Total Drama Island: For Your Entertainment

After five years of begging, the fans finally got what they wanted from the Total Drama producers: a new season of drama. Putting twenty-two brand new contestants head to head on a new American island film set to compete in pop culture-based challenges for a $1,000,000 cash prize, Chris McLean and Chef Hatchet return for the all new season of Total Drama Island: For Your Entertainment.

The Oscars
Allison

Angel

Avery

Camille

Cara

Eric

Irina

Isaac

Josh

Paul

Robert

The Emmys
Donna

Elena

Gabe

Minerva

Monique

Ophelia

Risty

Sebastian

Victor

Wes

Zack

Chapter One: Lights... Camera...
"Chris McLean! Chris McLean! Chris McLean!"

A large crowd of people stood in front of an intricately designed black iron gate chanting a name that had taken over the media in recent weeks. They held up signs with sayings like “We wanna be famous!” and “Bring back the drama!” above their heads, and many were jumping or waving their arms to the rhythm of the chant.

“Move it, move it, out of my way!” Several fans were shoved to the ground by a tall, curly haired blonde who was elbowing her way through the crowd. She stood in front of the doors of the gate and brushed off her dress. She then pulled out a microphone from behind her back and gave a fake smile to the cameraman who had just finished pushing through the crowd after her.

“Are we on?” She muttered through perfect white teeth. The cameraman nodded and she began to speak in the overly dramatic voice of a woman who could only be a television personality. “Hello everybody! Rachel Claire of RealityGossip coming live from in front of the newly opened McLean Studios! In just a few moments the long-awaited new season of the Total Drama series will be starting! I know that almost the entire country has been waiting for this day to come and only RealityGossip will be able to get the live inside scoop on the show!” The gates behind her started to creak open and a spotlight turned on from behind them. “Looks like the drama is already starting!”

The reporter backed away as the gate swung open. The crowd continued their chant as a dark silhouette stepped in front of the light and began walking towards them. Once the figure got through the gate, the spotlight turned off to reveal the handsome face of Chris McLean.

“Welcome to Major City everybody!” he shouted over the roaring crowd. The cheering continued to get louder until Chris put up his hands to quiet them down. “Man, have we got a show planned for all of you dudes and dudettes! Who’s in the mood for some action?!”

The crowd erupted into cheers.

“Some crazy challenges?!”

A few rowdy teenage boys started hollering in the front row.

“Some romance?!”

A group of girls holding up an “I Heart Chris McLean” sign shouted a marriage proposal.

“Some comedy?!

The blonde reporter was trampled as a bunch of fans tried to reach the host.

Chris smirked. “Then welcome to Total… Drama… Island: For Your Entertainment!”

Chris stepped to the side and let the crowd run into the film set as a familiar tune began to play.

(Theme Song)

“Hey, hey, don’t touch the merchandise!” The camera focused back on Chris, who was pushing a rabid fan attempting to touch his hair away from him. “Seriously, do you think I wake up looking this good? This hair takes time and money!” As the fan was pushed to join the rest of the crowd behind a set of red velvet ropes, Chris realized that the camera was on him. “Oh, are we rolling? Eh, they can just edit that out later. But welcome to McLean Studios! This lovely film set, owned by and named after the most amazing person ever, is going to be the setting of the new season.”

Chris looked down at his watch. “I’d give you the tour, but we’re kind of running on a tight schedule and I’m lazy so it’s not going to happen. You’ll figure the place out after a few episodes anyway. Here we are at the side entrance of the film lot. Our twenty-two new contestants are going to be arriving shortly via our high quality transportation services.”

As if on cue, a junky bus pulled up at the side entrance and spit a murky gray cloud of smoke from its tailpipe. “Major City Public Transportation” was written across its side along with a few ads.

“There’ll be two more buses arriving in the next few minutes. Since everybody had to come in by plane we kind of just randomly grouped the contestants onto the buses as their flights arrived at the airport.” Chris explained as the doors to the bus opened with a tired hiss. “This first bus has been waiting for a while now, so its riders will probably be a bit grouchy.”

“I would consider grouchy to be an understatement.” Chris turned to look at the first person who walked off the bus, a boy dressed in a white button down shirt and a black tie. He glared at Chris. “Do you enjoy making people of my status wait long periods of time in a vehicle as disgusting as this dumpster on wheels? I don’t even think rats or cockroaches would be dumb enough to sit in a vehicle like that for that long!”

Chris just smiled through the teen’s complaining. “Everybody, meet our first contestant Gabe!”

“That’s Gabriel James Patterson the Fourth to lowlifes like you Chris.” Gabe sneered.

“Dude, where’s your luggage?” Chris questioned. “Didn’t you bring any clothes with you?”

“Ha. Like I’d let my designer suitcase touch the chewing gum covered floor of that bus.” Gabe rolled his eyes and clapped his hands twice. On that cue, a car pulled up behind the bus and a man in a suit exited the vehicle with a single suitcase in hand. He handed it to Gabe, who smirked. “Thank you Wilton.”

“My pleasure, sir.” The man drove off as quickly as he came, leaving the crowd slightly baffled.

Gabe, on the other hand, saw nothing wrong with this. “So, when are the other losers going to exit the bus?”

“Um, excuse me?” A girl spoke from the doorway of the bus, her voice accented with a Boston twang. “Did you just call me a loser?”

“Please welcome Risty to the island!” Chris announced as the girl stepped off the bus, a large luggage rolling behind her and a soccer ball under her arm. The most notable thing about Risty was the big, curly hair she was sporting. Her hair bounced with every step as she marched up to Gabe with a glare on her face.

“Oh, I’m sorry,” Gabe said with mock kindness. “Were you talking?”

“You’re lucky I’m not meaner,” Risty scowled, “or this soccer ball would have somehow managed to have hit you in the face.”

“Guys, guys, save the drama for later,” Chris interrupted the argument. “I still have twenty more contestants to introduce.”

“Make that nineteen more.” Another girl exited the bus, though she seemed to be the opposite of Risty appearance-wise. She had simple brown hair and a frown on her fairly pretty pale face.

“Meet Belladonna,” Chris introduced as the girl hopped off the bus, dragging two suitcases behind her.

“It’s Donna.” She corrected when she passed by him.

“Okay, Donna then.” The host smiled. “Why the long face, bra?”

“You know I never wanted to be on the show, Chris.” Donna replied, standing beside the other two contestants. “This is just some stupid social experiment my parents are forcing me into.”

“Way to be Debbie Downer,” Chris commented as a girl wearing long formal dress walked off the bus. “Let’s give a warm welcome to Camille.”

Camille looked around the film set with an expression of absolute wonder on her sweet face, light green eyes wide in amazement. “Wow, so this is what a bus stop looks like!”

“Um, this is actually a film set,” Chris clarified, speaking slowly as if speaking to a child. He received a blank look from Camille. “You know… where we’re having the show?” No response. “Where they make movies?” Silence. “Where you’ll be staying for the next however many days you remain in the competition?”

“Oh, don’t be silly Mr. Chris!” Camille waved her hand in a pish posh manner. “You don’t stay at a bus stop! You stay at a hotel!” She laughed and walked over to the three previously introduced contestants, carrying a large bag and a little red purse with her. She gave them an innocent smile. “Hello, my name is Camille. It’s a pleasure to meet all of you since I’ve never met real life poor people before.”

“I am anything but poor!” Gabe crossed his arms and stuck up his nose. Donna rolled her eyes at the girl’s comment but Risty put a hand on the confused girl’s shoulder.

“Camille, you have a lot to learn.”

“Yeah, she doesn’t get out much. But here’s a contestant who I think a few of you will recognize: the beautiful Irina Rostropovich.” A wide smile spread across Chris’s face as he spoke the next name. “She’s the younger sister of Renata Rostropovich, the beautiful Russian supermodel who rose to fame when she ripped out a certain talk show host’s weave on live television. I’d get ready if I were you dudes at home, because supposedly Irina’s better looking that her sister.”

Chris managed to fit in a wink before the camera zoomed onto a beautiful girl stepping down from the bus with a pale pink rolling luggage at her side. She had to be almost six feet tall and was definitely the blonde bombshell Chris was talking about.

“That is definitely not how I wanted to be introduced onto the show.” Irina commented, her voice carrying a hint of a European accent. “But thank you I guess.”

As Irina walked over to join the other four contestants, Chris was practically drooling. Another contestant walked off the bus and joined him, the transfixed slack-jawed look on his face identical to the host’s. Eventually Chris snapped out of it and turned to look at the brunet beside him.

“Oh, right, this is Paul!” The host introduced, making the green-shirted boy direct his eyes away from the model.

“Hello Chris,” Paul smiled, obviously pretending as if the previous minute of staring hadn’t happened. “I can’t wait to win the competition and get my ‘I Won a Reality Show’ badge.”

“Paul’s a Boy Scout, if you couldn’t already guess.” Chris explained for the audience.

“And I’m proud about it.” The brunet smiled, putting up the Boy Scouts’ three-fingered salute. “Oh my honor, I will do my best-”

“Yeah, keep moving dorkus,” Chris pushed Paul out of the way and peeked inside the bus. “Okay, so Zack is supposed to be coming out next- AH!”

Chris fell to the ground as a tiny jet flew through the bus doors and over his head. The jet flew into the air and did a few loops. The crowd observing from behind the velvet ropes cheered at the miniature air show. Just as Chris got back to his feet, the jet flew back at him and he ducked back down with a girlish scream. Instead of hitting him though, the jet landed in the palm of a short boy standing in the doorway of the bus. He had what looked like an old cell phone in his other hand as he flicked a switch on the little jet.

“What was that?!” Chris shouted at the bright yellow haired newcomer.

Zack chuckled as he hopped onto the pavement and pushed the antenna back into the electronic device. “Just an RC jet plane that I built out of scraps I found lying around the bus. Neat, isn’t it?”

The host glared. “You almost ruined my hair!”

“It impressed the crowd, didn’t it?” Zack smiled, offering him a hand. Chris pushed it away and got up on his own. Zack just shrugged and walked over to the other contestants, smiling at Irina when he stood next to her in the group.

The model smirked. “Cute. Try again when you’re older.”

“For your information, I’m almost seventeen!” Zack insisted.

“Fine. Wait a year and then try again when you’re taller.”

Zack pouted and Irina smiled as the bus drove off. A second bus pulled up in its spot at the curb, its bumper coming loose and hitting the ground as soon as it stopped. Its doors opened with a hiss and immediately a boy in a heavy sweatshirt with a sideways baseball cap atop his head leaped out. He ran in circles and dribbled a basketball by his side, a wild smile stretched across his face.

“And the crowd goes wild!” The newcomer exclaimed. “Eric Stoneleigh makes another basket! He must be the best basketball player ever!”

“Can I request that he isn’t on my team?” Donna questioned, her upper lip curled in disgust. She and the other contestants stared at the jock as he pretended to accept an imaginary trophy. Camille clapped for Eric, mostly because she had no idea what was going on.

“I really don’t think Eric needs any more of an introduction than that.” Chris commented as the newcomer walked over to join the others. He attempted to squeeze himself into the center of the group, but everybody stepped away from him as though his attitude was contagious.

“He could have at least taken his luggage with him.” A large eyed brunette said from the bus doorway. She had managed to push a big black suitcase all the way to the top of the stairs and was struggling to get it any farther. “What’s in here anyway? Rocks?”

She pushed on the suitcase with all her strength and it toppled down the stairs. It hit the pavement at an awkward angle and popped open revealing that, other than a few items of clothing and a couple of sports balls, it actually was filled to the top with rocks. Eric received a number of blank stares, but he chose to ignore them as he walked over to retrieve his suitcase.

“Hey, don’t hate on my rock collection.” He glared.

“I didn’t ‘hate on’ anything.” The new girl insisted, reaching her hand into Eric’s suitcase. “In fact, these rocks are wonderful.” She picked up a few similar looking speckled rocks and examined them closely. “Judging by the amount of Manhattan schist that’s in here, I’d say you’re from New York City?”

“Born and raised,” Eric replied. “Now give me back my rocks!” He snatched the rocks from the new girl’s hands and zipped them back up in his suitcase, marching rather proudly back towards the other contestants. When they gave him confused glances, he grimaced at them and growled out, “Don’t. Diss. My. Rock. Collection.”

“This is Cara, this season’s nature lover.” Chris introduced the newcomer.

“Pleasure to meet you all,” Cara greeted her fellow contestants as she joined the group. The camera then shifted back to the bus, where a handsome boy in overalls hesitantly stepped off of the last stair. He looked around the set with his teeth clamped down on his lower lip, his eyes darting back and forth in anxiety.

“What’s wrong with you?” Gabe questioned.

The blond looked suspiciously from side to side once more before whispering in a thick Southern drawl, “I’m looking for the cameras.”

“How’s about we give Josh a nice close up shot to welcome him?” Chris smirked cruelly. Following his orders, the cameramen quickly made themselves visible. At the sight of the first cameraman Josh’s eyes grew to the size of dinner plates and he let out a high pitched yelp. He stood completely frozen in front of the camera, barely even breathing until it became necessary. After a minute of this, Chris walked up next to the southerner and clapped him on the back.

“Oh, you’re going to be so much fun to torture this season.” He laughed before pushing Josh towards the other contestants. As Josh stumbled to regain his balance, another contestant stepped down from the bus. She arched a well-sculpted eyebrow at the scene in front of her.

“What has tall, tan, and handsome so scared?” She questioned.

Josh was unable to answer, so Paul answered for him. “The cameras.”

“Tch,” The tan newcomer pulled a large pair of sunglasses over her eyes and flipped her dark hair over her shoulder, “What kind of an idiot is camera shy and enters himself on a reality show?”

“Don’t you think you’re being a bit mean to the poor guy?” Risty questioned.

“Beautiful confident people can afford to be mean sometimes,” The new girl said. “And Elena Harks is not going to be changing her attitude for anybody.”

“Elena Harks also has a nice pair of sunglasses,” Irina commented when the girl walked past her. When hearing the model’s voice, Elena ripped off said sunglasses and revealed that her expression of superiority had been replaced by a shocked one.

“A-are you Irina Rostropovich?” She questioned.

“Yes.”

Elena burst into a smile and shoved her sunglasses at Irina. “Well, you can have these then! I am, like, your sister’s biggest fan! I’ve seen all of her talk shows and actually bought the DVD for the whole season of The Helen D’Angelo Show just to see the episode where she threw her water in Helen’s face!”

“You can have these back then.” Irina returned the sunglasses to the dark haired girl with a sneer on her face. “I’d prefer not to be associated with my sister if I don’t have to be.”

“I can’t imagine why.”

The blonde glared. “Maybe because she’s always such a-”

“Ladies, ladies,” A pale, brown-eyed teen inched his way in between the two girls, a suave smile on his face, “You shouldn’t be fighting. It’s our first day here.”

Elena raised an unimpressed eyebrow once again. “Who are you?”

“Does my name really matter? ''What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet''.”

The newcomer received a blank look from Irina and Elena as well as most of the other contestants.

It was Donna who broke the silence. “Doesn’t anybody else recognize when a guy is quoting Shakespeare?”

“That was Shakespeare?” Elena questioned.

Donna sighed. “It was Romeo and Juliet. He was pretty much flirting with you guys in the cheesiest way possible.”

Elena and Irina gave the newcomer a glare. He just shrugged. “It’s true. I couldn’t resist the opportunity to speak to two lovely ladies like you.”

“Yo, Victor! Cut the cheese, would you?” Chris ordered. “Seriously, bro, it’s leaving a bad taste in my mouth.”

“Oh my gosh, Chris McLean!” Another contestant rushed off the bus, her blonde ponytail flying behind her like a tail. She stood in front of Chris with an excited smile on her face. “I had no idea you would be introducing us, but I was praying and praying that you’d be the host this season! Would you mind if I hugged you?”

“Haha. Not in a million years.” Chris frowned, taking a few steps away from the girl. “This is Minerva everybody, clearly our new Sierra.”

“Oh, no way am I like Sierra.” Minerva protested. “I might love the show and all, but I don’t think it’s, like, humanly possible to get that obsessed. I’ve checked out some of that girl’s blogs and man is she creepy. The other day, she posted this picture of a pair of underwear that she’d stolen from Cody while she was on Total Drama World Tour and has kept since then. I don’t think I’ve ever seen-”

“Okay, okay, shut up,” Chris pushed Minerva out of the camera’s view as another person walked off the bus. “Our next contestant is Robert!” The well-built male standing beside the host didn’t seem to be aware that he had spoken. He was staring up at the sky as if there weren’t cameras on him. “Yo, Robert?” Chris repeated his name, still with no response. He then snapped his fingers several times in front of his face. “Earth to Robert!”

“Oh, hey Chris!” Robert smiled, suddenly paying attention. “When did you get here?”

“Just go stand over by the other contestants. We’re on a tight schedule.” Chris shooed him off screen before putting his hand to the side of his mouth and whispering to the camera, “Just so you guys at home know, Robert has short-term memory problems from a bad hit to the head. Even I feel bad for the guy and I’m me.”

“Conspiring with the cameramen already, Chris?” A new voice spoke. “It’s a bit early in the competition for that, don’t you think?”

Chris turned away from the camera to see a petite girl in a flared out skirt standing next to him with a casual smile on her face. The bus had already pulled away (running over its destroyed bumper in the process) and she was its last passenger.

“Oh, um, this is Monique, this season’s fashionista.” Chris announced awkwardly.

“As you all will soon know.” Monique added before walking over towards the group, a rolling luggage with the letters “MD” monogrammed on it by her side.

“Stuck up much?” Chris muttered as a third and final bus drove up to the curb. Its doors creaked open revealing an attractive girl with a sneer on her face standing behind them. She slung a bag onto each shoulder before stepping down onto the pavement, her styled hair bouncing slightly in the process.

“Ugh, I swear something must have died in there.” She commented, a New Jersey accent decorating her words. “I don’t think I have ever smelled anything that bad in my life.”

“That’s the lovely scent of public transportation, Avery.” Chris smiled. “At least that’s what I’ve heard. Being my infamous self I don’t have to worry about strange smells on buses.”

“I shouldn’t have to worry about it either.” Avery replied, striking an overdramatic pose and longingly looking into the distance. “One day all of my dreams will come true and Avery Dellcourte will be a household name. When that highly likely event occurs, I’ll be chauffeured everywhere in a lavender colored limousine.”

“Ugh. Barf.” A girl with cherry red hair stood in the doorway of the bus making the ‘gag me with a spoon’ opened mouth and hand gesture.

Avery broke out of her fantasy and glared at the newcomer. “And what say do you have in the matter goth girl?”

“Probably none,” The other girl shrugged, “but it doesn’t really matter. I say what I need to.”

“Puh-lease don’t put me on the same team as her.” Avery rolled her eyes and strutted over to the other contestants.

“Meet Allison, this season’s rebellious goth.” Chris introduced. The scarlet haired girl mock-bowed to the camera before joining her fellow contestants, notably standing on the opposite side of the group from Avery.

Another contestant stepped off of the bus with a devious expression on his face. “Whoa, did I miss a chick fight or something?”

“If you did it was the lamest one I’ve ever seen.” Zack replied, his arms crossed in disappointment.

“Darn,” The dirty blond male adjusted a grimy gray backpack on his back. “Fingers crossed that by the end of the season we’ll end up seeing a fight between her and her.” He pointed at Irina and then Avery. “Preferably it’ll be mud wrestling. Clothing optional.”

“I think you might’ve just earned this show hundreds of teenage male viewers, Isaac.” Chris commented when the blond walked past him.

“Pleasure doing business with you, Chris.” Isaac replied with a smug smirk on his face. Avery and Irina both sneered at him when he walked past. Avery opened her mouth to say something, but she was interrupted by shouting from inside the bus.

“Don’t you dare touch my guitar!”

“Oh, come on tipo! I just wanted to see if it was flammable!”

All eyes (well, almost all since Robert had been distracted by a plane passing overhead) darted back to the bus where a lanky boy with light brown hair rushed through the door. He tightly clutched the strap of the guitar case that was on his shoulder and kept looking behind him. He didn’t stop running until he ran into Chris.

“Oh, I’m sorry!” He grabbed Chris by the shoulders and steadied him before he could fall over. “I didn’t mean to run into you! There’s just a crazy guy with a lighter in there trying to-”

“Wes, I’ll forget it ever happened if you stop touching my shirt!” The musician quickly let go of the fuming host’s shoulder. “Seriously, bro, do you think this clothing is cheap?”

“Considering you seem to have several of the same shirts, I figured you got it at a buy one get eighteen free sale.” A dark haired male holding a lighter exited the bus with a smile on his face. Wes jumped at the sight of him.

“Don’t you dare try and touch my guitar again!” He exclaimed, running to join the other contestants.

“Calm down, man,” The newcomer said. “If it means so much to you, I won’t light it.”

“Meet Angel!” Chris introduced. “He’s kind of a pyromaniac, but sadly enough isn’t our craziest contestant-”

“Oh my gosh, it’s so beautiful here!” A snow white skinned girl exclaimed as she exited the bus, her green eyes wide in excitement. “I’ll bet you that when the sun sets, it’ll cast the most amazing colors!”

“That would be from pollution.” Chris replied with a dry laugh.

“It doesn’t matter why the color is there,” She stated. “The only thing that matters is that it is there.”

Chris ignored the fact that the artsy girl was talking and continued doing his job. “Meet Ophelia, supposedly this season’s whack job.”

“I find that term offensive!” The pale blonde shrieked. “You should never use words like that without proof that they deserve to be called them.”

“How much do you want to bet that your medical records say you’re crazy?” The artist turned towards the new voice with a glare. The final contestant stepped off the bus with a smile on his face, though it instantly fell when he saw Ophelia’s frown. “I didn’t mean to offend you. I just couldn’t resist making a bet I knew I could win.”

“Okay, but I’m watching you.” Ophelia replied, not realizing that the newest contestant had just indirectly called her crazy again.

“And last but not least this is Sebastian!” Chris gestured towards the newcomer as the bus started up again. The vehicle left a thick cloud of smoke behind as it pulled away from the film set. Chris coughed and waved his hands around to try and clear the air as Ophelia and Sebastian joined the other contestants. Once the host was finished coughing, he whispered something to the cameramen that sounded like ‘edit that part out’ and then turned to the group.

“Welcome to McLean Studios, your new home for the next few weeks! If you’ll follow me, I’ll give you the mini-tour while I lead you to your new home.” Chris started marching deeper into the film set and the contestants gathered their belongings and followed him. When the fans started to trail the group, Chris quickly spun around and glared. “Not you guys. Jeez, just because you paid a lot of money to be able to see the first episode of the show first-hand doesn’t mean you guys actually get to do anything special. The producers just put that in the commercial to get you guys to send in cash.” The fans groaned and sighed in unison as they were pushed in the opposite direction by a few burly security guards. Many of the contestants looked on with sympathetic glances, though they were forced to go back to following Chris when he continued to walk.

“McLean Studios,” The host narrated as they walked between a few buildings, “is filled with movie sets from past productions. We probably have any set you can dream of-”

“Do you have a space set?” Zack interrupted.

Chris glared at him. “Yeah, but don’t interrupt-”

“What about a gymnasium?” Risty questioned.

Chris sighed. “Yeah, but I was talk-”

“What about a castle?” Minerva asked. “Or a swamp? Or a school? Or a stage? Or a-”

“SHUT UP!” Chris hollered, silencing the blonde instantly. “We have all of those, so just stop talking!”

Minerva stared wide-eyed at the host for a second before squeaking out, “Fine. Forget I ever asked.”

“Good.” Chris continued on his walk through the film set, leading them through a set that looked like a coliseum. The contestants gaped at their surroundings but Chris continued walking and didn’t allow them any time to stop and stare. Eventually they passed by a set of stairs leading downhill into what looked like an amphitheater from where they stood. “This is where this season’s coation ceremony, the Team’s Choice Awards, will be held.”

“What makes it any different from the Gilded Chris Ceremony?” Irina questioned.

“Well, we sold all of the Gilded Chris statues on E-Buy after Total Drama Action ended.” Chris explained with a shrug. “I’d love to have made more since there can never be enough Chris McLean in this world, but it just didn’t happen.”

“Did you sell those giant statues of you from TDA too?” Paul asked.

“Sierra’s mom bought both.” Chris smirked. He stopped walking when they had reached the center of the film set. In front of the group stood a large building with red double doors and large potted plants marking its entrance. It was three stories tall and the entire front wall of the second and third floor was made out of windows, though on the other sides the walls were solid. Chris proudly extended an arm and pointed at the building. “Dudes, welcome to your new home.”

Most of the contestants gasped in surprise. “We’ll be living here?” Allison asked.

“Yep! With the higher budget we have for this season thanks to my lovely cousin Carla, we can afford a nicer building.”

“It’s not that nice.” Gabe rolled his eyes. “My parents’ mansion is ten times bigger than this.”

“You’ve never been this kind on the show before, Chris.” Sebastian pointed out. “There must be a catch.”

“I’ll get to the catch later.” Chris said as he entered the front doors. “We’ll be calling this building The Hotel because its purpose is the same as a hotel’s: provide a room for you until you’re forced to leave. Here we have the lobby.” The group filed into the first room of the building, which looked just like a hotel lobby. There were several armchairs and couches on both sides of the door as well as a fireplace. A desk covered in papers and folders was placed in the middle of the opposite wall of the room with a sign that read “CLOSED” on it. There were hallways to the left and right of the desk that led deeper into the hotel.

“This lobby is pathetic.” Elena commented. “There isn’t even a receptionist at the desk. Harks Hotels would never leave a guest without service.”

“The front desk isn’t for you, bra.” Chris said. “It’s an informational desk for the cameramen because they always seem to get lost. You won’t ever have to use it.” Elena didn’t seem satisfied with that answer, but Chris began moving down the right hallway. “The hallways down here lead to other rooms and halls in the hotel, but you can explore those on your own time. One thing that is important though,” Chris opened up a door on his right. “There’s a confessional here!”

The contestants peeked into the little room. “Um, isn’t this a janitor’s closet?” Angel questioned.

“Not anymore it isn’t.” Chris laughed.

Confession Cam

Isaac: “So far I’ve gotten a nice place to live, a few hot girls to admire, and a chance at a million dollars.” The troublemaker propped his arms behind his head. “I’ll say this is a sweet deal.”

Gabe: “It is absolutely putrid in here! How dare they force me to stuff myself into this hole in the wall to express my opinion? Don’t they know who I am?”

Ophelia: “This film set is absolutely lovely! I could just imagine a series of paintings of different sets all incorporating some similar element.” She furrowed her eyebrows in thought, but after a minute sniffed the air and smiled. “Oh, and this janitor’s closet smells like lemon-scented cleaning products! Delightful!”

Josh: The tan teen stared with wide eyes and a dropped jaw. After staring for a few minutes, he finally whispered, “There’s a camera in here too?”

“Both hallways,” Chris continued to speak, “lead to the cafeteria and kitchens, where we’ll be going now.”

The host opened the double doors in front of him to reveal a room that was much nicer and cleaner than the Mess Hall back at Camp Wawanakwa, but set up in the same way. There were two long rectangular tables in the room each with a dozen chairs around them. Along the back wall were several large windows with a view of the sets close to the building. To the right was a window where food would be served with a door marked “KITCHEN” beside it.

“So since this cafeteria is so much nicer than the one in past seasons, does that mean the food is better?” Wes asked.

“You see, that’s where one of those catches to living in the hotel comes in.” Chris said as the kitchen door slammed open behind him. “And who better to explain the food to you than the one and only Chef Hatchet?”

The menacing man marched over to stand beside the host, his nostrils flared and his single eyebrow lowered. He was dressed in the familiar attire that he’d worn on Total Drama Island and clutched a few papers in his large hand.

“Maggots!” Chef bellowed, glaring at the contestants and then handing a paper to Chris. “I won’t be cookin’ your food this season,” The contestants began to cheer, “You will.” The cheering immediately ceased. “I’ve come back to the show not to be your cook, but to be your supervisor and medic. I won’t be cooking nothin’ for you. I’ll just monitor your cooking to make sure you don’t accidentally kill anyone.”

“Another catch that I’ll mention while we’re on the subject is that you can’t leave the hotel at night unless you manage to sneak past security.” Chris added. “There will be security guards planted in front of the entrances to the hotel and wandering around the sets. We had to up the security because of the rabid fans and paparazzi that might be lurking about. Those dudes are seriously crazy, like Sierra times a thousand.”

A few of the contestants seemed shocked by the statement (except Elena, who was smiling excitedly), though Josh had the most obvious reaction by turning pale and ducking to try and hide behind the nearest contestant. That contestant was unfortunately Zack, who was at least a foot shorter than him and hid virtually none of the Texan’s upper body.

“Are there any good things about staying in the hotel?” Zack asked, attempting to ignore the cowardly farmer behind him.

“There are plenty of good things.” Chris said. “You guys just don’t get to find those things out until later. You’re going to be leaving your bags here and following me to our first film set.”

Confession Cam

Zack: The spike-haired boy rolled his eyes. “I should have expected that Chris wouldn’t tell me anything. He only cares about the bad things that will happen to us.”

Chris had led the now luggage-less contestants through the doors of a rather nondescript gray building to reveal that they had entered a large backstage area. People talking could be heard in the distance from behind a thick red curtain. There were a few members of a camera crew and sound team milling about but otherwise the backstage area was empty.

“I’ll be separating you into two teams now. I’d recommend you get along with your teammates and don’t be a Heather since you might just need them in the future.” Chris pulled out the paper that Chef had handed him earlier and started reading off of it. “To my left we’ll have The Oscars made up of Paul, Cara, Josh, Avery, Angel, Robert, Camille, Isaac, Irina, Eric, and Allison.”

“This is going to be so much fun!” Cara smiled as she looked around at her teammates.

“Oh yeah. Fun.” Isaac smirked and attempted to slip his arm around the waists of Avery and Irina. Both girls jerked away from him in disgust.

“And the other team will be The Emmys!” The handsome host announced. “This team will be made up of Risty, Monique, Ophelia, Elena, Zack, Sebastian, Minerva, Gabe, Victor, Donna, and Wes.”

“I really think that I should have been announced first.” Elena insisted.

“It was in alphabetical order by last name.” Chris explained. “A few people came before you.”

“Well you should have done it alphabetically by first name.” The dark-haired girl pouted.

“Um, I still would’ve been before you.” Donna pointed out.

“Did I ask for your opinion?”

“Elena, I’m going to give you some advice.” Chris intervened before the socialite could start any arguments. “Why don’t you wait a minute and save the drama for your first challenge!”

On that cue, the thick red curtain raised and revealed a scene on the stage. Four people sat in chairs at the front of the stage with their backs to the contestants. In front of them was a live studio audience cheering wildly.

Chris smiled at the audience before turning back to the contestants, “Your first challenge is to survive your fifteen minutes of fame- literally. All you have to do is keep the audience entertained for fifteen minutes during an interview. If fifteen minutes passes and you’re still on the stage, your team will get a point. If the audience gets bored with you, though…”

The audience members all pressed a button on the arm of their chair and an ear-splitting buzz rang through the air.

“Um, I think the cowboy just fainted.” Allison remarked as Josh fell limply to the ground beside her.

“This challenge sounds easy,” Avery claimed, pushing aside the red haired Goth and unconscious farmer. “I am the most entertaining person here after all.”

“Ha. Easy? I haven’t introduced the special guests who would be interviewing you yet.” Chris smirked. A spotlight shone down on the stage above the first chair. “Our first interviewer is a supermodel, businesswoman, media personality, and the host of America’s Future Beauty Queen. Please welcome Tina Blanks!”

The chair spun around and revealed a beautiful and very familiar face. Her caramel colored hair was curled into dramatic waves, and she broke into a sinister smile. “Some of you are looking ferocious today,” Tina Blanks spoke, using her typical catchphrase. She eyed the contestants one by one and then frowned. “But then again, some of you aren’t.”

“Our next host,” Chris announced as the spotlight switched over to the chair beside Tina, “is a stand-up comedienne and the host of The Helen D’Angelo Show. Please welcome Helen D’Angelo!”

