In front of Katherine there was a small table. On the table there was a deck of cards. Each card would reveal the challenge Katherine would have to endure in order to either be changed or rewarded, and it was up to Andy to shuffle up and draw the card.
"Hi Katherine!" he said, in an overly chipper tone. "Let's get started, shall we?" Katherine said nothing, but flashed an awkward toothy grin to Andy and the audience. Andy shuffled the cards, his hand dancing like flames, with a whirl of inaccurate precision, each movement accidental and intentional. Finally, he slapped the deck back on the table. "Take that top card, would you please?"
Katherine nervously fingered the top card. She had only just noticed the design on each card's back. In each corner was a shilloutte of a naked woman, either pleasuring herself or in some form of bondage. Katherine didn't really want to end up like that.
She flipped the card over. Her heart sank. She hadn't been prepared for this.
"Let's see that card, thank you. That's right, just hand it on over so the rest of us can see. Alright, here we are. It's...oh dear. It looks like we're off to a poor start, doesn't it." He flashed the card towards the audience, and towards the camera. The audience snickered. He read the instructions on the card out loud.
"The contestant will answer the following riddle: "I am a protrusion that comes in many sizes. When I'm not well, I drip. When you blow me, you feel good. What am I?" The audience shared a collective giggle.
Now, of course anyone with a brain would think of the answer almost instantly. But she'd seen this show before. And every time there was a sexual riddle, the answer always turned out to be something completely innocent. Haha, very funny. But the problem was, she was no good at riddles. And her contingency plan for riddles while she was preparing was that she just wouldn't drawn any from the deck.
"Alright, do we have an answer?"
"Uhh..." her voice was a whisper. "A...uhhh...penis?" Of course, the audience laughed their asses off. They knew how this game worked. The answer could've been anything in the world but a penis, but of course she wasn't about to think of anything.
Andy's face twisted into a frown of false concern. "I'm sorry, Katherine. The answer we were looking for was 'a nose.' I'm afraid you're going to be given a bimbo tile."
Andy walked tantalizingly slow to the wheel, while the audience chanted in unison "Spin, spin, spin, spin." Andy grabbed one of the prongs between the wheel it gave it a forceful spin.
Katherine watched in apprehension. The first beads of sweat began to appear on her face. The wheel spun eternally, never seeming to slow, an endless world of horrific avenues just waiting to be explored. And finally, gradually, painstakingly, the wheel came to a stop. The money marker for the tile was the same as all the others: ten thousand dollars. There were ten tiles in all, nicely adding up to an even hundred thousand. Of course, if Katherine played perfectly the next nine rounds, she would only see ninety thousand of her earnings.
Andy flipped the tile. Katherine felt like she was going to puke. He showed it to the audience first, who cheered enthusiastically. "Alright, Katherine. Your first category is.....Face!" Her heart fluttered a little more, but she felt better. At least it was a physical change, one that would not impede her ability to answer some of the more mentally challenging questions.
"Sounds good, Andy!" she tried to sound enthusiastic, but it mostly came out as a squeak. But still, it could've been much worse.
Andy read from the teleprompter, which Katherine found out was showing the subcategories of her transformation. This is where the audience came into play. And they were not always kind.
"Our subcategories for 'face" are 'too tan,' 'pink overload,' 'all smiles,' and 'stained.' Make the selection on your pin pads now."
Katherine was nervous again. "Stained" was a nasty one. It did significantly increase the attractiveness of the face, but for the rest of her life she would have white stains around her mouth and cheeks. And those stains didn't leave a whole lot to the imagination. But luckily, the audience went a different route.
"And the results are in...and the winner is: All Smiles!"
The lights pointed on Katherine suddenly turned a bright pink, oozing a bizarre energy. The audience members directly below the light that were slightly grazed by its beam broke out into grins, but they quickly reverted back to the way they were. Katherine, on the other hand, was getting the full force of the lights. Here eyes glazed over for a second, before she suddenly felt happy. Really happy. She hadn't felt this happy in years. All the stress of her life seemed to simply melt away. She just wanted to smile. Her face broke into a grin, her teeth grinding and rearranging to form the perfect smile. Her eyes lightened from a dark brown to a pale blue. Her newly parted lips plumped up considerably. Her cheekbones shifted up as well. Her eyelashes elongated, and the slightest of smile wrinkles appeared around the edges of her eyes, not necessarily aging her face but rather providing a certain genuine quality to her smile. Her lips were slowly becoming a deeper shade of red, and eyes widened to a permanently surprised look. Her face was beautiful. Sort of like a bimbo's. A lot like a bimbo's, actually.