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EPISODE #7 Contrary to the after glow that Kaya and Alison are feeling, we encounter Valerie and Dano on this sunny morning having breakfast at Blancaneaux LodgeAs Valerie and Dano quietly eat, Dano makes attempts at any kind of conversation though the anxious Valerie seems to swing it back to …Kaya. Valerie praises Dano saying that "he's been great, considering that for the past two days I've been waiting to be reunited with Kaya." Valerie says that the butterflies are building up in her stomach. Dano asks Valerie, "Do you think we're going to see everybody tonight?" Valerie looks at him sideways, her eyes widening as she answers, "whaddya mean everybody? Just us six?" Dano replies with "I don't know, we might see the other six." Realizing what he has just said, Dano bows his head as if to pretend that those words did not just leave his mouth. Valerie scrunches up her face and says: "I don't want to see the other six, I'll see the other three." Over at the idyllic Cayo Espanto it is barely sunrise and a sleepy looking Tom and Shannon are gazing dreamily out over the ocean. Tom turns to Shannon and says, "this is what I'll remember most." Shannon says "I've always picked and choosed throughout my life, who to become intimate with, who to bare my soul to." Shannon continues, as Tom caresses her hair, "We didn't go to bed, we sat and watched the sun rise." Tom adds to this by saying "At some point during the time Shannon and I have shared over the last few days, some element of fate and some element of destiny did sneak in to the back of my mind." Shannon ups the sentiment by saying, "You could say I got to experience lust, and I also got to play with love…" In the next scene, over at Maruba Spa where Andy has shared his dream date with Elizabeth, we hear Andy wrap up his less than idyllic date "Quarter to nine Thursday morning, night after my supposedly dream date." As Andy and Elizabeth share breakfast, Andy questions Elizabeth "Now that you know the cameras are on am I dealing with Elizabeth two or one?" Elizabeth states that " If Andy didn't have a girlfriend, I still don't know how well we would have gotten along." As their tense breakfast continues, Andy wonders out loud to Elizabeth, "You think that some of the girls were inhibited or unattracted to the guys in the fact that we put ourselves in this situation?" Elizabeth leans over and curtly responds, "You have a girlfriend, and just to know that you're the type of person that would do this, makes you less attractive to me." For Elizabeth's parting comment she says, "Andy and Shannon have a very unique relationship, as he says they're both on the same page, and him and I are in completely different books." The morning sun is gleaming and the birds chirping at Jaguar Paw the site of Billy and Vanessa's Dream Date. A radiant Vanessa says, "I needed a hug so bad this morning, and I hugged him so hard, because this is like the end of it." Vanessa starts to get choked up, but continues, "And we've reached a closeness that not a lot of people could reach." Billy and Vanessa make their way to the plane, arm in arm. Billy says, "We made a conscious decision not to talk about today and just enjoy our experience, and we did." As a cuddly Billy and Vanessa fly back to home base, an emotional teary-eyed Vanessa expresses her sentiment, "Wow, I'm hoping it's not hard to say goodbye to Billy, I'm really hoping it's not."
Meanwhile the steamy Alison and Kaya walk back to Alison's cabana, where they hold each other in a close embrace. Kaya softly says, what a day, what an experience, to which Alison says, Yeah, but it's not over. Alison looks up at Kaya who leans in and gives her a slow romantic kiss. Alison says rather sadly that she's sorry he has a girlfriend…
Over at Captain Morgan's Retreat Kaya, Billy and Andy sit across from Mark who tells the guys what's next on the agenda. As the guys look at Mark with apprehension, they listen attentively. Mark explains, that tonight they will see their girlfriends, and have a chance to speak their hearts, and to let the girls know what decision they have come to about the future of their relationships. In addition, they should be prepared to hear things that maybe they are not going to want to hear. Billy takes this stone faced, as Mark continues and tells the guys to collect their thoughts.
