Episode 9

  Hedging Your Bets

  “Last time on Endurance Forest!” Vince Goldman says over clips of the previous episode. “The teams were dissolved as the final eight reached the point of the merge. With that they were tasked with a race up the rock and exposed root filled path up the forest’s cliff that oversees the lake. A challenge that seemed like a nice and difficult trail on paper and… yeah if we get more seasons and reach the point where we run out of ideas and start recycling old challenges, I think it’s safe to say that we ain’t ever bringing this one back. As during the race, Simon smashed his elbow right in Nicole’s face, breaking her nose and causing her to fall far behind. Meanwhile, Yong-Gi fell multiple times and tried to fight through the pain. This would turn out to be a mistake as, while he did manage to beat Nicole to the finish line, eliminating her from the competition, he ended up breaking his ankle in the process. Thus, he had to leave as well due to injury. Which I reveal that it was a double elimination anyways, but with this, there was no vote, keeping Simon safe for now. Back at the new camp the rest of the competitors agreed that Simon wasn’t welcome, casting the salesman out to the woods. Good. With no allies and with his right to vote revoked, can Simon survive another day or will this parasite finally be removed? Find out this time on Endurance Forest!”

  ~~~

  The show opens on Simon waking up from under a poorly constructed shelter that he constructed from sticks and leaves that looked like it could fall apart if you so much as breathed on it wrong. He let out a groan, making it clear that he didn’t sleep well before rolling out from his shelter.

  ~~~

  “The last few days have been… rough.” A disheveled Simon says in the confessional. “Since I have been banished from the campgrounds by the rest of the contestants I haven’t been having a good time; I’ve had to make a shelter. I’ve had to find food on my own which is a bit harder than it sounds, even with the blueberry bushes and appletrees around the forest. I mean I have found mushrooms, but I’m not sure if they’re safe to eat or not and I ain’t exactly willing to roll those dice. Don’t wanna either have to be medevaced as well or wake up in some unknown place in the woods completely naked.” He paused for a second. “Let’s see… What else do I have to complain about? Oh yeah, another thing, without a proper tent the mosquitos have been treating me like an all you can eat buffet. Oh, and I’m starting to really miss the coffee maker that my team won.” He lets out a sigh, “I’ve been through worse. I just need to keep telling myself that. That way I can push through it and do whatever I can to win this game. Once I have that million bucks in my hands I can then say that all this was worth it.”

  ~~~

  “Attention contestants” Vince’s voice echoed throughout the woods, only barely being heard by Simon from where he was, “Get ready for your next challenge. In thirty minutes meet me by the road. This next challenge is a bit of a field trip and will not be taking place in the forest.”

  Clarence looks over to other contestants at the camp and says, “Huh? Didn’t expect that. You think they ran out of ideas or something?”

  “Maybe it’s something they couldn’t do in this forest?” Jillian suggested, “Like they would have to build something they wouldn’t have time for or couldn’t do it without cutting down a lot of trees.”

  “It is possible that they didn’t have the permits.” Mina suggested. “Like they’re allowed to host this show and film here, but they can’t build anything.”

  “Well whatever it is, I welcome the change of scenery.” Jillian said.

  “That’s kinda surprising coming from you.” Sue said before finishing the last bit of the fish she was eating.

  “What? Just because I’m a park ranger doesn't mean I want to be surrounded by nature twenty-four seven. I mean I do have a condo. I don’t live at the ranger station. Even if sometimes work can keep me there overnight.”

  “I see. I guess that makes sense.” Sue said with a smile and nod.

  Ed just sits there during the whole conversation, drinking a cup of coffee and not saying anything.

  ~~~

  The show cuts to the contestants meeting up with Vince in front of a school bus that the show seemed to have rented for the day. As they do Mina and Jillian both shoot quick glares at Simon who gives them the stink eye in return.

  Vince nods at them, puts on a smile and says, “Welcome final six. As I said over the intercoms, we’re not doing today’s challenge in the forest. We’re going into the nearby town for this one.”

  “So what are we doing exactly?” Ed asked.

