getting onto his knees.
Megan sighs, before saying, "I believe you, Alfred, it's alright."
Chris then calls out. "Wow! That's a twist! Nadia's a very far first place, with Richard and Hannah in second and third respectively…."
Megan, Myron and Alfred all look concerned as Chris says, "And in fourth place is…
…
Megan. And would you look at that, only by one coin! Alfred! Myron! You're both out of the challenge!"
"Nooooooooooooo." Alfred weakly calls out before falling back face down on the ground.
Confessional:
Alfred:
"I lost the challenge… THAT INVOLVED MONEY!?" He then facepalms.
—-
Hannah:
"You're probably all going 'How could you Hannah? They're both on your side, why would you betray them?'" She chuckles, "Simple… if there's a final three challenge, the two of them are friends, and who are they going to target first? Me. If I get one of them out now, then I can team up with the other and get an easy pass to the final two. It's not like Richard saw me anyways."
Richard:
"I saw her," Richard begins. "To be completely clear, I expected her to betray us… that's why I was the one to collect the coins. What I didn't expect was for her to be that obvious about it?" The boring guy then shakes his head, before adding. "Very well, I will just pretend I have not seen that until I get the opportunity to get retribution."
Confessional Ends:
"And with that, we're down to four…." With Don's announcement, Megan looks over at Richard and Hannah with a nervous expression. Nadia walks over with a shrug.
Confessional:
Nadia:
"Well, I've made it the furthest out of the four of us still in during the actual game itself. In fact, I'm the only one of the four that… wasn't one of the first four out. Sort of ironic in a sense."
Richard:
"I am the only male still competing," the boring guy notes. "However I still think I can win this. Even if it mattered to the girls that they could make a final three of one gender, none of them would desire to team up with each other, and none of them hate me enough to focus on getting me out."
Hannah:
"Final four, as I deserve." The hipster leans back. "Looks like I'm getting that mill after all!"
Megan:
"Aaaaaaand there goes my entire group," the band geek sighs. "And I was last place out of the surviving people in two challenges in a row as well. Now I have to deal with Richard and Hannah being in a group together by myself. Maybe I should try to team up with Nadia again?" She then groans, "B-but with her just ditching Myron and I… that's not a good sign with her."
Confessional Ends:
Megan quickly runs over and holds out a hand for Myron, who takes it, rubbing his head while standing up.
"You think you can manage?" Myron asks his friend.
"I hope I can," Megan mutters, however, she shakes her head, "N-no, I know I can! Rory, Tegan, now you, you're all counting on me!"
The camera pans over to Richard and Hannah with folded arms, watching the chat between the two friends.
"Her next?" Richard questions.
"Yeah, she's out next," Hannah confirms. Nadia simply looks around awkwardly as Chris walks up.
"Okay, so we're down to the final four! You guys have made it past the halfway point here! How about we celebrate…." Everyone, including Don looks at Chris, confused before the host says, "...by going straight to the next challenge!"
As if on cue, the scene cuts to later, as the remaining four all stand around, holding paintball guns.
"The paintball one, check," Nadia says to herself.
"It's down to four," Don notes as he walks over. "So we're going with a simpler challenge this time. Paintball targets!" Don then presses a button, leading a few targets to rise out of the ground. "The four of you will take turns, shooting them, hoping to get the most points."
Nadia decides to ask the obvious question, "So, the person with the least points is out?"
"Not… quite," Don begins. "This challenge, things are different. Whoever comes in second gets a free pass to the final round… first on the other hand, both moves on to the finals, and gets to pick who joins them and second in the last round between the third and fourth place finishers."
The remaining four contestants stare, wide-eyed at this reveal.
"We'll have three rounds. Once all four of you have finished all three rounds, then we'll decide the winner."
"Who's going first?"
"We will go alphabetically, so that means Hannah, Megan, Nadia and Richard is the order."
"Okay, Hannah, you're up first!" The hipster walks up with a smirk. She quickly aims her blaster before taking a shot, landing on an outer ring.
"That's five points for Hannah!" Don announces. He then realises he didn't explain the points, causing him to say, "Outer ring is five, inner is ten, and a bullseye is twenty!" Megan then walks up to have her first turn.
"Okay, it's just like strumming a guitar," Megan whispers to herself, before pausing and realising what she just said. "Okay, maybe not a guitar, it's like uhh… some instrument… yeahhhhhh," She then aims the blaster, gulping worriedly before shooting. Megan's paintball shot lands in the inner ring.
