It was a short walk from the greenroom to the sound stage, and, once we got there, I tried to keep my mind focused on the task in front of me. I saw Wally and Leo squirm a bit under the eyes of the audience, and I couldn't really blame them, but I told myself I was a professional. A quiz show should be a piece of cake.
When we entered the room, the host had already finished introducing the show. I was a bit disappointed — Mr. Hart had been so excited about it I kind of wanted to hear what he'd put in the script. As we filed one by one up to our quiz show podiums to a round of applause, I did notice one thing about the audience. They were all men. That, at least, was odd. I guess Mr. Hard did say that half the test audience were just friends of his, but, still, you'd think they'd try to go for diversity. Not that it mattered much to me.
"Now," the host was saying, flashing us a broad smile before turning back to the audience, "our five contestants have arrived. Gentlemen, can you introduce yourselves?"
We did, with varying levels of charisma. Brady and Jedrick were naturals, of course, and I was used to being on camera, but the host asked Leo to repeat himself because of his accent, and Wally was so stilted it made me wince. God, if so many people applied you'd think they'd pick out ones with some stage presence, right? Before I could dwell on the thought, the host continued.
"Now, this is how the game works. Our five contestants here will take turns picking a category, and each one of them will have a chance to answer a question on that topic. For each correct answer, you get a choice: you can either take the prize, or sabotage one of your opponents! If you take the prize, $100 will be added to your score. Consecutive correct answers are worth extra points, and questions will get harder in each round! Now, without further ado, let's begin! We'll start closest to me, with this strapping young gentleman named Leo. Leo, pick a category from the screen!"
I frowned. So, we got $100 towards to 2k dollar "grand" prize if we chose to take the points, but what happened if we chose sabotage? Someone else loses money? I didn't really care — I was here for fun, and for resume building. The show obviously didn't have enough funding to give us real money for a pilot episode. While I was thinking, Leo made his choice.
"Geography," he said confidently.
Smart move. It's a pretty good bet to assume the Americans in the room won't be able to answer anything outside of the country.
"Excellent choice! Now, Leo, for your first question: what is the capital of the Netherlands?"
Without a pause, Leo reached forward and hit the buzzer on the podium in front of him. It let out an oddly pleasant chiming sound.
"Amsterdam," he said confidently.
"Correct! Would you like to take the prize, or sabotage one of your opponents?"
"I'll take the money."
His score on the screen behind us rose to $100, and he grinned confidently. Oddly, the audience didn't applaud at his correct answer. Instead, their eyes were fixed on the rest of us, as if answering right wasn't what they were hoping for...
Next was Jedrick. I noticed him bounce his pecs slightly as the camera zoomed in on him, and resisted the urge to roll my eyes.
"Next contestant, Jedrick! Your first question is: what is the largest country in South America?"
"Brazil, and I'll take the cash."
I frowned. These questions really weren't very hard. If all the show was was trivia, I really didn't get the appeal. Wally was next, and he unsurprisingly answered his question correctly and took the money. After him, it was my turn.
"Second to last, Adrian! For your first question: what is the smallest country in Europe? With twenty seconds on the clock, over to you, Adrian!"
I blinked. The previous questions had been a lot more straightforward. Still, I knew this one from trivia nights with my friends.
"Vatican City," I said, "and I'll take the money, too."
Wally turned and gave me an appreciative thumbs up, but the host and the audience seemed almost disappointed at my answer. I tried not to let the near audible sigh from the back of the room get in my head, but it was hard to manage. What exactly was going on?
"Finally, Brady! For your first question: what is the northernmost prefecture in Japan?"
I gaped. If my question had been unexpectedly hard, Brady's seemed almost unfair. I could see that the jock thought so too — his fists were clenched around his podium, and his gray eyes were wide with alarm.
"Uh," he began.
"Ten seconds left on the clock! Brady, do you have an answer?"
In front of me, it felt like the audience was holding their breath.
"Uh," Brady said, then, feigning confidence, "Tokyo?"
While the correct answers had just been met with a congratulations from the host or even silence, this blatantly wrong one was met with a bright ding from the sound system. Brady winced, and scuffed a foot against the ground.
"I didn't mean–" he began, but the host didn't wait for him to finish.
"Gentlemen of the audience," he said, eyes bright and smile larger than ever, "I give you...our first wrong answer! And with it...our first punishment!"
There was a cheer from the crowd, and I raised my eyebrows. Punishment? The ad hadn't said anything about a punishment. Suddenly, my mind went back to the waivers we'd all signed just minutes before. What had that Mr. Hart given us to sign?!
"The theme of this round's penalty is...question time! Now, Brady, a randomly generated question will appear on your podium, and on the screen behind you! Answer this question, and receive your penalty! "
At that moment, my nose twitched. There was an odd smell in the room, one I couldn't place. Without meaning to, I found my eyes wandering towards my own podium, as if looking to follow the host's instructions myself. I shook the impulse away and turned back to Brady. On the screen behind him, a question had appeared in bold, bright pink letters.
"Punishment question 1: what physical feature are you most proud of?"
I frowned. What was that supposed to mean? Was this some kind of high school truth or dare game? Maybe the "punishment" was just designed to embarrass whoever got a question wrong...Brady, to his credit, seemed immune to being embarrassed.
"My dick," he said confidently, folding his arms and fixing the audience with a cocky grin. I wondered quietly whether he'd noticed there were no women in the crowd before we were brought up on stage, blinded by the lights. To my surprise, the crowd cheered.
"Ah, your penis!" the host said, eyes dancing as me and the other contestants stifled our laughs at how blunt and shameless Brady had been, "And why are you so proud of it, Mr. Brady?"
The jock shrugged.
"Cause chicks dig it," he said simply, "Why wouldn't they? It's huge."
He grinned again, and the audience laughed and cheered. I frowned. I hadn't thought there was anything particularly funny about what he'd said. Why were they laughing?
The host laughed too, and turned back to his own podium. I peered out of the corner of my eye, and saw that he was entering some kind of code into a small screen on top of it. Before I could make out what it said, the man pressed a button, and the screen went black. At that exact moment, Brady let out a surprised gasp.
The jock whirled around, looking over his shoulder. He was leaning away from the mic, so the audience and host didn't make it out, but I heard him mutter "did something bite me?" He turned back to his podium, confused, and tried to look as confident as before. I found myself thinking that this whole punishment thing was kind of anticlimactic. What was even supposed to happen? I mean, I guess the crowd was eating it up.
If I'd looked closer, though, I would have noticed that Brady's confused expression didn't go away. Instead, he shifted uncomfortably, reaching down and readjusting his jeans as if suddenly they didn't fit quite right. The very first game of what would later be called "Think or Twink?" had officially begun!
"Next up," the host said, ignoring the jocks discomfort and the other contestants' confused looks, "Jedrick! It's your turn to choose this round's category. Look at the screen to see your choices!"
"Uh," Jedrick said, still a bit thrown off by the crowd's and the host's strange behavior, "I'll go with..."