  “You’ll soon find out.” Vince said in a way that for some reason the contestants didn’t seem to trust, “Now everyone, get on the bus. We’re burning daylight.”

  ~~~

  “Welcome everyone to today’s challenge.” Vince said in front of a hedge maze with a small box next to him. “For today’s challenge we rented out this maze that’s a side attraction of this local mini-golf course. In exchange for some advertising. So if you’re in the northern Oregon area, come down to Mikey’s Putting World! Filled with plenty of ways to have fun. From the signature mini-golf course, to the hedge maze, to the bumper boats, to the arcade. When you’re done, why not help yourself to a sweet treat from their in-house ice cream parlor? Mikey’s Putting World; where the fun never stops swinging.” Vince gave the camera a thumbs up and a fake smile that screamed ‘this is what my carree’s been reduced to?’

  “D…Did he just do an ad read?” Mina asked.

  “Maybe the show’s already ruining out of money.” Clarence suggested. “Though hey, I gotta admit that this place does sound kinda awesome. If it was around when I was a kid, I probably would have loved to have a birthday or two here.”

  Vince ignored them and said, “Anyways, for today’s challenge you're each going to reach into this box and pull out a ping-pong ball. There are six in here each marked with a number of one through three. Whoever has the same number as you will be your partner in this challenge. You two will be handcuffed together and will have to try to solve this maze as a team. The first team to make it out to the other side wins immunity. Oh, and hope that your team gets number one since the first team gets a one minute head start. Then team two gets to be in the maze for a minute before team three gets to go in. Now each of you grab a ball, but don’t look at it until I tell you.”

  ~~~

  An angry Simon is shown in the confessional “Great, nobody likes me and now I’m in a challenge where I have to work with one of these jerks? If it wasn’t for the fact that this collaboration with the mini-golf place wasn’t already planned, I would think that I was being set-up to be eliminated. Wait… maybe they added the team part last minute… Is this a f****** conspiracy against me?”

  ~~~

  The competitors each reached into the box, once they all had a ball Vince said, “Alright everyone, find out who your partner is.”

  The competitors all opened their hands. Mina looked at hers, it being marked with the number two. She looked over at Clarence who’s ping-pong ball that also had a two on it. “Hey, how perfect is that?” Mina said.

  Clarence smiled at her and raised his hand up for a high five, which she gladly gave him.

  Simon looked at his ball, it having a nice red number one on it. Something he would have been ecstatic about if he was teamed with one of the people who didn’t seem to hate him as much, but instead he looked around and saw the other person who also drew a one. It was Jillian. “Oh, now this is just great. Just f****** great!” He shouted.

  “Hey now.” Vince said, “Just because we rented out the maze doesn’t mean the rest of this place is closed, so please watch your language, there’s kids here.” Vince then gave him a smirk.

  Simon just glared at the host and muttered, “You’re enjoying my misery aren’t you?”

  “Hey, you made your own bed.” Vince said with a shrug.

  “Look it’s not like I’m a fan of this either.” Jillian said, “After what-”

  “Yeah, yeah after what I did to Lucas and Nicole. By god lady, do you have any personality beyond the people you’ve hung out with on this show?” Simon said with a roll of his eyes.

  Jillian was about to say something, but then an idea popped into her head and a smirk similar to Vince crept onto her face.

  Ed walked over to Sue, “Well looks like we’re working together.” he said, extending his hand out for a handshake that Sue was a bit hesitant to take, but she did.

  “Look at these teams. The friends, the enemies and then us, the extras.” Sue muttered, “If these teams weren’t random, I’d almost think that this was scripted.”

  “If it was, you’d think they’d put Simon with one of us so he has a chance to win.” Ed commented.

  “Why do you say that?”

  “Because even if Vince doesn't like him, the producers said that they like him for the drama… or something like that. You know, the reason he wasn’t kicked off.”

  “Fair… fair.” Sue said, a little bit surprised that Ed remembered that since he seems to be out of it most of the time.

  ~~~

  The show cuts to the three teams handcuffed together with cuffs that had a chain that was about three feet long and Vince announces, “Alright everyone, now that you’re all ready, team one, your one minute head start starts… now!”

  Simon rushed forward, but instantly fell backwards as if he was tied to a tree. With a groan he got back up to his feet and looked at his partner glaring at him. “What the hell Jillian? Let’s go!”

  “No. I’m not moving an inch.” Jillian said, not taking his eyes off of Simon.

  “What?” Simon asked a bit confused, but mostly you could hear the growing despair in his voice.

  “I am making sure that we are not winning this. No matter who does end up winning, you are going home tonight. Call it my revenge for Lucas and Nicole.”

  “Are you f****** kidding me! Listen here, you bitch, you think you can just bend me over the table and screw me like this? I’m not going to go down without a fight! I am Simon f****** English! I have dealt with much scarier things than you, sweetheart.”

  “Oh really? I dare you to try anything on me. See how well it turns out.” Jillian says trying to look as big and imposing as possible.

  Vince stepped up to them and said, “Hey Simon, remember what I said about watching your mouth while here.”

  “Oh f*** off Goldman!” Simon shouted, snapping his attention to the host, “You goddamn d-list hasbeen!”

  Vince looked a bit mad at this and responded with, “You know what, I believe your head start is up. Team two you can go in now.”