“Hey everybody!” Helen spun around in her chair with a nasally laugh, her short hair moving with her spin. “Jeez, you guys look like you just saw a monster… or maybe Chris McLean. Wait, they’re the same thing!”

“Terrible joke, moving on.” The egomaniacal host glared as the spotlight lit up above the next chair. “I really don’t know how to introduce our next guest, so let’s just say that she makes a ridiculous amount of money and could probably rule the world if she tried to. Ladies and gentlemen, Opal Winfrey!”

Opal turned around in her chair and greeted the contestants with a bright smile. She had a large bag by her feet and lifted out another smaller bag from inside of it. “Everybody who gets interviewed by me gets a gift bag full of my favorite things!”

“Ooh, me too?” Chris asked excitedly.

“During the next commercial break I’ll give you one.” Opal smiled as the spotlight moved off of her.

“Okay then, our final hostess is known for appearing on daytime TV live on weekdays.” Chris blew through the introduction, eager to go to commercial and receive his gift. “Please welcome-”

“Wait just a second!” The doors to the studio slammed open and a curly haired blonde stepped into the room. She glared at Chris. “I think your final hostess is going to be me!”

“Um, who are you?” Chris questioned.

“Who am I?” The woman looked offended. “I am Rachel Claire, head of RealityGossip magazine, and you have granted me inside coverage on this show.”

“Oh, yeah, you.” McLean waved his hand casually as the reporter marched onto the stage.

“I was supposed to get the first interview with the contestants after they got off the bus but I didn’t even make it that far!” Rachel shouted. “Instead I was trampled by rabid fans before I could even get into the studio! I think you owe me!”

“You can’t do that!” The unrevealed talk show host in the final chair protested.

“Um, actually she can.” Chris grimaced. “We have a contract and I don’t want to get into any lawsuits. So she’s the final host and you’re toast.”

“What?!” A trap door was opened beneath the chair and the mystery hostess fell through the floor with a scream. An intern walked onstage with a new chair a moment later and Rachel Claire took the seat.

“So with this surprise twist we have our first challenge all set up!” Chris turned to the camera. “Who will be able to handle these terrible talk show hosts and who will give under the pressure? How will the new teams get along? What will be in my gift bag from Opal? Find out when we come back on Total Drama Island: For Your Entertainment!”

Chapter Two: Talk Show Terrors
“Oh, I got a pair of socks! And some chocolates! And a few candles, and a cookbook, and a sweater, and a hat!” Chris dug through the goodie bag Opal Winfrey had given him, obviously completely unaware that the camera was on him.

“Um, Chris?” The cameraman tried to get the host’s attention.

“Oh, we’re back? Darn!” Chris pushed his bag off-screen and gave the camera a bright smile. “Welcome back to Total Drama Island: For Your Entertainment! During the break, the contestants were randomly chosen to be interviewed by one of our four guest hosts. We’ll be starting off with an interview with Monique once Tina Blanks gets back from doing her hair.”

The camera shifted to a view of the stage. Two of the arm chairs had been pushed aside, and the remaining two were set up across from each other and angled towards the audience. A coffee table and a television screen with Tina Blanks’ name on it stood as props around them. Monique sat in of the chairs with her legs crossed and an impatient look on her face.

“Is she done yet?” The designer asked. “She’s been gone for at least fifteen minutes. I should be done with my interview by now-”

“Hold your horses, beauty like this takes time!” Tina Blanks walked onstage and the audience started to clap. She did one last adjustment of her hair before turning to the camera. “Okay, now that I’m ready let’s put fifteen minutes on the clock.”

An image of a timer appeared on the television screen behind Tina, who pulled a set of index cards out of her pocket. A beep sounded to signal the start of the interview and Tina turned to the camera with a professional smile. “Hey there everybody, I’m Tina Blanks here with my first guest Miss Monique Darling. Monique, I have to say you’re looking absolutely ferocious today.”

“Thank you.” Monique smiled. “I actually designed and sewed my clothing on my own… well, except the shoes. Those I bought.”

“Well, you look great.” Tina replied. “All we know about you so far is that you’re competing for The Emmys team. Why don’t you tell us a little more about yourself?”

“I would love to, Tina.” The fashionista sat up in her seat. “I live in New York City with my parents. I always loved the fashions and designs that I saw in the city, but I wanted to have something better. I sketched out my own designs and then learned to sew so I could make them come to life. So far I have a small fan base, but the fans I have are so awesome. They have this little magazine going around, The Darling Collection. I barely helped at all with that.”

“Nice to have new faces in the world of fashion.” Tina said, stifling a yawn. She was unimpressed and her expression definitely showed it.

Monique glared at her. “Um, do you have a problem with me?”

“No,” A menacing smirk crawled across Tina’s face. “It’s just… aren’t you a bit short to get into the fashion industry?”

The designer looked both offended and confused. “I’m not looking to model, just design-”

“The point still stands.”

Monique glared at Tina. “I don’t see why I would have to be tall if I want to be a fashion designer.”

“Well, tall girls are beautiful girls. The taller you are, the higher the confidence level.”

“That’s an opinion and I don’t see what height has to do with confidence.”

Tina raised an eyebrow. “Then why do you wear heels?”

“Because they look good.” Monique stated.

“Okay, fine, but while we’re on the topic of appearance you could use a makeover.”

The contestant glared at the hostess. “Excuse me?”

“I can see it now.” Tina observed the other girl. “We could bleach your eyebrows, give you a crew cut, and then braid in a frizzy red weave.”

“No way are you touching my hair!” Monique shouted, putting her hands on her head.

“As a matter of fact, we could do it right now!” The caramel-haired hostess smiled. “Oh makeup crew!”

“No! You’re not touching me or my hair!” The designer screeched as a few people with brushes and scissors stepped out from behind the curtain. Monique curled up in the chair, her hands shielding her hair and face. A buzzer rang through the air and suddenly the scene unfolding on the stage came to a halt.

Monique looked through her fingers towards the audience, who all had their hands lingering on the button on the arm of their chairs. Tina Blanks was laughing.

“You witch!” The dark-haired designer pointed a finger at the model. “You were just doing that to get me to panic!” Tina shrugged, beginning to primp herself once again. “It’s what I get paid to do and it sure worked on you.”

“How much longer did I have?” Monique asked. Tina pointed to the timer behind her.

“You had seven minutes and forty-five seconds left. So you were almost halfway there.” Monique marched offstage and Tina laughed again. The mocha-skinned girl stomped by her teammates. A few of them gave her sympathetic glances and Minerva put a hand on her shoulder, but she kept marching by.

“There’s a confessional in the dressing room on the left.” Chris said.

Confession Cam

Monique: “I should’ve known she was kidding! Tina Blanks always does things for attention.” She ran a hand through the longer side of her hair in frustration. “I can’t believe I just humiliated myself on live TV like that. I was the first person to do a challenge on the show, and I was the first one to lose! Now that my teammates saw how bad the hosts will get though, maybe they’ll be able to do better and make up for the point I lost us?” She sighed. “But if they don’t then I’m a goner at the elimination ceremony.”

“So… exactly what are you wearing?”

“What are you wearing? That scrap of fabric isn’t doing anything to cover you up.”

“Do I really have to last five more minutes with this fashion disaster?!”

Back on the stage, Allison was two thirds of the way through her interview with Tina Blanks. The cherry-haired Goth had handled the supermodel with ease- rather than letting the insults affect her, she just turned them around and made fun of Tina. The hostess was fuming at this, but the audience members had wide smiles on their faces, enjoying every moment.

“So,” Tina Blanks attempted. “I really doubt that rat’s nest is your natural hair color?”

“I doubt that thing on your head is your actual hair.” Allison casually snapped back. “How many cats did you shave to make that weave?”

“How many sticks of charcoal did you use to apply that makeup?”

“How many ribs did you break trying to fit into that dress?”

Tina Blanks’ jaw dropped. “Oh no you did not just go there! You can say whatever you want about my hair, my fashion sense, and my show, but now you make fun of my weight?!” The supermodel was practically in tears. “Now I’m going to only eat three apple slices for dinner instead of four!”

“Aw, too bad.” Allison mock frowned, muttering under her breath, “I’m sure it’ll be better than whatever slop one of my teammates cooks up.”

“Do you know how hard I work to maintain a model’s physique?! Do you know the training regimen I go through?!” Tina Blanks shrieked. “Every day I…” The talk show hostess began to run through her daily schedule. The Goth across from her just sat back in her chair staring at the timer. As Tina Blanks spoke, the numbers began to approach zero. When the number finally came, the tinkling of a bell was heard.

Tina Blanks stopped talking for a moment. “What was that?”

“That,” Chris McLean’s voice announced from over a loudspeaker, “was the fifteen minute mark and a point earned for the Oscars.”

“Thank you, thank you very much.” Allison stood up and took an overly dramatic bow for the audience, who were applauding. Tina Blanks was pouting in her chair as the Goth walked behind the curtain. Victor pushed the curtain aside and marched onstage with a flourish and a bright smile, clearly playing up the drama for the audience.

“Thank you! Thank you!” The actor spoke, sitting in the chair and starting the timer. “I am nothing without a captivated audience!”

“I really don’t think they’re all that captivated at the moment.” Tina Blanks rolled her eyes.

“Oh, trust me. By the end of the interview they’ll just be begging to have fifteen more minutes of me.” Victor smiled.

The supermodel sighed and picked up the cards in front of her. “Okay, so you’re-”

“Victor Phae, aspiring actor and hopeless romantic at your service.” The brunet interrupted.

“And you’re playing for the Emmys team?” Tina questioned, her eyebrow twitching at the fact that she’d been upstaged and interrupted. Victor nodded. “So, Mister “Hopeless Romantic”, I’m sure some of your ‘captivated audience’ is curious to know what kind of girl interests you.”

“Hmmm…”

Victor scanned the audience, putting his hand to his chin in thought. After a minute of this, Tina Blanks began drumming her fingers and checking her watch. Eventually Victor got to his feet and hopped off the stage, finger pointed upwards in a rather stereotypical “eureka!” pose. The model hostess watched with a blank stare as the actor began to walk up the center aisle, passing the interested audience members until reaching a row towards the back of the building. He outstretched his hand to the third seat in, where an attractive blonde girl sat.

“Would you care to join me on the stage?” Victor questioned. The girl giggled and took his hand. Victor walked with her back to the stage. “Beautiful golden hair, wonderful eyes, flawless skin… you must be an angel. Definitely my kind of girl.”

“How did you even see her back there past all these lights?” Tina Blanks asked, squinting and attempting to look out into the audience.

Victor smiled triumphantly. “Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind.”

Confession Cam

Victor: “After that little stunt, it was easy to keep the audience’s attention for the next few minutes and get that point. Everybody loves a little romance, no matter how staged it is… not to say the girl wasn’t my type, I just don’t think she is ‘the one’.”

Allison’s and Victor’s interviews made any following interview seem so much shorter. After finally waking up from his unconscious state via cold water bucket, Josh lasted about ten seconds with Tina Blanks before passing out again. He was overwhelmed by the lights, cameras, and most importantly the jeering glare and fake smile of the model. The buzzers sounded and the farmer was carted off the stage.

The complete opposite reaction happened when it was Irina’s turn to sit in the chair. At the sight of the beautiful blonde, Tina Blanks leaped out of her chair in fear.

“Irina Rostropovich?!” She shrieked.

Irina gave her a confused glance. “I’m sorry, have we met before?”

“No, but I’ve met your demonic sister!” Tina clutched her hair. “She’s the one who ripped out my weave! Please don’t hurt me! I can’t imagine what you could do to me that’s worse than that!”

“Just because Renata and I are sisters doesn’t mean-”

“Don’t! I’m sorry! I didn’t mean it!”

Irina’s eyebrows furrowed. “I really would never hurt you-”

“Please, please, please, just leave my hair alone!”

Seeing that there was no reasoning with Tina, Irina quickly introduced herself to the audience and then sat in silence for the next fifteen minutes until the bell signaling a point earned tinkled. Irina and Tina Blanks left the stage to make room for the next hostess and set of contestants.

“Hello everybody!” Opal Winfrey emerged from behind the curtain, a wide smile on her face. “I cannot wait to meet all of these wonderful contestants!” The audience cheered as Opal sat down and pulled out her index cards. “So, how’s about we see who’s first, huh?”

The spotlight shifted to focus on Wes as he walked onstage. He smiled and sat in the chair across from Opal, starting the timer. Wes’s feet bounced in anticipation and his smile grew. “I really can’t believe I’m talking to Opal Winfrey right now! It’s amazing to be able to meet you.”

“Why thank you,” Opal replied. “Why don’t you introduce yourself to our audience?”

“Okay,” Wes turned to face the camera. “My name is Wesley Winfrey, but you can call me Wes. I’ve always been a big fan of the show, and I’m so glad I got the opportunity to actually be on it. I’m a musician, and even though I haven’t really done anything with my music yet I hope to make a living off of performing one day.”

“Hmm… a sweetheart and a musician?” Opal questioned. “So you’re like Trent 2.0, huh?”

“Maybe original Trent,” Wes replied. “I liked him during Total Drama Island, but he’d turned into a real jerk after one season. He sold out to the Drama Brothers and then broke up with his girlfriend by text message. I really can’t support somebody who does that, no matter how nice he seemed.”

“And why do you want to win the money?”

“For my family. I really don’t know what I’d do with it if I kept it for myself, and my mom could really use it. That and my brother’s kind of in… well, let’s just say a tough place right now, and he could really use some bailing out.”

Opal Winfrey began applauding Wes. The lanky teen watched her with uncertainty. “This,” Opal began, “is a quality young man. I wish more teenagers these days would be as warm hearted and honest as he is being with me right now. This generation is desperately in need of more inspirational people in their age group, and having a boy like Wes on television will serve as a role model for any younger viewers. Maybe it just runs in the family…”

Wes’s amazed smile fell at that last line. “Wait, what?”

“Well, we share a last name.” Opal pointed out. “That and the fact that we’re both remarkable people capable of changing the world must mean that we’re related.”

“Um… I really don’t think we are.” Wes insisted. “My father might not be around, but I’m pretty sure my mom would’ve told me if I was related to Opal Winfrey. I mean, you’re Opal Winfrey. You’re a big deal.”

“Oh, come on Wesley. Don’t you see the resemblance?”

Wes looked wide-eyed at the plus sized, dark skinned, dark haired hostess and then down at his lanky and fair appearance. “Um… I really don’t see it.”

“No, trust me.” Opal crossed her arms to show she was standing her ground. “We’re related.”

Confession Cam

Wes: “Opal must have gone on for eleven of the fifteen minutes insisting that we’re related. No offense to Opal or anything, but there is no way we’re related and nobody told me. It’s not like all the Smiths and Joneses of the world are related just because they have the same last name.” Wes shrugged. “I guess sitting through that was worth the point for the Emmys though.”

Cara was the next contestant to sit with Opal. After Cara shared a few of her hobbies including her love of saving the environment and working with various animal shelters, Opal broke out into another speech about the teenage generation needing role models like her. Similarly to what she did to Wes, she ranted for several minutes about how Cara would be a positive influence on all young viewers. Cara didn’t say much, just sat wide-eyed as Opal talked all the way up to the bell.

Risty was up next, though her hair seemed to make a bigger impression on Opal than her actual personality. The hostess got up to pull on the curls and began to advertise for a brand of shampoo the second the athlete sat down. Risty sat with her arms crossed and lips pursed, clearly annoyed that Opal was using her segment to advertise. The hostess didn’t seem to care though and instead launched into a ten minute rant about keeping “your personal hair type” healthy. By the time Risty was able to talk about her family and her background in athletics, her fifteen minutes were up.

Ophelia had brought an entire stack of paintings with her to display for the audience. She talked about her inspiration for painting this series- people watching at the mall combined with watching flowers in the park. All of the paintings depicted people with flowers for faces, petals sprouting from their limbs, or vines and thorns wrapping around their legs. Opal began with an outburst about how schools couldn’t cut the art program because wonderful artists like Ophelia would never have the opportunity to emerge. Ophelia agreed and joined in on the rant. This went on for the remainder of the fifteen minutes.

By the time Avery strutted onstage it seemed the audience wasn’t willing to defy Opal. Their hands wouldn’t even linger near the buttons on their chairs, clearly intimidated by the hostess’s social status. The green-eyed Jersey girl sat with her legs crossed, her hands folded, and a confident smile on her face.

“Okay, so why don’t you introduce yourself for the audience?” Opal requested, as she skimmed her index cards.

“My pleasure,” Avery turned to look at the audience, adding in a dramatic hair flip for flair. “My name is Avery Dellcourte. I’m sixteen years old, from Summit, New Jersey, and one day I’m going to be famous, whether it’s from this show or not. At my school I’m already a star: I am class vice president, lead in the drama club, head cheerleader, president of the debate club, director of the school play, soloist in the chorus-”

“Oh, so I take it you’re very involved with your school’s organizations?”

“Um, kind of.” The brunette replied. “See, I’m kind of a take charge person, so if I don’t like something I change it. So, even though I wasn’t a part of the cheerleading squad I was disappointed in how dreary they were. One day I showed up at one of their practices and took over. Same thing with the unenthusiastic drama club, or the unsuccessful community service club, or the off key chorus. All these groups were terrible, so I fixed them and made them wonderful.”

Opal glared. “That seems a bit selfish, don’t you think?”

“Well, if it was somebody else then yeah.” Avery waved her hand in a nonchalant manner. “But since it’s me doing this, there’s nothing to worry about.”

“People, this is what I’ve been talking about.” Opal turned to the audience. “This girl is the perfect example of a teen that could use a good role model. She doesn’t seem to have any morals and instead steals positions from her classmates. She clearly has no modesty, and she should use one of the previous contestants as a basis for her behavior. If only Avery had a friend like Cara, who could show her how to be a decent human being.” Avery shrieked in protest, but Opal continued to speak. “Now I would encourage you to press those buttons and send her offstage. She doesn’t deserve a point.”

“Excuse me?!” Avery got to her feet. “Who gave you the authority to-” The brunette was interrupted by a loud buzzer signaling that she’d lost her point. “Really?! She swayed your opinions that easily?! Why are you letting her boss you guys around?!”

“Goodbye, I need to make room for my next guest.” Opal smirked as a crew member emerged from behind the curtain and escorted Avery offstage.

Confession Cam

Avery: The olive skinned brunette sneered and did her best Opal Winfrey impersonation. “’You’re such a bad influence. Maybe you should be more like Cara.’” She rolled her eyes. “Tch. Yeah right. Like I’m going to waste my time with the environment when I could be focusing on myself.”

Back on the stage, Opal was dabbing at her eyes with a handful of tissues as Robert shared the story about his injury. Many of the audience members had broken into tears, but the absentminded footballer was perfectly calm as he reflected on the incident.

“Apparently I had been unconscious for seven days,” Robert spoke. “I can barely remember the incident even happening. Only bits and pieces. The football hitting my head isn’t familiar at all. I do remember that when I woke up my parents and all three of my siblings were in the hospital room. It was like they knew I was going to wake up right then, like they could sense a miracle was happening.” The broad-shouldered teen’s voice remained level, though Opal now had tears running down her face. “They said I had memory loss. I can remember parts of my life growing up, but I can still tell there’re some bits that are lost. There’s a huge blank spot when I try and remember anything from a good chunk of elementary school. All of those years kind of blend together.”

Robert fidgeted a little, the topic suddenly becoming more awkward as he strayed away from the actual incident. “I was supposed to have a scholarship to Indiana U. This year my grades got so low because of my memory issues though that I lost it. I guess I can deal with it and hope for the best… it still hurts though, knowing that I could’ve had a definite chance of making it into the college of my dreams. But I’m not going to lose hope.”

“You’re very brave Robert.” Opal commented, leaning over to place a hand on his arm. “I haven’t heard a story like that in a long time.”

“Thank you Miss… um…” The fifteen minute bell rang, distracting Robert from the forgotten name. “Oh, that means I get a point, right?”

“It sure does!” Helen D’Angelo shouted, dancing in from behind the stage and breaking the somber setting. “Make room for me, Opes, it’s my turn to show off to the audience.” The mood on the set was instantly brightened as the blonde boogied over to take Opal’s place. After Opal and Robert left the stage, the spotlight shone down on Helen. “Man, do I have a lineup for you! Says here on these handy dandy cards,” She held up her index cards for the audience to see, “that I’ll be chatting with a hotel heiress, a Boy Scout, a blabbermouth, a bad boy, and a boy genius!” The audience cheered, their spirits quickly lifted just by Helen’s presence. “So, how’s about we start with our Boy Scout? Paul, get out here!”

Lively music began to play as Paul pushed past the curtain. He sat down in the seat across from Helen with a smile on his face. “This seems like so much fun!”

“Trust me. You’ll be glad you got me as your host rather than that screwball Tina Blanks or our future president Opal.” Helen insisted. “Says here you’re Paul Adams. You have brown hair, blue eyes, and a strange birthmark on your lower back in the shape of-”

“Let’s not share that with the audience!” Paul interrupted. “How’s about we talk about camping? Or politics? Or something else I know a lot about?”

“Okay… let’s see… whoa! This says you’ve been a Boy Scout for twelve years?” Helen gaped. “Is that even possible?”

“I’m proud to say yes.” Paul gave her a salute. “I’ll be done at the end of this year though.”

“Want to hear some Boy Scout jokes?” The hostess smirked. Paul shook his head no, but the audience shouted a harmonious yes. “Okay, so there’s a Boy Scout hiking in a park and he gets chased by a grizzly bear. He runs and runs and finally makes it to safety at the ranger’s station but when he gets there is arrested. The reason? It’s illegal to run through the park with a bear behind.”

The audience erupted into laughter while Paul grimaced. “That was kind of inappropriate.”

“Okay, okay, how about this one?” The short haired hostess thought for a second. “Okay, so these two Scouts are out camping. After they set up their tent, they fall asleep and a few hours later wake up. The first guy says to the other, ‘Look at the sky and tell me what you see’. The other guy says ‘Stars’, so the first asks ‘what does that tell you’. The second guy goes off on this long rant about astrology and astronomy and meteorology, but the other guy just smacks him on the back of the head. ‘You moron,’ he says, ‘it means somebody’s stolen our tent’.”

The audience laughed but Paul raised an eyebrow. “I really don’t think that’s funny. One time when I was camping, our tent was ripped apart by a bear while we were off fishing. It was more traumatizing than it sounds.”

Helen sighed. “Okay, okay, this one’s bound to make you laugh: what’s brown and sticky?” Paul sneered at the possibilities for a punch line. “… A stick!”

A minute passed before Paul threw his head back in laughter.

Confession Cam

Paul: “At first I was really offended by some of the things Helen was saying. It was like she wasn’t taking my Boy Scouting seriously. That sticky one though?” He began laughing. “It was so lame it was funny.”

When Paul’s interview ended, Elena walked onstage. She sat glaring at Helen D’Angelo, though the short-haired hostess seemed ignorant of that fact. She just read Elena’s basic information aloud from her index card and questioned her excitedly about being a Harks daughter. Elena was sharp and brief with her answers, which began to annoy Helen. When she asked what Elena’s problem was, the socialite sneered.

“Oh, I don’t know. Maybe because I know you’re checking me out.”

Helen D’Angelo laughed. “What are you talking about?”

Elena crossed her arms. “I’m talking about the fact that you’re gay and it’s disgusting.”

The hostess furrowed her eyebrows. “Well, I’m sorry you feel that way but that really shouldn’t affect our interview-”

“How am I supposed to ignore something that’s right in front of me? It’s gross!” Elena shouted. “In fact, do you remember when you had Renata Rostropovich on the show and she splashed water in your face and stormed away? If I had water right now, I’d do the exact same thing! If there was only one thing I could hate in this world, it’d be-”

The heiress was interrupted by the buzzer going off and a pair of burly crew members coming to remove the ranting socialite from the stage. Elena kicked and squirmed, but eventually they got her backstage. Helen sighed in relief.

“I’m glad that’s over.” She said, looking down at her index cards. “How’s about another interview that will hopefully lighten the mood? Please welcome Isaac to the stage!”

Isaac, however, did not lighten the mood. In fact, the blond slacker did practically nothing when Helen asked him questions. He’d respond with a “yep”, “nope”, “uh huh”, or “I dunno” to every question, eyes half lidded and clearly unexcited to be there. After a few minutes of this, the audience pressed their buttons out of pure boredom. Isaac shrugged and left the stage, and Helen looked after him with a confused stare.

Minerva was next and she was an instant match for Helen D’Angelo. Unlike the other contestants who had ignored the dance music that played when they arrived onstage, Minerva launched into a full dance routine, which Helen joined despite not knowing the steps. When they finally sat down, they instantly found many things in common and chatted avidly about. The only problem with this instant similarity was that they shared one unfortunate trait: never shutting up. The audience could only stare as Minerva and Helen attempted to out talk each other, their voices going so fast they sounded like a movie on fast forward. Eventually the bell signaling Minerva earning a point rang, but the two blondes didn’t stop talking until a few crew members stepped onstage and stopped them.

When Minerva left the stage, Zack pushed past the curtain and approached Helen. The short boy had a shoe box underneath his arm and a mischievous smile on his face.

“Oh please tell me that hair color isn’t natural.” Helen smiled at him. “I’d be so jealous.”

“Don’t worry, it’s not.” Zack smirked, running a hand across his lemon-colored spikes.

“Okay, so you’re Zack Hill and you’re an amateur inventor?” Helen read from her card.

“Well, I wouldn’t exactly say amateur. For example, I have this lovely contraption of mine that I’d like to show you.”

He opened up the shoe box and removed what looked like a television remote. “I made this baby at home from a few scraps lying around the house.” He pressed the power button on the remote control and whatever was inside the box began making a whirring sound. A few button pushes later, a green and black object launched itself out of the box and grabbed onto an overhead light. Helen shrieked and flinched away from the object.

“What is that?!” She screeched as he pressed another button and it hopped on top of one of the props on the stage.

“This,” Zack said, pressing another button so that the invention would land on the arm of his chair, “is the Frogclaw 2.0.” The hostess leaned in to get a closer view of the gizmo. It looked like it had at sometime been a remote control car, though its wheels had been removed. In their place were four long pieces of metal that looked like they should be on the end of a grappling hook rather than a toy. Protruding from the middle of the bottom of the car was a coil with a flat piece on the end.

“What does it do?” Helen questioned. “Other than terrify people, I mean.”

“The Frogclaw 2.0 was designed to reach things at high heights without endangering yourself in the process. For example, let’s just say I wanted to get that rope hanging from the ceiling.” Zack pointed at a certain spot above them. “I just press a few buttons until it’s lined up with its target…” He pressed a few numbers and the top of the gizmo spun around a few times until the windshield of the car was facing the rope. “And then it leaps!”

One more press of a button and the car sprung from the arm of the chair and into the air. Once it reached the rope, its claws clenched and grabbed onto it. The device dangled in the air, its grip tight on its target.

“If that was a kite in a tree or a pair of shoes slung over a power line they’d be on the ground by now.” Zack insisted. “Unfortunately that rope is attached to something else, so it’s not moving.”

Helen had an excited grin on her face. “Can you try grabbing something else?”

“Sure!” Zack fiddled with the remote for a second and then pointed to a light several feet away from where the Frogclaw was now. “It’s going to hang upside down from this light now.”

Another button and the contraption leaped onto the light. The audience cheered. Zack continued to press buttons and his invention hopped all over the set, impressing the audience and Helen D’Angelo. The technophile was relishing in the applause, until in true Total Drama fashion something went wrong.

That something happened to be when the Frogclaw grabbed onto a rope that was hanging from an overhead beam. Unbeknownst to Zack, this rope was actually attached to the stage curtain. When the gizmo grabbed onto it, the rope was yanked downward along with the entire curtain. Zack and Helen D’Angelo both screeched as the heavy curtain fell on top of their heads, exposing a little bit of the backstage area (though most of it was covered up by a second curtain). Helen and Zack’s forms were still obvious under the curtain, and though the audience seemed ready to press their buttons the point bell rang. Zack lifted his arms up in celebration under the curtain and wooed in happiness.

Confession Cam

Zack: “That. Was. Awesome!” The inventor screeched. “Seriously, that was completely unplanned but with the best possible outcome! Not only did I make an impression, but I got us a point while doing it!”

Chris McLean: The host sighed. “Seriously, we’re not even done with the first episode and our set’s already falling apart?”

Once the stage was deemed presentable enough for the remaining interviews, Rachel Claire walked onset with a cup of coffee in her hands. She looked around at the repaired curtain and shook her head in disappointment. The red drape had been stapled to the wall and was hanging crooked above her.

“Seriously?” The curly-haired hostess groaned. “This is the best you could do?” She sat down in the chair that was set up for her and put her coffee mug down. She fished out her index cards from her dress and read through them quickly. Eventually she called backstage, “Bring out the first contestant!”

Angel was pushed out from behind the curtain. The Puerto Rican teen sat across from Rachel Claire and started the timer, not intimidated by her irritated facial expression. The hostess shuffled through her note cards once again before pulling one out of the pile. “Okay, so I’m guessing you’re Angel Dominguez, right?” He nodded. “Okay, so skipping the lame bio, list me three things that you hate.”

“Um… okay?” Angel gave the hostess a worried glance because of the question, but followed through anyway. “I really hate liars, my stepfather, and my stepsiblings.”

“You sound kind of bitter when talking about your stepsiblings,” Rachel Claire pointed out. “Any life-scarring reason we can use to exploit you with?”

“Just that they’re a bunch of obnoxious little attention-hogging brats who have made my life miserable.” Angel grumbled. “I was fine without them.”

“Okay, so how about some likes?”

“Setting things on fire, making things explode, watching things burn-”

Rachel Claire’s eyes widened. “Are you talking about arson?”

“Not exactly,” Angel shrugged. “I prefer to think of it as a form of art. In fact…” He reached into his jeans pocket and pulled out a red lighter and a piece of paper. “I could show you some of the things I do if you want-”

“No! No! Really! That’s okay!” Rachel Claire yelped.

“No, really, it’s not as crazy as it seems.” Angel touched the edge of his paper to the flame. “See, it just makes a little spark and-”

“I am not taking any risks! I’ve already seen how easily this cheap stage falls apart!” Rachel Claire shouted at the audience. “Press your buttons already!”

The audience did as they were told and pressed their buttons, ending Angel’s attempt at showing his talents early. The pyromaniac walked offstage, muttering under his breath in rushed Spanish.

Once Rachel Claire had some time to calm down, the crew sent Gabe onstage. The hostess was annoyed by her experience so far on the show, and Gabe had similar complaints. They both complained about how selfish Chris McLean was, how annoying the fans were, and how obnoxious the other contestants were quickly becoming. Their endless stream of complaints was annoying, though filled with insults that inadvertently amused the audience. Fifteen minutes later, Gabe earned another point for the Emmys.

Next up was Eric, who rambled on and on about himself and his many made up deeds. Whenever Rachel Claire attempted to ask a question, he would interrupt her with another imaginary story about his make-believe accomplishments. After the audience sat through seven minutes of his claims to have “beaten Lebron James by a landslide”, “played little league baseball against the Yankees”, and “impressed Jennifer Lopez with his rock collection”, they had had enough and pressed the buzzer for him.

Donna sat in the chair next, obviously disinterested with the interview. While Rachel Claire immediately hated her casually sarcastic personality, the audience had an opposite reaction and found her funny. Rachel Claire angrily sipped at her coffee before skimming her cue card for anything that might throw the brunette off.

“Says here you didn’t even want to be on the show?” She questioned.

“Yeah, but once the realization set in that I’m here I figured why not just play along.” Donna responded. “It’s not like I’m in any rush to get home.”

“Speaking of home, how about your family?” The hostess prodded. “To give you a name like Belladonna they must’ve been a bit sadistic.”

“More like stupid.” The pale girl rolled her eyes. “My dad’s an environmental lawyer and my mom’s a chef, though she specializes in vegetarian meals. They’re both the “fight the power” and “don’t let The Man keep you down” style people. My house is like Woodstock all the time, just without the questionable substances.” She hadn’t meant for this to be funny, but the audience lightly chuckled.

That slight chuckle, though, set Rachel Claire off. “Have any siblings?”

“Just a spoiled sister Lavender. I don’t want to waste my time talking about her.”

