The big day arrived and Micky and Petra left the pad secure in their belief that they would return with the prize money.
At the studio, the couples met in a room where they were briefed on what they could and could not do on the show. Then, the girls were taken to make-up leaving the guys to mill about in the room. Soon, the girls returned. Petra motioned for Micky to move away from the crowd.
“Micky, was money the only prize for the show?” Petra asked in a hushed voice.
“Yeah. Why?” Micky asked.
“The make-up girl asked us all our sizes. I thought maybe clothes were part of the prize,” Petra said.
“Maybe it’s for the first runner-up. But that’s not fair. They didn’t ask us our sizes!” Micky said.
“Well I just hope it’s an added bonus!” Petra smiled.
Just then, a production assistant came to show the couples to the set.
The studio audience were in their seats and the sounds of people talking filled the air. It was almost a dizzying buzz. All the contestants were seated behind the curtains. At first glance it looked like an ordinary set, but there was a box in front of each couple, or more so, every girl. The seats were raised, but it seemed a little higher than most. Ronnie came backs stage to wish the couples good luck before he went to warm up the audience.
“Hey how’s everybody feeling today?” Ronnie said flashing that toothy game show host smile.
“Groovy!” everyone answered.
“Well just relax. This is gonna be great fun. Best of luck to you guys!” Ronnie said. Then he went through the curtains onstage to face the audience. The audience settled when Ronnie appeared onstage.
“Hey guys! Thanks for coming to our first taping of “Cupid’s Couples.” As you may know, this is a show about how compatible our four couples are. We have a great group of contestants and we’ll start in two minutes,” Ronnie smiled.
There was a hush over the audience. The show was about to start. The producer gave the countdown. The lights came up and the curtains opened. The four couples sat and smiled at the cameras as they were introduced. When the host came out contestants and audience cheered and clapped.
“Thank you! Thank you! And thank you for joining us in your homes. Tonight we have a special form of a game show. The contestants here tonight know what it takes to keep their relationship healthy, but do they know what not to do in order to stay together? Stick with us, we’ll be right back after the commercial break,” Ronnie said as he smiled into the camera.
When the contestants heard what Ronnie had said, the smiles quickly left Micky and Petra’s faces. What not to do to stay together? What was he talking about? Micky got Ronnie’s attention as they waited during the break.
“Yeah, babe,” Ronnie asked
“The questions. What about the questions?” Micky asked weakly.
“Fake! But hey! That’s not a problem for you guys. You’ve been a couple for about a year? Right?” Ronnie said as he flashed that smile again and returned to his stand.
“Micky! What have we done?” Petra asked with a little panic in her voice.
“Don’t worry. We’ll be fine,” Micky said only he wasn’t as confident as he was that morning.