Team Chris Is Really (4x) Hot was full of good luck. Six episodes in and their team of five was going strong. Something Owen was ecstatic about, announcing to the cabin how unstoppable they are. Especially compared to the ironic Team Victory. Only three members, soon to be less.
Alejandro was less than pleased. He shouted back at Owen, "Need I remind you all that we lost the last challenge?" Owen only scoffed and assured "Al" that his leadership would keep them going. 'Of course, leave it all to me. I'm the one pulling these wins out of nowhere!'
Alejandro was pulled from his thoughts by Owen, boasting about his now eliminated fear of flying. Owen unhooked his seatbelt and danced around the cabin, tip toeing like a ballerina. His movement sent shakes through the plane, mimicking turbulence. Owen was shaken off his feet and launched into a patched up hole in the plane's side, breaking the wooden planks like toothpicks.
The air sucked into the plane rapidly. Both teams were lifted off their feet trying to hold on. Owen gripped the inside of the plane, trying desperately to hold on. Panicked, he looked for Alejandro, his leader, for help. "Al! Give me an Ale-hand-bro!" This comment caused Alejandro to grit his teeth and ignore Owen's request.
With the help of D.J. and Lindsay, Leshawna helped Owen in and pushed a large wooden crate over the hole. This temporary fix was enough to solve the problem. 'Good.' Alejandro thought, 'I was just going to let him fall.' He fought back a smirk and got up to let everything out in the confessional cameras in the bathroom.
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Unaffected by the turbulence, Heather sat in first class once more. Next to her on a flashy golden couch was Sierra recounting her fan club president days aloud. Heather put on a kind, interested expression, despite not caring in the slightest. What she had actually asked was about Sierra's knowledge of game statistics. Keeping track of challenges was easy for Heather, but things like eliminations and prizes got muddled in her brain.
"So, you must have some idea of who's going next?" She asked Sierra, leading her for a more direct answer. Sierra nodded, pulling out a stat sheet she had made in the many hours between destinations. "According to my stats, no team avoids elimination six times in a row without getting overconfident then blowing it syndrome." Heather studied the sheet with all different types of graphs and statistics. "So you're saying Team Chris is whatever is going to be on the chopping block?"
"Duh! For a tv reg you're a total noob!" Sierra rolled her eyes and stood up to bother Cody.
Heather stayed, pondering the statistics. 'Doesn't our team have the same chance of blowing it? Same amount of members and challenges? We've even won more! And anyone on the team could go.' Worried, Heather made her way to confessional, only for someone to block her way; Alejandro about to enter the bathroom.
She had run smack into his back. Turning, he towered over her. His posture relaxed and a teasing smile crept onto his face. His recent annoyance quickly dissipated at the sight of Heather. "Buenos dias, quierdo." He spoke, lowering himself to speak.
Heather crossed her arms and replied. "I don't know what you're calling me. Just get out of my way." She tried sidestepping the six foot teenager in front of her but he followed her movements, keeping her in line with him. "I said good morning dear. You don't know Spanish Heather? More people should speak it these days. Especially beautiful women like you." He added a wink.
Flushed, Heather made a noise sounding close to a mixture of a scoff and giggle. Disgusted, she shook the feeling away and spoke again. "I speak English and Japanese," after a long pause she added, "cause of my mom." Her eyes watered and fluttered around, keeping her sight anywhere but on Alejandro.
"I've never heard you mention your mother. Only your father and siblings in the past seasons." Alejandro dropped his flirtation, genuinely confused at this sudden turn in Heather's attitude.
"Yeah well I actually like my mom, so no point in bringing her into this. Now move! I've had to pee since New York. Sierra was in there for like eight hours just blabbering." Heather pushed Alejandro to the side and rushed into the bathroom.
Standing alone, Alejandro was left more puzzled than ever. 'She likes her mom and not the rest of her family.' He could only imagine their family picture, a group of similar looking scowls and furrowed brows. Heather and her mother. Did she watch the show? Did she like it? Would a picture of Heather make the mantle next to the family photo? A similar image lingered in his mind after; his family photo sitting in his living room right above the fireplace. His brothers and father positioned together with Alejandro next to his dear mami. Knowing their similar family history caused a stirring feeling in his stomach. Empathy and understanding mixed like a ball of burning light inside him. Whatever it was, it made him worry about finally eliminating Heather.
