Let's meet the contestants!

A rare silence fell over the arena as each contestant was provided with a prompt. Just a single word for them to draw, making their best attempt to make something the audience might guess, but not their opponent. One minute to contemplate, then two minutes to draw for a total of three.

"For those in our audience that are wary of any cheating tonight, fret not. Each contestant's digital marker has been locked in place in our custom-made magnetic pen rests which will only unlock when the one-minute timer has run its course. Any attempt to equip the marker at any time before that may or may not receive a minor electric shock!"

Mercedes made a small grimace as she took a half-step away from the marker, as if it could jump right out of the tray and zap her directly.

Chuckle "Don't worry girls, these markers are not spring-loaded, the only thing you should worry about is beating your opponent. Now, count down with me now as we approach the end of the planning phase. Five, four, three! Two!! One!!!"

Still half a step away from the podium, Mercedes hurriedly repositioned herself to get started, losing out on precious seconds. She now had one minute and fifty-six seconds to draw a dog. Among the many things she'd practiced for in the weeks leading up to the show. Not dogs specifically, but four legged animals in general, a dog shouldn't be too difficult compared to something like a horse, surely. Critically, during the minute of planning, she'd lost her cool instantly and tunnel visioned on how she'd go about drawing a dog. She'd completely forgotten that making it difficult for her opponent to guess correctly was equally as important as making sure some part of the audience understood the prompt.

On the opposite site of Mercedes, Britney is faring much better, having laid a solid plan in the prep phase. With no idea what her counterpart had gotten for a word, she did her best to draw things that didn't resemble a cat in any way, shape or form, yet would all point to "Cat" being the prompt. Some crudely drawn lines became a set of whiskers, a scribbled circle of intersecting lines would turn into her best illustration of a yarn ball. And now, with only thirty seconds left on the clock, she's rushing to finish a collar and bell.

With the final couple of seconds now counting down on the enormous screens behind the contestants, the crowd breaks out into a countdown of their own along with cheers and applause.

"Five- Four- Three- Two- ONE!!!"

The audience erupts into even greater cheers as the stage lights shut down one after another. Suddenly, the screens come back to life, causing the audience to halt their thunderous applause almost instantly. This time, the screens display two equally large white canvases with empty speedometers, each featuring one of the girls' names written underneath.. The clack of a single spotlight echoes through the now near dead-silent arena as it lights up Dupont at the center of the stage.

"Now, ladies and gentlemen! As I'm sure you've already realized, the screens behind me will soon feature the drawings of our two beautiful contestants here. We'll go through them one by one, the order being decided by a backstage coinflip right this very moment! Hold on while I listen in for the results!"

Whether the coinflip was actually taking place or not, no one but Dupont and his supposed backstage-aid knew. Meanwhile, Mercedes and Britney were eagerly waiting to hear which one would be up first. It didn't make a whole lot of difference, granted that they'd both be allowed to guess only after both drawings had been revealed, but coming second meant more time to inspect the opposing drawing, a tiny advantage, but an advantage nonetheless.

"Ah. And the word is in! Looks like we'll be inspecting Britney's drawing first!"

Tough luck for Britney, but at least she'd get to go second in the following round.

"Right then. Show us the art!"

Britney's various illustrations quickly take form in the order she drew them while the audience is buzzing with conversation, trying to guess what word or prompt the various items might be alluding to. The proud artist looks over at her opponent, trying to gather something from her facial expressions as she inspects her handywork. At least she seems to be concentrating, meaning she probably didn't get it right away.

"Some very interesting things there Britney, care to give us some insight?"

"Nice try, but I'm not gonna give myself a penalty by giving the audience more than they should have. I've also got Mercedes' guess to worry about.."

"Ha! Fair enough, was worth a shot, though! Well, ladies and gentlemen, I'm sure you're already deep in your mind palaces trying to figure out what Britney's prompt is, but I'm afraid we'll have to move on to our next contestant. Fret not, we'll leave the drawings up in the meantime."

Despite there being no reason for it whatsoever, Mercedes turns to face towards the audience as her drawing is being presented, like she's at an exhibition. Even halfway through forming, it's evident that she put a whole lot of effort into making it look nice. As it completes, it becomes evident that she went all in to draw a dog, which causes Britney some confusion. She knows that her own word was cat, would the game really set them up to get the words dog and cat? In that case, they would both get it right when guessing each other's prompt, no? Contemplating it for a moment, Britney can't believe that Mercedes would just go and draw a dog if the word was in fact dog. She couldn't be that dense, surely? Then again, the way she is posing with a grin like a super-proud kid at school makes her think otherwise. If the word isn't dog, she's got no idea what it could be, so might as well go with that.

"An ..interesting approach there Mercedes! A beautiful drawing if I do say so myself, what does the audience think?"

Applause and whistling fills the arena once more, though there are some sceptical faces as well, probably because Mercedes completely fumbled round one..

"Let us see now. Oh yes, it's time for our first bit of audience participation! As you all know, you will first get the chance to guess the prompts of our lovely ladies here! So before we get to the juicy part, which I'm sure you're all very eager for, we have to get this out of the way. So without further ado, if our arena audience would please activate the consoles integrated into your seats! And for the viewers at home, you can participate as well by downloading the Changers! app, or by sending an SMS to the number on screen right now with the contestants name followed by what you think their prompt is."

As the sound of thousands of fingers tapping away at touchscreens fills the arena, Dupont motions for both girls to fill in their guesses, before joining him at the center of the stage.