“Embarrassing moments?”

“Signing up for this show will probably be the start of a long line of embarrassing moments caught on film.”

“Any deep dark secrets?”

“Not that I’m willing to share with a paparazzi like you.”

“Notable ex-boyfriends?”

“One of them had pink hair.”

Rachel Claire continued with the questioning until the bell sounded and Donna earned a point. The hostess fumed. She was sure she was going to get her to crack!

Next up was Camille, who was way too adorable to be difficult with. Whenever Rachel Claire asked her a question, Camille would respond with another question or an answer similar to that of a fifth grader’s. She always referred to the hostess as “Miss Rachel” and kept a confused but blissful expression on her face. Despite sitting through fifteen minutes of questions, Rachel Claire wasn’t able to get any information out of her. Camille said nothing about her parents’ occupations, her hobbies, or about her daily life, but only got really perplexed by everything that was said to her. When the bell rang, Rachel Claire was just glad to get her off of the stage.

Confession Cam

Camille: “So… I think I did really good in the challenge today! At least, I think so. Miss Rachel didn’t seem very happy with me, but the audience was.”

Rachel Claire: The hostess let out a long sigh. “I’m not paid enough for this job.”

“Okay, so it’s been a long day everybody.” Rachel Claire said to the audience. “So let’s just hope out last contestant is willing to give us some real entertainment. Give a round of applause for Sebastian!”

The tall blond contestant stepped out from behind the curtain and sat in the chair with a casual smile on his face, clearly ready to get his interview over with.

“You’re my last guest, so let’s make it quick, okay?” The dirty blonde haired hostess picked up an index card. “You’re Sebastian Luse, and you’re from Reno, Nevada. You like girls, card games, and winning and claim that you never lose.” She puts down the card and gives Sebastian an accusing look. “Sounds to me like you’re a cheater.”

“Ha. Like I need to cheat.” The blond rolled his eyes. “When you’re as lucky as I am, cheating isn’t even a consideration.”

“Well then how do you win so often?”

“A lot of practice.” From seemingly out of nowhere, Sebastian pulled out a deck of cards and began to shuffle. He fanned out the cards for the hostess. “Cheesy as this sounds, pick a card, any card.” The hostess rolled her eyes but played along and picked a card out of the deck. Sebastian shuffled the cards again, though this time showed off by doing a trick with them. “Okay, now pick another card.” Rachel Claire picked another card. “Now show the camera your two cards.”

Rachel Claire did as she was told and held up an ace of spades and eight of diamonds for the camera. “I don’t really see what good this does.”

“It wastes some time,” Sebastian responded before holding the deck out to her. “Now slide one of your cards back into the deck and keep the other.” The hostess did as she was told and slipped the eight back into the deck. The contestant began to shuffle the cards again, though this time performing a few snazzy card tricks as he did. First he shuffled the cards with his hands far apart, then made an arch with them, and then did it behind his back. Eventually he pulled a card out of the deck. “Is this your card?”

Rachel Claire stared at the eight of diamonds in his hand. “Actually, yes it is.”

“Good. And is the other card in your hand the ace of spades?”

The hostess’s jaw dropped. “What the- do it again!”

Sebastian did as she said and started the trick over, the curly haired hostess angrily analyzing each of his moves. This time he added even more showy shuffling into the trick, obviously wasting as much time as he could. Rachel Claire watched him intently in an attempt to figure out how he did it, not noticing when Sebastian reached out and snatched her stack of index cards from the table. He tucked the index cards into his pocket and drew a playing card from his deck. “Is this your card?”

Rachel Claire gaped. “Dang it! How do you do that?!”

“I’m just lucky.” Sebastian smirked, shuffling his cards again before putting them in his pocket. The bell rang signaling him earning a point and Rachel Claire hopped to her feet.

“Ugh, finally!” She moaned, stomping offstage. “I don’t know if I could take any more of those freaks.”

Sebastian just smiled at the audience as the red curtain dropped, putting his hand in his pocket to make sure that the stolen index cards were still there.

Confession Cam

Sebastian: “These index cards are a goldmine of information on not only my teammates, but my competition too.” He flipped through the stack, skimming each of them. “It turns out the hosts had information on not just the guests that they were interviewing, but everybody. I’m pretty sure that in order to get far in this game, I’m going to need to establish some connections with my teammates. I need to find the weak links and the potential alliance members at this stage so that when the competition actually gets serious I’ll already be set up to win.”

Twenty minutes later, the audience exited the set and the stage was cleared. Opal Winfrey, Helen D’Angelo, and Tina Blanks all had limos come and pick them up while Rachel Claire went off in the direction of the Hotel. The contestants were gathered backstage, sitting on random props, boxes, and makeup chairs waiting for their results. Zack was already attempting to repair his broken Frogclaw with a roll of tape he had found. Josh had finally regained consciousness and was having a conversation with Paul, who was trying to distract him from seeing the cameramen around them. Eventually Chris pushed through the curtain and smiled at them.

“Okay, everybody, now that all the crazies are gone we can tally up the points.” The host pulled a list out of his pocket. “First off, the Oscars. Allison, Irina, Cara, Robert, Paul, and Camille had scored points, bringing you to a grand total of six out of eleven possible points.” A few of the team members clapped for their score. “As for the Emmys, you scored points from Victor, Wes, Risty, Ophelia, Minerva, Zack, Gabe, Donna, and Sebastian, which totals you to nine out of eleven points! We have our winners!”

The Emmys cheered (except for Elena, who seemed to believe she was too cool to celebrate). “You dudes can head back to the Hotel, where Chef will be waiting with your room assignments.”

The Emmys headed out through the back exit of the set, leaving just Chris and the eleven Oscars. The host smirked sadistically. “Guess who’s going to the elimination ceremony?”

The Oscars groaned.

A few minutes later, the Oscars were scattered across the set of bleachers in the amphitheater they had passed by on their tour of the set. There was a white sheet draped across the front part of the stage, and Chris was fiddling with an electronic device nearby it. Instead of the formal outfit he wore during Total Drama Action to read the ballots, he instead just sported a black tie over his usual outfit. He adjusted the microphone and looked down at the contestants.

“Welcome to the first Team’s Choice Awards!” He announced. “You’ve all cast your votes, and I’m sure you’re eager to find out which one of you will be voted out of the competition… or better yet, how they’ll leave. We’ve already used some of our more creative ideas in the past seasons, and unfortunately the Lame-o-sine and Jumbo Jet won’t be making guest appearances. Instead, we have something new for you guys.”

Chris snapped his fingers and two interns rushed over to remove the white sheet. This revealed twenty-two gold stars nailed to the front of the stage, each reading a contestant’s name in either red (for the Emmys) or a black (for the Oscars).

“Your star will stay on this stage as long as you’re in the game. If you’re voted out… well…” Chris pulled a sledgehammer out from under the podium. “We break your star into pieces and you have to walk down the Red Carpet of Shame.” He gestured to the aforementioned carpet. “Waiting at the end of the carpet will be a surprise that will change with the episode. This week’s surprise: a limo shared with Tina Blanks!” On cue, a limo with a huge ad for America’s Future Beauty Queen on its side pulled up at the curb. “Just to warn you: she’s a little angry since the interviews ran longer than planned. She had a hair appointment scheduled and she can’t get into the salon for another few months.”

The contestants gaped as the door to the limo slammed open and one of the model’s assistants bolted out of the car. He had scratches on his face, undoubtedly given to him by a set of perfectly manicured nails. From inside the limo, Tina Blanks was screaming and hitting things. She slammed the door shut again, the resulting sound loud enough to scare the birds out of the nearby trees.

“So, ready to learn who’ll have to sit with that?” Chris chuckled and looked down at the electronic device. “You’ve already cast your votes via video in the confessional. If you receive a silver star,” He held up a small metal star that easily fit into the palm of his hand, “you’re safe. I’ll start off by calling out the dudes and dudettes who won your team’s six points: Allison, Camille, Cara, Irina, Paul, and Robert, you’re all safe.”

The host tossed each of the contestants silver stars. Five caught them, though Camille was hit in the head with hers.

“Next we’ll have Angel,” The pyromaniac caught his star with ease. “Eric,” The jock tried to simulate a touchdown with his star, though one of its points ended up getting stuck in the bleacher. “And Avery.” The drama queen turned up her nose, obviously offended that she was called so late in the pecking order. “And that just leaves Josh and Isaac.”

The two blond teens couldn’t be more opposite as they were faced with the thought of elimination. Josh was wide eyed and had his teeth clamped down on his lower lip, wringing his fingers in a nervous gesture. Isaac was slouched with his arms crossed, clearly not really minding the idea of elimination.

“You two clearly had two of the worst interviews of the night,” Chris said. “You received the highest number of votes from your teammates…”

Confession Cam

Irina: “I really hate to vote for anybody, but Isaac didn’t even try. At least Josh had stage fright to blame for his bad interview. Isaac just had a lack of effort.”

Angel: “No offense to Josh and all, but I think he would be hardest to work with in future challenges than anybody else who did bad. Avery seems smart and Eric hasn’t gotten completely on my nerves yet, so I’m voting for Josh.”

“The last silver star of the night goes to…”

“Isaac.” The troublemaker caught his star with a crooked smirk, leaving the farmer in shock. Josh got up and began to walk the Red Carpet of Shame.

“Aw, I was rooting for you Josh!” Paul called after him.

“Good luck in there with that witch!” Allison commented.

“There goes some of my eye candy…” Avery muttered.

The Texan eventually reached the door of the limo and knocked on it. The window rolled down to reveal Tina Blanks’ narrowed eyes. “Who are you?” Josh opened his mouth to reply, but a camera got in his face and he snapped hia jaw shut. Tina Blanks smiled at that. “Ooh, silent but beautiful! I can’t wait!”

Tina opened the door and ushered Josh into the vehicle. As the limousine pulled away, the other contestants couldn’t ignore the sound of Josh screaming in terror from inside.

“Is he going to be okay?” Cara questioned.

“Eh, it’s out of my hands now.” Chris brushed the issue aside. “But trust me, there are worse eliminations to come. Will Josh ever be seen again? Will Rachel Claire return for more gossip in a hopefully less grumpy mood? How will the contestants fare spending a night in The Hotel? Find out next time on Total… Drama… Island… For Your Entertainment!”

Chapter Three: An Arrow Straight To My Heart
“Last time on Total Drama Island: For Your Entertainment…” Chris stood at the doorway of the hotel, smiling at the camera. “The crowds were crazy, but the new contestants were crazier. We seemed to have it all on our premiere episode, from strange flying machines to one-man basketball games, butlers arriving with luggage to guitars being almost lit on fire, a grumpy chick with some really red hair to one bodacious blonde!”

The host whistled in appreciation. “After everybody was introduced, I toured them all around the new set and then split them into two teams just in time to start their first challenge: survive a fifteen minute interview with a famous host without the audience deciding you’re too boring or scared. Some of the interviews were interesting: Avery got a verbal lashing from Opal Winfrey, Robert told the heartbreaking tale of his injury, Zack tore up the entire set, and Sebastian stole one host’s information on the other campers with a devious plan in mind. In the end, fifteen contestants earned their teams a point while the others failed miserably. The Oscars went to elimination that night and it was terrified farm boy Josh who was sent packing.”

Chris pulled a rose out of his pocket and put it up to his nose. “Who won’t capture their teammates’ hearts this time? Find out on the next exciting episode of Total… Drama… Island… For Your Entertainment!” He tossed the flower at the camera and the theme song started up.

“Hey, man, do you mind if I move your alarm clock over?”

“Oh, no problem.” Paul finished folding his shirts and looked over to where Eric stood at the nightstand. “What are you going to put there inst-” The Boy Scout flinched as Eric knocked his alarm clock to the ground and replaced it with an armful of different sized stones. “Oh… more rocks.”

“Yeah, more rocks.” Eric whipped his head around and glared. “You got a problem with them?”

“No, no, not at all!” Paul quickly turned away from the jock, though he really had nowhere else to look. Two thirds of the room was already covered in the rest of Eric’s rock collection.

Confession Cam

Paul: “So when we got back from the elimination ceremony, Chef Hatchet cooked everybody dinner, the one and only meal he would be serving us this season. Then Chris assigned everybody rooms. The Emmys are on the second floor with Chef, and we’re on the third floor with Chris in the suite at the end of the hall. I’m in Room 308 with Eric, and it’s a really nice room compared to usual TDI standards: there’re two beds separated by a nightstand, a little table, a really ugly armchair, and a cabinet to the side with a few drawers and a broken TV on it. Eric seems nice and all… but man his rock collection is creeping me out!” Paul shuddered and shifted his sitting position. “We’re supposed to be sharing the room but already he’s laid out his rock collection so that it takes up 75% of it! The worst part is, some of them have faces drawn on them… they’ll be staring at me as I sleep!”

“So, um,” Paul tried to think of a topic of conversation, but couldn’t ignore the stones surrounding him, “You really like rocks, huh?”

“Yeah.” Eric shrugged. “I needed something to do other than be awesome at sports, so I started collecting rocks.”

“That’s cool, I guess.” The brunet fished a Ziploc bag out of his suitcase. “I’m going to go put my toothbrush in the bathroom.”

“Whatever, man.” The jock went back to arranging his rocks as Paul opened the bathroom door. The Boy Scout screamed once he looked inside and slammed it shut. “What’s wrong, man?”

“There’s a girl in our bathroom!” Paul shrieked.

“Oh, no way!” Eric leapt to his feet and opened the bathroom door excitedly. He jumped in fear when he found an angry Avery standing behind it. “Yo, what’re you doing in our bathroom?!”

“I should be asking you the same question.” Avery crossed her arms. “This is my bathroom too.”

Confession Cam

Paul: The Boy Scout leaned on his hands, clearly continuing his interview from earlier. “And that’s how we figured out that apparently every two rooms share a bathroom. So not only am I going to be sharing my space with Eric, but with Avery and Allison too. I wanted to put my toothbrush near the sink, but it was already covered in makeup and hair products.” He furrowed his eyebrows. “I have no problem with sharing, but I’ve never had to live with girls my age before. I have no idea what to expect!”

“Okay, so to solve all the bathroom drama before it starts, I’ve written up this shower schedule.” Monique taped a piece of paper beside the bathroom mirror. “If you could all look at it and voice any complaints now, that’d be lo- hey! Don’t touch that!” She glared at Zack’s reflection in the mirror. The inventor looked up from where he was unscrewing the shower head to see the designer giving his reflection the stink eye.

“Sorry, sorry!” He backed out of the bathroom with his hands behind his back as Elena entered from the other door. She examined the schedule taped to the wall.

“Um, this isn’t going to work.” Elena sneered. “I need approximately twenty minutes after I shower to do my hair.”

“We all have equal time.” Monique pointed out. “I’ve given everybody forty five minutes to do their business in here every morning.”

“But that’s not enough! I need twenty minutes after I shower!”

“You have forty-five.”

“Yeah, and I take forty-five minute showers.” Elena explained. “I really don’t think you understand this, but beauty takes time. My hair takes a long and difficult process to maintain, and if I’m not given enough time to do the full process then we’re going to have a problem.”

Monique was gritting her teeth and looked ready to snap. She took a deep breath before speaking through a clenched jaw. “Fine. I’ll… work it out… I guess.”

“You’d better ‘work it out’ otherwise you’re getting the boot at the next elimination.” The socialite remarked over her shoulder as she left the room. The designer ripped the schedule off the wall and started scribbling all over it, obviously severely ticked off by her new roommate’s actions.

“She can have some of my time.” Sebastian spoke, leaning against the doorframe with an index card in his hand. “I don’t need it all.”

“Anything to let Miss Prissy get her way.” Monique rolled her eyes and rewrote the schedule. She taped it up on the wall and then looked over at Sebastian. “Thank you very much.”

“Anything to help out.” He shrugged. “You looked like you wanted to murder Elena back there.”

“I did.”

“So why did you let her get her way?”

“Because I’m going to fake being friends with her for now because I don’t need her on my bad side yet.” Monique explained, glancing at the index card in Sebastian’s hand. “What’s that?”

“A playing card.” Sebastian covered, stuffing the index card in his pocket. “Just trying out some new card tricks, that’s all.”

“Can I see?”

“No.” Sebastian stepped back through the doorway and swiftly shut the door on Monique. The dark haired girl rolled her eyes.

“Whatever, weirdo.”

“And so then mi hermanastra was like ‘Angel, you idiot, what are you doing? That was my paper for my chemistry final! It took me days!’ And I was just kind of like, ‘Ha. Looks like you’re going to be handing in a pile of ash’ and walked away.”

“And you didn’t get punished by her school?”

“Nah, man. I don’t know what kind of school you go to, but there’s no way they could ever punish me without proof that I’d done something.”

Isaac sat on his bed gaping at Angel. “That is so awesome.”

“Tell me about it.” Angel smirked in his new roommate’s direction.

“If I did something like that, I would’ve been suspended for a week.” Isaac said. “Trust me, I’ve tried it before.”

The dark-haired teen raised an eyebrow. “So why didn’t you just lie to them? That’s what I do.”

“Eh, I’m too lazy. Plus, I’d rather be chilling at home than doing work anyway.”

“Good point.”

A crooked smile spread across Isaac’s face. “I can tell this is the start of an amazing friendship.”

“You’ve got that right.” Angel agreed.

They leaned across the space in between their beds and bumped fists, obviously having a much better time than most of the other contestants were.

The morning sun rose and the smell of fresh bacon and eggs wafted through the air. Cara sat up in her bed at the smell of the bacon, her dreams interrupted by the thought of fried animals. She turned to wake up Camille, only to find that her roommate wasn’t in her bed.

“Camille?” Cara called, getting up and scrunching her nose at the scent of bacon. She heard the sink going in the bathroom and knocked on the door. “Are you in there?” The door swung open until Cara was face to face with Isaac. “You’re not Camille…”

“Probably the exact opposite, actually.” The blond said, turning back to continue brushing his teeth. Cara rushed over to the sink and turned the water off. He gave her a confused glance and she smiled back.

“Waste not, want not.” She grabbed her hairbrush from the sink and walked out of the room.

Isaac gave her a slight smile before leaning over to spit in the sink. He then called out to her, “For the record, I heard your roommate in the shower at like four in the morning.”

“Oh.” Cara walked back into the bathroom, now fully dressed. “Why would she do that?”

“Do I look like I care?”

“And where’s your roommate?”

“I think he can sense when somebody’s starting to cook.” He said, heading for the door. “He bolted out of here before I could even smell anything.”

“You’re going to go down to breakfast like that?” Cara questioned, pointing to the fact that he was wearing only a pair of sweatpants.

Isaac shrugged. “Yeah. Who needs to dress up to eat?” Cara just shook her head and left her room. It only took a second for Isaac to catch up to her.

When the slacker and nature lover walked into the kitchen, they found that most of the other players were already sitting down. A pajama-clad Robert walked past the door, and Isaac sniffed at his plate.

“Is that actual bacon and eggs?” He questioned.

“Yeah, just like my mom used to make it.” Robert nodded.

“Where’d you get that?”

“Risty’s making it.” He pointed over to the food window, where Risty and Minerva were standing with a tray of bacon and eggs. Isaac rushed over there, bumping several people out of line in order to get to the front first. Cara sighed and walked over to The Oscars’ table with Robert. She sat between Robert and Irina and sighed again. The model looked over at her teammate.

“Vegetarian?” Irina asked.

Cara looked up. “How’d you know?”

“Just a good guess.” She picked up an apple from her plate and handed it to Cara. “Here.”

“Where’d you get this?”

“Camille’s purse.” Irina gestured to the dark haired girl sitting across from her, who was rummaging through the aforementioned bag.

Cara, who had just noticed Camille sitting there, gave her a grin. “So, Isaac said he heard you in the shower really early?” Camille nodded in acknowledgement. “Oh. Do you do that often?” The green-eyed girl nodded again. “Oh… okay.”

As Cara attempted to strike up a conversation with the rest of her teammates, Sebastian entered the room, looking ready for business. He scanned The Emmys' table until finding that the person he was looking for was already seated.

Confession Cam

Sebastian: “Last night I went through all of these cards and learned all of these new things about my new teammates.” He held up the index cards for the camera to see. “I’ve figured out that most of them are really stupid, useless, or both. Three of them are spoiled rich kids, another three are too innocent for their own good, and one of them never shuts up. If I want to make it far in this game, I’m probably going to need at least one ally with a brain. So, with an easy process of elimination…” He dropped most of the index cards to the ground, leaving only one in his hand. “…I’ve found the one person who I need to trust me.” He flipped the remaining card over and showed the camera the name written across it. “Belladonna Surmaine.”

“Is this seat taken?”

“Not yet.”

Donna didn’t look up from her book as Sebastian sat in the chair beside her. She tried to ignore him as he sat picking at a piece of toast he’d stolen off of somebody’s plate on his way over, though he kept sneaking glances at her every few seconds. After about a minute of this, she snapped her book closed. “Okay, what do you want?”

“Why would you ever think I wanted something?” Sebastian questioned. “Did you ever consider that I might just want to talk to you?”

Donna narrowed her eyes at him. “So start talking.”

“Who are you rooming with?”

“Ophelia. And before you ask, she’s scatterbrained but really sweet, and totally not crazy.”

“Who’s next door?”

“Wes and Victor. I didn’t talk to them much, but Wes seems very nice… Victor not so much.”

“That’s cool.” Sebastian bit into his toast, trying to ignore the dark blue eyes now glaring in his direction. “What?”

“Now that we’ve ‘just talked’, what do you want?”

“Okay,” The blond spoke, “so rumor has it you’re kind of a genius.”

“Who did you hear that from?” The pale girl questioned, looking down at the plate of eggs in front of her.

“Just… rumor has it.”

“You shouldn’t believe rumors. They’ll tell you some nasty lies.” She paused and pushed her food around with a fork. “This rumor, however, may or may not be true.”

“Well, as you can see, our team’s not exactly full of Major City’s finest.” Sebastian motioned his hand towards the others sitting at the table. Donna’s eyes followed the gesture just in time to see Victor accidentally fling a spoonful of eggs at Monique’s hair. The designer swatted it away and yelled at the actor, but her hand smacked Gabe in the face in the process. Gabe screamed something at her and then looked at his reflection in his spoon in an attempt to check his hair. Ophelia was giggling hysterically at the entire situation. He then pointed towards the food counter. Behind it, Minerva seemed to be doing some kind of goofy tango with her tray of bacon as she handed it out to the other players.

“Okay, I can agree with you on that.” Donna admitted.

“Exactly. And we sane people have to stick together, right?”

“Are you suggesting-?”

“An alliance?” Sebastian smiled. “Of course.”

Donna didn’t answer for a moment, pursing her lips in contemplation. “No.”

The blond frowned. “Why not?”

“I’m not going to immediately trust somebody I barely know, and I’m definitely not going to be handing over my vote at elimination.” The brunette opened her book again. “I never know when I might need it.”

“But will you consider it?”

“I’ll consider it more than if, say, Gabe asked me.”

“What if I-” Sebastian was interrupted by a scream rising through the cafeteria. All eyes turned to the entrance, where Elena stomped in, her hair hanging in limp tendrils around her.

“WHO IS THE JERK WHO RUINED MY SHOWER?!” The socialite marched towards The Emmys’ table, eyeing each of her teammates. “I was shampooing my hair, almost done with my shower, when all of a sudden THE SHOWER HEAD FALLS APART ON MY HEAD! I must have spent twenty minutes trying to fix the thing until I realized that the only thing holding it together before was tape! The screws were completely missing! I had no time to work with my hair if I wanted to eat! Which one of you broke it?!”

Since Elena was distracted with death glaring at all of her teammates, she didn’t catch when a cackling Zack slipped into the room. The spiky haired geek stepped up to the food counter and picked up a plate, his laughter never stopping.

Risty took one look at him and had to smile. “Why are you so happy?”

Zack laughed again and rummaged through his shorts pocket. He pulled out a few items in his fist. “I’ll trade you this for some bacon and eggs.”

The curly haired athlete eyed his hand. “Okay, it’s a deal.”

She scooped some food onto his plate and he dropped the items in her hand. They were four screws, probably too small for one of his inventions but just about the right size to fit in… a shower head.

Risty laughed and called after Zack, “I like your style, kid!” He just gave her a mock military salute and a wink over his shoulder.

After breakfast, the contestants were called down to meet Chef Hatchet in the lobby. He led them outside of the hotel and then across the entire studio until they were in front of a small mansion. The players waited under a large awning held up with ancient Roman-style pillars as Chef rang the doorbell. Eventually the door swung open and Chef held his arms out.

“Your challenge is in there.” He said as they filed into the building.

“You’re not coming?” Minerva questioned.

“Tch. There’s no way I’m getting involved in this one.” Chef rolled his eyes and pushed Minerva into the mansion, slamming the door behind her.

The interior of the mansion was very different than the exterior. The entire floor was covered in dark tiles, and every light in the mansion was either very dim or a candle. The furniture was deep red and looked like velvet, and a chandelier hung from the ceiling. Many of the contestants were in awe, though Gabe just snorted at how small this mansion was.

“Dudes!” The contestants all turned to look at the top of a spiral staircase in the corner of the room, where Chris McLean stood in a suit. “Welcome to La Mansión Malvada.”

“The evil mansion?” Angel translated.

“Oh, that’s what it means?” Chris questioned, sliding down the stairs’ handrail. “I thought it meant marvelous mansion. But whatever, either way, this is the site of your second challenge!” He waited for a reaction. “Um, you’re supposed to be shocked.”

“Chef already told us the challenge was in here.” Allison explained.

Chris stomped his foot. “That jerk! Did he tell you guys the theme too?!” The contestants shook their heads no and Chris perked up again. “Oh, good. Now, I’m sure you guys have all seen those lame date shows on TV where one guy is given a whole bunch of hot girls who are trying to amaze him, and the one who impresses him the most wins a date or marriage or something like that? Well, today’s challenge is going to be similar to that, except I’m going to be the bachelor and you guys are going to be trying to impress me. The winning team doesn’t get a date with me unfortunately… instead, they win safety from elimination. Any questions?”

“Can we have a girl to impress instead?” Victor asked.

“Nope. You’re stuck with me, dude.”

“Ooh, ooh, me!” Minerva raised her hand as if in a classroom. Chris rolled his eyes and pointed at her. “What does the winning team get?”

“I'm not answering that because I already said it. Try listening next time.” The host sneered. “Any other questions?”

“How many tries do we get to impress you?” Wes asked.

“Oh, right! That’s the first part of the challenge.” He started to walk through the mansion. “Follow me!”

Chris led the contestants through a set of double doors so they were on a large covered porch. On the table in the middle of the porch were bows and arrows. The arrows all had pink heads, though the feathers on the other side were either red or yellow. “Everybody grab a bow and one arrow, red for The Emmys and yellow for The Oscars.”

Once the campers had scrambled to do so, Chris walked them over to the other side of the porch and leaned against the railing. “They say love is blind,” The host said, causing Ophelia to swoon in aspiration of a sappy love story, “However, we all know the truth: love is actually caused by Cupid. Cupid is this little bro in a diaper who flies around shooting arrows at people in order to make them fall in love. So today, you guys are going to be playing Cupid.” He pointed over his shoulder to the expanse of grass over the railing. “If you squint a little you might see that about 70 feet away there are seven heart shaped targets set up. You each have one shot to hit one of these targets with your arrow. Each hit is a chance for your team to try and impress me. All of you have to shoot, so no cheating and giving all of your arrows to the jock or something. When you’re ready I’ll need seven of you lined up at the railing ready to shoot.”

Confession Cam

Allison: “It’s times like this that I wonder what Chris would do if nobody was able to hit a target. Just call off the challenge and let us sleep more?” The redhead yawned. “Actually, that'd be really nice right now. I really could use some sleep after dealing with Avery’s whining all night.”

A few minutes later, Minerva, Zack, Paul, Irina, Gabe, Avery, and Cara were lined up at the railing fiddling with their bows while Chris was taking a scooter out to stand next to the targets. Paul was the only one who looked like he had any clue of how to get the arrow to stay on it. He looked to see Irina beside him trying to line up her arrow in completely the wrong spot.

“Do you need some help with that?” He asked, attempting not to drool at her this time around.

“Oh, that’d be great.” Irina handed him the bow and he found that his hands were suddenly sweaty from just being around her. He tried to move the arrow into place, but it kept skidding off to the side because his hands were shaking. He eventually snapped it into the right spot and handed it back to the very pretty girl who’d been watching him. “Thank you.”

“I take it you’re never done this before?” Paul questioned, trying to make up for that rather embarrassing minute.

“I don’t think so.” The blonde shook her head. “But I’m sure you have.”

Paul smiled proudly. “Every summer at Boy Scout camp. There’s no way I can’t hit the target.”

“At least we know we have one hit guaranteed.”

“Okay dudes!” Chris shouted, now on his feet. “You’re safe to shoot whenever you want!”

The seven contestants all brought up their bows at the same time, though other than Paul and Irina’s most of the arrows didn’t seem to be sitting correctly. Minerva was actually holding her bow backwards, though nobody pointed it out to her. Zack was the first to shoot, his arrow going way off to the left, and then everybody else let their arrows fly. Minerva’s predictably went flying through one of the mansion windows behind her.

The other arrows flew in the general direction of the targets, though Cara’s stopped short and Avery’s was shot way too far. Nobody could tell if any of them hit until Chris shouted to them, “We have two yellow arrows that hit the hearts! Paul and Irina have each earned their team a try! Gabe, yours was a little off!”

Paul and Irina high fived while Gabe stomped away. The next seven competitors, Monique, Angel, Isaac, Wes, Victor, Eric, and Ophelia, lined up at the rail. Eric looked to the pale haired artist beside him and snorted.

“Oh, no way are you hitting the target.”

Ophelia scowled. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Just that you look like you have no clue what you’re doing.” Eric continued. “You really should leave it up to the strong athletes on your team to do this for you.”

“Hey, lay off of her, will you?” Victor elbowed the jock in the side. “That’s no way to talk to such an exquisite girl.”

Ophelia’s scowl immediately turned into a smile at Victor’s words. Eric just rubbed his side with a pained expression on his face and started setting up his arrow.

After Chris shouted in approval, seven arrows went flying into the air. Monique’s and Angel’s arrows went in opposite directions, while Victor’s hit the ground at about the halfway point. Eric’s, embarrassingly enough, landed a few feet in front of him. He stomped off in a fury, a mortified blush quickly overcoming his face.

“Three arrows made it!” Chris shouted to the contestants. “They’re… Isaac’s, Wes’s, and Ophelia’s!”

The three participants cheered, Wes playing the air guitar and Ophelia giving a thumbs up to Victor for stopping Eric. Then the final seven contestants, Risty, Camille, Robert, Elena, Sebastian, Donna, and Allison, stood at the railing. As soon as Chris gave the signal, one arrow whizzed by him and hit the target at a rapid speed. That arrow happened to belong to Camille, who received several strange looks at the impressive shot. She did a small curtsy for her performance before picking up her purse and rejoining the group just as Robert shot his arrow and also hit the target. Seeing the others’ success, Risty, Elena, Sebastian, and Allison all shot their arrows and all but Elena’s hit targets.

Chris’s jaw dropped at this and he turned around to examine the heart-shaped targets. “Oh, no way! They must’ve moved closer or someth-OUCH!” That had been when Donna had attempted to shoot her arrow. It had traveled the correct distance, though instead of hitting a target it had hit Chris in the backside instead. The brunette stood on the porch with her hands over her mouth and her eyes wide, staring as the host tried to remove the arrow.

“Smooth move.” Allison laughed, clearly enjoying the situation despite the other girl’s horror. In fact, the other contestants still left in the line didn’t seem at all bothered by the fact that Chris had an arrow in his rear. Robert was staring off into space, Elena was trying to fix her hair, and Risty was smiling at the scene. Sebastian just gave Donna a cocky grin and a raised eyebrow.

“You seem like you were distracted.” He remarked, not even flinching when Chris screamed as he pulled the arrow out. “Maybe you were thinking about that offer I made you earlier?”

Donna, now out of her daze since the arrow had been removed, returned to her usual deadpan frown. “Not a chance.”

