What Happens in the Kitchen...

"You sure you don't wanna watch it together? I promise not to spill anything on you this time."

"I'm good, thanks."

"But it's only the second day! We need to get invested early on!" Jackie pleaded.

"Oh, look—my masseuse is here! Gotta go, talk to you later!"

"Ria, wait—!"

Du... Du...

Ria hung up, leaving Jackie sighing in disappointment. "We could've done a play-by-play..." She pouted, but quickly shook it off and focused on the TV where the familiar countdown was showing.

"Three... Two... One!"

***

BI Mansion, Observation Room.

"Hello, everybody! Welcome or welcome back to our second livestream. I'm M.J., your host and one of the judges for today's assignment. Meet my fellow judges—Michael, Brady and Scarlett."

M.J. fluorished a hand at the three other celebrities beside her. They promptly smiled and waved at the cameras, evoking enthusiastic responses in the chat room.

"Last night, Beloved Imposter's official account teased the next assignment with several emojis, and we are very pleased to announce that most of you deciphered it correctly!" M.J. continued. "If you haven't followed our socials already, what's stopping you? Today's assignment is 'Cook, Pray, Love', where contestants must cook within two hours using a specific colour from a rainbow palette. The top three teams will win corresponding amounts of points while the last three will have to resharpen their knives for their next chance."

[I guessed right!]

[It was kinda obvious]

[Rainbow food? Sounds fun]

[More like childish]

[Hey, rainbows can be aesthetic too]

"But—" A mischievous glint shone in M.J.'s eyes. "There is a twist!"

[Oh no... I know that look]

[She had this look before she pushed someone into a mosh pit]

[Is that legal?]

[Dw, it was a reality show's challenge]

[And technically, she did the egging, someone else did the pushing]

"If the meals aren't finished before the last 30 minutes, handicaps will be issued!"

[Oooh such as?]

[Spill!!!]

"You'll just have to wait and see." M.J. winked. "Now, let's take a look at our beloved chefs of the day, starting with Purple Team and Green Team in Kitchen #1!"

***

Kitchen #1.

REMAINING TIME: 00:42:04

"Iris! Salt!"

"In a minute!"

"We don't have a minute!"

Iris set aside her salad bowl heavily and passed the salt to Travis, who was frying the steak, with more force than necessary. She was stressed and in three places at once because of him, and he still dared to rush her while counting down the seconds they had left.

Well, whose fault was it in the first place that she couldn't focus on completing one simple salad?!

Just then, Kayla called her from the other side of the kitchen, "Iris! Can I borrow some salt? Oh, and that lemon if you're not using it anymore?"

"Yeah, com— Ow!"

Iris hissed as Travis suddenly squeezed her arm, cutting off her reply. He leaned in and whispered, "We don't have to."

"What?!" she whispered back incredulously.

However, Travis was dead serious. "It's a competition. Every team for themselves. You're only increasing their chances of winning."

"Seriously?! It's basic courtesy!"

"You don't even know each other," Travis refuted.

"And I don't know you either, apparently," Iris hissed, plucking the salt shaker out of his grip and lending it to Kayla. Then, she gave her the remaining half of the lemon they'd used.

"Here."

"Thank you," Kayla exclaimed, briefly taking her eyes off the stove to shoot her a grateful look. "You are a lifesaver, Iris."

Iris smiled and nodded. "No problem."

After that, she returned to mashing potatoes for the salad, and Travis stopped asking her to assist him—not that he needed it in the first place.

***

Observation Room.

"Ooh, it looks like there's some conflict between Purple Team's members!" M.J. noted. "Their voices were too low to discern, but we can deduce that Travis Beckett was stopping Iris Tate from doing something. It seems he failed so now they're avoiding each other. Is it just me, or is the heat in Kitchen #1 not enough to break the ice between them?"

"I feel it too," Brady replied. "At least they've moved on to plating their respective dishes, otherwise it'd be more awkward."

"Even friends need space from each other after an argument, let alone strangers who have barely known each other for 24 hours," Michael said.

