Deacon, the new judge, had gathered everyone up toward the front, giving the rundown of how things would go.
Devin hated this man with a passion, but then loved him just as much. He was giving him more than he wanted or could ask for, but taking away key things that could have helped.
"I'm not going to argue about it," Deacon addressed another housemate. "If you can't afford to keep paying for another place, or you can't break down and stay with a family member, or you can't travel back in between shows? Then you are done for. Out. We are getting rid of the common cheap trash that are only here for free food and board. This show is about two things!" He held up two fingers. "Two! It's not about a free ride anymore, it's about your one in four chance of ending up with an actual woman and a family."
"Bias!" One of them shouted toward him. "Bias as fuck."
"Remove him," Deacon instructed his crew. His crew weren't pushovers, they had more than smarts to run the cameras. They were built tough for people who couldn't become werewolves. "No cursing will be tolerated on cameras, or it is an automatic out! We run a clean show for the cameras. All audiences are watching. Even the younger ones who are stuck with their mom and dad watching it, or their older siblings watching it. You curse, you ruin the rating, and we will sue you for the cost of damage your language caused. If you want out without being sued, and you know you will mess up? You can back out right now without repercussions."
Ouch. That statement eliminated thirty people.
"Ah." Mattie groaned. "What about the S word? What counts as cursing?"
Deacon just smiled at her. "Oh, it's only for contestants, Lily. If a woman messes up, it's understable. Just try, okay? Our show Romances of Wolf Islands: Home Sweet Never Home Edition? We want everyone to be able to watch. Everyone. If mom and dad can't watch without cursing, they might think they can't watch it with the kids around. Boom, lost audience. You know?" He folded his hands sincerely. "Please just try?"
"Why does she get my name?" The real Lily spoke up. "Why am I either Sunny or Sunflower when my real name was Lily?"
Once again, Deacon seemed to be gentler to her. "It's about safety. We use fake names and identities for everyone on the show. That way, when you leave the show area, or the show is permanently over, you are safe. Since your real first name was Lily, we made sure it got removed to another member. If someone finds out your real name was Lily, it will detour to the other Lily instead."
"It's still annoying," Lily, now 'Sunny' said.
"I think Sunny is an absolutely beautiful name," Deacon told her. "It's bright. It's ambitious. I picked it because you love wearing bright clothes according to our research. We made sure your new wardrobe will reflect that."
"What about the clothes at night?" Lily asked. "Those didn't reflect me."
"We aren't collecting data at night," he said. "Anything that isn't daytime, does not get recorded or is within our means. You would have to take that up with your director. The only thing the show provides is medical assistance with medication and medical emergencies. We have a trained staff of a doctor and nurse on standby. Once again, only when we are here." He looked at his watch.
"Does the wolf cub get to come in?" Devin asked.
"Ah, Devin. Yes, you are Devin, right?" Deacon greeted him. "This show is trying to convey that wolves of any kind can be okay, without being put into a zoo or killed. That's important, so yes, she is going to be brought inside. Even our test audience felt uncomfortable seeing her out there, wolf cub version or little girl version. So? We are keeping her out of the yard and inside with her mother wolf."
"Really?"
"Yes, during the show only. We only have permissions to change things during show hours," Deacon reminded him. "For the audiences benefit and level of comfort. Anything else, you need to talk to the director."
"What are your filming times?" Devin asked.
"We will be here, every day, from 8:00 AM to 7:30 PM. That is our running time, where we are gathering information," Deacon said. "In the morning, we will be here earlier to set up. We need to take events that happened the day before, make sure we get interviews, make sure we aren't missing something that would make the audience love this show even more. Our goal is to try and keep things in order for the week, so organizing the information each day is important."
"You can't do anything past those times?" Jill asked. "At all?"
"No. Now, the host is going to be coming soon," he said. "If any one of you even make one remark she doesn't like? If she is having a bad day and you say 'excuse me' and she fires you? It doesn't matter, you are out. Our lovely host is already attached and married. To me." He swung his phone out. "One thing my love does like, gets changed or terminated."
"What about us?" Mattie as 'Lily' asked.
Once again, Deacon softened up. "Oh, I'm sure you will all be fine. As long as you are all cordial, it'll be fine. Don't worry. It's mainly the guys. Yes, Lily?"
Lily was raising her hand. "Do we get to like keep any gifts the guys give us?"
"They wouldn't be tokens of affection if they were returnable," he said. "If one of them gets a little wild and risky and gives you an expensive wedding ring? It's yours."
"Damn. I mean? Wow," Mattie as 'Lily' tried. "What if we mess up on our names, or totally ignore the rules?"
"We don't want to confuse the audience, and we don't want you to confuse each other either. Once the cameras turn on, if anyone is caught using a different name than the name they were given?"
He held his hands out, showing his seriousness. "Male or female. Man or woman. Anyone. Including any gender fluid people. Are there any gender fluid people this season?" he asked briefly. "Either way, you will not be reprimanded in the show. Not at all. After the show ends, you will be sued for each time you were caught saying it. There has been two contestants in the past that thought it would be funny. They were both the star leads." He shook his head. "Fortunately, she was not married before she became bankrupted. Her beau waited to get married, to make sure all of the money being sued for was delivered first."
"I don't like that," Jill said. "Can we have some kind of option to change our names?"
He shook his head. "It's a sweet name."
"It's not even a flower, it's candy. It's Cotton Candy," Jill grumped. "Cotton. Candy."
"Nevermind, I withdraw my complaint," Lily, now 'Sunny' said. "Sunny is just fine."
"You said that you named her Sunny because of her lovely bright clothes," Jill reasoned to Deacon. "What made anyone think, ooh, Cotton Candy is a perfect name for me?"
Deacon scratched his chin thoughtfully. "You a self-starter, disciplined yet not too loud. You don't often fall into trouble, but you are a proud woman that will not bow down to confrontation." He shrugged. "We didn't know what to do with that profile so we just grabbed something that sounded sweeter than you were, in hopes the sweet name would lure the audience to like you more."
"It's only for a year," Lily, now 'Sunny', said to 'Cotton Candy'. "It's only during the show too."