Page 31 of Hot SEAL, Under Pressure

“Good.” Joanne nodded again.

“Oh, and although we’ll provide coolers full of groceries, after the first night, the teams will be responsible for cooking for themselves over an open fire during their time on the island. There will also be no facilities provided so they’ll be bathing in the ocean and taking care of personal matters in the um, bushes.”

Joanne nodded again, looking as if she approved.

Meanwhile Shelly tried not to think about what the future held for her, thanks to Jonas’s brilliant idea that they should make it as hard as possible on the cast. And Lucy’s whole-hearted agreement that people not used to ‘roughing it’ made for good television.

It was a sick business she’d chosen as a career. The three of them had come up with more and more crazy ideas as the night stretched on and they became more delirious, all to torture the cast, of which she was one.

And Joanne loved every idea. Stifling a sigh, Shelly continued.

“Episode three starts with the eight teams training for the first challenge and ends with the actual challenge—a four-mile run in boots while carrying a full pack. The slowest contestant will mean that team is out.”

“You’ll be announcing which team is being disqualified at the start of the following episode to build suspense,” Joanne said in what sounded like more of a statement of fact than a question.

“Of course.” Shelly nodded, pretending that had been their plan all along.

She saw Jonas scribbling the change into his notes as she cleared her throat and hit a key on the laptop to change to the next slide.

“Episode four will open with the disqualification of the losing team of challenge number one,” she ad-libbed. “Then it will feature the remaining seven teams training for challenge number two—the one-mile ocean swim while wearing swim fins.”

No one seemed to care at last night’s meeting that she’d never worn swim fins before. Or swam a mile in open water before. Or that they hadn’t confirmed with all of the female cast that they could actually swim at all, never mind in the ocean, and not drown.

They were going to need lifeguards, a medical team and a hefty insurance policy for this show. She ignored the challenges, put on a happy face, and switched to the next slide.

“Episode five will feature the remaining six teams in challenge number three, land navigation. The competitors will train with their SEAL coaches. The last to find their way back to basecamp will be disqualified. That will be the final challenge on San Clemente Island before we bring the remaining five teams back to Coronado.”

Was she only halfway through this presentation? The stress was going to kill her.

She dared to glance at Joanne. A look of approval from the executive producer had Shelly feeling a bit better as she advanced to the next slide.

“Episode six will have the five teams training for challenge number four—fast roping. Usually done from a helicopter, we’ve gotten permission to do ours from the tower on the obstacle course on base. Episode seven features challenge number five for the four remaining teams—sharp shooting. If we can’t get approval to use the range on base, we’ll just go to a public shooting range.”

She paused, got no objection from Joanne, then reached for the computer. “Episode eight features challenge number six with the four remaining teams participating—parachuting.” Just saying the word—parachuting—had Shelly’s heart thundering.

Joanne shaking her head stopped Shelly from moving on. “Wait. I need to confer with legal about this one. Hang on.”

Joanne stood and Shelly’s hope grew. Joanne could cancel the parachute challenge with one word. And Shelly would be thrilled if she did.

Heights were not her thing. Like not at all. She might just pass out if they made her jump out of a plane. And then she wouldn’t be able to pull the rip cord and she’d die.

The worst part was that her death on film would skyrocket ratings, so Joanne might not even care.

She’d told Lucy and Jonas her fear last night.

They didn’t seem to believe her. Or maybe they just thought her paralyzing fear would make for a good episode. She didn’t know. But if Joanne came back and said it was a no go, she might have to do a happy dance right up there in front of the PowerPoint presentation.

If Joanne nixed this idea, they would have to come up with another challenge. Lucy and Jonas looked concerned. Meanwhile, Shelly had to control her glee at the possibility.

Finally, Joanne returned. “Legal agreed it’s too dangerous to have amateurs skydiving alone.”

Shelly’s heart leapt.

“So it has to be tandem jumps.”

Her joy fell flat as Joanne continued.

“Tandem jumps?” she asked, fearing she knew what that meant.

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