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“Cameras in the house?”

Rhea stared at the producer in such an unflinching way one could have wondered whether her soul had left her body. Had someone looked up the word incredulous, her face might as well have defined it.

“Yes,” replied the producer, calm and composed. “That’s the deal. If you want the Extras, that is.”

“Of course we do!” screamed Nick, elated. All three sat in a luxurious office at the Beverly Studios administration building.

“What are the extras exactly?” asked Rhea.

“Five thousand dollars a week for the rest of your lives. Multiple endorsement deals with commercial products. Oh, and lifelong fame, of course.”

Nick’s eyes gleamed at the prospect, while Rhea remained unconvinced.

“This wasn’t in the contract,” she said.

“The contract you signed was for The Great Love Search. You’ll be signing a new one for The Great Love Found. That’s the principle of a spin-off.”

“It’s just…” she mumbled, glancing at Nick awkwardly. “We’re… we’re not really in love. It was all make-believe for the show, I thought you knew this.”

“I do,” replied the producer. “Few contestants come to The Great Love Search for love. They do it for money and fame.”

“Exactly,” said Nick. “It’s all that matters, right. C’mon Rhea, we can do this. They don’t call you Rhea the Wrecker for nothing.”

“For the rest of our lives? Isn’t that a little bit extreme?”

Rhea could not even admit it to herself, but love was indeed what pushed her to audition for The Great Love Search. Like many young women, she dreamed of finding a Prince Charming to warm her on the cold winter nights back in Colorado. When all conventional dating methods failed, she packed her bags and put her candidacy forward for the reality dating show hoping this would provide an environment conducive to finding the right one. What could possibly go wrong with fifteen men and fifteen women mingling together on a paradise island? Of course, things quickly spiraled out of control. Her memory drifted back to the first fight.

***

Filming took place in a lavish seaside house in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. The sights defied Rhea’s wildest dreams. Amid palm trees and turquoise waves washing up on the shore, she took a long walk on the sandy beach upon landing. Colorado seemed like nothing more than a distant dream, leftover from a past life. Yet, there was this unnerving impression at the back of her mind. Something would go wrong.

Rebecca provoked her on the first evening. Cleanliness mattered to Rhea: her mother always emphasized the importance of washing the dishes before going to bed. She gently reminded her roommate of the house rules regarding dishes etiquette, but the reminder was met with quite a lot of resistance. From there, the situation escalated quickly. Voices soared. Chairs flew. Knifes were pointed.

“You freakin’ psychopath!” yelled Rebecca as she threw her dishes on the ground. The shattered pieces dispersed all around, one of them cutting lodging itself between Rhea’s toes. “What makes you think you can boss me around?”

“Me?” replied Rhea, out of her mind. “A psychopath? When is the last time you looked at yourself in the mirror? I have to boss you around because you’re literally a five-year-old child!”

She threw back the broken pieces at her rival, who ran away upstairs screaming swear words.

It didn’t take long for Rhea to resonate with viewers. The editing made her look like the cast member who did everything in her power to shake up the house. Clips of her outburst went viral, and she quickly became an overnight sensation, dubbed Rhea the Wrecker. She hated the moniker with a fiery passion and avoided conflicts to the best of her ability, but Rebecca’s constant bullying exacerbated their relationship’s toxicity to unmanageable levels.

All men on the island turned out to be jerks. When the prospect of love clearly became hopeless wish, Rhea sought to get voted off, but the viewers gave her immunity week after week; such was their addiction to the feud between the two women.

The finale came. Nick, the last man standing, had to choose between the two sworn enemies.

“This was a very difficult decision,” he said, an envelope in his hands. They all stood with the rest of the crew by the beach as the sunset flamed up the sky behind them. “At the end of the day, I had to choose a woman with whom I felt I could spend the rest of my life with, so I picked…”

He opened the envelope and pulled out a picture. It was Rhea’s. She acted ecstatic, of course. First off, Rebecca had been defeated, which was an accomplishment worth celebrating in itself. Winning a house in Malibu didn’t feel bad either. Only one thing had escaped: love. The minute the cameras turned off, an indifferent Nick went back to his trailer as she watched alone the last golden rays vanishing beyond the horizon in the distance.

***

Three weeks had passed since then, and a new contract lay on the desk in front of her. Nick quickly signed it, then walked out of the office.

“So long girl,” he said without looking at her. “See you in Malibu.”

Rhea and the producer were now alone. She looked at the contract absent-mindedly, dreaming of the cold Colorado winters.

“I know how you feel,” he said. “Believe me, I hate asking people to sign away their lives.”

“Then don’t.”

“It’s not that easy. The executives are the ones who make the decisions around here.”

“They sure make it hard to turn down, with all these Extras. The question is, are the Extras worth the price? When I moved from Colorado for the show, it never occurred to me I would never get to go back. I certainly wasn’t expecting to live with cameras in my house forever… especially not in the presence of someone like Nick.”

“Interesting.”

“What’s interesting? My life falling apart?”

“No. I come from Colorado too. I guess we were both disenchanted by the Hollywood dream.”

He swallowed nervously. All along, Rhea had the impression there was something he wanted to say but did not dare to.

“You know, I never liked that nickname,” he declared. “Rhea the Wrecker. Whoever came up with that is messed up. How about we go finish this discussion over a cup of coffee?”

Rhea smiled. This was the sweetest thing someone had told her in a long time. Without even thinking about it, she picked up the contract and reduced it to a wad of paper before throwing it in a bin.

“I would love to. Coffee is my favorite.”