“Well you should’ve been.” He walked away to join the rest of the team, not noticing that Elena had been watching the entire exchange with a curious expression.

Confession Cam

Elena: “I watch shows like this all the time, and I know an alliance when I see one.” The dark haired girl crossed her arms. “Sebastian is looking for alliance members apparently, and I want in! If there’s one guy on my team that I want to be working with, it’s definitely him. He seems charming, smart, and seems to have a plan… that and he’s not all that bad looking.”

Chris had ridden the electric scooter back across the lawn and was now counting hits on the fingers of one hand, clutching his rear end with the other. “Okay, so the Oscars have earned six tries, and the Emmys have earned four. You dudes can go inside and start trying to plan out what you want to do to impress me. I, on the other hand, am going to need some ice.” He winced and then turned to the camera.

“What will the teams think of to try and impress me? Who will I favor? Will my butt ever be the same again? Find out when we come back on Total Drama Island: For Your Entertainment!”

Chapter Four: Impress for Success
“So we have six tries to impress Chris-”

“Unlike last challenge where we failed miserably.”

“Shut up Allison!” Avery sneered at her teammate. “As I was saying, we have six tries to impress Chris, so we’re in pretty good shape.”

The Oscars were gathered in one of the upstairs rooms of La Mansión Malvada. Like the main room of the building, this room was also filled with various knock-off statues and red velvet furniture. Most of the team was sitting either on the couches or the floor, though Avery was pacing back and forth across the room.

“Okay, so first thing’s first,” Avery turned to look at her teammates. “Who thinks they’re talented?” All but Isaac's and Robert’s hands went up, Isaac because he had fallen asleep on the couch and Robert because he was distracted by the flowers on a potted plant beside him.

“Hey, raise your hand.” Angel said to Robert. The jock was still staring at the plant until the pyromaniac elbowed him in the arm.

“Oh, thanks.” Robert nodded to Angel before his hand flew into the air and a smile crossed his face.

Avery nodded in approval to him and then glared at Isaac. “Somebody wake him up.” In an instant, all of her teammates moved as far away from the sleeping blond as possible, not wanting to be the ones to do the job. Avery huffed. “Fine. I’ll do it.”

The team’s self-appointed leader marched up to the slumbering nuisance, her heels clicking with every step. She approached where his head was propped up on the arm of a couch and leaned down until her face was just inches from his. The team observed in curious silence as she took a deep breath.

“GET UP YOU GOOD FOR NOTHING SLACKER!”

It wasn’t obvious if Isaac had woken up or not until he stretched his arms and then propped them behind his head, “Five more minutes, okay?”

“No, not five more minutes!” Avery shrieked, stomping her high heeled foot. “We are a team and we are not going to let you sit back and do nothing!”

Isaac’s eyes opened halfway and smiled at the sight of a fuming Avery leaned over him. “I’m not ‘doing nothing’, I was hard at work having a dream about you and me.”

The brunette clenched her jaw. “Get. Up.”

“Who made you queen?”

She slapped him across the face and he instantly sat up. She smirked, crossing her arms triumphantly. “I did. And now you’re up.” Isaac sneered as The Queen resumed her position in front of her team. “So all but one of us thinks they’re talented. Now how many of you believe your talents can impress Chris?” Camille and Robert’s hands went down. Avery counted the hands still in the air. “That’s seven counting me. Angel, what do you do?”

“Burn things,” was the Puerto Rican teen’s curt reply.

The Queen raised an eyebrow. “No, I mean for your talent.”

“Burn things.” Angel repeated.

Avery sighed, and moved on to her next teammate. “Eric, what do you do?”

“I play sports, collect rocks, and just am generally awesome.” The New Yorker bragged.

“Whatever,” Avery’s eyes moved to her next teammate with their hand up, Irina. She skipped over the blonde though, and turned to Paul. “Okay Boy Scout, what do you do?”

“Well, I-”

“Wait, didn’t anybody notice that she skipped me?” Irina questioned.

“We all know your talent’s going to be looking sexy.” Isaac pointed out. “We don’t need to be reminded… though if you’d like to remind me personally, I’ll meet you in my room later.”

Irina’s jaw dropped in an offended expression. “Okay, first of all, I’m way out of your league. And second, I have plenty of skills other than looking good! I’m intelligent and very literate. I could write Chris a poem!”

“Is English even your first language, girl?” Eric questioned.

Irina was quiet for a minute. “Well, no, but that’s not the point.”

“Can we get back to figuring out who’s going to try and impress Chris?” Avery questioned. “Paul, what do you do?”

Confession Cam

Irina: “As usual, I’m treated like a useless piece of eye candy.” The blonde ran a hand through her hair, pulling it away from her face. “The fact that I’m attractive doesn’t mean I have no personality. I know I work in an industry based off of looks, but that’s just my job. Not every good looking girl is like Lindsay. I want to be taken seriously for once.”

On the other side of the building, The Emmys were having a much easier time choosing who received the four chances to impress Chris. Monique, Donna, Minerva, Risty, and Sebastian had decided that none of their talents were anything that Chris was interested in. From there they’d established that Chris was only interested in three things: money, fame, and himself… but mostly himself.

“Well, I’m out.” Zack announced as Sebastian finished listing. “The only electronics that fit those categories are a camera, a light up mirror, or an ATM. Boring.”

“And I don’t think I’m interested anymore.” Elena agreed. “All of my talents are all about making things better for me. I don’t cater to other people.”

“Well that leaves just Victor, Wes, Ophelia, and Gabe.” Risty pointed out. “Do all four of you think you could impress Chris?”

“I can paint him a portrait.” Ophelia nodded.

“I could play him a song about himself.” Wes said. “He seemed to like music in Total Drama World Tour.”

“Those are good!” Minerva exclaimed. “I’ll bet Chis will love that!"

“What about you two?” Monique questioned Gabe and Victor. “Impressing Chris doesn't seem like something that pretty boys enjoy.”

“I’ll give him money.” Gabe shrugged. “I have plenty to spare.”

“And I have no idea what I’ll do.” Victor confessed. “I just ended up being one of the four people who didn’t back out.”

“You’re a hopeless romantic, aren’t you?” Donna asked.

“You could say that.”

“So just write Chris a poem.”

Victor sneered. “I don’t do romantic things for guys, and I especially don’t write them poetry!”

Donna rolled her eyes. “So pretend he’s a girl. If it helps, Chris is a unisex nickname.”

The actor didn’t look convinced, though he nodded. “Fine. Somebody find me some paper.”

Confession Cam

Victor: “So I’m kind of a terrible poet, but I didn’t want to seem like I’m not a team player. I'm an actor, not an author. They're not even close to the same thing.”

“Hmm… which part of the studio gets enough sun for plants to grow?”

Cara had decided that she was going to make Chris a bouquet of flowers that represented his personality. The problem was that she had no idea where to find flowers… or, well any plant life in McLean Studios. Yes, there were a few trees hanging around, but they were obviously planted just for decoration. There weren’t any flowers in sight.

So the nature lover had decided to go on a hunt for flora and brought Camille along. The two girls were now trekking through the various sets, searching for one that might be a jungle or a secret garden or something of the sort.

“I can’t believe this!” Cara screeched as they walked around the outside of a castle set. “This is why we all need to express an interest in nature! If we don’t, more areas will turn out like this."

“It’s not that bad.” Camille insisted as they walked towards the next building. “Some of the buildings are actually kind of pretty.”

“Which ones?”

“Um… the diner is cute!” The green eyed girl claimed. “Yes, it’s a little dirty, but it’s nice… ish… Oh and what about the docks? I’ve never lived on the water before, but I think it would be beautiful at sundown.”

“But the rest of the set is just a concrete wasteland,” Cara groaned as they approached a shed-like building. The brunette led the darker haired girl around the building, looking out for flowers. Eventually she tried the front door. “It’s locked.”

“We could just peek through the window,” Camille said, sliding her purse lower on her arm and cupping her hands around her eyes so she could see through the dusty glass. She instantly yelped and backed away from the glass. “Oh my gosh!”

“What’s wrong?” Cara questioned.

Her teammate was shivering in fear. “This shed is filled with… with guns!”

“What?!” Cara pressed her face against the glass, examining the room. The floor was covered in boxes and crates that were either taped shut or unopened. Against the back wall, however, was a rack of guns. Next to them, though, was a box labeled with “PAINTBALLS” written across it. Cara stepped away from the window, wiping the dust from her face. “It’s okay. They’re just paintball guns. Still violent, but I don’t think you can kill anything with them.”

“But you can hurt somebody with them!” Camille shrieked.

“I’m sure they’re for a future challenge, so we can complain when we see them.” Her teammate explained. “As for now, let’s just pretend we never saw them and go find some flowers.”

Camille was still shaking, but she followed Cara when she began to walk away. After a few more minutes of walking, Cara finally spotted something in the distance that might actually help them. “A forest!”

She ran towards the trees with a bright smile on her face. Camille was much less enthusiastic as she trailed her roommate. When she finally caught up to Cara, the nature lover was standing in awe in front of the woods.

“How didn’t I see this before?” She asked herself. “This is wonderful!” The brown-eyed girl turned to her teammate. “We’re going in!”

“Um, sorry, but I’m not going to get dirty if I don’t have to.” Camille shook her head. “You can go in, but I’m going back to join the others.”

Cara frowned, but stepped into the woods. “Well, okay. But if you change your mind, feel free to come and find me!”

“You’d better not get hurt!” Camille called after her roommate.

“I won’t!” Cara assured. Camille watched as Cara marched through the forest. Eventually she pushed through a few bushes and was hidden by the leaves, and Camille began to walk back towards La Mansión Malvada.

Back at the mansion, The Oscars’ room was quickly emptying. Eric, Avery, Paul, and Isaac had gone back to The Hotel to retrieve supplies for their talents (except for Isaac, who just went because he knew he would fall asleep if he stayed). With Camille and Cara still gone, that left only Allison, Irina, Robert, and Angel sitting in the room. Allison was sitting on the floor with a few pieces of felt, needles, scissors, and thread lying out in front of her, currently stitching together two pieces while Robert observed in amazement. Angel stood on the arm of a couch across from her messing with the curtain that was hanging from the room’s only window, Irina watching him in confusion.

“What are you doing?” She finally asked after he almost lost his balance for the third time.

“Trying to take down this curtain.” Angel replied, now fiddling with the curtain rod.

“Why?”

“Well, Avery gave me the last spot, and I just had an idea of what to do.”

Irina crossed her arms, still unimpressed. “So you need the curtain why?”

“You’ll see.” Angel smiled over his shoulder, tugging on the curtain a few more times. “That is, if I can ever get this stupid thing down!”

Allison sighed loudly and got up from the floor. Irina and Robert watched as the Goth walked over to Angel and tugged on the end of his jeans. “Hey genius.” When her teammate looked down, she tossed her scissors at him. He thankfully caught them without an accident happening.

“Huh. Guess I should’ve thought of that before.” He leaned up and snipped the curtain, the fabric collapsing into a pile on the ground. He hopped off of the couch and then handed her the scissors. “Thanks.”

“No problem.” Allison resumed snipping at the felt.

“You could poke an eye out throwing scissors, you know.” Robert told the redhead.

“Ha. It wouldn’t be the first or last time I’d almost done that.” The Goth stifled a laugh.

Irina sat up more on the couch, her attention now grabbed. “What do you mean? Are you accident prone or something?”

“Not accident prone,” She lifted her craft project up and examined the stitching closer, “just kind of stupid.”

“Why-”

Irina was interrupted by the door slamming open and Isaac literally falling into the room, clutching his sides in laughter. Angel, Robert, and Irina watched him in confusion, though Allison ignored him and went back to sewing. Avery and Eric entered the room and stepped over Isaac, making faces that suggested he’d been laughing like this for a while. Avery sat on the couch next to Irina and started going through a makeup bag, while Eric plopped himself on the floor. After a minute, Paul walked through the doorway. He sighed when he saw Isaac.

“It’s not that funny!”

“Yeah it is!” Isaac replied through his laughs.

“No, really, it’s not!”

“Yeah it is!”

“What’s going on?” Robert asked Eric.

“Isaac thinks Paul’s talent is ridiculous.” Eric stated the obvious. “Which it kind of is, but you don’t see me being a jerk about it.”

Angel looked at his teammate on the floor. “What exactly is his talent?”

“Knitting!” Isaac exclaimed, crawling from the floor onto the couch so he could sit beside his roommate. “Paul likes to knit like an old woman!”

“Okay, first of all, it’s not knitting!” The Boy Scout whined. “It’s crocheting! And it’s not just for elderly women! I learned how to at camp.”

“Oh, so your grandma goes to camp with you?” The dirty blond teen snickered. “This kid is seriously gold.”

“Whatever,” Paul tried to ignore his teammate. “I know Chris will appreciate it when I crochet him a masterpiece.”

Confession Cam

Angel: The Puerto Rican teen had cracked up in the confessional. Between chuckles, he managed to get out, “Hey, at least I didn’t laugh at him to his face!”

“What are words that rhyme with ‘blue’?”

“Um… shoe? Do? True? You?”

“Yes! You!”

Victor scribbled something onto the piece of paper in front of him, not telling Sebastian what he had written down. They were two of the four Emmys remaining in the mansion. Wes, Risty, and Zack had returned to the hotel to find some materials to work with, while Monique and Minerva had went off to attempt to find a bathroom. Donna had accompanied Ophelia outside, where she had set up several easels and was hard at work painting. They were visible through the room’s only window, which Elena was sitting in front of with a hand mirror. Gabe was just outside the door talking to his butler on his cell phone.

“What sounds better?” Victor asked Sebastian. “’I want to buy your gel’ or ‘I want to buy your shampoo’?”

“Why-”

“Don’t question it, just which one sounds better?”

“Well, neither.” Sebastian answered. “But I think you could rhyme more words with shampoo than gel.”

“Okay…” Victor wrote another line on the paper and the tanner Emmy began drumming his fingers on the arm of the couch. Hearing the idle noise, Elena peered over the top of her mirror to see that Victor was distracted by his poem. The socialite crossed the room and then slid onto the couch beside Sebastian, sitting a bit too close for comfort. She watched him tapping his fingers, until he finally looked over at her with a raised eyebrow.

“Yes?”

“Oh, nothing.” Elena crossed one leg over the other. “Just wanted to see what you were doing.”

“You can see that I’m not doing anything right now.”

“Aw, you figured me out already.” She snapped her fingers in false frustration. “What I really wanted was to ask you a question.”

“And that question would be…?”

“Well, I saw you talking to Donna earlier.” Elena explained. “And I heard what you said to her. About an offer?” She waited for Sebastian to say something, but he just waited for her to continue. “And I know that the offer you were making her is an alliance.”

“Why would you ever think that?” Sebastian asked, his expression remaining bored.

“Well, I-”

“Quick, what rhymes with ‘all’?”

Elena glared across the room at Victor, obviously displeased with being interrupted. “How’s about small? You know, like the size of your brain?”

“Haha, very funny.” The actor scoffed. “I’m using it anyway.”

“As I was saying,” Elena’s focus was back on Sebastian. “I watch these shows a lot, and you weren’t exactly discreet about asking her.”

“I really have no idea what you’re talking about.” Sebastian told her. “Why would I need an alliance this early in the game?”

“Oh, Sebastian,” Elena’s voice switched from sweet to sinister. “Don’t play dumb.” She put a hand on Sebastian’s face and turned it to face her. “Let’s cut to the chase, shall we? I want in.”

“Define ‘in’-”

“Hey, what rhymes with ‘star’?”

Sebastian turned to look at Victor, and Elena’s face turned red in anger. “How’s about car?” Sebastian suggested. “Or far?”

“Oh, far will work.” Victor wrote something down, ignoring the knives being shot at him from Elena’s eyes.

“Darling, you could do so much better than that pale, limp haired little pessimist.” Elena insisted, leaning against Sebastian’s arm. “Forget about Donna. Take me for your alliance instead.”

“I still have no idea what you’re talking about.” The blond quickly got off the couch, and walked towards the door causing Elena to fall onto the cushion. “I don’t have an alliance, and I don’t plan on starting one.”

“Then what did you offer Donna?” The wealthy girl inquired.

“I don’t have to tell you.” Sebastian pointed out, opening the door. “For all you know, I was asking her on a date.” Before Elena could protest, he shut the door behind himself.

“She’s not even your type!” The green-eyed girl shouted after her teammate, despite the fact that he was already gone. "I'm your type!" She growled in frustration, and smothered her face into the couch cushion. Victor stared from across the room.

“I take it this isn’t a good time to ask you what rhymes with ‘reign’.”

Elena snapped her head up and snarled at the actor. “How’s about pain? As in you’re a pain in my butt!”

“Hey, is it just me or is my makeup heavier on one eye than the other?” Monique inspected her eyes in the bathroom mirror before showing them to Minerva.

“Um…” The blonde studied her teammate’s face. “Maybe the left eye could use a little more?”

“I knew it!” The designer began dabbing at the area above her right eye with a tissue. She blinked a few times and then looked in the mirror again. “Better, right?”

“Oh, definitely.” Minerva agreed. “That means you’re done now?”

Monique nodded and they both exited the bathroom that they’d found attached to another building. They began to walk back in the direction of the mansion, but Minerva stopped in her tracks. The lighter skinned girl grabbed her teammate by the wrist and yanked her behind a nearby building.

“What’s the big idea?!” Monique shouted.

“Shh! Look!”

Minerva and Monique both peeked around the corner of the building and saw Camille walking in their direction. She stopped at a tree and rustled through its leaves, obviously searching for something. She continued studying the tree for another minute before walking away behind a building.

“What was she doing?” Minerva questioned.

“I don’t know, and I don’t really want to either.” Monique started walking in the direction of the mansion.

“But don’t you think that was a little suspicious?” Minerva asked, quickly catching up to her.

“Yes, but it’s none of our business.” The fashionista pointed out. “It’s not like it’s anything illegal.”

“But we don’t know that!”

“We can assume it.” Monique stated. “She seems more innocent than anybody else here. It’s not like she has anything to hide-”

“Oh, hello there.” Monique and Minerva both screamed when they heard the voice behind them. They turned around to find Camille standing behind them, her head tilted to the side. “You didn’t happen to see a tube of lipstick around here, did you? It seemed to have fallen out of my purse while I was trying to help my friend find flowers.”

Monique gave Minerva a look that clearly said ‘told you so’. “No, we haven’t. Sorry about that.”

“Oh, that’s too bad. I’ve been looking for a while.” Camille’s shoulders sagged. “Were you two going back to the mansion?” They nodded. “Oh, well I’ll come with you. I have to return to my team anyways.”

The three girls began to walk back to the building, Camille never noticing that Minerva was still on edge because she was there

It was getting dark outside when Chris had finally called the teams downstairs. All of the competitors had returned and finished with preparing their talents, and Chris now sat in a large red armchair in the middle of the room.

“Welcome everybody. Feel free to sit anywhere you’d like.” Chris said. Once the teams were situated, he began to talk again. “So you’ve been given quite a lot of time to decide on how you are going to attempt to impress me. I won’t reveal until the end who has impressed me the most, but I can cut you off if I’m unimpressed with your presentation. Simple enough, right? Right. Now Oscars, since you guys have a few extra tries you can go first.”

A murmur ran through The Oscars trying to decide who they should send up first. Eventually Allison stood up and approached Chris. “I made you this.” From behind her back, Allison pulled out a doll. It was made of felt with button eyes and fit comfortably in the Goth’s palm. Dressed in a familiar blue shirt and tan shorts, the doll easily resembled Chris.

The host looked on with interest. “It’s a doll?”

“Well, kind of.” Allison put her hand in her pocket and pulled out a few push pins. “It’s actually a voodoo doll.”

Chris’s jaw dropped. “Excuse me?”

“It’s a voodoo doll. I know nothing about voodoo, but I thought it was a good idea so I tried it out.” Her hand with the pins hovered over the doll. “Now let’s see what will happen if I put a pin in it-”

“No! No! Get out of here!” Chris leaped out of the chair and grabbed his doll likeness from her hands. Allison frowned and dropped her pins, walking away in disappointment. Chris cuddled the doll to his face. “It’s okay little beautiful person. Nobody’s going to hurt you.”

Confession Cam

Allison: “It’s not like there was any way that the doll could actually work. Like I said before, I know absolutely nothing about voodoo.” The cherry haired Goth slouched forwards. “I took a dare once to make a voodoo doll out of my friend. That one didn’t work either, so what’s the chance that this one would? Plus, if I actually knew how to make a voodoo doll, don’t you think I would have made one of Avery by now?”

Speaking of Avery, she was now presenting her talent to Chris in the form of a manicure and a pedicure. She picked at the host’s cuticles with a tool and filed his nails, which Chris seemed to enjoy but wasn’t visibly awed. When she was done pampering him, he examined his nails.

“It looks really good.” Chris admitted. “But dudette, I’m a celebrity. I could get a manicure anytime.”

“One of that quality?” Avery questioned.

Chris shrugged. “It would cost me some big bucks, but I probably could.”

Next up was Wes, who stood with his guitar. He sang a song that was barely over minute long that he’d titled “The Ballad of McLean”. It was an upbeat tune that you could tap your foot to and had the Emmys clapping to the beat. The lyrics were nice (and all about Chris during the past seasons of Total Drama), but when he was done Chris seemed unenthusiastic.

“It didn’t rhyme.” He stated.

“I know.” Wes answered. “Songs don’t have to rhyme, you know.”

“I like it better when things rhyme.” Chris declared. “Why do you think every song from TDWT that made it on the air rhymed?” He sent Wes back to sit with his team, who encouraged him that it was a good song. Meanwhile, Angel took the floor, holding up the curtain he’d dismantled like a magician’s cape.

“Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you a beautiful sight. I give you, the one, the only, Irina Rostropovich.” The pyromaniac moved the curtain aside to reveal that Irina had been crouched behind it. The model strut up to Chris and sat on his lap, brushing a hand through his hair.

“If you let us win the challenge,” She whispered in his ear, “I have connections with many swimsuit models that are even better looking than I am.”

Chris’s eyes went wide. “Is this legal?”

“That’s the best part!” Angel announced. “She’s eighteen, so it’s perfectly legal! And all of the friends she’s talking about are over twenty-one!” Irina stood up from Chris’s lap and walked away, Angel hiding her with the cape once again. “But this deal can only be yours if you choose our team to win!”

“Ha, he’ll definitely want our team to win after I go up!” Eric shoved Angel aside and stood in front of the host, whose smile faded at the sight of the athlete.

“You’re definitely not as good looking as the last one.” Chris frowned.

“Yeah, but this is the moment you’ve all been waiting for.” He put a shopping bag on the floor in front of him. “Eric Stoneleigh, the world’s next top athlete, is going to be showing you his other favorite thing besides sports.” He leaned over to pull something out of the bag, and Paul’s face fell.

“Oh no.” He whispered.

“What?” Robert asked

“Last night Eric told me that other than sports, he only had one passion.”

“What would that be?”

“My rocks!” Eric’s arms emerged from the bag filled with rocks of all shapes, colors, and sizes. “See, it might seem like a surprise with my amazing skills in sports, but I also have other interests. It’s taken me years to collect this many rocks, and they’re all very special. Take this one, for example,” The jock picked up a sparkly violet rock. “I got this from my basketball teammate after he went on vacation. He says it’s amethyst. They use it in jewelry. Pretty sweet, huh?” He pointed out another rock in the pile. “And this one’s topaz. And this one’s quartz. And I don’t know what this one is, but it’s pretty cool, right?”

Chris sneered at Eric. “Next!”

The jock furrowed his eyebrows. “What did you just say?”

“I said next.” Chris repeated. “As in you’re boring me.”

Eric stared at Chris, his face a mixture of shock and anger. “Whatever, man. You just don’t get it.”

“I don’t think I want to get it.” The host retorted. “Now who’s next?”

Confession Cam

Irina: “So I know that I said I want people to appreciate me for something other than my looks. But when it comes to dealing with pathetic men, sometimes looking good is the only thing you can do.”

Avery: “Okay, so I probably should have told Eric not to show off his rocks when I gave him one of our six spots.” The drama queen put her forehead in her palm. “Unless the whole Irina thing works, I really hope Paul or Cara has a trick up their sleeve.”

“Chris, you and I are the same type of person. We’re both handsome, we’re both wealthy, we both love ourselves, and we both want one thing and one thing only.”

“Money?” Chris asked.

“Yes.” Gabe smiled. “Money.” The curly haired teen pulled a wad of cash from his pocket and tossed it to the host. “Count this for me, would you?”

Chris took the elastic band off of the stack of bills and quickly ran his finger through them. “This is a thousand dollars.”

“Why yes, it is.” Gabe winked at the host. “And since you’re a smart man, I think you’ll appreciate my offer. Hopefully you’ll give me something in return in the form of… oh, a challenge win maybe?”

The vain man nodded, tucking the money into his shirt pocket. “We’ll see.”

“Excellent.” Gabe took a seat on the stairs, earning a high five from a few of his team members. Meanwhile, Cara had stepped in front of Chris with a large bouquet of flowers in her hand.

“I have hunted all around the film set for the perfect flowers, and eventually I found them.” Cara announced. She pulled a group of small midnight blue flowers from the bundle. “These are statice, which represent success. These represent you because you’re a very successful man, Chris.”

“I can agree with that.” Chris smirked.

“As do we all,” The brunette smiled, pulling out a big red flower from the bunch. “And this is an amaryllis flower. It represents beauty and pride. You’re obviously a very handsome man, and you should be proud of it!” Her smile didn’t leave her face as she removed a large pink and yellow flower out. “This is an alstroemeria. It represents wealth, fortune, and prosperity, which are things that you’re well on your way to having with such a successful career!”

“You’re such a good little suck up.” Chris had a strange smile on his face. “Where did you say you got those flowers?”

“Oh, well I’d checked the woods, but there weren’t any there. And then, the weirdest thing happened!” The nature lover explained. “I found this little fenced off area behind one of the sets with a whole ton of beautiful flowers behind it. There were so many that I figured it couldn’t hurt if I took a few!”

Chris laughed. “That’s what I thought you would say.”

“Why?” Cara’s smile fell. “Is there something I should know about these flowers?”

“Just listen.” The room went silent, and a thumping sound could be heard. It started faint, but it was quickly getting closer until it became obvious that they were footsteps. Eventually the mansion door slammed open and Chef Hatchet stormed in.

“Who went through my garden?!” Cara’s face turned white and she tried to hide the bouquet behind her back. Chef just pointed a finger at her. “You.” Cara squealed and then began to run, Chef bounding right after her. Chris just laughed at the scene, before summoning the next presenter.

Ophelia pulled a rather large object that was covered with a sheet over to Chris. “Mr. McLean, I present to you a tribute to the great Andy Warhol. I give you McLean Frenzy.” The artist removed the sheet and the object was revealed to be four small paintings taped together. Each one was an image of Chris McLean’s face, though they were all done in different neon colors that just didn’t seem to match but somehow fit together well.

“It’s not quite my style,” Chris admitted. “But I can’t say anything bad about four pictures of myself, can I? Next!” Ophelia pushed the painting to the side, making room for Paul to approach the host.

“I made you this by hand.” The Boy Scout held up a crochet hat. The crocheting itself was very nice, but the design was a little… shocking, to say the least. The hat was solid blue up until the front, where a large image of Chris’s face had been made out of different colors of yarn. He handed it to Chris with a smile. “Do you like it?”

Chris stared at the accessory. After a moment, he smiled. “While even I’ll admit the design’s a little scary, crochet is supposed to be in style this upcoming winter! This will totally impress those losers who claim I’m not stylish enough for a TV host!” He gave the Oscar a thumbs up. “Good job.”

Paul smiled, and then turned to rejoin his team. In the process, he made a rude face at Isaac who made an equally ugly face back. Meanwhile, Elena, Risty, and Zack had set themselves up in front of Chris. Risty had a makeshift rain stick in her hand made out of a long cardboard tube and some dry pasta inside, and Zack had a handmade tambourine made out of plates. Elena cleared her throat.

“A poem by Victor Phae, as read by Elena Harks.” She said, speaking in a voice much more serene than her teammates had ever heard her.

“Roses are red,

Violets are blue,

This show would be nothing

If it wasn’t for you.”

After the end of the verse, Risty turned the rain stick and Zack shook his tambourine.

“When I see your hair,

I want to buy your shampoo,

Because it looks so shiny,

What brand do you use?”

The rain stick and tambourine played again, starting a pattern.

“A smile so great,

That in the sunlight it shines,

The sparkle from your teeth

Almost hurts my eyes.

And your acting is definitely

Not amateur at all,

I want to see all your movies,

On the big screen or small.

Total Drama is just the start,

I know you’ll be a star,

With a face like that,

I know you’ll go far.

You’re practically a king,

Nobody threatens your reign,

You’re the wonderful, handsome,

All powerful Chris McLean.”

The rain stick and tambourine were played one last time and The Emmys applauded. Chris’s face was blank, obviously unsure of how to react at that terribly written piece of poetry. He was silent as Risty, Zack, and Elena sat back down, obviously still deliberating. As the host was thinking, Cara arrived back inside with the flowers she had picked shoved into her mouth and stuck in her hair. Before anybody had time to comfort her, Chris stood up.

“I have made my decision.” He announced. “The Oscars had offered me fashion statements and girls. The Emmys had offered me money and odes to myself. At first, I’ll admit that I was leaning towards the idea of hot girls… but then I heard that magnificent poem. Yes, it was terribly written, but dudes, it was a terribly written poem about an amazing subject. And it rhymed. That’s the kind of poem that I would force a bunch of helpless teenagers to sing while in the middle of a dangerous foreign country on live television. And as wonderful as hot girls are, this poem and the fact that I was kind of terrified by the voodoo doll and rock collection made me choose The Emmys as the challenge winners.” The Emmys erupted into cheers, while The Oscars hung their heads. Chris addressed The Oscars. “I’ll see you guys at the Team’s Choice Awards again.” He began to walk towards the door, but then turned around. “Oh yeah, and Paul? I’m keeping the hat.”

A few hours later, The Oscars sat on the bleachers at the Team’s Choice Awards Ceremony for the second time. The stars that were nailed to the front of the stage had changed: now each of the remaining Oscars’ stars had another smaller star engraved onto it representing that they had survived an elimination ceremony. Josh’s star had been smashed to the point that his name was barely legible.

Chris took the stage and adjusted the microphone. “Welcome, Oscars, to your second elimination ceremony. One of you is going to be voted off tonight and will never return to McLean Studios again. As I said at the last Team’s Choice Awards, how you’ll be leaving the studios changes with the episode. Today, it’s again by limo…” He pointed at the Red Carpet of Shame, where a limousine waited at the end of it. “However, in order to get to that limo you’re going to have to avoid getting hit by the arrows that are being shot at you. It’s just like the challenge earlier, except you’re the target and these archers never miss.” He snapped his fingers and the archers revealed themselves as burly men with bows in their hands. Several of The Oscars gasped.

“You’ve all cast your votes in the confessional. The first silver star of safety goes to…” He held the star in the air, and began his trademark dramatic pause. “Paul.” Chris tossed the do-gooder his star. “Nice crocheting, man. The next two stars go to Angel and Irina, for the awesome attempt at distracting me with the temptation of beautiful women.” The fire starter and eye candy caught their respective stars. “Next are Robert, Camille, and Cara.” Robert and Camille both were actually paying attention long enough to catch their stars. “Isaac.” The troublemaker fist bumped with Angel and made a face at Paul. “And Avery.” The drama queen sighed in relief as she caught her star. “That just leaves Allison and Eric.”

Allison was playing with the rings on her fingers, clearly worried that she had ended up in the bottom two. Eric was just giving his teammates a confused glance, trying to figure out how he was sitting there.

“You both were trusted by your team to impress me, and you both epically failed.” Chris explained. “Voodoo dolls and rock collections? Seriously? You two deserve to be here tonight. The final star goes to…”

“Allison.”

“Oh thank goodness!” The daredevil caught her star and smiled at her teammates. She gave Eric a sympathetic look, but he had jumped up in disbelief.

“WHAT?!” He stomped his foot. “I cannot believe that y’all voted me off! I thought you liked me! You should like me, I am the best member of this whole team!” He jutted a finger at Chris. “This is crap, McLean! You rigged the votes! You just didn’t like my rocks! How could you?!”