  With that command, Clarence and Mina rushed into the maze, but as they did Mina looked at Jillian and gave her a quick thumbs up.

  ~~~

  Simon is shown standing in the confession booth absolutely seething, “This is bulls***! This is such f****** bulls***! I do whatever I can to win and these f***** decide that they need to conspire to get rid of me? Even get the host involved? I swear that one way or another I will survive this round and I am going to win this stupid show!”

  ~~~

  The third and final team of Ed and Sue are instructed to enter the maze as well. As they run in, Ed says to Sue, “I think I remember once hearing of a way to solve one of these things.”

  “Yeah?” Sue said.

  “Yeah, I don’t remember where, but I heard that if you’re ever lost in a maze, just follow the left wall and you’ll eventually get out. You wanna do that?”

  “Eh, why not. Might be better than blind luck. Even if Jillian just made it so that it doesn't matter who wins this challenge.”

  “I guess we could still have the bragging rights if we win.”

  “I guess it’s better than nothing.”

  ~~~

  Sue is shown in the confessional, “I had forgotten about it, but yeah, I’m a little surprised that Ed remembered the whole “left-hand rule” thing when it comes to mazes. With how he acts, part of me wants to think this could be a “broken clock” situation, but maybe his alliance mates have been underestimating him. Maybe I can use that to get him to flip on them next time. He does seem like he’s already the third wheel in that group.”

  ~~~

  The show cut to Clarence and Mina at the first split of the maze where there’s two paths one on the left and one on the right, they don’t seem to think it through and they just go down the path on the right, where they eventually come across another split this time they go left, only to eventually turn to a dead end.

  “Damn it.” Mina mumbled.

  “Hey, it’s fine. With what Jillian’s doing there’s no rush.” Clarence said.

  “Yeah, but I’d still like to have a challenge win under my belt.”

  “Fine enough.”

  Meanwhile when Ed and Sue reach that first split, following their method of clinging to the left wall, they head down the path on the left. Doing this they too reach a dead end, but they don’t seem to worry much as they just keep following the wall.

  “So, since we’re handcuffed together for the next… however long we’re in here, wanna talk?” Sue asked.

  “About what?”

  “I don’t know… what do you do for fun?”

  Ed was silent for a bit, wondering how much he can reveal about himself without giving himself away, “I guess I like to watch TV shows and movies.”

  “Like what kind?”

  “Well my dad loved mystery shows and he got me into them as well. I remember sitting next to him on the couch and watching Columbo reruns with him… it was nice… it’s the reason why when his birthday comes around I make sure to break out the box set I have of that show and watch an episode or two… it helps me feel like I’m remembering him… even if it does also remind me of how much I miss him.”

  “I’m sorry to hear that… if you don’t mind me asking… how did he-”

  “Carbon monoxide.” Ed answered before she could finish her question, “Same with my mother.”

  “Oh… I’m sorry.”

  “It’s fine. It’s not like you had anything to do with it. It’s been six years anyways… I’ve had my time to grieve. What about you? What do you do for fun?”

  “Well this probably isn’t a shock considering all the meat I’ve caught while here, but I enjoy hunting. That and fishing, camping, hiking, any outdoor activity really. I have to thank my stepdad for getting me into all of that.”

  “Stepdad? What happened to your real dad?”

  Sue looked a tiny bit annoyed by this question, even if she knew that Ed didn’t mean anything rude by it, “The hell if I know. My father left us when I was five and I haven’t seen him since. My mom then raised me by herself for a little while until she met Nick when I was seven. They got married two years later, partly because my mom got pregnant with my half-brother Teddy, but honestly I feel like, if anything, that just sped up something that was going to happen anyways. So yeah, he has been way more of a real dad to me then my biological father ever was.”

  “I see. So pretty much the “I’m the dad who stepped up” meme.”

  “Yeah.” Sue said with a laugh, “I did honestly once consider tracking down that shirt and giving it to him for father’s day or something as a bit of a gag gift, but never did. Oh, and going back to what I like to do, I also like to draw. In fact I want to be a comic artist.”

  “Really? I don’t think I’ve seen you draw once in the whole time we’ve been here.”

  “Yeah… I kinda forgot to pack my sketchbook. Which sucks since that sure would have helped pass the time while here. Especially during that challenge where we had to stay awake.”

  “I see. Do you post your art anywhere? I’d like to see it.”

  “No… but maybe I should. Perhaps this show could help me get a bit of an online following or maybe it could just attract people to come and hate on whatever I do… I don’t know. Either feels possible.”