"And Megan has ten points!" Hannah glares at this reveal, folding her arms.
Nadia steps up next, a confident smile on her face as she aims her first shot, shoots… and completely misses.
"Wha-?"
"Zero points I guess," Don shrugs. Richard takes this opportunity to walk up, "Maybe Richard can have a better first shot?"
"Seriously?" Nadia sighs.
Richard glares as he aims. A few moments later, he shoots, hitting the inner ring.
"Okay, that's the first round done!" Don yells out. "How about we make this quicker?"
"What?" Nadia questions before Don presses a button, causing a new group of four targets to appear.
"You're all going at the same time this round!"
The four contestants all relax slightly as they all step forward to take aim.
"Good luck," Hannah grumbles at Megan, who simply looks confused.
Confessional:
Megan:
"Now I know how Tegan feels."
—-
Hannah:
"Having a bad guy to focus on beating really does wonders for your motivation."
Confessional Ends:
The four then fire their shots.
Richard and Megan both manage to hit bullseyes, Richard nodding in satisfaction while Megan jumps upwards in celebration.
Nadia manages to hit the inner ring, causing her to sigh in relief, while Hannah misses hers completely.
Confessional:
Hannah:
"Or I guess not…," Hannah groans.
Confessional Ends:
"And with that, we're down to one more round! And the points are… Richard and Megan in a tie for first place with thirty points, Nadia in a distant third with ten, and Hannah in last with five!
Confessional:
Hannah:
"Even if I get a bullseye I'm still only going to be at 25. It may be impossible for me to win now… but I'm at least dragging the rest of the girls down with me."
Confessional Ends:
"Okay!" Don calls out. "We're going back to the one person firing at a time thing this time!" Chris then walks ahead.
"We're also going from first to last this time!" Chris reveals. "Since we have two people in first place… Megan, you're up first!"
Megan gulps before stepping ahead, going to line up her blaster. While this happens, Hannah looks down, picking up a small rock with a smirk.
"Time for a little disruption," Hannah mutters to herself before aiming her rock. Right as Megan goes to shoot, Hannah throws her rock, hitting the band geek on the back of the head.
"Ow!" Megan yells as her finger accidentally presses down on the trigger, sending a shot flying onto the inner ring of the target.
"And that's ten points!" Chris announces. "Will Richard get a better score and pull out the victory? Or will he fail and let Megan win? Let's see!"
"I… got distracted by something hitting the back of my neck, I don't know if that was fair," Megan calls out.
"Don't care!" Chris responds with a smile. "Richard!"
"You can do it!" Hannah yells out to her ally.
"I… appreciate the excitement," Richard admits before aiming. With a glare, he focuses, taking a deep breath, before shooting….
The paintball hits the target on the bullseye, leading to the boring guy sighing in relief.
"That's fifty! Richard wins the challenge!"
"Well, we know who's the bottom two and who won the challenge," Richard notes. "What's the point of doing Nadia or Hannah's third rounds?"
"I'll show you the point!" Hannah growls, cutting in and grabbing the blaster from Richard's hand before walking over, aiming, and getting a bullseye in one fluid motion.
"… that," Chris shrugs.
"And you didn't do this in either previous round?" Richard questions, clearly annoyed even through his monotone voice.
"I wasn't motivated enough," Hannah responds, arms folded.
"I mean, it's not like I have too much of a chance anyways, most I'm getting is thirty," Nadia says, walking over with another blaster, aiming directly at the ground and weakly shooting one shot downwards.
Chris shrugs before saying, "Good point," before turning to the others and saying, "Since we have a winner, I think it's time we found out who's making the final three with them and Megan."
Confessional:
Hannah:
"Ah well, Megan's in the final round, what are you gonna do? At least Richard can send Nadia packing."
Nadia:
Disappointment is evident on the girl's face. "Final four isn't… too bad I guess… even if it isn't winning."
Richard:
"This… is for Alfred."
Confessional Ends:
Don next walks over, before saying, "Richard, for having the most points, it's up to you who you want to take into the final round with you and Megan. Hannah or Nadia?"
"I was so close," Nadia groans.
"Yeah, that's how it goes!" Hannah adds with a smirk.
Richard instead glares before saying. "Nadia, you're in the final round, causing both girls to look up shocked.
"Wait, really?" Nadia's wide-eyed response is evident before she goes, "I-I mean, sweet, thanks!"