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Over the intercom, Chris instructed the cast to meet in the cargo hold. Surprisingly, none of the contestants mentioned being dropped out to free-fall. No boats were there waiting for them. Relaxed, they all stood around, waiting for further instruction. While idle, Alejandro stood close to Heather. He knew they had few moments to talk and their recent conversation created a hunger for information in him.
"So what prize did your team receive? I saw Cody bouncing off the walls with chocolate on his chin, was it just candy?" He asked, laughing.
"Just some food and some dumb machine thing. I thought it might be a trap so I threw it out." Heather replied. She didn't bother looking at him. She knew the smirk he surely had on.
Alejandro only laughed harder. "You threw out a gift from Chris? After winning? Why would you do something stupid like that?" In between his chuckles Heather huffed. She didn't need to look at his smile for confirmation, she could see it in her mind. Clear as the day before when she dropped the meat grinder.
"None of your busine-" Heather was unable to finish her sentence as the hanger opened and everyone was dropped again. Heather screamed only able to think one thought; 'Great, what goes around comes around.' She hoped both her and the grinder have somewhere safe to land.
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The fall was shorter than the last and the teens landed spread out in the thick blanket of snow. Alejandro had landed safely and was dusting himself when he heard one of his cast members screaming above him. "Whoooaaa!" He had only a moment to look up when Leshawna landed directly on top of him. Pinning him to the ground, she thanked him for breaking her fall. Exasperated, he could only muster out a weak "no problem." while waiting for her to dismount.
He had pulled himself and regrouped with his team when Chris arrived in the air. He used a loudspeaker and some sort of off-brand jetpack to keep himself away from the possible avalanches. Something he announced to the cast seconds before directing them to sing.
The others started singing, Heather choosing to use her line to threaten Owen, while Alejandro began to sing directly to Leshawna. "When you don't hold back and lead the pack, truly there is nothing stopping you." His voice was steady and melodious and Leshawna melted just listening to him. She approached him and sang a sweet line about his eyes while stroking his cheek. Looking for the nearest camera she gave a sad smile and apologized to Harold. That's when he knew he had her. 'I could encourage her to do anything. How can I use this to my advantage?' He didn't have much time to ponder this, as the song had ended with the sudden appearance of an avalanche.
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Now at the bottom of the hill, Heather collected herself. She scanned the snowbank for Alejandro and Leshawna. Both of their lines had stuck out to Heather and she was quick to find something to validate her theory. 'He's flirted with every girl on the cast. Especially Bridgette and then she went home that day! If he's all lovey-dovey with Leshawna, she's for sure his next target.' Picking herself up, she made a mental note to complain in the bathroom confessional about how badly she wanted to puke. 'Even his singing is up to something!'
The teens dragged themselves up the hill. When they arrived at the top, Chris and Chef were waiting next to three very large machines and three piles of questionable meat. The machines looked familiar to Heather but she couldn't quite place it. She shook the thought away and listened closely to Chris' explanation. Each team was to grind up the meat and create a sausage out of the casing provided for them. 'Where did all this meat come from? Knowing Chris and Chef, I really don't need to know the answer to that. But I'm not touching it with my hands, that's for sure!' Heather was so repulsed she had no choice but to speak up.
"I'm sorry, sausages? This is the most disgusting challenge yet!" She ignored Alejandro's puzzled look and focused all her attention on Chris. He deflected her comment, used to her usual attitude, and revealed the real challenge; riding the sausages down the hill to another finish line. In front of them was a steep hill with several dangerous branches, trees, and other obstacles. Only Alejandro seemed pleased. Heather stewed in her feelings of discomfort. 'He's trying to kill us. That or bore us with all these races.'
Chris then finally addressed Heather. "Of course, if you had a shiny new electric meat grinder, sausage in seconds!" Heather dropped her jaw as the memories came flooding back. Seeing Alejandro flash in her mind, dropping the grinder, him laughing when she told him. Heat rushed up to her cheeks as embarrassment paralyzed her. Her teammates spun on their heels to confront her, Courtney even expressed her wish to tackle Heather. Heather only shot back, her voice quivered and shook. "You didn't disagree at the time!"
Courtney didn't back down. Pointing her finger accusingly, she pushed Heather back several steps. She called her lazy, self-involved, and formerly bald. All three created a stabbing feeling in her chest. She had been pushed up next to Alejandro, who only looked down on her with the same smile as before; glee.
Heather growled and dropped her head, appearing to be disinterested. In reality, she felt small. Heather only had a few moments of genuine weakness. Being shaved on national television and then being swiftly eliminated. Her castmates hatred on season two. Then, between two and three, an online hate campaign that seemed to never stop. She'd heard every insult in the book and then some. But it still hurt. She felt like a child, wanting to disappear into the days before, when she was becoming their friend ally.