  “Eh, if you ask me the opinions of random strangers don’t matter. Like constructive criticism is fine, but just unhelpful hate, that’s not productive.”

  ~~~

  Ed is shown in the confessional, “That honestly might have been the closest I’ve gotten to letting the mask slip. Since yeah… my dad did get me into mysteries. Columbo, Murder She Wrote, the works of Agatha Christie and of course Sherlock Holmes. All parts of my youth that ultimately all came together and helped inspire me into becoming a detective. I was really tempted to add that part to our conversation, but yeah know, that would have blown my cover.”

  ~~~

  Sue is then shown in the confessional, “Ed seems a bit more insightful than I gave him credit for. Though he did always seem like the most laid back person here. So maybe he’s just the type who has more wisdom than book smarts.”

  Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.

  ~~~

  The show cuts to Clarence and Mina running into a dead end, going back to a previous break only to run into a second dead end, and then backtracking more, going down another path they didn’t, only to find a third dead end.

  “Damnit.” Mina whispered.

  “Yeah… I think this whole section is full of dead ends. Let’s try to get back to the very first split and do left this time.”

  Mina nodded as they went back the way they came.

  ~~~

  The show cuts to Simon and Jillian outside of the maze, Simon panting having tied himself out trying and failing to drag Jillian into the maze. “Y…Are you happy? Throwing this challenge just to get me?”

  “Yes, very.” Jillian said, “And don’t start with you’re whole, playing the game nonsense. Yes, that can be applied to you getting Lucas out, but Nicole’s another story. Especially since you seem to think that you didn’t do anything wrong.”

  “Of course I know it was wrong! I was just desperate for me and my one remaining ally in this game to survive. Let’s just say if I didn’t find the coin and it was you, Lucas and Nicole in the bottom three placements of that race. Would you have not done the same to Nicole, or at least tripped her or something, if it meant that your little boyfriend could stay in?”

  “No, of course not. Not only because Nicole’s my friend and that would be a crappy thing to do, but also because I’m not going to resort to cheating to win this game.”

  “Well then it sounds to me that you ain’t winning this thing then.”

  “We’ll see about that.”

  ~~~

  A montage is shown of the two teams in the maze. Ed and Sue continue their strategy of following the left wall while Clarence and Mina wing it. The latter’s strategy resulted in them running into dead end after dead end. The montage ultimately shows them running into a grand total of eight dead ends when Ed and Sue emerge from the maze to meet Vince on the other side.

  “Congratulations Sue and Ed. Despite having the disadvantage of entering the maze last, you exited it first.” The host said with a smile.

  “Wait, how’d you get on the other side so quickly?” Sue asked.

  “I walked around the maze and left an intern to watch Simon and Jillian to make sure that they don’t kill each other.”

  “Oh, yeah that makes sense.”

  “And since the two of you won immunity, that means you have an extra immunity from last time Sue. Who, if anyone, would you like to give it to?”

  Sue didn’t even spend a second thinking about it as she immediately responded with, “Jillian.”

  ~~~

  The confessional show Sue sitting in it, “Picking Jillian was a no brainer. Not only have we bonded slightly over the past few days, but I think making her safe in this round, even if she and honestly nobody else other than Simon are at risk, it could be a good strategic move to show her that I’m willing to work with her.”

  ~~~

  Vince smiled at this, seeming to like her answer. “Alighty then… I guess get back to the other side of the maze and inform her… in fact.” Vince reaches into his pockets and pulls out his wallet. “I know that I said that there aren’t any rewards going forward, but it may take a while for Mina and Clarence to solve this thing. How about the two of you and Jillian go off and have a round of mini-golf on me, hell, get yourself some ice cream too while you’re at it. My treat.” He hands off some money to Sue.

  “Oh? That's very nice of you, Mister Goldman.” Ed said.

  “Don’t mention it. It’s better than having you all standing around and twiddling your thumbs while you all wait for the other two. Simon can do that though. He’ll just sit on the bus until you’re all done.”

  ~~~

  The show cuts to an unhandcuffed Ed and Sue walking back to the entrance of the maze. To see a tired Simon on the ground, seemingly have given up on trying to make Jillian move.

  “Hey guys.” Ed said with a friendly wave, “We won.”

  “Oh congratulations.” Jillian said.

  “Thanks.” Sue responded, “Though since we did, remember what Vince said last time? Where if I won again I’d have an extra immunity to give someone else?”

  “Oh yeah, that was a stipulation.” Jillian said.

  Simon, on the ground, despite having a pretty good feeling as to where this was going, had a bit of a hopeful look on his face for about half a second on the off chance that Sue might choose to save him instead.

  “Well congratulations Jill, you’re safe tonight as well.”