“Yeah, yeah, just go.” An intern walked out from behind the stage and pushed a still talking Eric onto the Red Carpet of Shame. Once his feet hit the carpet, the arrows began shooting. He quickly shut up and ran towards the limo, getting hit in the butt with several arrows as he leaped through the door. The limo drove away, and Chris looked back to The Oscars.

“You guys are already down to nine players while the other team still has all eleven.” He pointed out. “You'd better start winning or you’re going to be Team Victory all over again.”

At the same time as the elimination ceremony, Zack and Wes had volunteered to cook dinner that night. Most of The Emmys sat at their table with smiles on their faces, pasta on their plates, and glasses of soda in their hands.

“To Victor!” Ophelia raised her glass into the air in a toast. Eight other glasses clinked against hers in agreement and they began to eat, glad that they were safe from elimination that night.

On the end of the table, the mood was much less cheerful as Elena angrily stabbed at her pasta, completely separated from her happy teammates. “I can’t believe stupid Sebastian!” She hissed to the camera. “He has the guts to lie to my face! Well, I’ll show him! I’ll find somebody stupid enough to do whatever I say and I’ll make my own alliance!” She continued to angrily stab at her pasta. “They’re cheering now, but they’ll see! I’ll take over this team, and Sebastian will come begging to be in my alliance. I’ll be on top! The beautiful and wealthy people will come out on top!”

“…I’d toast to that.”

Elena turned her head to see Gabe sitting across from her swirling his soda around in his glass.

“What did you just say?” She questioned.

“I would love for the beautiful and wealthy people to come out on top.” Gabe agreed. “We never get our way.”

Elena stared at Gabe for a moment before an ominous smile spread across her face. She raised her glass in the air and said quietly, “To the beautiful and the rich.”

“Perfect,” Gabe touched his glass to hers and they drank, the smile never leaving Elena’s face.

“So, Gabe… how would you feel about starting an alliance?”

Chapter Five: I Need a Director
“Last time on Total Drama Island: For Your Entertainment…” Chris smiled at the camera, obviously ready for another day of shooting. “The contestants were already making friends and enemies. Angel and Isaac became roommates and instant best friends, Zack anonymously pulled a prank on Elena that left her furious, and Sebastian tried to get Donna to join his alliance. He was quickly denied, but he wasn’t going to give up that easily.

“The romance-themed challenge started off with shooting Cupid’s love arrows at targets. Each hit earned a chance for their team to try and impress me in the second part of the challenge. The teams were given some time to prepare, and boy did they need it. Elena revealed that she heard Sebastian talking to Donna and tried to get him to take her into his alliance instead, though he pretended that he didn’t know what she was talking about. Minerva and Monique caught Camille snooping around the set, and while one accepted it when she claimed she’d lost her lipstick, the other remained suspicious.

“Eventually the challenge came and most of the contestants failed to impress me, as expected.” Chris rolled his eyes. “A few, though, actually did pretty good! The Oscars used fashion statements and hot girls to try and convince me, while The Emmys offered money and Chris McLean tributes. I chose The Emmys to win and Eric was sent home at the elimination ceremony for being obnoxious. Meanwhile, The Emmys celebrated… well, most of them anyways. Elena was still pouting because Sebastian didn’t want her, but she decided to get revenge by joining with Gabe in her own alliance. Whose actions will get their team on their bad side? Find out this time on Total… Drama… Island: For Your Entertainment!”

“-And I think that we could get plenty of people to vote with us, don’t you think?”

“Oh yeah.”

“It’s not like she has that many friends anyway. I’ve seen her talk to, like, two people over the last few days, and I don’t think Monique and Risty have any attachment to her.”

“Uh huh.”

“We’re probably not going to win three challenges in a row considering that’s practically impossible in a game like this, so unless a miracle happens I think it’ll be easy to get her in at least the bottom two at elimination.”

“Whatever you say.”

Elena smacked her hand against the table in front of Gabe, who was looking at his reflection in a nearby window. “Are you even listening to me, Gabe?!”

He flinched and quickly turned to look at her. “What?”

The socialite sighed. “We were talking about who we’re voting for when we have to go to elimination.”

“Oh, right. I knew that.” Gabe nodded, but then paused. “But why don’t you remind me who we’re voting for one more time?”

Elena sighed. “Minerva.”

“…Why?”

“Did you listen to anything I said, or were you too distracted by your favorite person?”

“I just wanted to make sure I look good on camera!” Gabe defended. “This show is broadcasted nationwide. I don’t want to look poor or something.”

“You’re going to look a lot more than poor if you don’t start listening to me.” The Harks heiress sneered. Gabe put up his hands as if he was surrendering in response. “Now that I have your attention, I had a chat with Minerva after the first challenge that I don’t think she’s forgotten. Pretty much we just have to hang that over her head during the challenge and we’ll have her set up for elimination.”

“Sounds like a good enough plan.” Gabe approved. “But what exactly did you say to her that will throw her off so much?’

“Oh, just that- AH!”

Elena was interrupted by a strange blur of silver screeching across the table. She instantly ran across the room while Gabe hid under the table, the pair screaming in unison as the object continued zooming around them.

“What is that?!” Gabe whimpered.

“I don’t know, but it’s not leaving!” Elena shrieked as the object darted around her, emitting a high pitched squealing noise.

The unidentified object skidded off to the side and then rushed under the table, hitting Gabe in the leg. The rich boy screamed loud enough to rattle the window panes in the room, kicking the foreign object in the process. The object went rolling across the floor, and after another minute of screaming Gabe and Elena eventually realized that it had stopped moving. They both nervously approached the object to find out its identity: a remote controlled truck.

“Where the heck did this come from?” Gabe questioned, picking up the truck and examining it closer. He dropped it in shock when light laughter rang through the air, and Elena scowled.

“I know exactly where.” She marched to the food window and reached her arm over the counter. The unexplained laughter was replaced by a scream as she yanked a body over the counter. “It’s the rat I have to share a bathroom with!”

Zack gave Elena a nervous smile and an awkward finger wave, and she put her hands on her hips, waiting for an explanation. Before anything could happen though, a laughing Risty popped up from behind the food window. “Oh man, you should’ve seen your faces!” She hopped over the counter, a controller in her hand. “Zack, this was so worth it.”

“What’s she doing here?” Gabe asked, joining Elena in glowering at them.

“We’re partners in crime now.” Zack explained.

“Well you ruined our conversation.” Elena declared, grabbing Gabe by the arm and towing him behind her as she walked for the exit. “Come on, Gabe. We’ll kick Monique out of my room and we’ll finish talking there. Then we won’t be interrupted by scheming little brats.” The door slammed behind them and Risty and Zack exchanged a mischievous smile.

“You’re her neighbor, aren’t you?” Risty asked. Zack nodded. “Well, let’s go get another one of your toys and crash their party again!”

Confession Cam

Zack: “So even though Risty and I are clearly physical opposites, we actually have a lot more in common than I thought. She has a killer sense of humor, which is so awesome since I thought I’d be pranking people alone while I was here!”

''BANG! BANG! BANG!''

“Allison! Get out of there!”

''BANG! BANG! BANG!''

“Allisoooooon!”

''BANG! BANG! BANG!''

“Allison, get out of there or I’m going to go get Robert to break down this door!”

The aforementioned Goth smirked as she wiped off her makeup in the mirror. The door between her room and the bathroom had been locked tight, and Avery was fuming because she had wanted to get in a half an hour ago. Allison just rolled her eyes and went back to removing her eyeshadow as her roommate continued to bang on the door.

''BANG! BANG! BANG!''

“Fine! You know what? I’ll break down the door myself!”

The redhead held back a laugh as she heard a loud thump against the door and Avery whining in pain. Despite the first failed attempt, the drama queen continued pounding on the door, Allison focusing back on the mirror. The unlocked door to the bathroom opened up and Paul leaned in.

“What’s wrong with her?” He asked, trying to make his voice heard over the constant knocking.

“What isn’t wrong with her?” Allison remarked.

“I would let her in soon.” Paul advised. “I was just on the first floor with Robert and Irina and you could hear her beating up the door from there. It’s even worse in the hallway.”

“She can wait until I’m done to come in. The world doesn’t revolve around her.” The Goth didn’t even flinch when Avery rammed into the door again. “Plus, now that Eric’s gone we have more bathroom time.”

“But Chef Hatchet’s staying on our floor, and I don’t think he’ll hesitate to barge in here if she doesn’t stop.”

Allison smiled. “Hopefully he’ll use Avery’s face to break the door down then.” Paul sighed and closed the door, covering his ears in a desperate attempt to block out the furious drama queen.

The Emmys in the room below Avery’s had been attempting to do the same thing as Paul for the past twenty minutes. Wes was sitting on the floor with a pair of headphones on and his guitar at his side, having given up on playing it due to hitting a wrong note every time Avery ran into the door. Victor was sitting on his bed with his hands pressed to his ears and a look on his face that clearly read that he wished he was anywhere but there. Once he realized that his hands weren’t blocking out any sound, Victor hit them against the mattress in frustration.

“Are we ever going to get some peace and quiet?!” He shouted.

On the ground, Wes popped one of his headphones from his ear. “No offense, but screaming is only going to add to the noise.”

“Sorry, I was just expecting to get some sleep tonight.” The actor whined. “I’m pretty sure we’re going to have a challenge tomorrow and I don’t want to lose.”

“Well, we haven’t lost yet. Plus, you rocked at the last challenge.”

“Out of luck.” Victor stated. “My poem was crap.”

Wes shrugged. “We still won.” All of a sudden, a huge crash sounded from above. The roommates stared at the ceiling as the racket of what may have been two cats screaming and fighting leaked through the ceiling.

“AVERY, GET OUT! I’M NOT DONE YET!” The muffled voice of Allison screeched.

“NO WAY, YOU’RE OUT OF HERE!”

Wes and Victor exchanged a shocked expression. After it became clear that the two girls would be fighting for a while, Victor collapsed onto his bed and smothered his face with a pillow.

“Just vote me off now so I don’t have to sit through this every night…”

Confession Cam

Wes: “After a few more minutes of Avery and Allison fighting, I’m pretty sure Victor was trying to suffocate himself with his pillow.” The musician frowned. “And even when the girls stopped he kept complaining about them. He seems like a nice guy and all, but he’s kind of a bigger drama queen than Avery.”

Avery: “So after our little bathroom debacle, I went to Chris and asked for a room change. Even after I told him that I broke down the door and tackled Allison, he still said no.” The New Jersey native crossed her arms. “I voted for Allison at the last elimination and I’m going to vote for her again the next time we lose. I want her gone.”

“Why is everybody so down in the dumps this morning?” Robert asked as he scooped a piece of French toast onto Monique’s plate. The designer gave the jock a tired grimace.

“Elena and Gabe were having a meeting in my room last night. Elena kicked me out, and I sat in the hall going through the same magazine for a good hour because my key was still inside.” Monique’s shoulders sagged. “When I was finally allowed back into the room, Avery and Allison started fighting.”

“That’s too bad. But today’s a new day!” Robert smiled, scooping another slice of toast onto the New Yorker’s plate. “Here’s an extra piece of toast since you’re not feeling well.”

She gave him a perplexed glance. “I’m in the farthest room from Avery and Allison’s. You’re on the same floor, so you must have heard them, right?”

“Yeah, but why should I let their fight ruin my day?” The footballer insisted. “There’s no reason to let the bad things hold you back.” He gave her another bright grin, and Monique smiled back. She couldn’t help it. That grin was contagious.

Monique walked away and Robert turned around to see if Paul had made more toast. When his tray was full, he turned back around to see Minerva waiting at the counter. Her eyes weren’t on Robert, but instead they were shifting around the room nervously. The athlete scooped a slice of toast onto her plate with a sympathetic grin.

“You okay?” He asked. Minerva jumped at the sound of his voice. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to freak you out!”

“It’s fine.” Minerva calmed down once she realized who he was. “I’m just a little on edge, that’s all.”

“You’re usually as cheerful as I am.” Robert pointed out. “What’s wrong? Did the noise last night bother you too?”

“No, no, it’s not that.” The blonde shook her head. “It’s just… this is going to sound totally crazy, but there’re definitely some people on my team who are out to get me.”

“I’m sure they’re not-”

“No. Really. They are.” Minerva persisted. “I’ve heard a few of them talking, and they want to-”

“Oh, hey Minerva.” Minerva’s eyes went wide when suddenly Elena and Gabe were on either side of her. Elena gave her a fake smile. “What were you talking about?”

“Oh… nothing.” The blonde’s eyes darted between Elena and Gabe and then locked on Robert. The daydreamer nodded in understanding and scooped a few pieces of French toast onto Gabe’s and Elena’s plates.

“Come on, you can sit with us today.” Elena started to walk over to the table, clearly expecting the other Californian to follow her. Minerva had done exactly the opposite and tried to go in the opposite direction. She didn’t get very far though as Gabe was standing right behind her. He just raised an eyebrow and she turned sharply on her heel, Gabe walking right beside her as they trailed Elena. After a few steps, Minerva tripped over what seemed like air, her toast sliding off of her plate.

“Oops!” She giggled, sounding like much more of an airhead than she had with Robert. “Silly me, I dropped my toast! Let me just go get some more-”

“You can have mine.” Gabe continued guiding her in the direction of the table. Minerva looked over her shoulder at Robert with a worried glance before sitting in the chair between Elena and Gabe. Robert was gaping at the scene.

Confession Cam

Robert: “I try to see the good in everybody, but right now I can’t find anything positive about Elena and Gabe. Minerva was right, they’re definitely out to get her and if I could, I would… um… I’d…” His eyebrows furrowed. “Um… ugh! Well, I’d do something! I just… can’t remember what that is right now.”

Once breakfast was finished, the contestants were directed to a building near the hotel. Though bland on the outside, the teams knew not to underestimate it. The outside of the set from the first episode had been equally as plain, yet inside it held an entire audience and stage.

When they pushed open the doors, they found a very scrambled set. Both sides of the room were identical, each with four scenes with fake backdrops and props set up. Scattered around the room were cameras, lighting equipment, and lit vanities. Surrounded in boxes and racks of clothing in the center of the room was a very familiar face, though it wasn’t Chris McLean.

“Hello there everybody, Rachel Claire here.” The reporter smiled. “The producers thought that I would be a better fit to introduce this challenge than Chris since I have a few more connections than he does. So welcome to the set of your new music videos!” She received a puzzled look from the contestants in front of her. “Oh, come on. Couldn’t you show a little enthusiasm?”

“We have a grand total of one musician here.” Angel said. “I think we have a reason not to be thrilled.”

“For the record, I’m excited.” Wes grinned embarrassedly.

“Well, at least there’s one of you.” Rachel Claire rolled her eyes. “Anyways, today’s challenge is sponsored by several independent music groups who are just dying to get noticed. And what better way to get noticed than to make a music video? Instead of the musicians starring in their video though, you guys are going to. The rules are simple: each team picks three members to play one of three roles: the director, who gets to both be in charge and run the camera; the wardrobe specialist, who handles all the clothing, makeup, and hair; and the backstage crew, who’s going to work with the lighting and placing props. These three people do not have to appear in the video.

“The remaining team members will pull randomly colored pieces of paper from a hat. There are five different colors of paper in the hat, each representing a different role in the music video, though the gray slips mean you'll be playing an extra. Everybody with a slip of paper has to appear in the video. The director then has to pick one of four songs out of a hat and they will be given all the information they need to know about their music video including genre, a basic plot, roles, and the song lyrics. Don’t worry, you don’t actually have to sing the songs, you just have to lip sync. Each team has a laptop and four sets to work with: a street, a bedroom, a small restaurant, and a plain room with instruments in it, and there are various supplies hanging around the room that you can also use. You have five hours to film your video and get it onto a disc so we can play it. Whichever team has the best video wins!”

Rachel Claire put a hand on her hip. “Simple, right?” The looks on the players’ faces said that this task was anything but that. “Well, don’t just stand there. Huddle up or something and figure out who you want to be on the crew.”

Choosing the three roles was quick and easy for both teams. For The Emmys, Monique and Risty volunteered to work wardrobe and backstage respectively, and Zack was chosen as the director due to his extensive knowledge of computers. He said he knew how to add in high tech effects that would make their video amazing, and since nobody protested he was given the role. Irina and Paul volunteered for the wardrobe and lighting roles for The Oscars, while after a lot of squabbling Avery ended up with the director’s position. The remaining contestants picked their colors from the boxes with little fuss, though when it was time to pick the songs the tension in the room went up.

“There are four very different songs in here, from four very different bands, though all are a little over two minutes long.” Rachel Claire pulled a hat out, and Avery and Zack walked up to it. They both plunged their hands into the hat and rustled around for a minute, eventually coming up with slips of paper. They unfolded their papers and looked at the result. “Well?”

“It says ‘Obsession’.” Zack said, turning his paper around so the reporter could see it.

“Ooh, that’s a creepy one.” Rachel Claire commented. “That song’s by the gothic rock band Mother Murder.”

Zack’s jaw dropped. “Mother what?” “Mother Murder. That’s their name. I hate it too.” Rachel Claire sneered, handing Zack a few papers with song information on them. “They’re a gothic rock band fronted by a girl with some crazy vocals. That song’s about stalking somebody.” The technophile walked back to his team, skimming the lyrics sheet with a puckered brow. The reporter turned the Avery. “So what does your paper say?”

“’Idolized’.”

Rachel Claire burst into laughter. “Seriously?!”

“Yeah, seriously.”

“I was hoping somebody would get this one!” She picked a few papers from her pile and handed them to Avery. “’Idolized’ is by a group called Gangsta Rhymes. They’re four guys who rap and make some kind of a hip-hop/rock hybrid. The song’s about looking good at a party.”

Avery looked like she wanted to strangle Rachel Claire. “You’re joking, right?”

“Read the lyrics.” The dirty blonde woman smirked.

The brunette skimmed the paper, her expression darkening as she got further through it. “''Got my bling on, so you know that I’m a balla’. Car bouncin’ up and down, know I must have more dough than all ya''… oh dear god, you must be joking.” Rachel Claire shook her head and Avery groaned. She returned to her team, all of whom were horrified.

“So, you have five hours to come up with a good video.” The reporter gave everybody a snake-like grin. “Good luck… you’re going to need it.”

“This is ridiculous!”

The Oscars were now sitting at their restaurant set, reading over the papers they had been given by Rachel Claire. Their colors had matched up with parts on the sheet, and Isaac, Robert, Cara, and Angel were unfortunate enough to each have received a verse or chorus that they were supposed to pretend to rap. After playing the CD with “Idolized” on it, they had come up with two massive problems.

One was the speed of the song and the amount of words in each verse. These two factors combined would make the lines near impossible to memorize in the short amount of time they had. The second was the fact that all four of the actual rappers sounded like big, tough men. Cara was definitely not a man, and was probably the skinniest girl on the team. There was no way that voice could be coming out of her mouth.

“How are we ever going to make this work?” Cara asked. “This is seriously crazy! There’s no way anybody’s going to fall for that, no matter how much styling comes into play.”

“Ha. If you can even call it styling.” Irina spoke in a monotone. “I was expecting something outrageously crazy to do, not some hip hop boys. I could throw you guys in t-shirts and sweats and it would look in character.”

“I wish we didn’t vote off Eric.” Camille whimpered. “He’d know all about this kind of music.”

“Hey, no need to get so negative about it guys.” Robert chimed in. “We can deal with it.”

“Easy for you to say.” Avery rested her chin in her hand. “You don’t have to direct this thing with almost zero information to start with. All the plot says is that the band arrives at a party and has a great time.”

“And that’s all we need!” Robert exclaimed. “Look, this restaurant set could be the site of the party. With the right lighting we could turn it into a bar or something! And the street set? It could be… um…”

“The band on the way to the party.” Angel pitched in. “We could dim the lights so it looks like nighttime, get our two extras dressed up so they look like party girls, and have them walk alongside the band on the sidewalk.”

“That’s good, except we’re going to need more than a handful of people to make it look like a convincing party.” Avery explained. “If there are only six people in the room, it’s going to look pretty stupid.”

“We can worry about that later,” Paul said. “I’m going to go try and find a ladder so I can get up to those lights and see what I can do with them.”

“And I’ll start going through the costume supplies to see if I can some clothes we can use.” Irina got up, Camille following her.

“Here, you four ‘rappers’ circle around the table and start trying to learn some lines.” Avery pushed the lyrics sheet into the center of the table. She then turned to Allison. “I really hate you, but you’re going to have to help me out with plotting out some scenes.”

“If it’ll help us win the challenge, I’ll do it.” The daredevil shrugged. “We’re going to need all the help we can get with this video.”

On the other side of the room, The Emmys had some slightly more specific guidelines to go by.

“Okay, so Victor, you’re just a regular guy who has no role with the band whatsoever.” Zack paraphrased from the paper. “However, you’re being stalked by Ophelia, who is madly in love with you. She’s the main character of the video, and the singer of the band.”

“I wouldn’t mind you being madly in love with me.” Victor smiled at Ophelia. “You must be the most attractive stalker on the planet-”

“Victor, we don’t have time for this.” Zack glared at the actor. “Sebastian, Gabe, and Donna, you guys are assigned as the bassist, guitarist, and drummer. Elena, Wes, and Minerva, you guys are left as extras. Got it?”

“Aw, darn.” Wes moaned.

“What?”

“I wanted to have a part.” The musician said. “I was the only one who was actually excited for this, and now I’m stuck playing an extra.”

As his teammate spoke, Gabe heard somebody whisper his name. He looked up to see Elena glowering at him from where she sat on top of a few boxes. He mouthed a “What?” to her, and she pointed between herself and Minerva a few times before pointing to him. He shrugged, not understanding what she was saying. She held up the gray extra card she had picked out of the box. Gabe shrugged again and Elena rolled her eyes. She pointed from the card to Gabe a few times, and then pointed at the yellow card he had in his hand.

“Ooohh, right!” The light bulb had turned on in Gabe’s head. “Hey Wes?” The musician stopped talking. “How would you like to trade spots? I know how much you wanted a part, and I would look very middle class if I was pretending to play a guitar.”

Wes’s face lit up. “Really?”

“Yes, really.” Gabe put on a phony smile and held out his yellow card. “You just have to do me a little favor later, but only a small one.”

“Okay, no problem.” The musician traded cards with the rich boy. “Thank you. That was actually nice of you.”

“It’s my pleasure.” Gabe’s words oozed of sarcasm as he turned to look at Elena. She gave him a nod of approval.

“Okay, so now that we have that settled, we need to get back to the important things.” Zack insisted. “Pretty much we’ll have to film this as a story with Ophelia following Victor around everywhere. We’ll need shots of the band pretending to play, and I have a few other scenes in mind. Monique, do you think you can come up with some costumes for this?”

“Of course I can.” Monique replied. “I already have some ideas.”

“Good, try and get to that as fast as you can.” The dandelion-haired boy instructed. “Risty, you’re going to help me plot out some scenes. Ophelia, I need you to stay behind and try to learn those lines. Victor, you can stay with her since we’ll need you guys in the same place whenever Monique’s ready for makeup. If the rest of you could go any find any cool props you can, that’d be awesome.”

“Who made you the boss?” Elena questioned.

“We all did when we elected him director.” Risty stated.

“Tch, figures you would defend him. You are his only friend.”

“You’re just bitter because we pulled a prank on you and you have no sense of humor.”

“You just need to find a hobby other than hanging around with yellow-haired dwarves… oh, and get a good hairdresser to tame that mop of yours.”

“At least my hair doesn’t have to compensate for my lack of brain like yours.”

“At least I-”

“Stop it!” Zack leapt in between his bickering teammates. “Look, we only have five hours for this and I’m probably going to need at least one of them to edit the video. With all the planning and make up, we’re probably going to only have two and a half hours to film this thing. We need to get moving now.”

Elena narrowed her eyes at the little technophile. “Fine. Whatever. But not for you. For the team.”

Confession Cam

Elena: “Just this once I will let that little gremlin order me around. Any other times though, and he’s going to get his eyes scratched out by a pair of well-manicured nails. Oh, and when Gabe and I are done with Minerva, Risty is definitely our next target.”

“So, what exactly are we looking for?”

Irina pushed between a few clothing items on hangers aside to find Camille on the other side of the rack.

“I just have some heavy sweatshirts, some hats, and ugly t-shirts.” Irina replied, holding up the armful of clothing she already had. “Maybe if we could find some gold chains or something it’d be nice.”

“Oh, okay.” Camille began to go through a few boxes that were scattered around the floor. It had been ten minutes since they had started searching, and so far most of the clothing belonged to women. The dark-haired girl began to disgustedly look through some old shirts, looking up only when she saw a few of The Emmys coming near. “Oh, hello!”

“Hello.” Donna gave her an awkward smile as she began to go through the box beside her. Sebastian and Minerva did the same, and Wes stood with an armful of random items beside them.

“What are you guys looking for?” Irina asked the opposing team, giving a questioning glance to Gabe and Elena, who were observing from a few feet away.

“We really have no idea.” Sebastian shrugged. “Whatever looks good.”

“Hey, do you think Zack could use some markers and paper?” Minerva pulled the craft items out of the box. “Maybe we could write on the bedroom walls and make them look creepy or something?”

“Throw them in the pile.” Wes encouraged. Minerva tossed the markers at Wes, hitting him in the face with them. “Ouch!”

“Oh, sorry.” The blonde apologized, letting out a dumb giggle. Her eyes flicked to Elena really quick before continuing to talk. “I guess I just have bad aim!”

“Um… yeah.” Wes couldn’t help but watch Minerva in uncertainty for a moment, but was interrupted when Sebastian held up a few items.

“Hey, what do you guys think of these masks?”

Wes yelped when he saw that his teammate was holding up a few Jason Voorhees-style hockey masks. “Um, that’s a bit too creepy. I’d leave those behind.”

The Emmys all moved on to another stack of boxes across the room, leaving Irina and Camille still scavenging through the clothing. Eventually they had accumulated a few good items and returned to their group. The four “rappers” were still sitting around the table, all looking absolutely baffled.

“What’s wrong?” Irina asked.

“There is no way I can memorize all of these lines.” Robert replied. “Even if I didn’t have a memory problem, I think I’d still have trouble.”

“There isn’t even a very good beat to the song.” Angel added. “It makes the words ten times harder to remember.”

“Well, um… maybe we could make cue cards?” Irina proposed.

“I don’t think we have enough paper over there.” Camille said.

“We also still have the dilemma of making me look like a man.” Cara added in. “I don’t even know if it’s possible.”

“We can put your hair under a hat and cover you up in layers.” The model suggested, dropping the armful of clothing she had onto a nearby chair. “Just look at all these baggy sweatshirts we found.”

“I don’t exactly have masculine features.” The nature lover pointed to her face. “It’s not like you can warp my face.”

“We could cover it up.” Isaac pitched in.

“But how?”

“I dunno.” Isaac looked up at Irina. “Do you guys have maybe a funeral veil over there or something?”

Suddenly, an extravagant idea popped into Irina’s head. “No, we don’t. But we have something better.” The blonde ran away from the group with a smile on her face. A moment later she returned with a few items in her hand. “I have the answer to all of our problems.”

Her teammates stared in misunderstanding as she held the objects up to them: the hockey masks.

“Ooh, I wonder what Irina has planned for those?” The camera focused on Rachel Claire, who was sitting in a director’s chair getting her face powdered. “Better yet, how are The Oscars going to handle being partying rappers? And how will Zack taking charge of The Emmys turn out? And what about that Minerva? What is up with her? Find out all of these answers and more when we return on Total Drama Island: For Your Entertainment!” The reporter looked over her shoulder. “Now who wants to go get me a cappuccino?”

Chapter Six: Secrets, Lies, and Rock and Roll
“Risty, you must have superpowers or something.”

“Actually, I’m an alien. I hide my antenna under my hair.”

Risty snickered and stepped back from the wall that she had been working on for the past half hour. Zack stood gaping at the formerly plain bedroom set and the three formerly bare walls that were now covered in frantic writing and doodles thanks to Risty, a set of markers, and a lot of patience.

“You must be crazy to have written this much!” Zack exclaimed. “When I asked if you wanted to do the walls of the room, I never expected you’d do something this big.”

Risty shrugged. “I do some crazy things for my friends.” An excited shriek sounded through the building, and Risty and Zack both turned to look at its source. “Speaking of crazy…”

“Do you guys see this?” Ophelia ran up to them with a smile. “I look like a piece of art!”

“You definitely look like a piece of something.” Zack grimaced, though Ophelia didn’t seem to catch the negative connotation. The artist’s eyes were rimmed in smudged dark makeup and her lips were painted bright red, making her light skin look practically snow white. Her hair had been crimped and tousled until it could be described as something reminiscent of a pale lion’s mane. These factors combined with the flowy, slightly torn white dress she was wearing made her look like something out of a horror movie.

“Monique did a good job, don’t you think?” Ophelia asked.

"Well, you do look like a stalker.” Risty remarked, staring as the artist rocked back and forth on the balls of her feet. The athlete then noticed Victor walking away from Monique’s makeup chair. Eager to get away from Ophelia, she gave him a wave. “Look Ophelia, it’s Victor! Why don’t you go see what he thinks… you know, since you’re stalking him and all?”

“Oh, that’s a good idea!” The blonde skipped over towards the actor, leaving Risty and Zack laughing.

“How disgusted do you think he’ll be?” Zack asked.

“He’ll probably faint at the sight of her.” Risty chuckled. The watched as Ophelia began talking to Victor, her arms moving around rapidly as if she was telling him a story. Unlike Risty and Zack had, however, Victor stood there and patiently waited for her to finish. When she was done, he said something back with a smile. They began to walk towards the other set together, and Victor looked over his shoulder and sneered at his teammates. Risty and Zack exchanged a confused look.

“So… um, let’s just go check on how the other set’s going.” Zack suggested, content with pretending that hadn’t happened.

“Good idea.”

“I look stupid.”

“No you don’t.”

“I can see myself in the mirror right now. I look ridiculous.” Isaac looked up at Irina. “This is never going to work and our video’s going to be crap.”

“With that attitude it will be.” Irina said, pulling the hood of Isaac’s sweatshirt over his head. “Now stay put while I go find more paint.”

The troublemaker rolled his eyes as the model jogged across the set, slouching in the flimsy chair and staring at his reflection. He was dressed in a pair of jeans that sagged they revealed his underwear and a heavy dark blue sweatshirt that hung open, exposing his white tank top underneath. Irina had pulled the sweatshirt hood over his head, which already had a baseball cap on it. Those items of clothing were nothing, though, compared to the hockey mask covering his face. It had been painted with thick vertical stripes in a heavy black and white that made it rather hard to look at.

“Um… Isaac? That’s you, right?”

The blond broke the glaring contest he was having with his reflection to look over to the voice calling him. He lifted his hockey mask to get a better look at who was coming towards him. “Cara?”

“Do I look like a rapper yet?” The nature lover gave him a hopeful smile and sat down in the chair beside him. Isaac tried to hold back his cackle, but it escaped anyway. Cara joined his laughter. “That’s what I thought.”

The brunette had a pair of very heavy and very oversized camouflage pants slung low on her waist, revealing a pair of boxers poking from the waistband. A loose white t-shirt hung from her upper body, with a bright red bubble vest and several gold chains covering it up. Her hair was stuffed under a dirty looking bandana, with a hockey mask similar to Isaac’s pulled up on top of her head.

“So whose boxers did you borrow?” Isaac joked, pointing to the plaid fabric hanging out of her pants.

“I really don’t want to know.” Cara stuck out her tongue in disgust, and Isaac caught something sparkling from inside of her mouth.

“Is there something on your teeth?” He questioned. His teammate just snorted and gave him a huge smile, revealing that her teeth were covered in sparkly silver material. “What is that?”

“Tin foil grills.” She explained. “Irina’s idea, not mine.”

The slacker shook his head in disappointment, though a smile was on his face. “Irina’s crazy.”

“It’s a good crazy though. At least she’s trying to get us to win this challenge.”

“We’re never going to win.”

Cara’s jaw dropped. “Don’t say that!”