"Did you just… betray us?" Alfred walks over, surprised.
"In one way, yes… however, Hannah would have betrayed me at some point in the finale, similarly to how you grabbed out that handful of coins Alfred knocked out of his chest and put in Megan's," Richard explains.
"You got me out?" Alfred questions Hannah, who glares.
"I thought you didn't see me!"
Richard cuts them off, saying, "You made it exceedingly obvious. I was purely anticipating the move."
Hannah opens her mouth with a finger up, about to respond, before sighing. "Okay fine… you win, I was gonna find some way to betray you in the next challenge."
"You were?" Alfred looks mad for a moment, but scoffs, "Well played."
Confessional:
Hannah:
"If he betrayed me first round I would have throttled that sniving rat… but I've calmed down now, between messing with Tegan and outlasting her by several rounds…." She then smirks before saying, "I've still got it!"
Confessional Ends:
"Okay you three," Chris points at Megan, Richard and Nadia. "You're our last competitors! Ready for the grand finale!?"
"Yes!" Megan cheers.
"What's got you so excited?" Nadia questions. Megan starts to go red before Nadia explains, "No, it's fine, this just… isn't how you usually are."
"I-I just want to see if I can win," Megan says with a shrug. "I mean, I have a pretty good chance at least."
Confessional:
Nadia:
"Cute," Nadia smirks. "I'm taking the win though… still though, I hope I don't destroy her confidence when I win."
Confessional Ends:
The scene changes to a small patch of land, as Chris says, "We're currently on a small island with the last three contestants competing!"
"Hey!" Chef calls out, riding over on a jetski. "You sure this island's safe?"
"Yeah!" Chris responds, before saying to Don, "Explain the challenge," Chris jogs over to his friend, causing Don to turn around.
"So… Chris insisted we put on a whole surprise for you guys so I can't just say it to you straight away."
The trio stare on bored as Don adds, "Eh whatever, it's-."
"HEY!" Chris quickly runs back over. "You're not gonna reveal the challenge like that!"
"The first challenge of the season is getting used again," Don cuts back in. "The slingshotting one."
The three look around, sighing in relief.
Confessional:
Nadia:
"Yeah, I can do the slingshot one… seriously though, no fear challenge… I'm kind of surprised here… happy though."
Confessional Ends:
"Well…," Chris sighs. "Yeah… pretty much." Chris then presses a button, causing three walls to burst out of the ground. "Use the cannon balls to knock down the walls and win the challenge. Last one with a wall remaining wins!"
The remaining three look at each other quickly.
"So…," Nadia begins. "Do either of you want to tregua?" [2]
"What's that mean?" Megan questions.
"It translates to the word truce from Spanish," Richard explains.
"Not after what you did in the final six challenge," Megan responds with a frown. "You begged us to let you join the group and then you ditched us when it got harder. Why do you think I'd team up again after that?"
"Perhaps it's more towards me," Richard notes. "Because she also got my help when there were eight left."
"She did?" Megan raises an eyebrow.
"Now hang on a second," Nadia cuts them off. "I said to both of you, do you want to work with me to get the other groups down, and it was at different times. I'm not in the wrong here." She then adds, "anyways, the hipster mafia was out to screw me over too, I had to survive somehow."
"I mean, you still worked with both of us," Richard notes. "That's rather slimy."
Confessional:
Richard:
"I don't actually hold it against Nadia, it's a smart strategy. However, if I can get Megan to do so instead and help her focus on Nadia rather than me… I can get her to let her guard down and then get the victory from under her nose after they have adequately damaged each other's walls."
Confessional Ends:
"Sí, but I've never done anything against the two of you either. I benefitted in ways that didn't negatively affect anyone." [2]
"It could have been Alfred in the final challenge with me," Richard begins, before smirking. "Or Myron with you… but no, she wanted the spot."
Megan pauses, thinking, "You… are pretty right there."
"Now come on," Nadia starts before Don calls out.
"We'll begin the final challenge on three."
Nadia's eyes shift around quickly. "Megan, please listen to me."
"Three!"
"I don't have too many stakes here," Richard begins. "I do not think I can win this… at least compared to you two."
"Two!"
Alfred and Hannah watch the scene from another landmass, as the former frowns in confusion, the latter smirks.
"What's he doing?" Alfred asks. "Is he… giving up?"
Hannah simply chuckles before noting, "Nope… he's using his silver tongue..."