  “Oh? Thanks. I guess it’s nice to have that extra security just in case of something unpredictable happening.” Jillian looked down at the defeated Simon as she said that. It was also about this point that the redheaded female intern left to watch them uncuffed the two of them.

  “That’s not the best part.” Ed said, putting on an excited face, “Vince gave us some money so the three of us can treat ourselves to mini-golf and ice cream.”

  “Oh really? Alright. That sounds fun. Let’s go.” Jillian said as the three of them walked off to the establishment's entrance in order to buy a round of mini-golf.

  Now alone Simon just laid down flat on his back and stared up at the sky with contempt like some sort of higher power was punishing him.

  ~~~

  Simon is shown in the confessional, “Well now that those three are off playing mini-golf I don’t know if I’ll get much of a chance to try to convince Ed and Sue into keeping me and… aww who am I kidding? Even if I did manage to get their votes, I’m not allowed to vote anymore so I can’t even get enough votes to tie and save myself via tiebreaker. So yeah… there’s no hope… I’m going home tonight… I guess not much of a surprising or dramatic episode, but… f***. I’m half considering telling them to just send me to the hotel now. To not even bother with the vote and go out on my own terms, but… I ain’t a quitter. Even in a case where I have no shot at winning.” He sat there for a bit thinking and said, “No… I can’t give up now… I need to try one more time… if it works, great. If not… well… at least I went down swinging.”

  ~~~

  The show then cuts to Mina and Clarence still in the maze where Clarence, a bit tired looking, says, “Jeez… this thing never ends… was this thing made by like, Daedalus’ decedent or something since I bet the labyrinth that The Minotaur was placed in wasn’t nearly as complex.”

  “This maze is meant for children, right? What does that say about us?” Mina said with a small laugh.

  “That potentially our collective intelligence goes down once we’re together. Like a typical group of friends.”

  “Maybe. Though your comment about Daedalus and The Minotaur, I didn’t know you were into Greek mythology.”

  “I wouldn’t necessarily say that I am. Like I probably like it about as much as the average person does. I mean what I said is a story that pretty much everybody knows.”

  “Fair enough.” Mina said, “I guess my knowledge could be summed up as my peers and I were made to read The Odyssey in high school and I sometimes watch Overly Sarcastic Productions.”

  “What’s that?”

  “Youtube channel, they summarize stuff like mythology, history and classic stories in short comedic videos with cute drawings. It’s how I learned about a few tales I didn’t know about beforehand. Like that time Ares was trapped in a jar for like a year or so and none of the other gods seemed to notice or care that he was missing. Or it is how I’m learning the gist of Journey to the West where they treat it a bit like a shonen anime.”

  “You could always read it for yourself.”

  “Yeah, I might. Though with college I don’t have much free time to read stuff I actually wanna get to. Well, as in actual books instead of comics. Like I’ve had a book that I found in a bookstore in the airport on the way to college called Final Girl Support Group. I thought it sounded interesting, but it’s been sitting on my shelf collecting dust since I’ve moved into my dorm room.”

  “Yeah, that sounds about right for most people. I know Alex has a bookshelf that’s filled up and he’s only read about half of them. Not out of laziness, it’s just that he kept getting more and they piled up.” As he said that the two ran into yet another dead end. The exact number that they’ve come across by now was lost to them, but regardless they kept going, hoping that the other two were doing just as bad, ignorant to the fact that they had finished quite some time ago.

  ~~~

  The show cuts to Ed, Jillian and Sue playing mini-golf where a montage of their game is shown. Some scenes include; Ed striking his orange golf ball and it almost goes in for a hole in one, but the ball decides to ride around the rim for seemingly no reason. A bit to Ed’s confusion and giving him about half a second of frustration. Jillian’s yellow golf ball going down a funnel and spinning around faster and faster as it goes down, eventually dropping down a ramp and zooming past the hole by a foot. Then finally it shows Sue getting a hole-in-one in the final hole, her green golf ball going up a ramp and flying straight into the maw of a shark’s head made of concrete that also acted as the ball return.

  ~~~

  Sue is shown in the confessional, “You know, it was kinda nice taking a break from the game and just having fun. I’m sure each of us considered the idea of talking strategy while we were away from everybody else, but nobody did. Just fun between three… acquaintances. I wouldn’t exactly call Ed or Jillian friends. Oh and in case if any of you watching at home is wondering, Jillian won with me behind here by six points. Ed… didn’t do so well. His ball seemed almost allergic to the hole.” Sue laughed a little bit at that.

  ~~~

  Ed appears in the confessional with his arms crossed. “That game was bullcrap.”

  ~~~

  The show cuts to later where the sun is starting to go down and a bored looking Vince is sitting on a bench about ten feet away from the exit of the hedge maze. When suddenly Mina and Clarence appear out from the exit.