Heather fought back tears and tore herself out of her spiral. She had a challenge to complete.
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Chris set the teams off to begin shoveling and packing the meat. Heather was currently most hated on her team and was sentenced to shoveling the meat. She forcefully disagreed but was shut down when everyone, including Sierra, yelled at her to start shoveling. Holding the metal shovel, Heather felt she had reached a new low. 'I wish they'd just get this over with and shave me. That at least would be quicker.' Still she swallowed her pride and started shoveling. One lift after the other meat entered the grinder. Their team was on their way.
Alejandro was rescuing Izzy from falling into the grinder as his team examined the large machine. Looking at his teammates, all unsure of what to do, he knew he had to once again take control. "Tyler you shovel, Owen stuff the casing, Noah keep Izzy alive." They all accepted and fell into their roles. Alejandro took on the difficult task of turning the lever to grind the meat. What he would do for an electric meat grinder. The thought made him chuckle but he quickly got back to work.
Heather was stuffing the meat down with the heel of her wedge. 'What a waste of designer shoes.' She stayed mourning the greatest loss of the day until Courtney hurried her along. "At least I'm doing something!" Heather shouted, "Unlike someone!" She jerked her head towards Sierra in the snow, alone making Cody out of meat. Her argument went unheard and the group rushed, trying to make up for not having that advantage.
Finally, when Courtney ran out of meat to shovel, they understood what Heather meant. Heather suggested using the meat Cody when Sierra inadvertently launched it down the hill to its death. The group just sighed.
Chris was laughing next to the team named after him. Alejandro peaked his head around, unnerved at what peaked the wild host's interest. He immediately spotted the problem. Muttering a swear under his breath, he approached the situation. Owen had devoured the sausage, casing and all. They had nothing to ride. Until Alejandro thought a little harder. "Can we ride Owen down the hill?" Chris considered it, no doubt wondering how to cause the most chaos, and agreed. The race would begin soon, and they had a chance. They loaded up on Owen's back and set off down the hill. Team Victory was moments behind them. All that was left was the Amazons.
Heather and her team were the only ones to hear Chris' late warning. "Watch out for the rabid mountain goats!" Heather shuddered and snuck a peak at the vicious animals down the hill. 'What are we gonna do? This is all my fault.'
Her teammates agreed. Courtney and Gwen cornered her, more upset than ever. They mirrored Heather's negative thoughts until something positive came to her. Amongst the yelling, she shouted, "Ooh! I know! We can jump on it! Trust me!" She started hopping like a mad woman. Gwen surprisingly agreed. Everyone shrugged their shoulders and jumped up and down on the half-made sausage until it was pressed down into a large, flat snowboard. Then, they set off following the other teams.
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The race to the bottom was dangerous, Owen in particular was bruised when he reached the finish line. On the plus side, they had made it before anyone else mostly due to Alejandro's steering with a long walking stick he had found. Team Amazon arrived before Team Victory but they had fallen right off the snowboard sausage and tumbled to the ground, making them last. Heather's idea only went so far.
Trying to determine if she had a concussion, Courtney sat up angrily. "Trust you? Ha!"
She had no time to continue as there was Chris ready for the final tormenting challenge. He had a wooden stage set up with various dance mats with arrows spread about. Chef stood behind him, arms crossed, pleased. Always a bad sign for the cast.
Chris congratulated Team Chris Is Really (4x) Hot on the win and explained the final challenge. A dance competition between groups with a surprise twist. Electrocution. They would get shocked for every wrong move. Or when Chris felt bored. This far into this cold and awful day, Heather thought simply; 'bring it on.'
Fitted with the last place punishment, a german green hat. Heather was absolutely confused when Chef stepped up and danced in a series of confusing steps and slaps. She was even more confused when Sierra replicated the dance perfectly with her own Cody song. 'Creepy, but a great memory.' Heather noted. While refusing to dance, She observed Leshawna behind her with Alejandro. Leshawna was dancing her heart out, Heather had no choice but to laugh. Rolling her eyes she saw Alejandro approach and whisper something to Leshawna. Something that really touched her, Heather bit her lip. 'What could he possibly be doing now? We're already gonna lose? And I'm gonna go home.'
Somehow, she had never actually thought about being pushed out of the plane alone, discarded by everyone she had known for the past several seasons. And more importantly, no million.