"One!"
"Maybe I can win this," Megan admits, looking determined at Nadia.
"Come on, at least make it fair," Nadia looks around fearfully.
"START!" On that note, Megan looks over at Nadia, before grabbing her first cannonball and starting to aim.
"Look, there's no hard feelings here," Nadia says, as she slowly moves over to her first cannonball. "But if you go after me, I won't hesitate to…."
A cannonball wizzes above Nadia's fort, causing her to frown. "Alright. You asked for it."
Meanwhile, Richard sits down behind the wall, grabs a stick and starts to draw in the dirt. "Okay… so taking my strength into account, the windspeed and-."
Nadia and Megan continue to fire at each other, with Nadia landing the first successful shot on Megan.
"If you really don't want to be reasoned with."
"I need to win this," Megan frowns. "Rory, Tegan, Myron… all of them!" She then aims another cannonball and fires it at Nadia's wall, knocking a couple of bricks out.
"Great… a window," Nadia snarks to herself.
Confessional:
Nadia:
"Jake's really rubbing off on me, I swear."
Confessional Ends:
Nadia aims another cannonball, saying, "Yeah? Well, I need to rejoin the game for Jake's sake. I'm worried about him and Xav in the merge, and whatever Gary has planned. Maybe I can even mend what happened with Xavier and Bob… or heck, even make it up to Bob if he's still hurt with me about the plush reveal. We both have people we're trying to win for, it's not always that simple."
Megan pauses for a moment as another cannonball hits her wall. Nadia explains, "Look, you, Rory, Tegan and Myron were a group, Alfred, Richard and Hannah were a group, Morgan and Katrina were the first two out this challenge, and that left me in a position where I was all by myself. So sure, I got a bit of help from others, but it was nothing personal. And hey, maybe I played a bit harsher than I usually do, but it wasn't meant to be personal to anyone." A cannonball hits her wall.
Megan frowns, before saying, "You're right," Megan looks downwards before continuing. "Even then… I still need to win this…."
"Yeah?" Nadia responds, before adding, "Which one out of the three of us has the best-looking wall right now?" On that, Megan lets go of her slingshot as her eyes widen, looking at Richard, dropping his stick with a nod.
Megan's cannonball flies through the air, smashing into Nadia's wall, causing it to rumble and fall over as the Hot-Blooded jumps out of the way.
"And then there were two!" Chris yells, having since rejoined his spot with Don, before continuing. "And for extra suspense," Chris motions for Don to press a button on a remote, causing a massive iron wall to burst out between the remaining campers, blocking the eliminated campers from seeing.
Megan looks over at Richard, saying, "Why weren't you attacking?"
Richard shrugs, "I was testing the air resistance it would take to hit both walls."
"What?"
"I've got to say though… thank you for being distracted," Richard then walks to the other side and pulls back his slingshot, revealing five cannonballs aimed directly at Megan's wall.
Megan looks horrified at her fate before her face snaps back to determination as she grabs a cannonball and aims it at Richard's collection. "Not if I have anything to say about it."
Both shoot their cannonballs, colliding in the middle. Megan's cannonball strikes the very middle ball, stopping it in mid-air and allowing it to fall down, taking another one with it as both fall.
Unfortunately, that still leaves three cannonballs to strike her already damaged building, knocking it over as she leaps away. Chris and Don watch the scene surprised.
"AND WE HAVE A WINNER!" Chris calls out. "RICHARD GETS THE VICTORY IN THE CHALLENGE!" After a moment, Chris realises, "And without a scratch too, wow."
Megan stands up, facepalming as Nadia walks over, pointedly commenting, "See?"
"Yeah," Megan frowns. "I can't believe he got me like that."
Nadia grimaces before admitting, "In your position… he might have gotten me too."
After Chris drops the wall and the group return to the mainland, Myron walks over to Megan, seeing her frown and sadly saying, "You lost?"
"Second place," Megan frowns in response.
"It'll be alright," Myron nods at her, but Megan smiles.
"I know," she begins, "I'll get to hang out with you more." The two then start laughing as Megan asks, "Too corny?"
"Nah, I can live with it…."
Megan rubs the back of her head as she says. "Nadia really put into perspective that I was being… really harsh then."
"You let the game get to you," Myron says with a shrug. "I know exactly what that's like to do that."
The camera pans to Chris walking ahead, announcing. "With Richard winning. He now wins an all-expense paid trip back into the game!"