  “Oh thank god we’re finally out.” Mina muttered before unleashing a sigh of relief.

  Vince, seeing them, gets up from the bench and walks over to them. “Congratulations you two, you-”

  “Did we win?” Clarence asked excitedly upon hearing the word “Congratulations”.

  Vince laughed, “Oh lord no. Ed and Sue got out like… an hour and a half ago. I was just congratulating you on getting out. I was worried that we might have to send in an intern to get you, or guild you out by having you follow one of the drones we’ve been using to film you while you were in the maze. Though I only would have done that if I got a message that they and Jillian were back on the bus.” It was right then that Vince got a text notification. “Ah, speak of the devil.” he said as he pulled out his phone.

  “Wait? Why weren’t those three on the bus already?” Mina asked.

  “Oh, to reward them and help them pass the time, I decided to be nice and pay for a round of mini-golf for them, which, in case you haven’t figured it out, Sue gave her extra immunity to Jillian. Meaning that you two and Simon are the only three eligible for elimination tonight.”

  A dramatic music sting is played over Clarence and Mina not looking worried in the slightest.

  ~~~

  The show cuts to the confessional booth where Mina is sitting back looking pretty confident, “Losing is a bit disappointing, mostly since a game of mini-golf does sound really fun right now, but at least there’s no risk of me or Clarence going home with that bastard Simon still around. I mean Jillian hates Simon, Ed is in an alliance with me and Clarence, as for Sue… she could side with Simon, but even if she did, what would be the point?”

  ~~~

  The show cuts to the now unhandcuffed Mina and Clarence getting onto the bus and seeing the other four contestants. Ed, Jillian and Sue each enjoying an ice cream cone while waiting. Ed’s being coffee, Jillian’s being mint chocolate chip and Sue going with cookies and cream.

  “You got ice cream too?” Clarence said disappointed.

  “Oh my god, you’re alive.” Ed said dramatically, “I thought the buzzards were going to get you.”

  “Oh, ha ha.” Mina said with a roll of her eyes, but still smiling at Ed’s joke. “How was the mini-golf?”

  “I don’t wanna talk about it.” Ed said before taking a lick of his ice cream.

  “His final score was eighty-three.” Sue said, “Mine was forty and Jillian’s was thirty-four.”

  “Oof.” Mina said as Ed glared at Sue who had a playfully smug look on her face.

  “Congratulations on your win.” Clarence said to Jillian.

  “Thanks, though it honestly was mostly luck and me getting three hole-in-ones right at the beginning.”

  “Ah, I see. I was about to ask if you play often? Or I guess if you play actual golf often?”

  “Not really.” Jillian said, “In fact, while I’m sure my mom wouldn’t agree on this since she loves the game, I’m not really that much of a fan of the concept of golf courses. They just take up so much space and waste so much water. I mean I wouldn’t even consider myself that much of an environmentalist, despite my job, but still something about them rubs me the wrong way.”

  “Eh, the planet’s screwed anyway. Why not have some fun with a round or two on a Sunday afternoon?” Simon said, faking confidence to hide the dread he was feeling.

  “You would like golf, wouldn’t you?” Mina said glaring at Simon.

  “What’s that supposed to mean? What? You suddenly hate something because I like it?” Simon asked her defensively.

  “I more meant it to be a jab at your age, gramps. You know, you ain’t exactly breaking the stereotype there.”

  “Whatever.” Simon said, not having the energy to come up with a comeback.

  ~~~

  An establishing shot of the forest is shown in order to subtly tell the viewing audience that the contestants are back at the forest.

  Sue is shown walking around gathering wood for tonight’s campfire when suddenly she hears something.

  “Pssssh… Pssssh.”

  Sue looks around for the source of the noise, finding Simon looking out from behind a tree.

  Sue walked up to him and asked, “What do you want Simon?”

  Simon steps out and says, “I need your help. Tonight… I don’t see a way I can remain in the game. Or at least I didn’t, until I realized something. The other two people up for elimination.”

  “What about them?”

  “Now tell me, between me, Mina and Clarence, who’s the biggest threat? Like does anyone want to face a big and strong guy like Clarence in the finale? Hell, if the finale for this show ends up being a jury vote, who do you think is going to win that? Since he was pretty nice to everyone he’s a bigger threat in that scenario as well.”

  “So you want me to vote for Clarence? Even if I do, you’re still going to need more votes than that.”

  “Which is where you come in. Nobody's going to listen to me, but you did spend the afternoon having fun with Jillian and Ed. They might listen to you.”

  “You know Jillian despises your guts, right? I don’t see any possible scenario where she votes for anybody else tonight.”

  “Can you please at least try?” Simon said before falling to his knees, “Look, Sue, I'm desperate here. So I’m begging you to try to shift the target over to Clarence. If you do, I will do everything in my power to help you win every challenge from here on forward.”

  Sue let out a hum before saying, “I’ll think about it.” Before walking away from him.

