Executive producer:
Maureen Scott
Scene: Daphne returning to Cape Town after her overnight date in Franschhoek Location: The contestants’ suite [Establishing shot of Daphne entering the hotel room.]
Angie: Uh-oh, look who’s returning from her sleepover [Wide shot to include Angie doing a body roll.]
Sabrina: Bowchicawowow.
Lauren L.: Isn’t it weird to celebrate Daphne having sex with our shared boyfriend?
[Close-up reaction of Daphne bursting into tears.]
Angie: Oh no, what is it, Daph? What happened?
[Some unsteady footage as Angie embraces Daphne, then all four women hug and stumble over to the couch. Angie holds Daphne’s head in her lap, Sabrina rubs her back; Lauren attempts to smooth out Daphne’s hair.]
Sabrina: Was the sex bad? I had a feeling it was going to be bad. You can tell by how he kisses.
Daphne: W-we didn’t… we didn’t have sex.
Lauren L.: Is it wrong that I’m relieved?
Angie: Why didn’t you have sex with him?
Daphne: Because it didn’t feel right. Because it never, ever feels right.
[Stay on the wide shot as the other three women comfort Daphne while she cries.]
Maureen’s notes to the editor: Why the fuck would we include this scene? Cut the whole thing and expand on the Megan/Delilah fight instead.
WEEK SEVEN
Amed, Bali, Indonesia—Sunday, July 18, 2021
4 Contestants and 21 Days Remaining
Charlie
They say goodbye to Parisa at the Cape Town airport before she gets on a flight to Los Angeles and they get on a flight to Bali. Everyone cries, except Parisa, who looks them all in the eye and says, “I’m not crying.” She dares them to question her as tears smear mascara all down her face.
“Hot-Ass.” She sighs as she hugs Charlie goodbye last. She takes his face in her hands and kisses both his cheeks. “I am so glad I got to share this experience with you.”
Then she reaches into her purse and pulls out a brown sandwich bag with a sharp crease across the top. “A parting gift.”
Charlie peels back the crease to find… “What is wrong with you?”
“I included some diagrams, too, just in case,” she says breezily.
He shoves the bag into the front pouch of his carry-on. “Goodbye, Parisa. Leave now, please.”
She cackles. “I love you, Hot-Ass,” and even with the epithet, it feels so much realer than it did when Megan said it.
“Tell me you love me back, Charlie,” she demands, punching his arm.
“I love you, Parisa.”
“Bitch, I know.” She smirks. And she’s gone.
* * *
Bali is the textbook definition of paradise. It takes a day of airplanes and chartered vans to arrive at their villa for the next week, but it’s worth the travel time. Palm trees fringe the property, giving way to the undulating brown mountains rising behind the house. Bali is all songbirds and bright Hindu shrines thick with incense and blue skies and Dev.
Dev next to him on the plane and next to him in the van. Dev in his bed at the villa they share with Jules—who knows, and who also doesn’t care. Dev when he falls asleep to the sound of tokay geckos croaking, and Dev when he wakes up to the sunlight pouring through the windows, still tucked against his chest.
“Good morning,” Dev says as he rolls over in his arms on Monday. His left eye is crusted shut and his breath smells like dirty socks. Charlie kisses him anyway. They have the day entirely off from filming, so they lounge in bed for hours, and only get up when Dev’s stomach demands it. They eat a late breakfast with Jules on a patio in the sun.