Chapter 1 - Judgement Day
"Hear ye, hear ye. This court is now in session. His honor, Judge J. Preston presiding."
The court room was sparsely populated with a few court officials and what looked like several homeless people looking for a comfortable chair to spend the afternoon in. The benches only looked a little more comfortable than a concrete barrier but Suzanna was in no position to judge. She was seated in the defendant's chair, and while it was nicely padded it was far from a comfortable seat.
The jury box stood empty as she had requested a bench trial, taking a big risk trusting her fate to Judge Preston, but a full trial by jury would provide her no hope of leniency. Having embezzled over 3 million dollars as CFO of "Toys for the Terminally Ill" to fund her own movie to star in wouldn't get any sympathy from the jury and the evidence was far too great to expect an innocent verdict. Her only hope was she could garner a little bit of good will with the judge. She had been flirting, subtly, with him throughout the trail and she had hoped to sway him in to delivering the lightest sentence he could.
She had the looks, at 32, she might have been considered over the hill in Hollywood, but she took her appearance seriously. The judge looked to be in his fifties and she had noticed no ring on his finger, not that it would have matter to her any way. She had spent every day in court ensuring she made eye contact with him throughout the day smiling and doing other small signs of interest.
The judge sat down and addressed the court, "Ms. Day, having reviewed the evidence and heard the testimony I find you guilty of embezzlement.
I find this to be the most morally corrupt kind of crime as you breached your fiduciary duty to your employer, profession and the child that depend on the charity. All for your own self aggrandization.
Under the criminal code the maximum sentence I can give you is 5 years in prison and order the repayment of all funds. In addition I am awarding punitive damages of $30 million, to be donated to Toys for the Terminally Ill."
Suzanna had been prepared for this, she apparently hadn't been able to win over the judge, it was bad but at least it was over. She'd have to declare bankruptcy after she was out to clear the remaining debt, but with her Certified Professional Accountant accreditation she knew how to get out of paying it without running afoul of the law. She'd lose her CPA status of course now that she had been convicted, but that was the least of her worries.
She waited for the gavel to come down but instead the judge continued.
"Fortunately under the new sentencing rules for judges recently passed in to law to help alleviate the overcrowding in our prisons, I have quite a bit more flexibility in determining your punishment as this is not a capital offence."
Suzanna perked up, perhaps she had gotten to the judge after all.
"Under section 369 I am hereby converting the 5 year prison sentence to a one episode appearance on Bimbo or Billionaire. You will compete in the show until you have either replayed your debt to the charity or lost the game, at which point you will have any future earnings garnished by this court.
Bailiffs, please take Ms. Day to the waiting transport. Court is adjourned." The judge banged his gavel as Suzanna simply stared at him.
The strong grip on her arms jolted her back to reality and she started to scream.
"You can't do this! It's not fair! I was going to repay them as soon as I had a distribution deal in place!"
Chapter 2 - Opening Credits
The studio curtain was raised as the theme music blared from the speakers with the applause of the live studio audience. Suzanna was already behind the podium and couldn't move more than a few inches of any of her limbs. Just enough to keep her balance.
The collar of fate had been programmed to ensure she didn't make any sudden moves or cause any problems. Suzanna was terrified and furious all at the same time.
"Yes folks it's time to answer the question that is on all of our minds... Is she a... Bimbo or Billionaire!" the announcer's voice came across the PA system and the audience roared in response.
She had wanted to be on TV her entire life but not in this way. Not on this show. If a jury would have been hostile to her story and thrown the book at her, this audience was going to do far worse and there was no way out. Her only hope, the last hope, was that she could somehow win the billion dollars and get out of this mess.
"Thanks Dan, now to get to today's contestant... Suzanna!" the crowd cheered as Jack walked across the set.
"Now we have a special treat here today everyone. You may have noticed that Suzanna was already on set when the curtain came up. That's because the Collar of Fate is already working its magic. You see Suzanna is the first contestant we've been given from the judicial system!"
There was a low murmur throughout the crowd, this was something new and they were not sure about it yet.
"You see Suzanna has been convicted of embezzling over $3 million from the charity she was the CFO for. A charity that provided toys for children with terminal illnesses!"
The boos from the crowd were loud and continued as Jack tried to settle them down, several members of the audience made rude gestures as well.
"But that's not the worst of it... she took the money and was making a movie for herself to star in!"
The audience actually started throwing things at Suzanna on the stage, the censors were working overtime to bleep out the profanities that accompanied the boos.
After several minutes, Jack continued, "But the good news is that Suzanna is in it for the long haul folks, the Judge has sentenced her to payback all the money and more so she's here all the way to the end!"
The crowd turned quickly and started cheering "Bimbo...Bimbo...Bimbo...".
"So Suzanna, anything to say before we begin?"
Suddenly Suzanna could speak and move her head freely.
"Uhmmm, well I just wanted to say that I really did intend to pay back..." she began as the audience drowned her out.
"Well I guess that's a no then. Ok folks, now the only question that remains is she a..."
The crowd chanted along with Jack as he said the show's title, "Bimbo! Or! Billionaire!"
"I'd ask you if you're ready to play Suzanna, but we all know the answer to that already!
Ok let's get the last few housekeeping items out of the way and we can get going. First off I'd like to bring everyone's attention to our case girl Chrissi!"
A spotlight highlighted Chrissi and the buxom blonde bimbo waved and giggled as the crowd cheered and whistled.
"Chrissi was the unluckiest contestant to ever play our game here and opened twelve bimbo cases in a row. But we just couldn't let her leave with nothing so instead we didn't let her leave at all and she's been with us ever since!
In the back of the studio we also have the fine technical folks who are operating the Collar of Fate tonight, they're already doing the work making sure Suzanna here remains calm and collected for us!
And of course we cannot forget our generous benefactor, who has put up the billion dollar prize! Our mystery man that we simply call 'The Accountant'". As always the pitch black area above the columns of monitors was backlit revealing a person sitting at a desk but obscured in darkness.
"Of course you all know our board, two sides with twelve steps each, revealed one at a time as the cases are opened. As always the cash side starts at a penny and works its way up to one billion dollars!
The Bimbo side is divided in to two halves, the first six are physical changes that the 'Collar of Fate' will make and the second half are mental changes. Each of the changes will be selected by an audience vote from a list of four random selections from our database!"
Chapter 3 - Round 1
Suzanna could still move her head, but that was just about the limit of her options. She desperately wanted to bolt out of the studio but her legs simply didn't obey her thoughts and she remained fixed behind the podium.
"Ok Suzanna, as you know we have five rounds here. In the first round you have to open 12 cases, the second 6 cases, the third 3, the fourth and fifth rounds are 1 case each to see if you win the billion dollars or not. Well in your case if you get a 'get out of jail' free card. I need 12 numbers from 1 to 24 from you right now."
Suzanna tried to keep herself under control, the only way she was getting out of this was to keep a level head. Maybe if she tried to seem cooperative the audience would go a little easy on her.
"Ok Jack, Case number 3 please." She said trying to sound as remorseful as possible.