  ~~~

  Sue is then shown in the confessional booth, “God that was pathetic. Though I would be lying if I said that he didn’t make a good point about Clarence. I might have to keep that in my back pocket for later since, while I’m not a big fan of Mina, she is kind of a floater in this game. I mean sure she’s had her moments like us working together to make the pulled-chicken mac and cheese or beating her mom in the swimming portion of the relay race, but I wouldn’t say that we ever won a challenge because of her. So she might be the easiest person to beat in the finale. Or maybe second easiest after Ed since… everything I said about her also goes for him just as much if not more.”

  ~~~

  The show cuts to later in the evening with the contestants sitting by a campfire with Vince standing at his podium. The host looks over the final six and says, “Alright everyone, the first elimination ceremony of the merge. Something that should have happened last episode, but we all know what happened there.”

  The camera focuses on a worried looking Simon for a bit too long. Simon was sweating and optionally glancing over at Sue, hoping that she would take his words into consideration and save him.

  Vince then said, “You’ve all been here before during the team phase, so I don’t need to explain the voting process. Though I will remind you all that Sue, Ed and Jillian have immunity tonight and that Simon isn’t allowed to vote anymore. So with that reiterated, get to voting.”

  A montage of the contestants, minus Simon, writing is shown. Mina is shown with a smug look on her face. Meanwhile Jillian looks like she can barely contain her excitement as she drops her vote into the slot. The rest of the others look pretty confident in their votes as they drop them into the slot.

  The show cuts to Vince with the clay pot next to him. “Alright everyone, time to read the votes.” He reaches in and pulls out the first slip of paper, “The first vote goes to… Simon.”

  The camera cuts to Simon still sweating, but now with his finger’s crossed hoping that he hears Vince call out any name other than his next.

  Vince pulls out the next slip of paper, “Second vote goes to… Simon.”

  Simon is now shown with his eyes closed and whispering the word, “Please.” over and over again.

  The dramatic music that the show plays during the elimination ceremonies gets louder as Vince pulls out a third piece of paper and reads it. A smile comes across Vince’s face, “The ninth person eliminated from Endurance Forest is… Simon. Three votes is enough, but let’s just see where the other two votes landed.” Vince pulled out the last two slips of paper and revealed that they both also had Simon’s name on them, “Wow, we have our very first unanimous vote. I can’t say I’m too shocked after the last episode, but going into this show I didn’t think it would happen.”

  Simon lets out an angry sigh before taking in a deep breath through his nose and shouting, “F*************************************************!” At the top of his lungs that goes on for about ten whole seconds.

  Everyone around him has various looks of smugness around him, all glad that he’s gone.

  Vince then walks up to him and says, “Simon… as the host of this show, I take great joy in saying get the hell out of here.”

  “Ah, quit it with the whole being biased thing! This whole challenge was rigged for me to lose and you know it! If you keep acting unprofessional like that I’m sure you’ll be replaced next season.” Simon responded while standing up and getting in Vince’s face.

  “Didn’t the host of Survivor end up dating one of the contestants? That seems a bit unprofessional to me and he still has a job.” Clarence said.

  “You stay out of…” Simon began to say, but then stopped himself and said, “You know what, I’m not going to waste my breath. I’m going to use the last few moments I have here saying what needs to be said.” He pointed at Mina, “You are a waste of a spot in this game. Now that you’re no longer competing with your much hotter mom, there’s nothing interesting about you.” He then turned his attention to Ed, “The waste of a spot thing goes harder for you. You’ve floated through this whole game and it’s an insult that you’ve made it this far.”

  Ed smirked for a second at that before putting on an expression to look like he felt insulted.

  Simon then pointed at Clarence, “You feel like the fakest person here. The whole being nice to almost everyone thing is so ingenuine. It’s almost as fake as the sport you make a living from.”

  “Wow, insulting me with the whole “wrestling is fake” thing. So original.” Clarence commented sarcastically with a roll of his eyes.

  Simon then pointed at Jillian, “I don’t know what you or Lucas see in each other, but you have f***** everything up for me! If he didn’t betray the guys alliance and voted for Nicole instead of Ben I promise you that I would have won this whole thing! And I will be sure to let him know once I see him at the hotel.”

  “Sure, keep telling yourself that you would have won if it wasn’t for my natural charm.” Jillian said with a smug expression.

  “What charm? You’re a middle-age, musclebound, ginger gorilla. I wouldn’t be shocked if you get confused for a man all the time. I really can’t even fathom why Lucas thinks you're attractive enough to throw his game away. Though I guess with that Phantom of the Opera scar he has going on, maybe you’re both just taking what you can get.”

  Jillian did look visibly angry at that and her balled up hands are shown shaking. It clearly taking all of her willpower to not stand up and deck him right in the face.

  “And you.” Simon said pointing at Sue, “I… don’t really have much issue with you, but… still f*** you. You failed to take out the bigger threat.”

  Clarence and Mina looked at each other and using the process of elimination Clarence whispered, “Probably me.” to her.

  Simon then turned his wrath to Vince, “Goldman… At the beginning of this show, I kinda respected you, but now… I see that you’re nothing, but a washed up, d-list, TV actor. You’re never going to get any major accomplishments. Your trophy case will forever be empty as you become forgotten once your career is over. Enjoy your reality show hosting purgatory while it lasts because it’ll probably be the most relevant you will ever be until the day you die.”

  Vince tried to do his best not to look hurt by that, but not really succeeding as a single tear went down his face turned around and through gritted teeth said, “Just leave. You’ve overstayed your welcome.”

  “Fine. This s**** show was a waste of time. Probably won’t even make it past this first season anyways.” Simon said as he walked off into the woods.

  “Are you okay?” Clarence asked Vince.

  “I’m fine just… all of you get back to your camp for the night.” Vince said before walking off as well.