Richard pauses, a slightly troubled expression on his face.
Confessional:
Richard:
"The more I think about it… returning might not be what it's cracked up to be…. Especially for someone like me who works in the background… I'm going to have to be very obvious from now on, and that doesn't work well with my game plan."
Confessional Ends:
"So I am… returning to the game?" Richard begins, slowly.
"Well… you could be…," Chris starts. "But we never told you about the other reward you could get instead."
Richard pauses, before saying. "That is?"
"Well… you could choose to join the season and get a chance at a million," Chris begins. "Or, you could stay here… and get the secret reward."
"You're… not revealing it now," Richard notes.
"Obviously, you'd just pick it if I told you…," Chris notes. "Or not, who knows? It's a secret after all."
"I need to think over my choice then," Richard admits.
"We'll give you thirty seconds to decide then," Don says before he and Chris walk away.
"What choice?" Hannah says as she and Alfred walk over. "Get back in there, poindexter."
"Yeah," Alfred smiles, "Do us early boots proud."
Richard raises his eyebrow. "And my interviews with the eliminated contestants?
"I'll take it over," Alfred waves his hand dismissively. "I mean…. They all need celebrity appeal, right? And who's more worth it as a celebrity than the… third? Richest eighteen-year-old on the planet?"
"A drunk gopher would be a better host than you," Hannah snarks, rolling her eyes.
"HEY!" The rich boy yells angrily, stepping towards the Hipster to argue as Richard starts to think to himself.
"Do I want to rejoin the game?" He thinks out loud.
"I wouldn't ignore the secret reward that easily," Nadia notes, "It could be something good."
"Knowing Chris," Katrina begins. "It's a signed photo of himself, and that's worse than being robbed."
"So you're all just going to… alright," Richard sighs, letting everyone give their opinions.
"I'm on team return to the game," Tegan shrugs. "That secret thing's a trap."
"Well, to be honest, I'm alright either way," Rory's the next to speak. "The challenge was hard enough as is, and you're all saying the secret reward is bad, but aren't the rewards set up by the producers or something? Chris might not have any real say here."
"That's a pretty good point," Nadia adds. "Seriously, call me crazy, but there's always the potential that Chris is expecting us to be unsure and is banking on that to make a good reward not be released."
"Eh, I'm not all that into returning to the game," Myron adds. "I'd risk it with the secret one."
"Obviously I'd rejoin," Morgan smirks. "I'm so ready to rejoin."
"How about you Megan?" Katrina questions.
Megan looks up surprised, not expecting to be asked. "Well, uh- I don't- uhh…."
"She doesn't have to answer if she doesn't want to," Myron steps in to help her.
"No, it's uh… it's alright Myron," Megan quickly steps ahead. "Honestly I'd pick to go back into the game."
"Wow… okay I didn't expect that," Morgan admits.
"What? You want the money or something?" Katrina questions.
"Well, the million would be fine I guess… but it's more seeing my friends again, I don't care about the money really."
"You don't care about the money?" Nadia asks. "Who are you? Alfred? A million's a lot!"
"What's with everyone insulting me today!?" Alfred yells out. "Seriously, what did I do to deserve this!"
Hannah rolls her eyes, stopping the fight by saying, "It's a million bucks. If anything else, that's a lot of money".
"That is… if you win," Nadia adds. "I mean, do you really want to have to do all those challenges again?" Nadia then turns to Richard. "Anyways, think about it chico listo, a majority of the people that voted you off are still in the game, and you'll be really visible to them straight away because you returned." [2]
At that point, Chris and Don walk back over, with the former asking. "Okay, it's been… A lot longer than 30 seconds in all honesty… Richard, will you rejoin the game? Or take the secret reward?"
The boring guy pauses at Chris' question, starting to think.
"Come on man," Alfred walks over to him, calmed down. "You'll do great."
"Honestly, yeah dweeb," Hannah smirks. "You better give me a cut of the cash when you win though."
Confessional:
Richard:
"There was already a reward and a double elimination up to this point," Richard explains. "What's to say it won't just be incredibly hard for me being in the game with constant double eliminations or something? It's safer if I just take the secret reward," Richard then chuckles.
"Plus I already have the reward Chris is going to give me if I do all the eliminated contestant interviews." He then stares at the camera. "As well as the fact that I would prefer they don't know my strategy in case I'm to compete again freshly in another season. It doesn't seem like something that can properly work more than once."
