When Spirits Beckon

When Spirits Beckon, Part 1, Chapter 4

3 years ago ...

It was hyped as the ultimate reality game show.

A total of 25 contestants were challenged to take on the most horrific hazards possible in a competition around the globe. And each participant would be required to complete grueling feats that were far worse than had been originally featured in the early days of realty TV series like Survivor™, Fear Factor™ and the Amazing Race™.

The prize money offered was on a winner-takes-all basis; and it was a cool US$100 million - if anyone actually managed to reach the finish line.

Dubbed "The Zone", it was designed to be hell on earth for anyone who was either brave or plain stupid enough to even consider being a contestant.

The initial show concept was dreamt up by Peter Lambert, whose previous claim to fame was – to put it tactfully – none. The butt-of-all bullies while in high school, he had managed to convince one set of network executives that it would be the ultimate revenge for nerdy couch potatoes (not unlike himself) everywhere. What better revenge could there be, even if it was one-removed, than to watch people they'd love to hate (a. k. a. individuals who usually made the popularity A-list at school) fall flat on their faces?

Peter did a brilliant pitch and the executives bought his proposal provided he could deliver the final product by May, in time for the series to be slotted into the fall TV season schedule.

The one main concern expressed by the executives was if there would be enough applicants; and more importantly, if the contestants would be TV-friendly.

No one would be able to resist the challenge, Peter had countered. Especially since the proffered carrot was just too good to pass up. He promised only rugged football jock and luscious cheerleader types would be selected, especially those who had a knack for manipulation, lying and cheating without batting an eyelid.

By the time applications closed, as his gut instinct had already assured, Peter had more than enough a pool of wannabes to dip into for his cast of would-be "victims". The scary pre-requirements didn't deter the fools; not even the highlighted clause in the contracts stating that they were signing away any possible claims anyone could possibly have against the producer or network in the event of any injuries, permanent disabilities or even death. Some people were obviously maniacal enough to risk everything for potential rewards of cold hard cash – a prospect that was exactly what Peter had been counting on.

The prize money was an illusion, of course. No one had a snowflake's chance in hell of ever becoming a winner – Peter had made sure every bit of the overwhelming odds he could skew had been stacked against any contestant actually being able to make it to the finish line. In fact, he had even bet on every one of them not making it to the end, much less surviving; he couldn't wait to collect on all the US$100 million policies taken out on each contestant's lives. Collecting on this insurance was his true aim; working on having a show available that might be allowed for public viewing was secondary.

While this bit of nefarious scheming alone was enough of a whopper to keep secret, there was a lot more that he had conveniently swept under the carpet as well.

Peter had promised the network executives gripping visuals which would place the TV viewer literally in contestants' faces. But, since he didn't have much hard cash to start with, Peter had hired no actual live video crew or professional equipment to conduct shoots. Each contestant was instead forced to wear uncomfortably tight waterproofed neck braces fitted with cheap off-the-shelf webcams and mikes. Similar equipment was installed at strategic locations on the course, and Peter had planned to pass the whole thing off as grainy reality TV footage.