Page 42 of Alice Chen's Reality Check

“And what makes you say that?” Dawn Taylor asks sweetly. She’s smiling now, in a way that sends a chill down my spine.

“You have two couples here about to leaveDawn Tay’s Inferno,”Peter Dixon says, nodding at the four of us. “And the production assistants just let me know that both Naiah and Sage failed their Lust Challenge.”

“Who?” I ask before I can stop myself. I tried to memorize everyone’s faces and names yesterday, but some of them just didn’t stick.

“They’re the ones with the flower crowns. We met them last night while we were doing body shots,” Chase says. Then he furrows his brow. “Oh, no, that was me and Selena.”

“Yes, lovely people,” Peter Dixon says. “And very insightful about auras. But not terribly committed to each other.”

“So what?” Dawn Taylor asks. “We send all three couples home. It’s perfect, actually. A scandal like this will be good for the show.”

“DT, you know I value your instincts, and normally, you’d be right.” Peter Dixon steeples his hands. “But I just got word from the FlixCast folks. Our Nielsen ratings for the season premiere were, in a word, record-breaking. The execs are expecting nine more episodes. What happens if we cut three couples at once?”

“The math doesn’t add up,” I say. “The challenges are designed for a specific number of players, and the filming schedule requires an elimination for each circle of hell. If you get rid of us, you’ll have to rework the challenges, and you’ll be forced to fill time, instead of giving the viewers what they want.”

“I’ll also flag that if Selena and Daniel get eliminated now, we’ll lose the Latino audience and a good chunk of the Asian audience,” Bryan chimes in.

Great, so glad that’s their reasoning. I catch Daniel grimacing at this. Selena also looks a little put off by what Bryan just said.

“So the math teacher can do math,” Dawn Taylor says, her tone still ice-cold. “But the rules are the rules. This is a show for couples, and we’re down three couples. That’s reality TV, Peter.”

“Ah, but you forget. We make the rules,” Bryan says. “We just need the contestants to be coupled up.”

“What,” Dawn Taylor scoffs. “Are these two,” she indicates me andDaniel, “going to get back together with their backstabbing, cheating partners who couldn’t resist getting nasty next to a rack of Smirnoff Ice?”

“Hey now,” Daniel cuts in. “I don’t think we’ll be getting back together, but I’d appreciate it if you didn’t talk about Selena that way.”

“And who says chivalry is dead?” Dawn Taylor says, throwing up her arms.

Bryan references his tablet. “Leah, you noted that Alice and Daniel have chemistry.”

I shoot a baffled look at Leah, who is carefully avoiding my gaze. I knew it. She wasupto something. “That’s correct,” she says. “They met in high school. They have enough history to fill a textbook.”

“And of course, Chase and Selena seem to have some chemistry too,” Peter Dixon says.

“Yeah, they were fucking.” Dawn Taylor narrows her eyes at him. I can almost see the lightning crackle between them. “Are you proposing that we swap the couples? And keep them in?”

“Got it in one.” Peter Dixon snaps his fingers. He points at me and Daniel. “Ever wanted to be in a showmance?”

“What? No,” Daniel says, while at the same time, I say vehemently, “Absolutely not.”

“But Selena and Chase gave in to lust. They failed the test as couples,” Dawn Taylor says.

“I respect the hell out of you, DT,” Peter says. “But I’m going to have to disagree with you here. These contestants passed the test with their stylist. What happened with Chase and Selena? That was the beginning of a beautiful new romance.”

“But—”

Peter Dixon leans forward on his elbows, making eye contact with Dawn Taylor. “This is what we need to do to make this show a success. Don’t you wantyour showto be a success?”

Dawn Taylor casts a look of venomous resentment at Chase and Selena.

“Fine,” Dawn Taylor says finally. “But you’re forgetting something. The couples themselves have to agree to it.”

“I’m in,” Selena says right away, and leaps down from her stool to join Chase. She directs an apologetic look my way. “I’m sorry, Alice, but I need this show.”

I nod. I’m pissed, but I can’t exactly blame her when Chase was the one who betrayed me.

“Let me get this straight,” Daniel says. “The only way for me and Alice to stay in the game is to compete as a couple?”

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