Confessional Ends:
"I… apologise," Richard quietly nods. "But I have to take the secret reward."
"What?" Alfred complains. "Why?"
"Weighing my options. I don't think I have the ability to win with the current climate of the game."
"Bullshit!" Hannah groans, walking away angrily.
"So we did this for no reason?" Nadia groans. "I mean, smart choice in the end, but seriously?"
"We still need to tell you all what the secret reward was," Chris notes, a smirk on his face.
"I'm still betting on the signed Chris photo," Katrina admits.
"Good idea, but unfortunately, no," Chris responds.
Don steps forward to explain the reward. "We honestly expected you to accept the spot returning to the game, but… you chose the secret reward… which is…."
.
.
.
.
.
"Fifty thousand dollars."
Everyone pauses, not saying a word. This lasts for a few seconds before the losing pre-mergers call out, "WHAT!?"
"How long was this even planned ahead?" Nadia questions.
"The whole season," Chris begins to lie, however, Don rolls his eyes, before simply saying.
"From about the treasure challenge."
"Come on dude," Chris rolls his eyes at Don telling the truth.
"We got it cleared to give away and it'd have taken more paperwork to set it back to not being anything so we decided to move it to here. A hundred thousand for winning one challenge felt a bit much so we split it in half. If Xavier had left the game and taken the hundred thousand in the reward challenge, then we wouldn't have given the choice. You just would have returned to the game, no choice of getting the money."
Confessional:
Myron:
"I… guess that makes sense?" The nerd notes.
Confessional Ends:
"Well, I am happy to know I made the smarter choice here," Richard admits as Hannah stomps away.
"Alright," Don shrugs. "I'll tell the producers about this then, you'll get the fifty thousand after the season finishes."
Chris pauses, awkwardly looking away. Don doesn't seem to notice. "Yeah, you do that."
Don shrugs before saying, "see you around Chris," and walking off, leaving Chris to end the episode.
Chris looks around before saying. "Alright everyone, you can go now and have fun."
With that, everyone starts to walk away. Morgan, however, walks over to Chris and says, "Hey, what about the whole thing you wanted to tell all of us afterwards?" Chris looks surprised.
"I can't believe I almost forgot!" He yells. "Wait, losers! We have something to announce to you all!
"What is it this time?" Nadia groans.
"All ten of you are going to be part of the various merge challenges!" Chris reveals. "And the best part? You won't know which one until we call you in! It'll make it extra surprising for the viewers back at home!"
The contestants look concerned, as Chris adds, "We'll get in contact with the first person tomorrow." He then chuckles, "Anyways, now you can go."
At this, everyone begins to walk off, including the camera crew before Chris grabs Alfred's shoulder, "Except you, I need to have a… chat with you."
"What is it this time?" The rich boy questions, sounding genuinely confused.
"Trust me," Chris whispers. "You're not who I wanted to talk to."
"Wow, thanks. It's not like I've been insulted or given a backhanded compliment by almost everyone today or something."
Chris rolls his eyes before saying, "This is already embarrassing enough." He then sighs before admitting, "I… wanna see if I can talk to your dad. Do you have like… a private number you can give me so I can get into contact with him or something?"
"You want to speak to Father?" Alfred questions him. Chris nods back. "Hmmm. I could always give you the private inquiries number, it has a far shorter wait time than the regular inquiries line, and father has given me permission to give it out on very specific circumstances."
"Sure, whatever, that works too."
A smirk crosses the rich boy's face. "But what do I get out of this though?"
"What?"
"I want something out of this," Alfred responds back simply. "As Father says, a Stockton never wagers for free."
"I dunno," Chris shrugs. "What do you want?"
Alfred thinks. "Hmm… I can't say I know for sure right now… but when I think of something… I want you to follow through with it. Think of it as a favour to be repaid at some point along the line."
Chris stops to think, before nodding, "Alright, sure."
"Good," the rich boy nods as the duo shake hands. "And no, it probably won't be to just… win. Cause where's the fun in that?"
"Okay?" With that, Chris walks away, leaving Alfred to smirk as he goes in the opposite direction.
The scene cuts to later in the night, as Myron walks over to Megan, wide-eyed and saying, "Mom just called me… she's marrying your dad?"
"Yeah, Dad told me this morning," Megan nods before adding, "Sorry I couldn't tell you before, Dad told me your mom wanted to tell you personally."
"All good, no offence but I preferred hearing it from her first."
"None taken."
