It was gaining in popularity at an incredible rate, and my supervisor wanted the story to print in the Friday morning edition of the Gazette.
"Shelly, I need you there on site talking with the staff and finding out all of the juicy details on this new game show!" Marion said.
Marion was my supervisor at the Gazette, and whatever Marion wanted, Marion got. She was firm with her orders, but had a light side to her when things got heavy.
"Are you sure you don't want me on the legislative embezzlement case instead?" I asked.
Reporting on a game show didn't feel like a good use of my time, especially a show of this nature. Spilling Over was the name of the show and the premise was sex. All of the contestants would compete in crazy and wacky challenges, and it all ended in the same way, people climaxing. Hence the name, spilling over.
"Yes Shelly, I am sure!" Marion snapped back. "I want to know what the obsession of the American public is with this show and I want it by Friday. It has broken rating records left and right, and you'll be there to find out why!"
I could tell there was no changing her mind, but what the hell, it all pays the same right? "I'm on it!" I cheerfully replied.
She just gave me a smile and waved me out of her office.
As a reporter, you were always in a time crunch. I must have ran my plan through my head a dozen times. I would make it to the show by noon, spend no more than an hour on set, then get back here to the office to finish the article by midnight. It was a tight schedule, but I had done worse. Once everything sounded good to me, I grabbed my phone, and left.
I arrived at the studio ten minutes before noon like I had planned, wearing my professional work outfit. Black pants, and a white button up blouse with my ballet flats. The last thing I wanted was for anyone to think I was a contestant on the show. Although, my lacy D size black bra showing through my white shirt probably didn't help. I knocked on the back door of the studio and after a few seconds, a shorter woman answered the door. She looked me up and down and hastily said, "Oh good, you made it."
I was surprised at the reaction. Usually reporters weren't treated with very much respect when out on the beat. The woman opened the door wider and guided me in.
"You'll be over here in the staging area before everything starts. Feel free to ask anyone questions or for anything you may need while you're back here." She said with a chipper voice.
Maybe this was a good thing that I was here instead of capital hill. That place was always a zoo with other reporters, especially when something big was going down. Here I felt like I could just be myself and take my time. In the staging area there was a table set up with different kinds of foods and drinks, people walking in all directions, posters on the walls showing people performing lewd acts, and more devices and contraptions near the walls than I could count. If I didn't know better, this place would have appeared to be one of those automated amazon factories.
"Hi my name is Shelly, I'm a reporter with the Gazette." I said, introducing myself to the first person I saw.
The man was wearing a headset and turned to me with rushed look on his face. "Would you be willing to give a statement on the sudden popularity of the show?" I asked.
He paused for a minute, clearly busy with what he was doing, but said okay.
"I only have a minute." the man said, but go ahead.
"In you opinion, what is it you're doing to gain such loyal viewership?" I asked.
"Well," he began. "The show takes what we know of life and adds in intriguing twists and turns, as well as, ideas of things we probably hadn't thought of before.
"If by 'intriguing ideas' you mean various wild acts of sex, then you're correct!" I thought to myself.
"That's great!" I replied. "And for the contestants, are they paid actors or are these ordinary people who join the show?"
"Oh, they're as ordinary as you and I." he assured me. "They're all normal people that just want to try something new and exciting!"
Before I could get another question out, he tilted his head down, no doubt listening to a voice over his head phones, and promptly excused himself from our interview. I could tell the show was getting close to beginning by the way everyone was moving around more. I still wanted to see if I could get one more interview before things started. Rushing around now, I ran over to a small group of woman standing near a large container box. I feel like it would be important to get a woman's perspective in my article about this show too.
"Hi!" I said aloud, as I walked up to the group. " my name's..."
Before I could finish, one of the women spoke up, "Erica, you made it! We thought you had that thing come up and that you weren't gonna make it."
I was confused as to what she was talking about, but maybe this would be a good ice breaker conversation. As I walked over, a couple of the women met me with hugs and excitement in their voices. I didn't know I would be that popular here, but whatever!
"PLACES!" A mans voice boomed from behind me.
Shoot! I could feel this interview slipping away, and with my time crunch, I needed every second I could get. The rush of the people around me increased, and I felt myself getting pushed and shoved around. An arm grabbed mine and yanked me towards them. It was the woman who initially said hi to me from the group.
"Come on!" she hastily said pulling me towards a large conveyer belt on the ground.
"Wait, but I'm not..."
But it was too late. Another man standing by the belt had nudged me onto the belt with a firm push. A clamp on the belt automatically closed around my left foot that I had used to catch myself from falling. I tried to fight it, but my foot was firmly planted. I stood there with one foot on and one foot off the belt. I felt the girl from behind grab and shift me to the left. My right foot instinctively moved to catch myself and that's when i felt the other clamp close around my right foot.
"Wait, but you don't understand I'm..."
"GOOD LUCK AND HAVE FUN!" the man shouted as the conveyer was loaded with the five of us. Two in front of me and two behind.
Couldn't they tell I wasn't part of this show by my outfit? I was the only girl here professionally dressed and with their hair tied up. I began to panic and bent down to try and unlatch my feet. Without noticing, a metal rod rose up slowly behind me from the belt. There was no luck getting the foot clamps opened. As much as I pulled, they stayed closed. When I stood back up, I noticed something had risen up behind the two women in front of me. It looked like some kind of rod assembly with clamps hanging from it. Within an instant, I saw the clamps at the top of the rods snap closed around their necks. They began to squeal with excitement.
"Ahhh!" I gasped, as I felt a similar clamp close around my neck.
The initial shock really scared me, but coming too, I noticed the clamp itself was lined with a soft material, but restricted a lot of my head movement. The rod slowly rose upwards a little more, straightening me up along with it. Just then, two soft clamps snapped closed around my wrists, and began to lift my arms upwards away from my body. Looking at the women in front of me, I could see they were all immobilized on the rod assemblies too. We were all forced to stand tall with our arms stretched out.
I tried my best to fight it, but the rod was sturdy and held me firm. "You don't understand, I'm not part of this!" I tried to yell.
I heard one of the girls in front of me say, "Keep it up! The audience loves it when contestants struggle."
But I wasn't suppose to be a contestant on this crazy sex show. I could only imagine what they were about to do with us as we were held in place like Barbie dolls ready to be played with. I noticed that the conveyer belt we were attached to led into that large container I saw earlier. As I looked inside I could see all sorts of mechanical arms and assemblies around the inside shell. A camera hung from the outside, pointed towards all of us, and I could see a couple more inside as well. The words 'THE PACKAGING DEPT.' illuminated on the top of the container as I felt a small jolt from the belt. An uproar rose from the audience through the other end of the container, and at that point, I knew I was going to be playing whether I liked it or not.
The conveyer bounced again, and this time slowly moved us towards the entrance. As the first woman crossed the threshold, I saw a ball gag hanging right at the height of her lips. The gag entered her mouth and was secured behind her head by two mechanical arms.
"No!" I shriller, trying to free myself.
The girl in front of me yelled back, "Don't fight it Erica or else!" Right as the gag entered her mouth.