“You know it as well as I do.” Isaac pointed out. “The Emmys have got this in the bag. I saw a few members of their ‘band’ walk by a few minutes ago. They look better than we do, and they’re just in the background.”

The brown-eyed girl sighed. “Okay, you’re right. But we can at least try and not completely embarrass ourselves, right? I even tried memorizing some of my lines. She took a deep breath. “''You’re jealous when you look at me, ‘cause I’m wearin’ all the best brands, and if you wanna insult me, you better talk to my pimp hand. All the girls are comin’ my way, all their guys wanna fight, ‘cause know that if you leave with me I’m gonna make your night.''” Cara struck a ridiculous pose and Isaac applauded sarcastically.

“Wow, your lines are even worse than mine.” He commented as Irina returned with a can of paint in her hand. She started to retouch the black stripes on Isaac’s mask after flashing a smile at Cara.

“With rapping like that we’re bound to win.” The model commented, sarcasm dripping from her every word.

“Yeah, I know.” Cara gave her a tin foil accented smile and flashed her necklaces. “You’re just jealous ‘cause I’m so fly.”

Confession Cam

Isaac: “At first I thought Cara was your typical stick-up-her-butt goody two shoes like Paul is, but it turns out she’s kind of hilarious when she’s not ranting about saving the environment. Yeah, she’s a dork… but in a good way.”

Cara: She curled her face into an odd expression and crossed her arms. “Word, yo.” After holding her position for a few seconds, she burst into laughter at herself.

Back on The Emmys’ side of the room, the team was very close to beginning to film their video. Risty was standing on a ladder adjusting the lighting with Zack giving her directions. Monique was scolding Gabe because he refused to wear anything that would make him look, as he put it, “average”. Minerva was moving extra chairs out of the restaurant set, while Elena sat at one of the tables eyeing her every move. Ophelia was reading over the notes that Zack had written for her because Victor had been sent to go find the guitars for the “band” to play. The fake band themselves, Wes, Donna, and Sebastian, were sitting on one of the sets waiting to film.

“This is something every little musician kid dreams about.” Wes commented.

“Watching your teammate practically fall from a ladder?” Donna questioned, wincing as Risty nearly lost her footing.

“No, being on the set of my first music video.” He said. “I’m stoked to be doing this.”

“I guess this must be pretty cool for a musician.” The brunette replied. “It’s as close to the real thing as you can get.”

“That’s what I figured. It’s kind of hectic, but still amazing.”

“You two do realize that this is a fake music video, right?” Sebastian asked. “As in we’re all amateurs and it’s probably going to be terrible in the end?”

“Wow, I never knew you were such a buzz kill.” Donna sneered.

“Hey, I’m just pointing out the obvious.”

“Maybe the obvious didn’t need to be stated. You could’ve just crushed all of this poor boy’s hopes and dreams.” As Donna deadpanned, Wes gave Sebastian an expression of mock pain. “How will he ever pick up his guitar again now that you’ve put the idea of failure into his head?”

Wes sighed dramatically. “Oh, poor me!”

“Haha.” Sebastian rolled his eyes. “You act like it’s crazy that I’m keeping my mind on the game.”

“Fine. If you’re so ‘in the game’ then maybe you can explain what’s up with Minerva?” Donna pointed in the direction of the blonde. She was saying something to Monique, though she stopped mid sentence when Elena gave her a stern look.

“Easy.” The gambler crossed his arms. “Elena’s started an alliance of some sort with Gabe, probably because he’s an idiot-”

“How do you know that?” Wes interrupted.

“They had a meeting in Elena’s room last night. Elena’s room is right next door to mine, and she yells at the top of her lungs when she’s angry.” Sebastian explained. “Now, obviously the two of them have a problem with Minerva and must have done something to make it obvious to her. I have no idea what that something is, but it’s effective enough that she’s afraid of them.”

“But why would they have a problem with Minerva?” Wes asked. “She seems nice enough.”

His teammate shrugged. “I don’t know. I don’t have all the answers.”

The three watched as Elena said something inaudible to Minerva. The paler of the two girls’ expression became one of pure fear as the other spoke. Even when Elena eventually turned away from her, Minerva was still scared stiff.

“A little to the left!”

“…Is this good?”

“Nope, a little more!”

“…How about now?”

“That’s actually too much. How’s about to the right a bit?”

Paul resisted the urge to sigh as he just barely tapped the spotlight beneath him to the right. “Is this good?”

From the ground below, Allison nodded. “Definitely! I’ll go get the ladder from Risty so you can get down!”

Allison and Avery had spent some time plotting out the scenes for their video. While Avery had rushed off to talk to Rachel Claire, Allison had been left with the duty of arranging the sets to perfection. This wasn’t much of a hassle for her… for Paul, however, it was exactly the opposite.

There was only one ladder tall enough to reach the beams dangling from the ceiling that the spotlights hung from, and both Paul and Risty happened to need it at the same time. Avery and Allison had planned certain spots that just had to be illuminated, and somehow this led to Paul scaling across metal beams hanging several feet in the air with the softest object in the area for him to fall on top of if he lost his balance being one of his teammates. As Allison walked across the room, the Boy Scout was left crouched with shaky legs and wide eyes as the beam swayed back and forth.

“Hey, how’s the weather up there?”

Paul jumped when he heard the voice calling up to him, but caught his balance before he toppled over. He saw Angel standing on the ground on the ground below him, looking up with an amused expression. “It’s not so great.”

“I can tell.” Angel replied.

“Shouldn’t you be learning lines or something?” Paul questioned.

“Nah.” The pyromaniac pointed to the hockey mask on his head. “With this thing, I don’t have to remember any of the words. Irina’s a genius.”

“Yeah, she’s definitely something.” He looked over to where the model was pulling a ratty gray beanie onto Robert’s head. Robert noticed Paul watching and gave him a very obvious wave. He then tapped Irina on the shoulder and pointed in their teammate’s direction. Irina turned and smiled at Paul, and he looked away in an attempt to hide the pink that had appeared on his cheeks. From the ground, Angel laughed.

“I can see that blush from here, man!” He called up to his teammate. “There’s no way she missed it!”

“Maybe she’d forget about it if you didn’t announce it to the entire set!” Paul hissed.

“Keep dreaming.”

The Boy Scout was about to come up with a reply to that, but something else caught his eye in a corner. He squinted in an attempt to see what was going on, though it was too far away. He leaned down to whisper to a still laughing Angel, “Stop talking for a minute, please. Something’s going on and I’m going to try and see what it is, but if you keep making noise it might attract attention.”

The Puerto Rican teen gave his teammate a nod and made a motion as though he was zipping his lips. Paul began to carefully stand up on the beam. It swung back and forth slightly, though he put his arms out in an attempt to steady himself. Once it stopped moving, he slowly began to creep across it, trying to keep it from swinging more than it had to. Eventually he found himself in a good position to scope out the strange sight he’d seen earlier.

It was Camille. She was shrouded in shadows in the corner of the room, though whenever she moved the red of her purse and dress became more visible. She was digging through her purse and had something pressed to her ear, which Paul assumed was some kind of a phone because of the antenna sticking out of it. Her mouth was moving rapidly as she searched through her purse, and he squinted to try and figure out what she was pulling out of it. An object sparkled in her palm, but before he could identify what it was something ran into the beam and he found himself flung onto chest. He frantically wrapped his arms around the metal beneath him to keep himself from falling off the side as it swung rapidly back and forth.

“Sorry about that, Paulie! Need some help?”

Paul recognized the voice as Allison’s, and when he looked over his shoulder he saw the top of the ladder near the unstable beam. That must have been what hit him. He glanced at the suspicious scene in the corner once again, though Camille had disappeared.

He tried to hide his confusion as he answered Allison, “No. I think I’ll be fine if you hold the ladder still.”

Rachel Claire sighed in comfort and leaned back in the lawn chair one of the cameramen had dug from the supplies pile. “Ah, this is the life.” She raised her coffee mug to her lips. “They pay Chris way too much for this job.” She closed her eyes in relaxation and took a sip of her warm cappuccino. The liquid ran down her throat, and she relished in its taste... until somebody cleared their throat loudly nearby. The hostess bolted into a sitting up position, her eyes already narrowed when they flew open.

“I can see you’re enjoying this much more than I am.” Avery stood in front of her with her arms crossed.

“We don’t watch the videos for another few hours.” Rachel Claire waved her hand at her. “No exceptions. Walk away-”

“I’m not here for that.” The drama queen interrupted.

“Then what do you want?!”

Avery began to walk around the hostess’s chair. “Rachel Claire, I understand that you are a hardworking woman who takes pride in what she does. You are a gossip queen in finest form, and I know that you would do anything for your magazine, Realistic Gossip-”

“RealityGossip.” Rachel Claire corrected.

“Whatever. I know you would do anything for your readers, and that you know that the reboot of the Total Drama franchise is all that they will be talking about. You and I have both seen the crowds gathered outside of the studios. Why don’t you show them your gratitude by presenting them with a once in a fan girl’s lifetime chance?”

The curly haired woman raised a well-sculpted eyebrow. “Where are you going with this?”

“Well,” Avery stopped pacing when she was once again directly in front of the chair. “My team’s music video calls for a party. We don’t have nearly enough people to make it look passable, and I need you to go out and find some fans to dance and look inconspicuous in our video. It’ll benefit my team, but more importantly it’ll make you and your magazine look like saints. What do you say?”

Rachel Claire rested her hand on her chin, her eyebrows furrowed in thought. “How many people would you need?”

“Twelve.”

The hostess continued to contemplate for a moment, but in the end nodded. “Okay.”

“Okay, Gabe, could you turn your chair around? You’re kind of glaringly obvious.”

“That’s the point.”

“No, you’re supposed to be an extra. You’re pretty much a moving piece of scenery.”

The rich boy scoffed. “Excuse me? If you say something like that again, I am going to call my parents and they are going to sue you for humiliating me on national television.”

“Just shut up and listen to Zack, stupid.” Elena slapped him on the arm. “As if it wasn’t bad enough that you wouldn’t get into costume…”

“Gabriel James Patterson, IV does not dress in rags!” Gabe snarled, but turned his chair around as the director had requested anyway.

Zack had moved the camera into the center of the restaurant set and had focused it only on a small area to hide the fact that they didn’t have that many actors. Gabe and Elena were sitting at a table in the corner of the camera’s view with empty mugs in front of them. Minerva sat alone at a table that barely made it into the camera’s view pretending to read a newspaper. At a table alone in the center of the frame was Victor, who was tapping his foot anxiously because Zack wouldn’t begin filming. Ophelia was perched on a chair too close behind him, waiting much more patiently. Risty, Monique, and the fake band were observing the filming from off set, Monique ready with a CD player with “Obsession” on pause.

“Is everybody in their places now?” Zack’s question was met with several nods and an impatient groan from Victor. “Okay… action!”

Monique pressed play on the CD player and a long guitar note rang out. Victor pretended to read a menu in front of him, and Ophelia leaned over the back of the chair until her lips were just centimeters from Victor’s ear, beginning to lip sync to the lyrics just as they began to play.

“It’s funny you think that we’re done, but it’s not over until I say, and that’s why even when you run, I will always stay.” Just as he was instructed to do, Victor put the menu down and looked at Ophelia, though he didn’t push her away. “I don’t see why you’re suspicious, when I follow you home, you know we are forever, and I will always show.”

Victor whipped his head around to face Ophelia, and Zack clapped his hands together. “Okay, cut!” Ophelia sat back down in her chair, and Monique rewound the CD. “That was good, now we’re going to do the same scene but without Ophelia.” Most of the team looked at Zack with puzzled looks on their faces, though he had told Victor and Ophelia the plan in advance and the artist quietly made her way off the set. “Okay, action!”

Monique pressed play on the CD player and the extras stopped looking at the camera. Victor looked over his shoulder when the lyrics began, pretending to be shocked that there was nobody behind him.

“Oh, I get it!” Wes whispered from where he sat off set. “Zack’s going to put the two clips together so that it looks like Ophelia disappears whenever Victor looks for her.”

“He said it’d be a cool effect.” Risty confirmed, watching as Zack called cut again.

“Okay, that was good!” The technophile told the actors. “I think we’re done here for now, so onto the next set!”

Confession Cam

Victor: “If you think what we’re doing out there looks confusing, you should see the notes Zack wrote for Ophelia and I.” The actor held up his paper to the camera. The song lyrics were printed down the middle of the sheet and in the margins were tons of notes written in tiny, sloppy letters. “Every scene I’m in is filmed at least twice, and out of sequence. He has every single one of my movements blocked, and many of them involve me interacting with somebody who isn’t actually there. He’s lucky I’m an actor, or he’d have just made one of his teammates quit…”

“I see that Irina trashed you all up very nicely. You only have two rules to follow.”

The fans that Rachel Claire had gathered stood in a straight line in front of the streets set. They were all dressed in the minimal amount of shabby clothing with trashy makeup on their faces and messy hair. Avery stood in front of them with a face on that clearly said “let’s get down to business”.

“Rule number one: don’t make eye contact with the camera. Only the ‘rappers’ will be doing that. You are just accessories, and do not know that the camera is there.” Avery marched down the line of fans, looking each of them in the eye. “Rule number two: dance for your life. I don’t want to see any of you just wiggling your fingers like you’re pretending to make an effort. I want to see you sweating, grinding, and dropping it like its hot! Got it?”

“Yes ma’am!” The fans chorused, and Avery released half of them onto the streets set. Angel, Isaac, Robert, and Cara were already lined up on the fake sidewalk with their masks pulled over their faces, and the girls crowded in around them. Avery stood behind the camera and had Paul assist her with lining up her shot. Meanwhile, Irina walked up to the actors with a smile.

“I think most of you know what’s going on, but just in case you don’t here’s a refresher.” The beauty spoke. “The song starts off with Robert’s verse, which is going to be rapped completely on this street. Avery’s going to shoot that scene along with a few extra takes, and then we’re going to move on to the next set.”

“We’re ready, Irina!” Avery called to her teammate.

The model gave the four “rappers” a wink. “Good luck.”

Irina rushed off set and sat beside the CD player, and Avery called action. The music began playing and the group made its way down the sidewalk, walking much slower than they would on a regular street. The girls bounced up and down and clung to the four Oscars, putting on convincing flirtatious faces. Robert led the pack, ready for his verse.

“''I’m the king of the street, the one they all obey, and you’ll be sorry if you get in my way. I’m the baddest guy out here, they all know my name, and you can’t kick me out, I come here everyday.''” The words flowed with the music, and though Robert clearly didn’t know them it didn’t show because of the mask. Instead he moved his hands around in gestures that slightly matched the lyrics. “''When I get to the party, I want a girl in my lap, nobody disrespects me, nobody dares to talk crap. I’m a rich playa’ with money in my hands, and nobody has a problem because they’re all my fans.''”

“Okay, cut!” Avery called, and the offstage Oscars clapped. The drama queen joined them, though with less enthusiasm. “Robert, that was good! We just need a few more shots here, and then we can move on.”

Confession Cam

Robert: The jock had a huge grin spread across his face. “I’m so glad that I did well in the challenge! I thought that because I couldn’t remember any of the lyrics I would be problem, but the mask really helped. I guess my random hand movements were good enough!” He reenacted one of the aforementioned gestures, which looked like it might be a really fast version of the Hand Jive.

Twenty minutes had passed, and The Emmys had finished filming the scenes with Ophelia singing alone on the crazed bedroom set. They were now onto the shots of the band performing, and Wes and Sebastian were now armed with an electric and bass guitar that neither of them would actually be playing. Donna was sitting behind the drum set in the back of the set, while Ophelia was in the front with a microphone on a stand. Zack pressed a few buttons on the camera, and then put his hand up. “Okay, action!”

Monique pressed play on the CD player and the band pretended to play along to the song. The non-performing members of the team sat in chairs off of the set. Risty, Monique, and Victor were watching the filming, but Minerva wasn’t paying attention and was braiding part of her hair. When she looked up, she saw that Elena and Gabe were both glaring at her and yelped.

“What’s the matter?” Elena asked, raising her voice so that her nearby competitors could hear it over the music. “Afraid that they’ll find out?”

Minerva furrowed her eyebrows. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Ha.” Gabe snorted. “You’re a terrible liar… oh wait, no you aren’t since you’ve been lying to everybody else since you got here!”

“Guys, come on.” The blonde curled up in her chair as Monique, Risty, and Victor turned to look at her. “Please stop.”

“Stop, what?” Elena taunted. “Telling the truth? I know you don’t know anything about it, but it’s not hard to be honest!”

“When you think about it, how could anybody ever be that stupid?” Gabe insulted.

“When were you planning on telling them that you’re a liar?”

“A fake.”

“A phony.”

“A fraud.”

“A-”

“STOP IT!” Minerva shrieked so loudly that the on set Emmys turned to look at her. Monique paused the CD, and the only sound in the air was the distant noise from The Oscars and Minerva’s nervous breathing.

“Well, Minerva,” Elena gave her a menacing smirk, “Now that you have all of their attention, isn’t there something you wanted to tell them?”

“Fine! I’m done with this!” The quirky blonde stood up from her chair. “I’ve been lying to you all. I’m not as stupid as I’ve been pretending I am.” The Emmys gasped, and Minerva continued with a quavering voice. “I’ve been faking it all along. Shooting the bow and arrow backwards, asking stupid questions, pretending to not listen… it’s all just an act.”

“Oh, but why would you ever do that?” Gabe asked in mock shock.

The blonde sighed, her eyes filling with tears. She didn’t speak for a moment, though when Elena muttered something to her the words bolted from her mouth in a messy, run on sentence. “It’s because I have no other notable personality traits for the fans to notice and to avoid getting the ‘Sadie edit’, or being there for a long period of time without anybody actually knowing it, I pretended to be stupid so they would like me.” Her shoulders slumped, and she rushed away from the group. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to!”

Her teammates looked after her with mixed expressions. Elena and Gabe had matching smug smiles, while most of the others’ faces were curled into looks of anger or shock. Only one, however, watched with sympathy, and when they began to film again, Risty snuck away to go find her roommate.

Minerva looked into the bathroom mirror and glared at the reflection she saw. Puffy eyes, a runny nose, and a quivering lip returned the fierce expression, and she looked away from this pained version of herself in an attempt to not start crying again. She walked over to one of the stalls and unrolled some toilet paper, using it to wipe her eyes.

A knock on the door left her frozen in her motion.

“Get out of here Elena!” She screeched, her voice breaking mid sentence. The door opened anyway, and she tried to hide in the stall as somebody walked in.

“I’m not Elena.” Minerva peered around the corner of the stall to see Risty standing in the doorway.

“What are you doing here?” The blonde questioned. “Shouldn’t you be filming with the others?”

“Look, I don’t know about everybody else, but I saw that Gabe and Elena were making faces at you the entire time you spoke to us.” Risty said. “I know they forced you to say that. So if you want to tell me the truth, I’ll be sitting out here, okay?” She turned around and closed the door behind her. Minerva wiped her nose a few times, and eventually gained the courage to exit the bathroom. Just as she said she would, Risty was sitting on a stack of boxes waiting for her. Minerva sat against the wall near her, and Risty gave her a glance. “So?”

It took Minerva a minute to find the right words. “It was the first day we were on the show, after the first challenge. Chef had brought us to The Hotel and assigned us our rooms while The Oscars were at elimination, and we had to bring our luggage upstairs. Everybody else had gone upstairs already, but my luggage had come unzipped. While I was picking my things off the ground, Elena came back to the lobby. At first she didn’t say much, just said that it looked like I’d enjoyed talking to Helen D’Angelo. I said yes, and she said it seemed like we had a lot in common.

“When I said yes, Elena flipped out…” Minerva continued, staring at the ground as she talked so she didn’t have to see Risty’s reaction. “She started screaming at me, saying that I must be… well, let’s just say a lesbian like Helen is, but she didn’t use that word. So I told her the truth, that yes I was and that I wasn’t ashamed of it. This made her even madder. She pushed me a few times, and kept calling me some really offensive names. She said that she thought I was disgusting and that if she was voted off before I was that when I eventually got to the losers’ resort she would make me pay. Elena said that if I even mentioned that I was gay on the show or tried to get the fans to like me that she would get me eliminated in the worst possible way. She knew that if they knew that there was a homosexual on the show, then none of her ‘friends’ would watch it and that she would become a laughing stock in her inner circle. She said some more terrible things, and for some reason I believed her.

“She lied though. She got together with Gabe and began to plan how to eliminate me even though I’d done exactly what she’d asked. She began to hold that I was hiding the fact that I was gay from everybody over my head, and I panicked. She had set me up so she could get me eliminated, so I was afraid to do anything. And even though I did exactly what she said, she still humiliated me and made me lie to you all once again.” Minerva put her face in her hands. “But I’m sorry, I really am and now I’m probably going to get eliminated without being able to tell everybody what really happened.”

Risty was quiet as Minerva tried to stop crying. When she finally calmed down, she looked up at her roommate to see her reaction. Risty gave her a caring smile. “I don’t think you have anything to worry about. Zack’s going to make our video amazing, and we’re going to win the challenge. You won’t have to worry about elimination, and then you can tell everybody what really happened.”

“Do you really think so?” Minerva asked.

“Definitely. There’s no way we can lose.” Risty hopped off the boxes. “Now come on. Let’s go and see where they are on the video…”

Time had passed and there was only an hour left until Rachel Claire’s set deadline. On The Emmys side of the room, Zack sat alone at one of the tables in the restaurant set with the provided laptop in front of him editing the video. Most of the team had gone off to change from their costumes or had gone back to The Hotel to see if they could find something to eat, though Risty sat nearby watching her friend type. On The Oscars’ set, it was much more of a group effort as nobody on the team was particularly savvy with computers. Angel, Robert, and Irina had joined The Emmys in going back to The Hotel, and Camille was waiting for Cara to change out of her disgusting costume in the bathroom. This just left Avery, Paul, Isaac, and Allison sitting in front of the computer. While Zack was off hacking his laptop to allow him to use certain effects, The Oscars had spent a good ten minutes trying to figure out how to connect the computer to the camera.

“We’re pathetic.” Allison stated.

“Don’t say that yet.” Paul insisted, moving the mouse to rearrange a clip. “For all we know this might turn out better than expected.”

“Hey, hey, hey, don’t use that one!” Isaac slapped Paul’s hand away from the mouse.

“Why not?” The do-gooder questioned.

“Just look at me!” The troublemaker exclaimed, pausing the video. The other three Oscars gave him a puzzled look, and Isaac pointed in the background of the clip. While Angel was front in center with Allison and Camille pretending to fawn over him on the couch, Isaac was clearly visible in the partygoers behind them without his mask. And the facial expression he was making looked like some sick twist between getting punched in the jaw and eating a really sour lemon. Allison cracked up, though Paul and Avery kept staring at him.

“What the heck were you doing?” Avery asked.

“The entire time we were shooting the video I was making stupid faces like that under my mask because you couldn't see them.” Isaac explained. “Then when I was pretending to party this one chick pulled off my mask while I was still making a face.”

“Nobody’s going to notice.” Paul said, taking the mouse back and adding the clip to the video anyway. Isaac made a face at him, though he didn’t protest because they had so much more work to do.

“You kind of deserve to look ridiculous in this video.” Avery commented to the slacker. “After all, you were kind of a jerk in the last challenge.”

“Just because I don’t instantly take action doesn’t make me a jerk.” Isaac defended.

“Fine. It just makes you lazy.” The drama queen stated.

“Well at least I don’t have to be the boss of everything like you do.”

“Hey, is it my fault that you don’t even try to take part?”

“And how well does everything go when you’re in charge? Oh, that’s right. We haven’t won a challenge yet, and we’re probably not going to win this one either! And who’s in charge this time? Oh, yeah. You again.”

“I would come up to a response to that, but I know it’s going to be so heavily censored that there isn’t even a point!” Avery got to her feet and marched away in a huff. “Come find me if you feel like treating me like a human being!”

Isaac looked between Allison and Paul. “Do either of you want her here?”

“No way.”

“Definitely not.”

“Good.” Isaac leaned back in his chair. “Maybe she’ll go off and actually do something to get us to win.”

“Zack, you know how earlier you were saying you thought I had superpowers?”

“Yeah.”

“Well, now I can say the same thing about you. This video is amazing.” Risty watched intently as the video ended, and Ophelia completely disappeared from the scene on the computer screen. When it faded to black, she clapped despite her and Zack being the only people there. “That was better than a lot of real music videos!”

“You’re just exaggerating.” Zack insisted, clicking on the “Burn to DVD” button in the corner of the screen. “It’s not that good.”

“No, it is!” Risty exclaimed. “You edited this thing in less than an hour, but I wouldn’t be surprised if I saw it on TV or something!”

“I just have a lot of experience with this kind of thing, that’s all.” He smiled. “I think Rachel Claire’s going to want us to present our video in a few minutes, so could you go and get everybody back from The Hotel?”

The athlete gave him a grin and a salute. “Roger that!” She rushed off of the set and through the exit.

Zack leaned on the table in front of him, waiting for his DVD to finish burning. That was when he felt something cold and sticky on the bottom of his arm. He lifted it off of the table and examined the red liquid on his skin. “Oh, ew! Who left paint on this table?” He tried to wipe it off, but it had already begun to dry. He waited until the DVD was done and then put it down on the table, rushing to the bathroom to wash the paint off of his arm.

“You’re late, and you’re late, and you’re late.” Rachel Claire put a hand on her hip. “Seriously, who told you guys you could go back to The Hotel?”

“Rachel, sit down.” Chris ordered. “You’re not the host when I’m here, so only I get to boss them around.”

“Whatever.” The reporter huffed and sat in her folding metal chair. Several other chairs were set up in back of them for the competitors to sit in, though the ones who were filing in now had to sit on the floor. Once it seemed like everybody was in the room, Chef Hatchet rolled a projector in and pointed it at the wall.

“Okay, so here’s the deal.” Chris faced the contestants. “We’re going to play each of your videos, and then Rachel Claire and I will be judging which one we like best. If you lose, you’re going to elimination. If you win, however, there’s a reward in it for you!” Seeing the rewards in the past, not many contestants were excited, though Camille and Ophelia “ooh”-ed in curiosity. “Oscars, you’ve been randomly chosen to go first.”

Allison stepped up with a nervous expression and a DVD in hand and gave it to Chef. By the time she sat down, the video had already begun playing on the nearby wall.

A music only intro played and there were a few random, slow motion shots of the four “rappers” putting on their masks from a back view. When the lyrics began playing, the scene switched to the shot of the group walking along the streets set and Robert rapping his verse, with clips of the fans kissing him on the cheek and wrapping their arms around him scattered in between. Once Robert’s verse was done, the scene changed to the party where Angel was sitting on a couch rapping his verse with Allison and Camille (dressed much more conservatively than the fans, but still looking dirty) on either side of him. Behind him, the fans and the other three rappers danced and when the clip of the girl pulling Isaac’s mask off played Paul and Allison burst into laughter.

Then came the chorus. The four rappers stood on what was supposed to be the band set with microphones pressed to their masks, all bobbing up and down to the music as they pretended to rap the chorus in harmony. Once that was done, it switched over to Cara’s verse. She was standing on a table in the party set, looking down at the camera that was angled below her. Many of the female fans were grabbing at the ends of her pants as she rapped and pretended to kick them away. She flashed her tin foil grills just before the scene changed to Isaac pretending to make out with two of the fans (though the “pretending” was rather obvious because he had kept his mask on) sitting on the bed in the bedroom set. He rapped his verses whenever the girls weren’t all over him. The song finished off with one more chorus that was shot in the exact same way as the first, and then the movie faded to black.

Cara, Angel, and Isaac looked absolutely humiliated, though Robert was smiling and clapping. Rachel Claire and Chris were just staring in shock.

“Um…” Chris grimaced. “I really don’t have any words for that.” Rachel Claire nodded in agreement. “Emmys? What’ve you got?”

The Emmys looked around for Zack, but the short teen was nowhere to be found. After a moment, they heard frantic footsteps in the distance.

“Guys! Guys, we have a problem!” The missing technophile ran up in front of the projector, his eyes widened to the size of dinner plates. “The DVD is gone!”

“What do you mean it’s gone?” Risty asked. “I saw the video.”

“I mean it’s missing! I left it on the table, and then when I came back from the bathroom it was gone!”

“You lost our video?!” Elena screamed.

“I didn’t lose it! It disappeared…” Zack’s voice trailed off at the end. Even he knew how ridiculous that sounded.

“Well, since The Emmys don’t have a video to show, then I guess The Oscars’ terrible, borderline inappropriate video wins!” Chris announced. “You’ll be given your prize once we get back to The Hotel.”

The Oscars leapt to their feet and cheered. The Emmys just glared at Zack, who hung his head.

Confession Cam

Zack: “You guys saw the footage! I didn’t lose the DVD! Somebody must have taken it! I just… don’t know who it was. There wasn’t anybody around…”

“I can’t believe we lost!”

“Victor, shut up.”

“Such an amazing performance of mine wasted.”

“Victor, it doesn’t matter. It’s not like you’re going to get voted off.” It was an hour later and Sebastian was sitting in the lobby with his temporary alliance members, Victor and Monique. Victor had been whining over the missing video, while Monique just covered her ears and blocked him out. “We already have it figured out. We’re voting off Zack, right?”

“I told Minerva to vote with me, and she agreed as long as it wasn’t her.” Monique said.

“And I told Ophelia that I was voting for him tonight, so she wanted to too.” Victor hit his fist against his knee. “He’ll pay for losing my performance!”

“Five people aren’t the majority, Sebastian.” Monique pointed out. “We need one more to get him voted off.”

“Obviously Gabe and Elena are voting for Minerva.” The gambler replied. “I asked around, and Wes told Gabe he would vote for Minerva to repay him for switching parts with him. And Zack obviously won’t be voting for himself.”

“What about Donna?”

“She said she didn’t think it was Zack’s fault, so she won’t vote for him.”

Monique raised an eyebrow. “So she’s going to vote with Elena just to spite you?”

“Pretty much.”

“What about Risty?”

Sebastian leaned on the arm of his chair. “I don’t know. When I asked her who she was voting for, she didn’t answer…”

“It had to be Zack… it couldn’t have been anybody else….” Risty muttered to herself, her voice echoing through the otherwise empty stairwell. “I don’t want to vote for Minerva because I know she doesn’t deserve it, but the only other person who really screwed up in the challenge is Zack! I don't know if I can vote for the best friend I have here!”

“Sounds like you’re having some trouble.” Risty looked up to the top of the stairs to see Gabe holding the door open. The door swung shut behind him as he walked down the stairs and sat beside her. “This could all be made easy for you.”

“How?” The athlete questioned.

“Just vote for Minerva.” Gabe stated.

“Gabe, she told me what you guys did to her. Why should I listen to anything you say?”

“Whoa, whoa, stop right there.” The wealthy teen put his hands up. “I did nothing to Minerva. Sure, I might’ve glared at her a few times, but other than that this was all Elena’s doing. I have no problem with her being gay.”

“Then why are you helping Elena?”

“It… it doesn’t matter, okay? What does matter is the pressure that you’ll be able to get rid of if you vote for Minerva.”

Risty gave him a confused stare. “What do you mean?”

“You’re closer to Zack than you are Minerva. There’s going to be a lot of guilt if you vote your best friend off.”

“But… Minerva doesn’t deserve it.” Risty defended. “Elena tricked her into saying what she did.”

“Yeah, and here’s a little secret: Elena said that if you don’t vote with us tonight, she’ll probably start treating you just as badly.” Gabe got up and walked back up the stairs. “Think about it, Risty. Hopefully you make the right choice.” He walked out of the stairwell and shut the door, leaving Risty to put her head back in her hands and groan.

“I’ve explained the rules, and you’ve all voted.” Chris stood in front of The Emmys at the Team’s Choice Awards that night with the silvers stars in his hand, a smile gracing his face. “The surprise at the end of the Red Carpet of Shame today is a big one. I’m sure you’ve all heard of the pop sensation and music video queen Whitney Steers?”

“Ha. I’ve met her.” Elena bragged.