"Still though, it's kind of weird thinking about it more."
"I know, that feels so weird," Both then look up and see a camera pointed at their faces, causing both to chuckle awkwardly as Megan says, "… not that there's anything wrong with that obviously!"
"Still, does this mean we're now… stepsiblings?" Myron questions.
"We're going to be," Megan realises. "That… is going to take a lot to get used to." Both contestants then walk over to a punch table and fill up glasses.
"Agreed," Myron chuckles. "Anyways, let's do a toast… to Mom and Mr Andantino's marriage."
"To Dad and Mrs Carter's marriage," Megan smirks back as the two glasses clink together.
The scene cuts over to Chris as Chef walks over, a coffee in his hand. Chris stares at him confused before saying, "Where even were you most of the challenge?"
Chef quickly says, "Uhhhh, I was uh… some-where… y-yeah!" before awkwardly chuckling. Chris glares for a moment but nods, and goes back to normal.
"Well, that's it! Turns out nobody's returning today and Richard's fifty thousand richer. With nobody rejoining, who will be getting eighth place? Who is going to win the game? What will the losers do in the challenges? Find out next time on the most heart-pounding episode of… TOTAL! DRAMA! ELEMENTAL ISLANDS!"
"Aaaaand cut," the cameraman staying with calls out, leading to Chris exhaling some air as he slouches and walks away with Chef.
"You know, Chris," Chris and Chef look up to see Don, meeting back up with them "I'm actually kind of surprised. I expected you to do worse."
"Hey! I'm the one training you!"
Don chuckles, "Yeah, I know I am. Anyways, I'll be off, just wanted to see how you signed off. See you next time Chris." Don then turns around and walks off.
As the other host walks away, Chris rolls his eyes before smirking at Chef, "Guess what? We're golden."
"What about?" Chef questions.
"The kid gave me his dad's number! Well… unless he lied." Chris holds the paper up on the blank side. "Not like I'm letting anyone see this thing except Blaineley."
"Well alright then," Chef shrugs, "are we ready to go?"
"Yeah," Chris smirks before they both go towards the boat.
Morgan quickly runs over, saying, "Hey, you leaving me behind or something?"
"Spend the night here, I don't care."
"Sweet," Morgan shrugs, walking away.
The scene changes to Chris and Chef in the boat, Chris pulls out his phone, goes to Blaineley's contact details, and presses to call.
After a couple of rings, it's picked up as Blaineley says, "Well Chris, that was fast."
"Yeah, it was!" Chris says with a smirk. "Anyways, we have the number now."
"Are you absolutely sure?"
"The kid gave it to me, so if it's wrong then it's his fault, not mine. I'll email it to you when I get the chance. Filming wrapped for the day, but Don's still watching me like a hawk, so we're gonna have to play a bit more on the down low if you catch my drift. I'm only calling you now because I'm literally in the middle of the ocean and I'm only with Chef."
"Got it," Blaineley responds. "Well, if you don't mind me, I'll prepare my talking points then, send the email to me soon."
Growling is heard in the background.
"Don't worry Bruno," Blaineley says off-screen. "I'm just talking to someone, you don't have to worry about me."
"I don't even know how she got that bear as a pet," Chris admits off-handedly to Chef.
"Probably the same way that newspaper girl got Scuba Bear," Chef says back.
"Don't remind me."
"I'll call you back when I've got a meeting time," Blaineley cuts back in. "This might take a while though, especially if you have to wait to send the number. You probably don't need to know it, but rich people don't really have free time often, especially business owners."
"If I probably didn't need to know, why did you tell me then?" Chris responds.
"I dunno," Blaineley shrugs. "Maybe I just like to hear the sound of my voice." She then chuckles. "I mean, you'd do the same to me anyways."
"Whatever," Chris groans. "Can you do that for me now?"
"Yep," Blaineley responds. "See you 'round McLean."
The phone then hangs up, before the host sighs in partial relief.
"Well, that went well," Chef notes. "Looks like things are hopefully gonna clear up reasonably soon."
"They better," Chris begins with a glare. "They may have won the battle, firing me… but the war? I'm winning that!"
Silence befalls the two hosts before Chef states, "That was really dorky dude."
The scene then fades out, as does the episode with the pair chuckling to themselves.
Bonus Clip:
The scene opens back up to all eight remaining contestants sitting around the campfire, bored out of their minds. On the left, the former members of the Electric Tigers, and on the right, the Frozen Lions.