Alejandro turned to Heather. "I'm disappointed Heather. You're above petty teasing."
Heather had been shocked into silence. 'No I'm not!' was the only thing on her mind, repeating like a child throwing a tantrum. 'That arrogant walking prime-rib of a-' she caught her thought. 'Ew ew ew!' Heather once again was stuck in a spiral of conflicted thoughts.
Still, she had to keep dancing. So while repeating Chef's steps, she spoke to Leshawna. "Hey, girl to girl, watch out for Alejandro. He's not what he seems. I know we used to fight but that doesn't matter if he's out to get you." Leshawna laughed and narrowed her eyes at Heather. "Hah! You're just jealous he's paying attention to me" Leshawna then turned on her feet and danced with D.J.
"What? I hate that guy! As if." Heather stopped dancing and was shocked. Electricity shot through her body, spasming her every nerve. Heather had a lot of room for hate at the moment.
She used that hate in the first one-on-one dance battle. She stood on the now raised platform smacking Owen, trying to push him off. It was a short battle considering he fell off by making himself sick. All that sausage had really messed with his stomach and saved Heather for another round. She stood on the platform, celebrating her win, when she saw Alejandro slap Cody with a force never seen before. 'I know that's bad, Cody's on my team, but wow. I'm impressed.'
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Alejandro stood against Sierra in the final competition between the final four. Heather and Leshawna were against each other. Something Alejandro never could have anticipated. He decided to meddle one last time. "That's it Leshawna! Seize the day!" Enraged, Heather yelled straight to him, "She's not even on your team!"
Smack! Heather slapped Leshawna once right in the jaw. And then, quicker than he could keep up, Leshawna dove at Heather, both of them tumbling right off the platform. Pinning her to the ground just as she did him earlier, Leshawna smacked and slapped Heather over and over again. Until, a tooth flew directly out of Heather's mouth falling and sprinkling blood into the snow. Leshawna had given Heather a deep purple black eye.
Alejandro's jaw dropped at this display. And he was shocked as everyone, including her teammates cheered Leshawna on. 'What could she have done to deserve this?' He of course had seen the previous seasons and knew the extent of her meanness but she had hardly acted the same this season. In fact, she had been slightly nice, trying hard for her team.
Looking at the facts, Team Victory had lost with Leshawna leaving the platform. That left Alejandro vs Sierra, playing for the Amazons now that Heather was down too. Even if their team lost, nobody on their team would be eliminated. 'But is this how I should win?' Alejandro wondered once more about Heather's mother. 'Was she going to be watching this once it airs? How would she feel seeing this happening to her darling daughter?'
Without a second thought, Alejandro closed his eyes and opened his arms, preparing for Sierra's slap. And it came. In an instant, he was done. The Amazons had won.
Noah was at Alejandro's side first. Confused at how Alejandro's plan had failed. Thinking on his feet, he came up with a lie to keep him throwing the challenge a secret. "Heather sacrificed herself to distract me! Her brilliant plan worked, I'm so disappointed in myself." One look at Heather's bewildered face and he knew he hadn't convinced her. Luckily, everyone else believed him and the Amazons began congratulating Heather.
Stuttering and confused, Heather looked at Alejandro and said, "Oh yeah, I totally planned that." Gwen, Sierra, Cody, and even Courtney complemented Heather's "plan". Then Gwen said, "I guess you did help us win Heather. We should have trusted you."
All of the dreadful pessimistic thoughts from earlier in the day were replaced. Her pride and confidence had been restored. With only one question; 'Why did he fall for me?'
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Leaving the bathroom, Heather had just finished venting for the day. She was now on a mission. She looked in the regular cabin but with no luck. Eventually, she found him alone in the cafeteria area. She got straight to the point. "I think you took a dive for me, back there, and I want to know why."
Deflecting, he spoke, "And I think you took one too many slaps to the head." He crossed his arms, proud. Heather laughed. "Ha! I know you're up to something!"
Suddenly, his hand was cradling her chin gently. "Do you know how great you look with a missing tooth? It really brings out the anger in your eyes." He ended with a big smirk. Heather was flustered and bright red. She could only sputter back half sentences denying everything. Giving up, she stomped away.
Alone, she questioned everything she had seen. 'He took a dive for me, I know it! He won't admit it though. Why? I'm sure Leshawna's going right now so his plan worked. Why give up first class for me?' Tingling in her chest sent her a wave of butterflies so intense she felt like they swept her off her feet. She quickly moved to first class to distract herself with amenities. She didn't want to know how the sausage gets made.