“Well, the ‘Smack Me Honey A Few More Times’ and ‘If I Want Amy” songstress is here with us tonight!” On cue, an SUV pulled up to the end of the carpet and the front door swung open. Whitney Steers was sitting in the drivers’ seat. Chris laughed at the sight of her. “You all remember that scandal she was involved with a few years ago when she was caught driving a car with an unrestrained baby on her lap? Well, whoever gets voted off is going to take the place of the baby.”

A gasp ran through the crowd, and Whitney Steers giggled.

Chris held up the stars in his hand. “The first silver star of the night goes to… Ophelia.” He tossed the star to the artist, who caught it with an excited squeal. “Victor.” The actor smiled smugly. “Risty and Monique.” The designer caught her star with ease, though the athlete looked distracted. “The next ones are for Wes, Sebastian, and Donna… and Elena and Gabe… which just leaves you two.”

Predictably, it was Minerva and Zack left without stars. They were both shaking in fear, clearly unsure over who deserved to be eliminated more. “The final star goes to…

“Minerva.”

Half of the team gasped as a star was thrown to the blonde, including Minerva herself. She stared at the token of safety for a moment, but quickly got to her feet to give Zack a hug. “I’m sorry it had to be you.”

“It’s okay.” Zack smiled. “I only voted for you because I couldn’t think of anybody else to choose. I wasn’t mad at you for lying at all.” The technophile walked to the edge of the Red Carpet of Shame with his head held high. He turned around to look at his team one more time. “I don’t think you guys believe me, but I’m telling you that the DVD was stolen. I hope you come to your senses and try and find out who the saboteur was.” He walked to the end of the carpet where Whitney Steers was waiting. Before getting into the car, he turned around one last time and stared right at Risty. He shot her a smile, but she looked away as soon as they made eye contact and the happiness fell from his face.

“Come here you!” Whitney Steers slid the chair back so that Zack would be forced to sit on her lap. He sighed, but complied with what he was told to do. The door slammed shut as soon as he was in the car and the SUV screeched off.

“Darn it, this thing only gets like ten channels!”

“It’s better than nothing. Pass the popcorn.”

Chef Hatchet had unlocked the room at the end of the third floor as The Oscars’ prize. It was a lounge of some sort with a small TV and couch against the back wall. Towards the front was a small kitchenette with a microwave, a mini fridge, and various snack foods in it. The winning team had already shoved as many people as possible on the couch, while the rest sat on the floor or in the few chairs around them.

“I’m so glad we won, even if it was by mistake!” Robert shouted from his spot in the center of the couch. A few of his teammates cheered in response and chomped down on the snack foods they had in bowls in front of them. Camille had put her hands in the air in a celebratory manner, spilling a bowl of chips onto the floor.

“Oops! I’ll refill it!” The dark haired girl dislodged herself from the packed couch and skipped over towards the kitchenette. She opened up another bag of chips and poured them in the bowl. When she leaned over to throw the bag in the garbage though, something caught her eye. “Hey, did somebody lose a CD?”

Camille walked back over to the group with a CD case in hand and showed it to her teammates. They all shook their heads no, and she handed it to Cara to let her examine it closer. The nature lover opened the case and looked inside. “There’s a sticky note on it that says ‘play me’.” She pulled the CD out of the case and crouched down in front of the TV. She pressed the button on the DVD player that it rested on top of and inserted the disc.

The team watched in confusion as the disc began to play. On the screen it showed a restaurant scene, with some familiar faces in the shot.

“Is that... Victor and Ophelia?”

It wasn’t until the song began to play that The Oscars realized what they had in front of them.

It was The Emmys’ music video

Zack had been framed.

Chapter Seven: Don't Rock the Boat
“Last time on Total Drama Island: For Your Entertainment...” Chris jumped as thunder crackled outside. “Risty and Zack became partners in pranking, Allison and Avery ticked off the entire hotel, and Elena and Gabe targeted Minerva to be the first person eliminated because of their alliance… and that was all in one night! I was nice and let Rachel Claire run the music video creation challenge, and Zack and Avery were chosen to be in charge of their teams. The Emmys were faced with creating a video for a creepy Goth stalker song, while The Oscars had a much funnier party rap.

“While Irina styled her teammates to look like hip-hop trash, Paul did some spying from above and managed to catch Camille doing something sneaky in the corner of the room. Avery asked Rachel Claire to gather her some fans to use, and Zack almost overwhelmed his main actors with an overly planned out video. Meanwhile, Gabe and Elena kept pestering Minerva until she revealed to her team that she had been pretending to be dumb to get the fans to like her. Risty realized that she had been tricked into saying it and talked to her teammate. Minerva revealed that Elena had threatened her several times because she was homophobic, which was why she had to lie to everybody. When it was time to present the music videos, The Oscars’ was as awkward as expected, but the real surprise came when Zack lost The Emmys’ video. The Oscars won by default and it was Zack who was sent packing because of a surprise decision from Risty. Afterwards, The Oscars found the other team’s music video in one of their rooms, proving that Zack’s elimination was a mistake.”

Thunder boomed again, and Chris smirked. “Well, looks like our competitors are going to be getting soaked in this episode’s challenge. Will we find out who sabotaged Zack? Find out on the next exciting episode of Total Drama Island: For Your Entertainment!”

“You’re probably wondering why I asked you two to come down here.”

“Are you trying to make an alliance?”

“No way. Those things never hold up in a game like this.” Allison rolled her eyes and opened up a notebook. “I’m here to talk about the stolen music video.”

Allison, Paul, and Angel sat on the floor in the lobby of The Hotel. The Goth had told them at dinner that she needed to talk, and this was the only place where they knew they wouldn’t be interrupted by another competitor. The rain had brought a sudden chill to McLean Studios, and if anybody questioned what the three Oscars were doing it would appear that they were trying to warm up at the nearby fireplace.

“What is there to talk about?” Angel questioned. “Our team agreed yesterday that it was obvious Elena planted it in our room.”

“Yeah, but when you think about it that makes absolutely no sense.” Allison countered. “I don’t think Elena’s smart enough to come up with a plan sneaky enough that she could get away with the DVD unseen.”

“Maybe she is.” Paul suggested. “We don't know her that well. For all we know she’s a genius.”

“Okay, but even if she is a genius, she didn’t know anything about our team winning an unlocked lounge room, did she?” The scarlet haired girl pointed out. “She didn’t even know at the time that the lounge area existed.”

Angel and Paul exchanged a surprised look. “Well if it wasn’t her, then who?”

“Well, let me point out the facts for you guys.” Allison turned her notebook towards them to reveal that she had written down the names of all of the players still left in the game. Paul’s, Isaac’s, and her name had been crossed out. “Zack was on the music video set when the DVD was stolen. Angel, you went back to The Hotel for lunch, who did you go with?”

“Irina and Robert.” The pyromaniac stated.

Allison crossed off Angel, Irina, and Robert’s names from the list. “And who do you remember seeing in the cafeteria?”

“I think all of The Emmys were there except for Zack… oh, and Risty! She wasn’t there either.”

“You’re sure? Even Elena was there?” The Goth questioned.

“Actually, now that you mention it I’m positive Elena was there because she and Gabe had started an argument with Monique.” Angel confirmed.

“And did you see anybody leave the room?”

“Even when they did, I'm pretty sure they all came back a few minutes later so there’s no way they would have time to walk back to the set.”

“Okay, so since the theft clearly happened between when you guys went to The Hotel and when you were called back for judging, there’s no way that it could have been one of The Emmys.” Allison crossed off all of The Emmys’ names from the list except for Risty’s. “The only team member unaccounted for is Risty, and I think we can all agree it wasn’t her.”

“Well, if it wasn’t one of them, then it had to be an Oscar.” Paul said. “But why would one of us do that?”

“First we need the who, and then we can get the why.” The Goth declared. “You and I were back at the set with Isaac editing the video. We were all together at the time, so there’s no possible way one of us could slip away. Avery, however, stomped off and wasn’t seen again until the videos were presented, so she’s still a possible choice.” She circled Avery’s name. “The only others left unaccounted for are Camille and Cara, and I think they were together the whole time.” She pointed to the list with her pen. “The facts are all there, boys.”

“So you think Avery did it?” Paul questioned. “And this is totally unrelated to the fact that you hate her?”

“The evidence it right here, Paulie.” Allison tapped her notebook several times. “She is the only real suspect!”

“She’s right, man.” Angel agreed. “Unless we have some way to prove that one of The Emmys wasn’t in The Hotel at the time, all signs point to Avery.”

Paul sighed. “Listen, I know you guys don’t like her, but it doesn’t make sense. Why would she want to sabotage Zack?”

“So we would win a challenge that she was in charge of.” Allison explained. “You saw how angry she got when Isaac told her that she was a bad leader. She just wanted The Emmys to lose even if Zack had to get eliminated in the process.”

“So should we tell everybody and try to get her voted off the next time we lose?” Angel asked.

“I don’t know. We can figure that out when the time comes.” The scarlet haired teen replied. “All that matters right now is that we know the truth: don’t trust Avery.”

It was dark in Room 206 when Minerva unlocked the door. She had a smile on her face as she flicked the switch, though it faded when she saw that she wasn’t alone. Risty was lying on her bed staring up at the ceiling in silence. Minerva gave her roommate a weak smile when she glanced in her direction.

“Oh, um, hey Risty.” She greeted as she stepped over the random items of clothing that had been left on the floor. “I had no idea that you were in here. Monique and I were actually just looking for you.”

“Oh.” Risty replied, her mind clearly somewhere else. Minerva frowned at this, and sat down on her own bed.

“You’ve been moping around for almost two days now. Are you acting like this because Zack’s gone?” She asked. Risty didn’t answer. “You voted for him, didn’t you? And now you feel guilty?”

The athlete nodded. “How did you know?”

“Monique and I were just talking about it. We were trying to figure out how I wasn’t eliminated and thought you may have been the deciding vote.” Risty nodded again, and her roommate leaned her chin on her hand. “Why did you vote for him if you knew you would feel this guilty about it?”

“Because I’d probably feel even worse if I voted for you.” Risty admitted. “You completely spilled your guts to me during the challenge even though you barely know me. I’d have to be heartless to vote for you after that, even if it meant that the only other person who deserved a vote was Zack.”

“You could have just voted for somebody else and left it up to a tiebreaker.” The other girl pointed out.

“I’m not going to waste my vote. I only vote for the people who deserve it just in case Chris has some kind of a twist in the elimination.”

“Oh. Smart.” Risty continued to stare at the ceiling, and Minerva pondered over ways to get her to cheer up. “You know how we can lighten the mood? Girl talk. And I totally think Zack had a crush on you.”

“I definitely didn’t see him as anything other than a friend.” Risty stated.

“Fine. How’s about some of the other guys here?”

Risty sat up and gave her roommate a smile. “If you really think you can find a decent contender for me, go right ahead.”

“Um… how about Wes?”

“Too sweet and totally not my type.”

“Victor?”

“I’m not into the sensitive sort, and I think Ophelia might be interested in him. That and his Shakespeare quoting always makes me flashback to my lame ninth grade English class.”

“Sebastian?”

“He seems nice enough, but there’s something very suspicious about him. He always seems to be planning or hiding something.”

“Gabe?” Risty just gave Minerva a glare and she shrugged. “It was worth a shot, right?”

“Maybe if I had never met him.” The athlete laughed. Minerva giggled with her, glad that she had gotten Risty’s mind off of the elimination.

Confession Cam

Minerva: “I’m so glad I wasn’t eliminated the other night, because now I feel like my team has given me a second chance. I think the longer they have me around, the more they’ll realize that I’m a really good friend. I won’t be faking anything now, no matter what Elena says. This time I’m 100% Minerva.”

The rain continued to pour as the night went on, and when morning came the sun was still hidden by dark clouds. The rain pounded on the roof of The Hotel, and anybody trying to look out the window was greeted with a waterfall running down the glass.

“If Chris makes us do a challenge today, I’m going to kill him.” Risty groaned as thunder cracked overhead.

“You know he’s going to.” Minerva replied with a grin, obviously much more of a morning person than her teammate. “Actually, he was probably waiting for it to rain just so we would suffer more.”

“I don’t know how you just said that sentence with a smile.”

“It’s a hidden talent I have.”

Risty gave her roommate a short laugh as she pushed open the door to the cafeteria. They were up early again and were expecting to make breakfast for everybody. To their surprise, pans were cluttering around in the kitchen and Camille could be heard asking questions to Cara over the noise. They walked over to sit at The Emmys’ table only to find that two of their teammates were already there... and they were fast asleep.

Minerva and Risty stared in confusion at Donna and Wes. They were sitting next to each other, the smart aleck with her face on the table and the musician with his head tilted back and mouth wide open. Neither of them seemed like they would wake up anytime soon.

“Um, hello? Earth to Wes and Donna?” Minerva waved her arm in front of her teammates. “Heeeellllloooo? Can you hear me?” The blonde turned to Risty with wide eyes. “I think they’re dead!”

“Watch and learn, Minerva.” Risty hit her fist on the table a few times in front of Donna. The brunette screeched and sat up immediately.

“What’s going on?” She pushed her hair from her face and looked at Risty and Minerva with tired blue eyes. “What just happened?”

“You were asleep.” Risty stated, and then pointed at Wes. “He still is.”

Donna stared at her for a few seconds, trying to get her still drowsy mind to comprehend what her teammate had just said. Eventually she leaned over and shook Wes’s shoulder a few times. “Hey, wake up.”

“Huh, what?” Wes sat up and stretched his arms out. When he realized where he was, he turned to Donna. “You let me fall asleep!”

“No, you let me fall asleep.” The smart aleck argued. “I told you-”

“It doesn’t matter who let who fall asleep.” Minerva interrupted. “Why were you guys sleeping here to start with?”

“Because it’s impossible to sleep in our rooms.” Donna explained. “There’s this hideous noise keeping me awake through the walls.”

“Could you go into a little more detail?” Risty suggested.

“I’m really surprised you guys can’t hear it from your room.” The brunette said. “I’d compare it to a chainsaw, but I think it’s louder.”

When Risty and Minerva clearly didn’t catch on, Wes sighed. “Victor snores. Loudly.”

“Loudly is way more than an understatement.” Donna continued. “It sounds like he’s trying to eat his own face or something.”

“Try sleeping in the same room as him. As if it couldn’t get any worse, he sings in the shower late at night too.” Wes whined. “It’s really hard to sleep when he’s belting ‘Let’s do the time warp again!’ at the top of his lungs.”

“What about Ophelia?” Minerva questioned to Donna. “She’s your roommate isn’t she? Doesn’t she hear it too?”

“Ophelia has a crush on Victor so she thinks it’s cute.” Donna rolled her eyes. “I think she just-”

“Good morning everybody!” The four Emmys turned to look at the doorway of the cafeteria. Victor and Ophelia had thrown open the double doors, looking much more refreshed and alive than their roommates did. They had their arms linked as they walked over to their team’s table and sat beside Donna and Wes. Victor grimaced. “You two don’t look so good.”

“I wonder why.” Wes groaned, and Donna dropped her head back down on the table.

Confession Cam

Wes: “I would consider Victor to be my friend, but he easily gets on your nerves. He’s a good guy and all, but he doesn’t seem to realize that the things he does affect other people too… either that or he just doesn’t care.”

The cafeteria began to fill up and Cara and Camille began serving the competitors waffles. The storm continued outside, and the lights in the room flickered a few times but somehow managed to stay on. Avery arrived at her team’s table with one hand holding a plate and the other fiddling with her hair.

“Ugh, I hate the rain!” The olive skinned girl whined as she sat beside Irina. “It always makes my hair look flat!”

“Looks the same to me.” Isaac commented from across the table, barely looking up from his plate.

Avery glared at him. “You know, I’m still waiting for an apology.”

The slacker raised an eyebrow. “For what?”

“For what you said to me the other day during the challenge.” She explained. “I was very offended.”

“Really? I couldn’t tell.” Isaac sneered.

“Why else would I have stomped away? I thought somebody would come after me, but none of you cared enough to get me.”

“You’ve got that right.” The troublemaker stated, though when Avery glared at him he sighed. “Fine. I’m sorry.”

The drama queen continued to glare at him, though eventually she gave him a satisfied smile. “Thank you.”

“Great. Now if you don’t mind, I’m going to go see if they have some soda in the kitchen.”

“I don’t really see why you care what he says, Avery.” Irina commented once Isaac was out of earshot. “He’s been a jerk to you the whole time we’ve been here.”

“I’ve made this point before, and I’m going to keep making it as long as we’re here.” Avery said. “People don’t get away with ignoring or being rude to me, even if they are meaningless slackers.”

Irina gave her a sly smile. “You’re sure you don’t just like him?”

Avery snorted. “Oh no way. I’ll admit that he’s attractive, but there is no way I could ever have feelings for somebody who treats me like that.”

“Hey, I was just double checking.” The European girl shrugged. “Situations like that are really common on this show.”

“Well it’s not going to happen here.” The drama queen remarked. “He can trick some other sap into falling in love with him.”

Meanwhile, Isaac was leaning against the food counter holding an empty glass out to Camille. The wealthy girl stared at him in confusion.

“Wait, so did you want more waffles?”

Isaac groaned. “No, I wanted to know if you had any soda back there.”

Camille laughed. “Oh, sorry Isaac. We’re only giving out breakfast drinks right now. You know: orange juice, milk, water?”

“I know what you’re giving out, but that’s not what I’m looking for.”

“Well, soda’s bad for you and I don’t think it’d taste good with waffles.”

Camille gave Isaac a beautiful grin. He returned the smile with a sigh. “Could I just talk to Cara, please?”

Camille walked farther into the kitchen and called her roommate over from where she was looking for another bottle of maple syrup. Eventually the tree hugger walked up to the counter, smiling at Isaac when she saw him. “What’s up?”

“I’m looking for some soda and your roommate won’t give me any.”

Cara frowned. “You want soda with your waffles?”

“Yes, I want soda with my waffles.” Isaac repeated. “And Camille already gave me the bad for my health speech, so please don’t bother going there.”

“Well… maybe I can find you some.” Cara disappeared for a moment and Isaac heard her digging through the refrigerator. She dropped a few things, though eventually she came back with a two liter bottle of soda.

“Um, you're sure you want to open that one?” The blond questioned, pointing at the layer of fizz on the inside of the bottle.

“Oh, I’m sure it’ll be fine.” Cara insisted, starting to unscrew the cap. As Isaac had predicted, the bottle turned into a fountain of fizz. They jumped back from the soda stream, though each got a bit on them. The entire cafeteria went silent, all eyes turning to them. When the bottle eventually emptied itself out, Cara and Isaac burst into laughter.

“Told you so.” Isaac grinned, and then picked up his glass. A bit of the soda had been shot into it, and he drank it with a smirk. “That was worth it.”

Cara giggled, though she was cut short by the doors to the cafeteria slamming open. Chris McLean entered the room dressed in a bright yellow rain slicker and galoshes.

“Guess what time it is?” The host shouted. “That’s right, it’s challenge time! And you guys are going to need to be in your bathing suits for this one!”

Chris just cracked up at the chorus of whines he received.

{C}Twenty minutes later, all of the contestants had arrived in the lobby. A few had brought umbrellas, though most stood in only their bathing suits. Paul, however, was another story.

“I don’t know if you realize this, but there is a trash bag attempting to eat you.” Robert commented to his teammate.

“It’s not a trash bag, it’s a poncho.” Paul crossed his arms over the slick gray material that covered him from head to hips. “The Boy Scout motto is ‘be prepared’, so I brought a survival kit with me on the show. This was in it."

“Oooh, okay.” Robert nodded. When Isaac and Angel passed though, they weren’t as understanding.

“Hey, look at the walking talking tent.” Isaac snickered, and Angel couldn’t hold back his laugh.

“It’s not a tent, it’s a poncho!” Paul insisted. “And you won’t be laughing when you’re soaking wet.”

“Isn’t that what the bathing suit is for?” Robert questioned.

“Shh!” Paul slapped a hand over his teammate’s mouth. “Don’t ruin my argument.”

“Dudes, dudes!” Chris climbed on top of one of the stuffed chairs and put a bright orange umbrella in the air. The room instantly went quiet. “It’s raining like crazy out there, and we’re going to have to walk for a while. If you think you’re getting blinded by the rain, just look out for this umbrella.” He jumped off the chair and carefully pulled his jacket hood up, trying not to mess up his hair in the process. He then jutted his umbrella into the air and headed for the door. “Let’s move out!”

Confession Cam

Monique: “You see, when normal people tell you to get dressed in your bathing suit, it’s because you’re going to go in the pool.” The designer was sitting in the confessional in her bikini, her hair lying limp and dripping wet. “When Chris McLean tells you to get dressed in your bathing suit, apparently that means you’re going to be following him in the freezing rain while he stays completely dry. If I didn’t have the chance at a million dollars, I would have quit by now.”

Paul: “So they’re all probably whining about being wet right now, right? Well guess who has a secret weapon?” Paul pointed at his poncho. “I’m still mostly dry!”

“I can see that you’re all drenched.” Chris smiled at the soaking wet contestants. “Well, it’s just going to get worse. Welcome to the docks!”

The group stood in front of a wooden dock that stretched over a thrashing ocean. Two midsized boats were tied to posts, each with a large sail and several nets and ropes dangling off its sides. Many of the contestants stared in amazement, though a few groaned and knew what the upcoming challenge would entail.

“Now I know you’ve all seen one of those shows where a group of dudes goes out to sea in anticipation of crab fishing or whale watching or whatever.” Chris spoke over the rain. “Well, today’s challenge is based off of those. Each team is going to be sent out on a boat and will be sailing on opposite sides of the island. You will be searching for six crates underwater, which will be visible by a red flag tied to them and a buoy floating on top of the water. You will have to retrieve these crates in any way possible, though they’re too heavy for one person to lift out of the water on their own. We’ve provided a few tools on your boats to get you started, and if those fail… well, bummer man. Find another way.”

“Just get on with it!” Elena shouted when the host paused to laugh.

“Fine, fine, whatever.” Chris stuck his tongue out from under his umbrella. “When you have collected all six crates, you must return to the docks. Inside will be items that you'll assemble to make something, though I can’t tell you what. The first to assemble their something wins. Any questions?”

Camille raised her hand. “How do you drive a boat?”

The sadistic host only chuckled. “Have fun figuring that out on your own. Start getting on your boats. The challenge begins when I untie you from the dock.”

The competitors scurried onto their boats, trying to figure out exactly how they would deal with this difficult challenge before they were stranded at sea. Despite the fact that they were still scrambling around on their ships, Chris untied the boats from the dock. They were picked up by the waves and sent in opposite directions.

“Do you have any idea what you’re doing?”

“No, but how hard can it be?”

Irina braced herself against a railing as Allison managed to turn the boat sharply to the right. The Goth was positioned behind what appeared to be an old pirate ship wheel (which Chris probably placed there only for aesthetic reasons) on a slightly elevated platform at the back of the boat. Always the one to take a challenge, Allison had volunteered to be the captain of the ship despite having no knowledge of boats whatsoever. Other than the fact that nobody else wanted to volunteer, her main reason was that she was good at driving a car, so why not a boat?

“Rock on the right side!” Cara yelped, pointing off the side of the ship. Allison quickly spun the wheel in the opposite direction, and many of her unprepared teammates went sliding across the deck.

“A little smoother next time, please!” Camille called, using her purse to push away the pile of nets that she had landed in. “There are a lot of loose objects down here!”

“I’ll try!” Allison replied, though because of the heavy rain she really had no idea what objects the ditz was talking about.

“I can’t see anything past the rain!” Robert squinted at the water over the side of the boat. The rain made the water ripple so that it wasn’t clear what lay beneath it. “How are we supposed to find anything?”

“Don’t you remember?” Angel questioned. “Chris said there would be some kind of red markers or buoys. I think they’ll be visible even with the bad weather.”

“You mean like that one?” The forgetful jock pointed in the distance over the right side of the boat, where something deep scarlet showed through the gray of the rain.

“Yeah, like that one!” The pyromaniac looked up at the ship’s captain. “Did you hear that Allison?”

“Got it! Everybody brace yourselves because I’m making a right turn!”

The Goth began to roughly spin the wheel to the right. Her teammates scrambled to find the sturdiest object on deck. Eventually they realized that object was Robert, and they all grabbed onto him in an attempt to save themselves from falling over again. When the boat straightened itself out again, they unlatched themselves from Robert and leaned against its right railing. As they neared the object, it soon became clearer that it was one of the crimson buoys that Chris had mentioned. As the boat sailed alongside it, Paul bent over the edge to get a closer look at the water.

“There’s a box under there!” He announced, gesturing towards the red flag tied to the crate. “Let’s get it!”

“Bad news Poncho Boy, all we have is a lot of rope, a couple nets, and a few pieces of scrap metal.” Isaac said, pulling up the lump of tangled items. “Does anybody know how to use any of this?”

“What if we used all that stuff to make a fishhook?” Avery suggested.

Several of her teammates shook their heads at the idea. “Stupid idea. Anybody else?”

“Oh! I’ve got it!” Camille gasped. “We can attach the metal to the net so that it sinks. Then we can tie the rope to the net so we have something to pull it back up with.”

Eight sets of surprised eyes turned to Camille. Cara wrapped an arm around her friend. “Camille, that’s the smartest thing you’ve ever said!”

“It just came to me.” The wealthy girl shrugged with a smile.

“Doesn’t he look absolutely beautiful?”

Ophelia swooned at the sight of Victor behind the captain’s wheel. His hair was soaking wet and blowing in the breeze, and he had a look of concentration on as he attempted to figure out what exactly he was supposed to be doing. The artist sighed and clasped her hands together.

“Amazing sight, isn’t it Donna?” When she didn’t receive an answer, Ophelia stopped admiring Victor and looked around in confusion. “Donna? Where’d you go?” She tried to block the rain from her eyes to find her roommate, only to trip over something and fall to the ground. She smiled though when she realized that the object she had fallen over was a sleeping Donna. Ophelia pulled the net that her friend had attempted to use to cover herself from the rain off of her and shook her awake.

“What are you doing?” Donna asked as Ophelia pulled her up from the ground.

“You fell asleep, silly!” The artist grinned, brushing the dirt from her roommate’s shoulders. “I was talking to you!”

“Sorry, I’m just a little tired.” The smart aleck pushed her wet hair from her face. “What were you saying?”

“That Victor is an amazing captain!” Ophelia pointed up at the actor again with a sigh of admiration. “He’s like a stunning pirate or something!”

Donna glared up at Victor steering the ship. “Why is he captain again?”

“He said he was a pirate in a play once. Pirates of Penthouse?”

“Penzance.” The brunette corrected before giving her roommate a sympathetic glance. “Just be careful with Victor, okay? I know you have a crush on him, but that doesn’t mean he definitely has a crush on you.”

“Oh, I know.” Ophelia replied. “He says a lot of pretty things to me though, so I think-”

“Those pretty things are Shakespeare, and he says them to a lot of pretty girls.” Donna explained. “I’m not saying that Victor’s not a good guy, but he doesn’t seem like he likes anybody but himself. Just watch out.”

“There’s something red on the left side!” The aforementioned actor called to his teammates.

Ophelia’s gaze lingered on her crush for a moment before turning to nod to her roommate. “Okay. I’ll keep that in mind. Now let’s go see if we can help!” She tugged Donna by the arm and brought her to the side of the boat where several of their teammates were already trying to look down into the water. The artist bumped Elena out of her way, and the socialite was sent flying into Gabe.

“Watch where you’re going, stupid!” Elena shrieked, regaining her balance and shoving Gabe in the arm.

“Hey, you ran into me!” He sneered. “Do you really think I would want to let you touch me?”

“Why would you care anyway?” The socialite questioned. “You apparently don’t own a bathing suit since you’re soaking wet in your tie.”

Gabe stared in disbelief from his clothing to Elena. “I own a bathing suit! I just chose not to wear it because the viewing audience is not worthy of seeing me in it.”

Elena snorted. “Ha. More like they’d be blinded.”

“You would know-”

“Will you two just shut up?” Sebastian snapped in the two dark haired teens’ direction. When they stoppeed talking, he continued. “As I was trying to say before these idiots talked over me, I know exactly how we can get the box. We create a large fishhook out of the rope and a piece of metal. Then we can tie another piece of rope around the crate so there’s something for the hook to grab onto. The only problem is that we’ll need somebody to go down there in that likely freezing cold water and tie it on.”

“That’s a great idea.” Elena commented through her teeth, picking up one of the wound up bundles of rope. “I know somebody who would be perfect to send into the ocean.”

“Wow, you’re actually going to volunteer?” Gabe asked in awe.

“Nope. You are.” The socialite slammed the bundle of rope into Gabe’s chest. This threw him off balance and sent both him and the rope off the side of the boat and into the water. The Emmys all leaned over the side of the boat to see what had happened to him, and eventually Gabe’s head bobbed above the surface.

“It’s freezing!” He spit a stream of water from his mouth and then glared at Elena. “You couldn’t have at least let me take my shoes off first?!”

“The faster you tie that rope, the faster you’re out of there!” Elena shouted down to him.

Gabe groaned but took a deep breath and dove underwater. He was under for over a minute, though eventually his head broke the surface again. “All done. Somebody help me up!”

As Risty helped Gabe back onto the boat, Sebastian and Wes threw the newly constructed fishhook over the side of the boat. Monique leaned over the rail and gave them directions on where to move it, and the end of the hook snagged on the rope attached to the crate. When the two Emmys pulled on the rope to try and get it back up, it wouldn’t budge.

“We could use some help here!” Wes told his teammates. “This thing is heavy!”

With the assistance of a few more people, they eventually got the crate onto the boat. Monique untied it and opened it up.

“What the heck are these?” The designer questioned, struggling to pick up a smooth piece of stone from inside the box. Several of her teammates crowded around her and pulled out a few other equally as heavy pieces from inside the box, all very similar to the one Monique had. “What could we make out of these?”

“What can they make out of those?” The camera changed scenes to show Chris standing under his umbrella back on the dock. “Who will be able to survive the thrashing sea, and who will be thrown overboard? Was it really Avery who framed Zack? How can Gabe swim in dress clothes? Maybe you’ll find out after this commercial break!”

Chapter Eight: Screaming in the Rain
“Come on, so close! We almost have it!”

“It isn’t going to work.”

“Maybe if we just move it a little to the left? Here, pull it your way.”

“I keep telling you, this isn’t going to work.”

“Will you shut up for just a minute?!” Angel threw the remark over his shoulder.

“Well, even if this does work it’s going to use up too much time.” Avery put one hand on her hip, the other holding up an umbrella that she had thought rolled off the side of the boat when Allison had turned. “By the time we get one box, the other team will have all of them.”

“Nobody asked you!” Isaac sneered, not taking his eyes off of the water. He and Angel were leaning over the side of the boat trying to wedge their net underneath the crate. The task was easier said than done however, and the crate seemed like it wouldn’t budge no matter how many times the two Oscars pulled on the rope.

“I’m just saying that this would be a lot easier if we tried something else!” The drama queen whined.

“And we’re just saying that you need to shut your mouth!” Isaac whipped his head around and glared at Avery. “Do you really think that standing there and whining is going to help?! No! You’re just being annoying!”

The brunette stared at him with wide eyes, her lips formed into an “o” shape. Eventually she stuck up her nose. “Fine.” She turned swiftly on her heel, trying to hide the fact that her voice had broken. “Whatever.”

The drama queen marched over and sat on a wound up stack of rope, putting her chin in her palm and trying not to meet any of her teammates’ eyes. Eventually Irina walked over and sat on the deck beside her. Avery turned so that she was facing away from Irina, though the model stayed put.

“Do you want to talk or something?” The blonde asked, her calm voice a large contrast to the pouring rain.

“Go away.” Avery sneered, though her teammate couldn’t see it. “Shouldn’t you be helping the others?”

“There’s really nothing I can do right now. Angel and Isaac think they have it under control.” Irina grimaced when she saw the two guys still struggling with the rope. “A lot of emphasis on ‘think’. They’re making progress though.”

“Ha. Maybe if making progress meant that they’re making it worse.”

The model pushed back her soaking wet hair. “So you’re mad because Isaac yelled at you again?”

“It wasn’t just him, it was Angel too!” Avery pointed out. “But it’s more than that. I just feel like everybody on this team treats me like I’m nobody. Isaac, Angel, Allison, sometimes even Paul or Cara does it too.”

