‘We need to think about this from a production standpoint,’ Murray said. ‘What’s it going to look like if you go storming in there now to scream at Heather?’
A muscle at the corner of Dylan’s left eye started twitching.
‘We can do a lot in editing, but we’re not magicians. If you go in there now, with a full head of steam, and start yelling at a crying blonde woman, you’re going to come off as a bully.’
‘If I don’t go in there,’ Dylan said, ‘I’m going to look like an arsehole who lets his best friend get clocked in the face and does nothing about it.’
‘Not if you didn’t know about it.’
‘What?’
‘That’s the play here,’ Murray said. ‘In narrative terms. We make it clear that you don’t know about the slap. Then we can sidestep this whole issue.’
He gestured at the camera team. ‘We film a quick little interview with Cece about how she decided not to tell you about getting slapped because she didn’t want to distract you from your journey. She comes off looking like a hero, you don’t have to get involved, and it’ll be clear as crystal to the audience who the villain is.’
Every muscle in Dylan’s body was tensed. He would have looked like a statue if it wasn’t for the persistent twitching of his eye.
‘We’ve got to tread carefully,’ Murray said. ‘The show doesn’t carry nuance well. It’s got to be broad strokes. Racist girl: bad. You: good.’
‘I know that,’ Dylan grated out. His fingers were clenched so hard into his arms I was worried he was going to rip out a hunk of muscle. ‘But what am I supposed to do? Let Heather smack her around and get away with it?’
‘Heather’s not going to get away with it,’ Murray said. ‘She’s going to get crucified on social media.’
‘That’s not what I want either!’ Dylan smacked his hand on the railing. ‘We talked about this,’ he said. ‘I told you I didn’t want to do a Very Special Episode about racism.’
‘I know, and I’m sorry,’ Murray said. ‘Normally we can pick up these kinds of views when we go through prospective contestants’ social media. We missed it. That’s on us.’
‘Did you?’
‘Yes,’ Murray said. ‘That’s the truth. I promise.’
Dylan was silent. His eye kept twitching.
‘I know the show’s record on diversity is terrible, but it’s like we talked about,’ Murray said. ‘This season represents a new commitment to diversity from us, and to representing it respectfully and responsibly. I’ve done some shady things as a producer, but I wouldn’t stunt-cast a racist, Dylan. I wouldn’t do that to you.’
There was a long pause before Dylan spoke again. ‘Are you really all right, Cece?’ His voice was hoarse.
‘Yes,’ I said. ‘I’m all right.’
‘You up for filming an interview?’ Murray asked me. ‘Only a short one. You can sit here on the steps. Just a couple of sentences, saying why you decided not to tell Dylan about the slap.’
I nodded.
‘You’re going to look great,’ Murray said. ‘This’ll be a fantastic character moment for you. The whole audience will be on your side. This is the kind of shit that’ll make the network sit up and take you seriously as aWherefore Art Thou Romeo?contender.’
He turned to the camera crew. ‘Then we’ll go inside and getsome talking heads from all of them.’ He tapped his earpiece. ‘Chatter is they’re having a cracker of a fight. We can get some excellent episode content out of this.’
Dylan’s eye was still twitching. No wonder. That sounded an awful lot like a Very Special Episode about racism to me.
‘You can head back to your boat, Dylan,’ Murray said over his shoulder. ‘We don’t need you for this. Go get some rest.’
‘No.’
‘I’ll be all right,’ I told him. ‘It’s just a little interview. I can handle it.’
‘No,’ he repeated. ‘Cece and I need to talk.’
‘You can do a friend spot tomorrow,’ Murray said. ‘There’s room in the schedule.’