  ~~~

  The show cuts to Simon arriving at the road to find that his suitcase was haphazardly thrown onto the ground instead of nicely waiting for him like it had been for every other eliminated contestant. He just grumbles a bit as he picks it up around the time that the car that’ll take him to the hotel arrives. Simon wasted no time getting inside.

  Once sat down he looked at the camera pointing at him and said, “What? You expect some closing thoughts out of me? F*** that. I can’t wait for this whole thing to be over in…” he stops to quickly do the math in his head. “Twelve days. Dammit I’m going to have to spend almost two weeks with the other losers.” Then with a roll of his eyes he sarcastically added “This is going to be just peachy.”

  ~~~

  Mina is shown in the confessional, “Karma’s a bitch, eh Simon? Granted I think that you got off easy with just being eliminated, but hey, I’ll take it. Though I am worried since, unless the broken nose was way, way worse than it looked, I’m sure my mom’s at the hotel by now. Not for her safety, for his. I wouldn’t be shocked if the next time we see Simon he needs to be fed through a straw.” She then laughed a bit at that.

  ~~~

  The show then cuts to Jillian in the confessional, “Lucas. Nicole. You’ve been avenged. Now that Simon is gone I can do what Lucas asked of me and truly be one-hundred percent focused on trying to win this game. Which is good since I do have some pretty stiff competition. Sue and Clarence are both obviously physically strong like myself. Mina, while looking about average on paper, is still a farmgirl. So I think she’s either holding back or just hasn’t shown what she can do. And Ed… while he seems to be the odd one out here, I don’t know. I have a feeling he didn’t get this far just by dumb luck and hiding in the background. He might have more going on. I mean while we were playing mini-golf Sue did say that Ed was the reason they won, remembering the left-hand rule. Yet you don’t really need to be a genius to know that one so maybe I’m just overthinking things now that the target of my scorn is gone. Regardless, now that we’re at the final five, I’m not going to underestimate anyone.”

  ~~~

  The show cuts to Vince in his trailer looking retrospectively in the mirror. His eyes red and puffy, clear that Simon’s word had cut deep. “What if he’s right? I mean look at you. Fifty years old, no wife, no kids, you never got any roles in movies that weren’t some cheap schlock, never made it to broadway or even off-broadway, you’ve never won an Emmy and you sure as hell ain’t getting one for this show. I mean has a reality show ever won an Emmy? Do they even qualify for it? The last time someone recognized you on the street was when Emergency Procedure was still airing. God, that feels like a lifetime ago.” It was at that moment that Vince noticed the camera crew. “What is it?”

  “Sorry Mister Goldman, we need to film the outro for this episode.” The cameraman could be heard saying.

  “Right… right.” Vince said getting up from his chair, wiping his face and putting on a smile, “With another elimination that has come and gone, and what a colorful and explosive elimination it was. We are now down to the final five. Though just because a problem player is gone doesn’t mean that the competition won’t be heating up. How so exactly? Well if you want the answer to that, you’re just going to tune in next time to Endurance Forest!” Vince waited a few seconds then his smile dropped, “Was that good?”

  “Yeah, it seemed perfectly fine to me.” the cameraman said.

  “Good now would you mind leaving my trailer… I want to be alone right now.”