“They don’t mean it.” Irina insisted.

“But you don’t know that-”

THUMP! Avery and Irina both turned to see that Isaac and Angel had somehow managed to reel in the box and were now double high-fiving each other. “Told you so!”

Irina got to her feet, though Avery stayed sitting. The model stood in front of the other girl, her smile gone. “Just trust me: they don’t mean it. I know what it feels like when somebody thinks you’re nothing but a pretty face.” After a moment, a smirk crawled back onto her lips. “And even if they did mean it, you’d still have me.”

Irina joined the others without another word. Despite the encouragement, Avery just watched from afar as they opened up the box.

Confession Cam

Avery: “I know that Irina was trying to help, but it still feels like they all just don’t get that I’m trying to help us win.” The brunette furrowed her eyebrows in confusion. “I wouldn’t mind being friends with her, but there was something odd about what she had said about being nothing but a pretty face. Maybe the good girl model isn’t as low drama as we thought.”

“Yo ho, yo ho, a pirate’s life for me!” Robert sang at the top of his lungs, putting smiles on several of his teammates’ faces. The Oscars had looked over the parts inside of the crate and couldn’t figure out what they were for. Now they had closed it back up and were keeping an eye on it to make sure it didn’t slide off the boat on one of Allison’s reckless turns.

“You’re like a ray of sunshine in the rain.” Cara said to Robert, who gave her a wide grin.

“I’ve always been good at cheering people up.” He replied. “This one time my coach was down because we’d lost a game, so my teammates and I... um…” He pursed his lips in thought. “We… hmm… well, forget that story. I think it was a good one though.” When he saw Cara giving him a sympathetic look, Robert resumed his duty of turning frowns upside down and walked over to the front of the boat. He put his arms straight at his sides and let the wind and rain blow against his face. “I’m king of the world!”

When he looked back over his shoulder, the nature lover was laughing. “You’re way too much fun.”

“What does he mean king of the world?” Camille stood beside her roommate, her eyes wide. “When did Robert take over the earth?”

“It’s from a movie, Camille.” Cara explained. “He’s just kidding.”

“Oh!” The wealthy girl burst into giggles. “You’re funny!”

“Yeah, but I wish it wasn’t raining. I can’t see anything.” Robert tried to shield his eyes from the rain. “We’re not going to see a buoy until we smack right into it.”

“And if we did hit something, this boat would probably crack in half.” Cara added, demonstrating her point by stepping on one of the boards below her feet. The other end rose into the air, clearly not properly screwed in. “I just hope Allison gets better at steering this thing.”

“There’s a buoy on the left! Everybody hold onto something!” Allison called out. Cara and Camille quickly rushed over to grab onto Robert, most of the others following them while Angel sat on top of the captured crate to try and keep it from sliding away. Once they were all secure, Allison spun the wheel and the boat jerked to the left.

“Sorry about this.” Paul said from where he had grabbed onto Robert’s elbow.

“It’s okay. I’m just glad I can help.” The jock grinned.

Once the boat was straight, the group let go of Robert and looked over the left side of the boat where a buoy bobbed a few feet away. Angel and Isaac pushed through with the net and began the long process of attempting to get the net around the box.

“This is going to take forever.” Avery remarked.

“Stop being so negative.” Cara instructed. “We found this one really quick. I’ll bet we’re ahead of the other team!”

In the ocean on the other side of the island, The Emmys were leaning against the side of their boat waiting for Gabe to resurface. Cara had predicted wrong, and their retrieval method was taking them much less time than The Oscars’. Their teammate was now tying the rope to their third crate.

“Is it wrong to think it’s hilarious that we actually got him to go underwater again?” Minerva questioned.

“He’s kind of a jerk, so no.” Monique replied, just as Gabe came up for air.

“It’s good!” He announced. As Sebastian and Wes began to try and maneuver their fishhook into the right spot, Gabe swam over to the side of the boat and waited for somebody to give him a hand. “Um, hello?! I’m in freezing cold water here!”

Minerva and Monique stared down at their chilly teammate, and then looked at each other. They shrugged in unison and walked away from the edge of the boat.

“Hey! Get back here right now!” Gabe screeched. “I need help!” Nobody answered. “Guys! Hello? Don’t abandon me here!”

Risty leaned over the side of the boat. “Why should I help you?”

“Because I am wonderful.” The Florida native stated.

The athlete rolled her eyes. “Try again.”

Gabe pouted. “Because if I freeze, then you’re going to have to make somebody else come down in the water and swim.”

“Better, but not good enough.”

The wealthy teen glared. “How’s about because I tried to give you a head’s up the other night when you decided to vote off Zack?”

Risty narrowed her eyes in confusion. “What do you mean you gave me a head’s up?”

“When I talked to you in the stairwell? Remember?”

“Elena didn’t force you into that?”

“No, she- look, can we talk about this when I’m not covered up to my neck in ice cold water?”

Risty took a tentative pause, but eventually reached her hand down to him. She helped pull him out of the water just as the fishhook had pulled the crate onto the boat. As her teammates went over to see what was inside the box, Risty waited as Gabe shook out his hair.

“Hey, do you have a mirror or something?” The brunet questioned, trying to adjust a soaking wet curl.

“I’m waiting for an explanation.” Risty stated, crossing her arms.

“I helped you out, you didn’t listen.” Gabe shrugged. “What more of an explanation do you need?”

She raised an eyebrow. “I thought Elena had made you talk to me in an attempt to get me to vote with you guys.”

“Nope. She still doesn’t even know that I talked to you about it.” He admitted.

“Then why’d you do it?”

“Do I really need a reason? If I were Monique or Ophelia or Wes I don’t think you would second guess me.”

“But you’re Gabe. You’re selfish and spoiled and will do anything Elena says.”

“Did you ever consider that maybe I’m not only what my stereotype says?” Gabe sneered, shutting Risty up immediately. “I helped you by my own choice, and everything I told you wasn’t just because I wanted you to vote with us. Believe it or not I’m not a complete monster like you seem to think. And when I said that she’d be targeting you just like she did Minerva, I wasn’t lying. She’s watching you like a hawk.”

Risty tried to hide the surprise from her face. “Then why are you helping Elena?”

“Like I said before, it doesn’t matter.” The rich boy left before Risty could say anything else. He joined the group observing the contents of the crate (more stone pieces), standing right by Elena’s side.

Confession Cam

Risty: “I just don’t get it. If he wants us to believe that he’s a good guy, then why would he be in an alliance with Elena if she clearly doesn’t like anybody?” She shook her head. “How is it only the fourth episode but everybody’s already going on about their personal drama?”

“I hate to jinx us, but I think the rain is actually slowing down… knock on wood.” Paul knocked on the side of the boat’s wheel, and Allison slapped his hand away. “Hey!”

“Only the captain touches the wheel.” The Goth smiled.

“Well, you could have just said so!”

“What’s the matter? You don’t have something in your emergency kit to take care of that? Or did the poncho take up all the room?”

Paul glared. “Not funny.”

“Says you.” Allison snickered. “But on a better subject, I know Chris has had to think of a lot of challenges, but this idea was pretty crappy.”

“Why?” The Boy Scout questioned. “I thought the theme was pretty cool other than the violent rain.”

“Yeah, the theme is pretty cool. But he should’ve waited a little longer to do it. Other than me, nobody else gets to do anything until we find another box.”

Allison was right. It had taken fifteen minutes to get the last crate in and they were finally able to start moving again, though there didn’t seem to be any more buoys in sight. While she steered the boat, her teammates stood around trying to occupy themselves or stay dry.

“Maybe it’ll take more people to pull in the next box.” Paul suggested. "Angel and Isaac said the last one was heavier than the first. Maybe they’ll get increasingly bigger.”

“Hopefully. So what’s going on down on the poop deck? Anything interesting?”

“Okay, first of all, it’s not a poop deck.” The blue-eyed teen corrected. “And really nothing. Robert’s trying to entertain everybody, but we’re all soaking wet and miserable so it’s not really working. Avery’s moping because everybody’s yelling at her, but she kind of deserves it since she’s been complaining since we got on the boat.”

“Either that or she’s moping around because she’s mad that we found the DVD in the lounge.”

“As much as it makes sense, we still don’t have any proof that she did that.”

“But we’ll probably get it eventually!” Allison claimed. “I still don’t see any other suspects.”

“What if Rachel Claire did it just to heat up the drama?” Paul suggested.

“I don’t think she’d be allowed to do that.” The crimson haired girl replied. “And why are you defending Avery? You don’t even like her!”

“I don’t like her, but I think it’s wrong to blame somebody for something that might not be their fault.”

Allison stared at Paul for a minute, and he gave her an attempt at a high and mighty look (though it turned out rather ridiculous because of the poncho). “Wow, your morals are so much better than mine.”

“Not necessarily better. Just different.” The brunet shrugged, and then pointed out into the distance. “There’s a buoy to the right.”

An excited grin spread across Allison’s face. “Finally! Everybody grab onto something!”

“You know, you’re going to regret not taking me into your alliance.”

“…What alliance?”

Elena stomped her foot at Sebastian. “Would you stop that? I know you have an alliance! I’m not stupid!”

“I never said you were stupid.” Sebastian pointed out.

“But you’re implying it! How dumb would I have to be to not realize that you have an alliance? How else would Zack have gotten voted off the other day?”

“How does anybody get voted off on this show?” He asked. “They make a mistake.”

“That’s a stupid answer. You should still reconsider not taking me into your ‘nonexistent’ alliance.”

“And why is that?”

“Because I almost managed to get Minerva eliminated after the last challenge.” Elena put her hands on her hips, a confident smile on her face.

Sebastian clapped sarcastically. “Great job, but was she eliminated?”

Elena’s proud stance fell. “Well… no. But I was pretty darn close!”

“There's a buoy over here!” Wes shouted to his teammates.

“Talk to me when you actually do something useful, okay?” Sebastian walked away from Elena to where his teammates were attempting to get Gabe to jump in the water again. He shook his head at Gabe, and then pointed to himself before hopping into the water.

Elena screeched in frustration. “What is his problem?!”

“What’s your problem?” Gabe took his spot at her side now that he had been relieved of diving duty.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” The socialite questioned.

“Why do you care?” He asked.

Elena glared. “Because I don’t want to be stuck working with you for too long.”

“Duh. At this rate we’re going to murder each other by Episode Six. But why do you care?”

The hotel heiress narrowed her eyes at her alliance mate. “I need to look good, and if we lose again I doubt our alliance is going to do anything. Sebastian seems like the kind of guy who could pull some strings and get anybody he wants eliminated. I just need to make sure that’s not me.”

“If you keep bothering him, he’s more likely to want to vote you out.” Gabe pointed out.

“I don’t see it as bothering him. I see it as just reminding him that I’m here in case he changes his mind.”

“It’s tied up!” Sebastian could be heard shouting from the water. Gabe and Elena looked over towards where their teammates had begun lowering the fishhook over the edge of the water.

“Maybe we should make ourselves useful and at least pretend to help.” Gabe suggested. Elena agreed and they joined their team, unsure on whether they were still arguing or not.

Another hour of sailing had passed and The Oscars had managed to collect their fourth crate, unaware of how much progress the other team was making. The rain had slowed to a light sprinkle and as Paul had predicted, the crates were increasing in weight and more teammates had been required to pull in each one.

As they began to reel in their fifth crate, Angel, Isaac, and Paul were almost pulled completely over the side of the boat. The three guys collapsed into a pile on the deck, with Robert grabbing the end of the rope before it could fall into the ocean.

“What’s wrong?” Cara asked, helping Isaac to his feet.

“This one’s like double, maybe even triple the size of the last one.” The slacker groaned. “We’re going to need some help.”

“Are you okay?” The nature lover leaned over to help Paul and Angel up. Paul took her hand, though Angel didn’t.

The pyromaniac held his palms up with a grimace to show that they were scraped and red. “Rope burn.”

“No need to fear, Allison is here.” The Goth leaped from the platform she stood on to her teammate’s side. “You take the wheel, I’ll help pull.”

“You sure?” Angel asked.

“Yeah, I’ll be fine. Just don’t rip open your hands on the steering wheel.”

“Haha.” The Puerto Rican teen rolled his eyes and marched up to the wheel. His other teammates (except for Camille, who was supervising) lined up at the rope and got ready to pull.

“Okay guys, on the count of three!” Isaac, who was at the head of the line, called.

“We really don’t need all of us.” Avery mentioned.

“Shut up, Avery!” Isaac yelled.

“I’m just saying that we only need Robert. He’s stronger than Irina, Cara, and I combined.”

“Shut up, Avery!” The entire team chorused. The drama queen grit her teeth, but stopped talking immediately.

“Okay, now that the brat has shut up: one… two…” The Oscars tightened their grips on the rope. “Three!”

The Oscars began to pull the crate in, though just as Avery had said Robert was pretty much dragging the rest of the team across the deck. As the footballer reeled the rope in, Cara and Irina had lost their grip. The crate was almost over the edge of the boat, but then…

''CAW! CAW!''

A seagull flew over the boat, and Robert’s head snapped right to it. He loosened his grip on the rope to stare at the bird, and it slid through his fingers. The rest of the team was caught off guard and the crate fell back into the ocean, the rope going with it. They burst into a chorus of groans, catching Robert’s attention again. When he realized that he had been distracted, he furrowed his eyebrows.

“Oh no! I’m sorry!” He put his hands up to his face, but then yelped when he felt the rope burn on his hands. “I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean it!”

“… It’s fine.” Paul leaned over the side of the boat. “We’ll get it back somehow. You just go with Angel. We’ll figure something out.”

The rest of the team looked over the edge of the boat with Paul and tried to figure out who would volunteer to go in after the rope. Robert sulked over to the other side of the boat, unaware that one of his teammates had followed him. When he felt the harsh hand on his shoulder, he jumped.

“This is your fault!”

The jock turned around to see a pair of beautiful hazel eyes narrowed at him.

“Oh, um, hey Avery-”

“Don’t ‘hey Avery’ me!” The drama queen snarled. “I am sick and tired of this team, and this was our second to last box! Now not only are we forced to start all over again, but we’ve lost our rope! And do you know whose fault this is? Yours!” The jock opened his mouth to speak, but she slapped a hand over it. “I don’t want to hear any of your cheer up crap! Everybody else is going to feel bad for you because of your lack of attention span or whatever! But you know what? We can’t all be as nice as the rest of them! If we lose this challenge, I am personally blaming you! You are the biggest guy we have on this team, but you couldn’t handle one simple strength task! You should be our secret weapon, but instead you’re our biggest weakness!”

Avery looked over her shoulder quickly to check that the rest of the team was distracted before continuing, her hand still over Robert’s mouth. “You’re not going to say a word about this to the rest of them, got it? I am way too mad to deal with them right now.” The jock tried to speak, but she wouldn’t move her hand. “What did I just say?” Robert pointed his finger over Avery’s shoulder, and she turned around to find that Angel was no longer behind the wheel. Instead he was standing right behind her with a glare on his face. Avery removed her hand from Robert’s mouth and shooed him away, turning her anger towards Angel.

“What do you want?”

“Why did you just do that?!” Angel yelled. “You practically just tore him the poor guy apart!”

“Everything I said was true!”

“No, you’re just mad and you need to take it out on somebody else! Robert didn’t deserve any of that!”

Avery tossed her wet hair back. “Whatever. Like I care.” She marched back to join the rest of the team, leaving Angel slack jawed and disgusted behind her.

Confession Cam

Angel: “I don’t think I have ever met a worse person than Avery. She’s selfish and cruel and probably just traumatized poor Robert for life. He didn’t deserve any of that. It’s not his fault that he’s easily distracted, but she ripped him to shreds!”

“This looks like part of a head.”

“Yes, yes! Perfect!”

The Emmys had already collected all six crates and had docked their boat. They now had formed an assembly line leading to the shore. The crates were too heavy for them to carry all the way there, so they had opened the boxes and were moving the items piece by piece. Ophelia and Donna were at the end of the line putting together the final product.

“Does this one go here?” Ophelia questioned.

“No, put it on the side. We’re going to need to finish the base first.” Donna said, turning to her teammates. She cupped her hands around her mouth and shouted to the boat. “We’re going to need more of those ridged pieces!”

“We’re looking, we’re looking!” Monique and Victor were digging through the pile of stone fragments. Eventually they handed a few similar looking pieces down the assembly line, and Donna and Ophelia pieced them together into what looked like a seashell shape. They both stared at the parts they had assembled for a minute before Ophelia gasped.

“I know what it is!” She started to fumble with one of the pieces at her feet. “Oh my gosh, this goes here! And this goes here!”

“What, what?” Donna waved her hands to her teammates to have them speed up with the assembly line.

“Yes, this is going to be leg! And if you turn this one to the side it’s a hand!”

“I don’t see it. What is it?”

Ophelia stacked a few smoother pieces on top of the shell, and then turned to her friend. “It’s The Birth of Venus, Chris McLean style!”

“I can see land! We’re almost there!”

The Oscars started gathering their boxes, ready to move onto the beach as Allison steered their boat for land.

“Here, Robert could you lift this one?” Irina asked her teammate. The jock didn’t answer her, just sat with his knees to his chest on the floor. “Robert? Are you okay?”

“Watch out, coming through.” Avery had one end of box in her hands and was trying to drag it across the deck. She tried to push past Irina, but the model stopped her. “Excuse me.”

“You seem better.” The blonde commented.

“Not really, but I kind of want to win.” The brunette looked between Irina and Robert. The jock flinched at the sight of her.

“Do you have something to do with Robert being upset?” Irina asked, her voice lowered.

“Not at all. What reason would I have to hurt him?” Avery said. “I might be selfish, but I’m not heartless.”

The model stepped aside and let the drama queen through, pretending not to notice the uncertain look on her face. Eventually the boat hit the dock and Paul scrambled over the edge to attempt to tie it up. The Oscars began trying to unload their boxes from the boat, though the cheering coming from the shore stopped them dead in their tracks. All eyes turned towards The Emmys.

They were gathered around a large, wonderful stone statue that they had clearly put together. The statue was of Chris McLean, clad in only a swimsuit and standing in a seashell, his hair flowing in an imaginary breeze. Despite the subject matter of the piece, it was actually rather beautiful. The weather seemed to agree. It was like a sight from a movie: the rain stopped, the clouds cleared, and a single ray of sun shone down on the shore where the statue stood.

“This. Is. Beautiful.” Chris wiped a tear from his eye and put down his umbrella. “The Emmys win!” The victors cheered, and The Oscars stared. “Oscars, you were just a bit too slow… okay, who am I kidding? You were way too slow. I’ll see you at the Team’s Choice Awards tonight… again!” The host then turned to a nearby cameraman. “Can somebody get a wheelbarrow and bring this masterpiece to my trailer?”

“I hate it when we have to vote somebody off.” Cara put her chin in her hands and pouted her lips. “I feel like we’re breaking somebody’s heart every time.”

“It’s not that bad if they deserve it.” Isaac stated from his spot on the couch next to her. “For example, if we vote off Avery, I don’t think I could possibly feel bad.”

“I second that motion.” Allison raised her hand.

“Third.” Angel agreed.

Cara, Isaac, Allison, Angel, Robert, and Paul had gathered in the lounge room to make sure that they made the right decision tonight. Avery and Irina refused to come, having some sort of girl talk in the latter’s room, and Camille was busy attempting to use a hairdryer on her wet purse.

“Does she really deserve it though?” Cara asked. “I don’t want to be unfair about it.”

“Who else deserves it? She was just being a burden in the challenge today, and she hasn’t really done much else for us.” Allison stated.

“You guys didn’t hear what she said to Robert.” Angel mentioned. He elbowed the jock gently in the arm. “Go on, tell them.”

Robert didn’t even react to his teammate nudging him. He juts sat hunched over and silent, staring into space.

“Are you okay?” Paul questioned. “You seemed fine while we were on the boat.”

“Until Avery got to him, that is.” Angel said. “Is it okay if I tell them what she said?”

Robert barely shook his head. “No, thank you.”

“Oh.” The Puerto Rican teen furrowed his brow. “Okay, then. I think his behavior enough is a reason to vote off Avery tonight though.”

“All in favor?” Allison asked, raising her hand once again. Isaac, Angel, and Paul joined her. Cara hesitated, but eventually her hand joined theirs. Robert only sighed, and his teammates gave him sympathetic looks.

“Well, that’s the majority.” Isaac declared with a solemn tone to his voice. “Sorry, Robert. Unless you have anybody else to suggest, you were outvoted.”

The jock shook his head back and forth slowly. The other five Oscars didn’t know how to react.

“Welcome Oscars to the Team’s Choice Awards… again. You have all cast your votes, and one of your will be leaving the island… again. But hey, at least the weather felt like being nice and stopped the rain, right?” Chris laughed at his own attempt at optimism, though the team down below wasn’t amused. “Seriously guys. You’ve lost three of the first four challenges, and I don’t know why. You were the physically stronger team. Maybe it’s just not the guys’ season to win this year?”

“Could you just cut to the chase?” Avery requested from her spot on the bleachers.

Chris glared at her. “Fine, fine. Impatient much?” He reached behind his podium and pulled out a stack of silver stars. “The surprise at the end of the Red Carpet of Shame tonight is a fun one. Instead of a limousine, this episode's loser gets to ride in an amphibious car!” A bright yellow, oddly shaped topless car pulled up at the end of the red carpet, Chef Hatchet’s head poking from it. “That’s right! This car can go both on land and in the water, and Chef’s going to be taking the scenic route tonight… meaning through the ocean.”

Chris cackled at the thought of the amphibious car, though nobody else laughed. “Kind of party poopers tonight, aren’t you? Well, you’ve all been to the confessional to submit your votes…”

Confession Cam

Allison: “No question here: I’m voting for Avery.”

Irina: “I want to vote for Avery, but I can’t. I actually feel bad for her. Instead I’m going to vote for Isaac, because he seems to be the main reason why she was so upset today.”

Robert: The jock just sighed. “I know that I’m going to probably be criticized for this, but I know I’m making the right decision. I’ve thought about this a lot, and I’m voting for…”

“The first silver star of the night goes to Allison for her terrible yet oddly effective captaining skills.” Chris announced, tossing the Goth her star. “Next is Angel for staying chill despite a nasty rope burn, and Irina for looking good in a bikini.”

“Seriously?” The model complained when she caught her star. “You had to say that?”

“Hey, I’d think that’s a compliment.” The host shrugged. “Next are Paul, Camille, Robert, and Cara, which just leaves you two.”

Isaac threw his hands in the air and looked over at Avery. “I’m in the bottom two again? Do you guys hate me that much?”

“You act like you’re here alone.” Avery curled her upper lip at him in disgust.

“Well, I practically am. It’s obvious which one of us is going home-”

“Hey! Don’t spoil the surprise!” Chris shouted, holding the last silver star up. “The final silver star of the night goes to…”

“Wait.”

The camera turned to Robert, who had stepped off of the bleachers. He approached the stage, and Chris gave him a speculative glance. “Why are you ruining my drama?”

“I’m not ruining your drama.” Robert insisted. “I’m making something right. And I know you saw that I voted for myself in the confessional and decided to ignore it.”

The Oscars gasped. “You did what?”

“I voted for myself.” The football player turned around to face his team. “Somebody today made me begin to think during the challenge. They yelled at me, and proved a point in the worst way possible, but they made me actually consider why I was in the game. I entered in this competition to try and earn money for college, not to make my story known on TV. And as nice as you all have been to me, I’m not here to make it through the game only as a sympathy vote. This person today made a point: that I am the strongest player on this team, but I never showed it. And even though I did contribute a lot to why we took so long to get back to the docks, none of you were going to point that out because you feel bad for me because I’m forgetful.”

Robert turned to face Chris McLean again. “And because I don’t feel like I’m making it through this game fairly, I want to vote myself off today. So can I please have the hammer that you use to smash the gold stars?”

Chris stared in shock at the jock, but eventually leaned over to find the hammer behind his podium. Robert exchanged the silver star he'd been given for the sledgehammer

“Robert, don’t!” Cara cried out.

“You don’t have to leave!” Paul agreed. “Nothing was your fault today!”

“Guys, I’m doing this by choice. I don’t think I would have enjoyed the competition much after today anyway. It’s for the better.” Robert gave his team a smile to quiet them before turning around and smashing his star. They all stared with wide eyes as he walked to the Red Carpet of Shame. “I really loved meeting all of you, and I’ll be waiting to hang out at the… um… the place where the losers stay.”

“The resort?” Chris tried to correct.

“Yeah. That’s it. Thanks.” Robert nodded at the host, before looking at his team again. “So don't feel bad about this. It's not your faults. And one of you had better win.” He then walked the Red Carpet of Shame with his head held high, somehow proud of what he had done. He entered the amphibious car with a smile, and began a conversation with Chef immediately. As the car began to drive down the road, he waved goodbye to his teammates through the open top.

The Team’s Choice Awards amphitheater was silent for a few minutes. Eventually Chris spoke up. “So… that was rather sad. I guess Avery and Isaac are both safe.”

Neither the drama queen nor the troublemaker celebrated.

“I can’t believe that just happened. Robert was so nice.”

Cara sat on her bed slowly combing her hair. Her voice was just loud enough that her roommate could hear her from the bathroom, though she tried to keep it down so she didn’t wake anybody who may have fallen asleep around them. Of course, the kindhearted brunette wasn’t going to sleep easy that night knowing that the wrong person had gone home, though she hoped that her teammates would have fewer difficulties.

“I never saw that coming. He seemed so happy.” Cara said. “I wish he had told us first. Maybe we could have talked him out of it or something.”

“Me too.” Camille replied quietly from the bathroom.

“I guess it’s for the better though.” The nature lover continued. “If he felt that he was really that uncomfortable here, I can’t imagine him making it much farther in the competition anyway.”

“I agree.” Her roommate stated, her voice sounding distant.

“It’s sad, though. I thought for sure Robert would be making the merge, or maybe even the finals. Other than his memory problems, he seemed like the perfect package.” She tossed her hairbrush into her bag. “Maybe he’ll have a better time at the losers’ resort. He can make friends with Josh or Eric or maybe even Zack. And if one of us gets voted off, he’ll be waiting... right Camille?” Her roommate didn’t respond. “Camille?”

As Cara repeated her roommate’s name, the camera got closer to the bathroom. It peeked in through the bathroom door to show Camille standing at the mirror holding something shiny in her hand. She was examining it closely, though when she saw the camera’s reflection in the mirror she shoved it back into her purse.

“Get out!” She hissed, running at the camera. “Get out, get out!” The cameraman backed out of the bathroom, and Camille emerged moments later back to her innocent composure. Cara stared at her roommate with wide eyes.

“Everything okay?”

Camille nodded. “Yes. I’m sorry, I just didn’t want them to have me on film wiping off my makeup. I might scare any small children who watch the show.”

Cara laughed at her friend’s comment. “You look perfectly fine, Camille. I’m going to try and get some sleep, okay?”

Camille nodded and walked over to her bed on the far side of the room. Cara shut off the light and curled up in her own bed. Camille placed her purse on the ground, and gave the camera one last glance before lying down. When she closed her eyes, the camera zoomed in on her opened purse, where something sparkling with a piece of paper tied to it showed through the top. Just as the camera tried to get a closer look, a pillow fell on top of the purse and blocked its view.

The camera zoomed out, and Camille was shuffling around on her bed, though she didn’t seem to be in any rush to pick the pillow up.

“Oops.” She said, but then under her breath added for the cameraman. “…Now don’t try that again.”

Theme Song
The opening theme music begins to play as the cameras burst through the gates to McLean Studios. Paparazzi are standing at either side of the gate and their cameras flash. At the end of the crowd is Chris McLean whining to Rachel Claire, who is standing with one hand on her hip and the other holding a microphone.

Dear Mom and Dad I’m doing fine

The camera goes between Chris and Rachel and enters the front doors of the hotel. Josh is sitting on an armchair in the lobby. Once he sees the camera in front of him he jumps in fear and flips the chair backwards.

You guys are on my mind

The camera quickly looks down at Josh on the ground as it flies over him to go down the hall to the kitchen. Eric is trying to pull an overflowing pot off of the stove but burns his hands and drops it on the ground. Chef Hatchet lurks behind him and glares at the mess.

You asked me what I wanted to be

And now I think the answer is plain to see

The camera goes up the stairs to the second floor where Elena and Gabe are arguing as they walk down the hallway. Elena marches through an open door and runs her hands through her hair in frustration, closing the door in Gabe’s face behind her.

I wanna be famous.

The camera rushes past Elena and out an open window. It drops down to an open field of grass where Cara and Camille are sitting. Cara picks up a bug from the grass and lets it crawl along her hand. Camille freaks out at the sight of it and quickly gets to her feet, grass staining the ends of her dress in the process.

I wanna live close to the sun

The camera zooms into the window of the ‘50’s Diner set where Ophelia and Victor are sharing a milkshake.

Pack your bags ‘cause I’ve already won

The camera moves between their faces and out the swinging door of the diner. Avery runs past screaming with a flying metal contraption right on her tail. After a moment, Zack walks after her with a joystick in hand, controlling the machine and snickering.

Everything to prove

Nothing in my way

The camera flies around Zack towards the cafeteria of the high school set. Inside, Paul is stacking playing cards into a perfect pile and is trying to put the final card on top. Just as he is about to place it on, Isaac jumps up from behind him and scares him, knocking over the whole tower. Paul glares and Isaac smirks as the camera passes by them.

I’ll get there one day

Outside on the sports fields of the high school set, Risty is kicking a soccer ball. She kicks it to Robert who is in the goal, but it bounces off of his head because he isn’t paying attention.

Cause I wanna be famous

On the bleachers next to the field, Donna is trying to take a picture of the action on the field. As she is just about to take a shot, Sebastian pops up behind her and leans his arm on her shoulder with a grin. She jerks to the side and he falls through the bleachers.

Na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na

The camera goes through the slits in the bleachers to the Victorian castle set where Monique is sewing a hem on a skirt Irina is wearing. A giant drawing of the outfit Irina is wearing that Monique drew is pinned to the stone wall beside them. Irina brushes her hair over her shoulder just as the camera passes behind her.

I wanna be, I wanna be

The camera passes by Angel and Allison sitting on the stairs of the prison set. Angel has a lighter in his outstretched hand while Allison is holding a handful of flowers over the flame. Both stare with mesmerized looks on their faces.

I wanna be famous,'' I wanna be

The camera passes by Wes sitting against a tree in between sets with his guitar trying to write music notes on a paper. He scribbles out what he just wrote and crumples up the page, throwing it in the large pile he already has stacked. The camera crashes into the pile and fades to white.

I wanna be. I wanna be famous

The camera fades back in from the perspective of Minerva’s web cam as the theme is whistled. She adjusts the lense and backs up, nodding when she’s satisfied and then runs to join her team. The scene is shown to be the Team’s Choice Awards where The Oscars are sitting on one side and The Emmys are on the other, Chris and Chef Hatchet in the middle.

At the last second a group of paparazzi with cameras pop up onstage and start taking pictures. As everybody scrambles, the camera zooms out to the show the show’s logo in neon lights over their heads.

Trivia

 * Victor quotes Romeo and Juliet and A Midsummer Night's Dream in Episode One.
 * Tina Blanks, Helen D'Angelo, and Opal Winfrey are based off of Tyra Banks, Ellen Degeneres, and Oprah Winfrey respectively. Tina's show America's Future Beauty Queen and catchphrase "ferocious!" are based off of America's Next Top Model and Tyra's catchphrase "fierce!"
 * There were several scenes cut out of Chapter Four in order to make shorter. Some of them include Cara hunting through Chef's garden, a scene with Risty, Zack, and Wes when they're gathering supplies at The Hotel, and Ophelia and Donna talking while Ophelia is painting.
 * Eric probably didn't deserve to be voted out in Episode Two based on the screentime he got. However, it's implied that he was rather obnoxious to his teammates between challenges both from the way he treated Paul earlier in the episode to the way he presents himself to Chris.
 * Episode Three was named after the song "Video Killed the Radio Star" by The Buggles. This song title was chosen because it was the first music video ever shown on MTV.