"Why don't we check out Blue Team and Red Team?" Scarlett suggested.

Brady nodded. "Seconded. I'm very, very curious of what two noob cooks can stir up."

***

Meanwhile, in Kitchen #2...

REMAINING TIME: 00:32:51

"**** THAT'S TABASCO SAUCE!" Tops yelled.

"WHAT?! YOU SAID IT WAS KETCHUP!" Sabina hastily scooped red sauce out of the pan.

"CAN YOU NOT READ THE ****ING LABEL?!"

Fwoosh!

"**** IT'S BURNING! IT'S BURNING!"

"GET THE WATER BUCKET!"

"THERE ISN'T ONE!!!"

"I SWEAR TO GOD—"

Splash—! FWOOSH!

"****! YOU IDIOT THAT'S OIL!"

"WHY DID YOU POUR OIL INTO A ****ING BOWL IN THE FIRST PLACE?!"

"WHY DIDN'T YOU CHECK THE CONTENTS FIRST?!"

SPLASH—! SZZZZ!

In a kitchen terrorised by amatuer, wannabe cooks, oil and water dripped from the stove, forming a puddle on the floor. The pan on the stove sizzled while its contents were burnt and then soaked into soggy lumps of... Whatever they were supposed to be.

Tops stood over the mess, an empty bowl in each hand and sweat glistening on his forehead. Sabina was gawking beside him, her chest still heaving like she'd just finished a marathon. Neither of them said a word, but their viewers spoke enough for both of them.

[Wow]

[And I thought I was a kitchen disaster]

[This gives me confidence to cook again ♨(⋆‿⋆)♨ ]

[Tops trying to put out fire with oil is enough to sustain me for a decade XD]

[Ikr who DOES that??]

[Christopher Davenport III apparently lololol]

[Uh aren't we forgetting something?]

[??]

[What¿]

[Someone has to eat what they cook later]

[OH ****]

{User23819106 has been silenced for 2 hours}

[NOOO MY POOR MICHAEL]

[DW IT'S 1/5 ODDS!!!]

[pls don't let it be brady pls don't let it be brady]

[Scarlett is too good to die of food poisoning.·°՞(≧□≦)՞°·.]

[^shut up. NOBODY is gonna die today]

[Although I am confident in MJ's ability to avoid this, I will still pray for her]

[+1]

[+1]

[+1]

Step. Step. Step.

"Whoa, what happened in here?"

Larry's arrival finally broke the silence. Tops and Sabina whipped towards him like they'd seen their saviour.

"Larry!" Tops cried. "Thank god you're here—"

"I told you I can't cook!" Sabina wailed.

Larry hurriedly raised a hand to stop their advances. "I'm not here to help," he stated. "I'm here with news."

Ba-bump. Ba-bump.

The two contestants inadvertently swallowed, and the other team sharing this kitchen also paused to eavesdrop.

Larry revelled in the tension and slowly revealed the hand hidden behind his back.

[I have a bad feeling about this...]

[What is he up to now?]

[Gulp]

Six cards were fanned out between his fingers.

"You have 30 minutes left," Larry smirked. "Time to pick your handicap."

"WAIT, WHAT?!"

[There it is! There it is!]

[The devilish director strikes again!]

[Director: 2, Contestants: 0]

Hands trembling, Tops reached out to draw a card. He flipped it over...

[One For All: Only one team member is allowed to remain in the kitchen]

His eyes widened comically. Larry leaned over his shoulder and guffawed upon reading his team's handicap. "So, who will it be?"

"Who will what be?" a clueless Sabina asked.

Tops showed her the card and whispered, "Sabina..."

"What?"

Her expression melted into horror after reading their handicap. "Holy s—"

"Dibs on not cooking!" Tops blurted, dashing out of the kitchen.

"HUH?!" Spinning around in betrayal, Sabina snatched a random tomato and hurled it at Tops's escaping back. "YOU SON OF A ***********! ****** ****** *******!"

{Extreme profanity has been detected. This channel will be temporarily muted}