"So…" Xavier asks the rest of the group, "Is there going to be a challenge or something?"
"How are we supposed to know?" Lauren questions him back.
Xavier rolls his eyes. "Well alright, I was just trying to start a conversation."
An awkward silence plays out over everyone as they look around.
Jemma takes this opportunity to ask, "Well, does anyone have a favourite movie? I uh… I like the Triassic Playground series… I guess."
"Oh yeah, they're pretty good," Jake responds with a nod. "I'm a fan of-."
Suddenly, Chris and Chef walk past. Everyone's eyes turn to them.
"HEY!" Gary yells out, annoyed. "Where the heck were you two!?" This draws the pair's attention.
"Yeah," Carol says in a nicer tone. "We've been waiting here a while…."
"What?" Chris sounds genuinely confused at this. "We've… been somewhere else all day? We were seeing the losers. We didn't even announce a challenge."
"Yeah, but knowing you?" Susan begins. "You were going to eliminate us if we didn't wait."
"Well," Chris shrugs. "You're… not doing a challenge today. Uh… what else do you want us to say?"
"Why didn't you tell us earlier then?" Bob facepalms.
"Because I didn't think you'd all just sit here doing nothing," Chris responds, confused. "Your funeral though, you just wasted all day sitting here." With that, Chris walks away.
"See, I told you all," Lauren shakes her head before walking away as well.
"So… we're all just gonna…?" Bob questions before everyone slowly stands up and starts to walk away. The bonus clip ends as everyone leaves.
Merged Cast: Bob, Carol, Gary, Jake, Jemma, Lauren, Susan, Xavier
This episode was a change of pace, to say the least.
I always wanted to do something with the pre-mergers again and so I decided to give them an episode to themselves to break up the pre and post-merge. Don't worry, the next episode will follow up on the drama created in episode 11. Frankly, I'm very excited to get back to the remaining competitors. Doing an episode with the losers where I couldn't work on the main plots put it all into perspective how much I want to work on it all (and to be fair, I wasn't even burnt out or anything, this just got me excited for the post merge).
So Richard won the second chance challenge… and refused the return to the game. Sorry about trolling you all with that, but I felt like this episode needed more spice to it, and a challenge fit perfectly, but I really couldn't afford more than one person doing the fake-out "Nah I'm not competing," joke like I did with Katrina. So I had to give them all the motivation, alongside actually building up suspense.
Even with this being a smaller episode this does have a few developments for some of the characters. First of all, Megan and Myron are gonna become stepsiblings, Hannah seems to have a softer side, as much as she hates to admit it, Megan's confidence seems to be growing, and Nadia has a penchant for throwing chairs! Okay, that last bit is a bit less important, but still!
Oh yeah, and we got more Don screentime and Chris now has the information from Alfred to get in contact with the rich boy's father which he's given to Blaineley. Overall, a surprisingly decent amount of things happened in this episode! Still, episode 13 and 14 are going to be the big ones for plots going forward.
As said near the end, all the pre-merge boots will have a role in one challenge in the merge. And there's no set order to this either. So it won't be Alfred doing the first one and going in elimination order, or even Rory going in reverse. Hopefully, you're excited to see who appears in which challenge.
Anyways, I don't think I have anything else to talk about right now, so I'll see you all when episode 13 gets released!
On that note, see ya folks!
[1]: I bet you're all asking, "Did I include this to change a costume I never liked because I had recently given him a much better outfit in an SYOC I submitted him to that hasn't properly started yet so I, the hypothetical person asking this question didn't even know this was the outfit?" First of all, that's weirdly specific, but second of all, yes.
[2]: Nadia Spanish translations (According to DeepL Translator at least, sorry if they don't match up again this time as well.)
tregua? = truce? (Though this was explained in episode, I may as well do it for completion's sake)
Sí = Yes
chico listo = smart guy (also clever guy, but eh)
1st – 8th: ? (To be revealed next episode)
9th: Rory (The Soft Spoken Jock)
10th: Katrina (The Former Intern)
11th: Nadia (The Hot Blooded)
12th: Myron (The Ungifted Nerd)
13th: Tegan (The Complainer)
14th: Morgan (The Perfect Guy) (Though he isn't off the islands)
15th: Megan (The Quiet Band Girl)
16th: Hannah (The Jerky Contrarian)
17th: Richard (The Incredible Bore)
18th: Alfred (The Influential Rich Kid)