"While the audience is busy writing away at their devices, we've got a golden opportunity to find out more about these two stunning girls! Britney, let's start with you! What inspired you to join this show?"

"Well mister Flemming-"

"Oh please, call me Dupont!"

"Right, uhm, Dupont.. I've been a long-time watcher (A lie), and always fancied myself a jab at the big price! I was overjoyed when I got the personal invite to feature on a special episode!!"

Britney is clearly trying to appeal to the audience by establishing a common interest in the show. Truth is, she only started catching up on older episodes to get an edge in the competition, finding the best ways to appeal to the audience, and understand what, and if the games themselves have some underhanded tricks to them.

"Glad to hear that we have such a devoted fan with us today!"

While he plays along with Britney's lie, Dupont shoots her a glare that lets her know he's seen straight through her. She doesn't know whether that's a good thing or not, but if she could read his mind right now, she'd know that he fully respected her decision to fake an interest for the sake of the audience.

"Now on over to our exotic seductress, what made you jump on the chance to be on our lovely little show?"

"It's hardly little, Dupont! Any chance to feature in a grade A production is a chance I'll take. But between us, it was that charming smile of yours~"

"Leaning into the seductress comment I see, too bad it's the audience you need to suck up to and not me, although the compliment is certainly appreciated! And on that note, I think it's about time we rolled for commercial. We'll be right back with the results after this message from our sponsors!"

-

"Aaaaaand we're back!"

Dupont holds his words as the crowd erupts. To a live audience, commercial feels like an eternity, but a necessary evil to get all the votes counted before the show can go on.

"So, the burning question is about to be answered. Which one of our lovely girls has ran away with the most points in round one? Only one way to find out! Let's see those graphics glow! As per tradition, we will tally the percentages for the second one out first! So Mercedes, let's see those votes!"

A slight delay ensues before the speedometer next to Mercedes' drawing begins filling up. It begins filling up quickly, but slows down as it reaches the higher end. Sixty, seventy, eighty, ninety..

"A whooping ninety-six percent! That's nearly a perfect score there Mrs Beaumont! Granted that we only deal out one to ten points, we will of course round that ninety-six up to a hundred for a maximum ten points! Congratulations on perfectly guiding the audience towards the correct prompt, which in your case was dog!"

"Yay!! I knew my drawing was good! Glad all that practice paid o-"

"But wait just a moment before you begin a premature celebration, let's see what your rival guessed for your prompt!"

Mercedes visibly dies inside as she is reminded of one crucial detail. A detail she'd in the heat of the moment forgotten all about. It didn't matter how good her drawing was, when half of her point tally could easily be shaven off from a single, correct guess.

The word "dog" lights up on the screen, and her expression goes from dead inside to deader inside.

"I'm sorry, Mercedes, but it seems that those ten points of yours will only count for five. Still, quite the respectable haul if I do say so myself."

Dupont's disingenuous words of encouragement do little to cheer up the girl who just blundered away a handful of points, not to mention that Britney now gets another couple of points to spend towards ruining Mercedes.

"Now over to our other contestant, who by the looks of things has completed this round in a more ..strategic manner."

If looks could kill, Dupont would be dead ten times over by the way Mercedes stared him down as he openly insulted her little strategic mishap. Britney's speedometer begins filling up, as with Mercedes before, it slowed as it got closer to the end, but that slowdown effect came just a tad earlier. Eventually, it came to a slow halt at seventy-four percent.

"Not a bad result! Not quite as much as our little firebomb over here, but Britney's worst possible outcome will put her at least tied with her opponent! Now to see if Mercedes at least managed to guess her opponent's prompt correctly!"

The empty field beside the canvas and speedometer lit up with the word "pet".

"Ahh! Tough luck, Mercedes! At least you were in the ballpark, but the word we were looking for was cat! That gives Britney the full seven points for her drawing, in addition to the two points for guessing the correct prompt! Let's give a short round of applause to our beautiful, and clearly quite talented contestants!"

The crowd roared once more with applause and whistles, not only for the contestants, bit because of the anticipation of what was about to come up next. After a short while, Dupont motions for the crowd to calm down before continuing.

"Granted that mrs Beaumont has the least amount of points available, she's up first to decide how and if she wants to spend any of them! So, what's it gonna be? Will you spend four out of your five points for a minor physical change, or will you save up for something more spectacular later on?"

"Hmm, I think I'd like to spend them now. I don't want to be the only one changed this round.."

"A respectable choice indeed. I understand your sentiment fully. Let's ready the four choices of physical minor for our audience to vote for! In the meantime, why don't we head on over to this round's winner and see how and if she wants to spend some points of her own!"

Britney looks thoughtful for a second before making her decision.

"I'll go with a physical major, Mr Flemming!"

"Right to the big guns! How exciting! Mind sharing the rationale behind your choice?"

"Uhm"

Britney shuffles a little, looking like she's contemplating sharing her actual motivations or not.

"I.. I find Mercedes to be a bit ..vain. I thought it's a good strategy to break her spirits early with a big change to her looks.."

"Oh my! Looks like we have a little schemer on our show! Tremendous! I'm sure our other contestant would like to comment on what you just said, but I'm sorry to say, we have to get on with this! The audience has been patiently awaiting this moment for some time now. Again, my dear technicians, please upload the four choices of Physical Major for them to vote on, thank you!"

Silence fell over the arena once more as the audience collectively moved their focus to their consoles. Some audible gasps and shouts of excitement, mostly male, came from various points throughout the large space.