It's the final night on Temptation Island. Mark is ready to meet with
each of the three couples to find out who will stay together Andy leaves and Shannon joins Mark. Shannon says her experience was more reflective than perhaps Mandy's, who she thinks was more emotional. Shannon says, most of her journey was internal, and she realizes she was more of a private person than she originally thought. Shannon says, the best part of the trip was hanging out at Mata Chica, "The single men were our buddies, our lifelines." Mark asks Shannon if she's worried about what Andy will say at the bonfire. Shannon reports that she came to Temptation Island very confident, but during her experience her confidence was shaken. She continues by saying that for most part she maintained her confidence because she realized that her and Andy had invested so much time in their relationship and loved each other so much, that even if she heard things she didn't want to hear, it would take Andy falling in love with someone else for them to break up. Mark asks Shannon if she'll miss Tom. She says she hopes she won't. She says, "Tom and I have an extraordinary bond, one that we didn't anticipate, and we both feel fortunate for the experience." Mark brings Andy in to join Shannon and tells them that now is the
time to let each other know how they feel about each other and about
their experiences on the island. Shannon begins with a deep breath and says, "I hope this comes out right" Shannon looks directly into Andy's eyes and begins, "I never anticipated what a roller coaster this was going to be. I was so confident walking away from you and I feel so much strength in our relationship and I thought we'd already tried and tested it so many times that I'd be fine. But, my first moment of weakness was seeing Carla jump all over you." Shannon goes on to tell Andy she was jealous of seeing Andy in the hammock with Megan. Shannon then tells Andy how she remembered, in the past, when they decided to see other people, she backed out, feeling jealous and wrecked emotionally. She continues saying, to keep her from feeling like Andy was doing something and she wasn't, she stole a kiss. Andy laughs, "Even Steven." Shannon tells Andy, the kiss was nothing but fun. Shannon then reveals to Andy that she went on her dream date with Tom. Andy moans, "I knew you went with him." Shannon says, "What an incredible guy." Andy grimaces as Shannon continues in her praise of Tom, saying that they connected, and it was wonderful. Shannon tells Andy, "You set me free and told me to go try something else, and I did." She tells Andy with tears in her eyes that he has her heart and soul and that he has had it since the day she told him back in his dorm room at college. Andy responds with tears in his eyes, that he wants to be done, that he wants to go home, to which Shannon says, "me too." They rise, hug each other tightly and say their good-byes to Mark. As they walk away from the bonfire they are seen clinging to each other smiling and laughing. Billy enters the bonfire, and greets Mark. Mark asks Billy what was the best thing about the experience. Billy takes a moment and says that he feels that what he is going to take away from this experience is a real emotional attraction to someone. Mark then asks what was your most painful aspect of this? Billy, again choosing his words carefully, say "You try to forget that your significant other is doing the exact same thing as you are" Mark reminds him of when he had to watch Mandy at Maruba Spa with Johnny doing the body shots. In hindsight, Billy says that he would have opted to not view the tapes. Mark asks Billy how much of what Mandy says to you is going to affect your decision. Billy pauses for what seems like an eternity, and says, "In a way it's a hundred percent contingent upon what she has to say." Billy leaves and Mandy approaches the bonfire, greets Mark with a hug and sits down. Mark asks her what was the best part of this experience for her. She answers, "meeting all the great people," hoping that absence makes the heart grow fonder. Mandy reveals that the best part of this journey was last night on her date with Jon, opening herself up the most to the game. That she said, was what made the whole trip worthwhile. "It quit becoming a party, and started to become a journey" Mark states that she should be prepared to hear things she might not want to hear. She sighs, and says, "wow." She continues, "Of course I don't want to hurt Billy, but, suprisingly, I've somehow prepared myself to say a few things that I just have to say some of which I know he's not going to want to hear." Mark asks Mandy what drew her to Jon? She answers softly, "his shyness, his quiet intelligence, I all of a sudden realized, watching the tapes of Billy, that he was losing the shyness, the reservedness." Mark reminds Mandy that she said she had the best time of her life with Jon. Mandy smiles broadly and agrees with Mark. She remarks, "I happen to have been with the perfect guy in the perfect place." Mark talks to Mandy about seeing the Billy tapes; "you saw what you thought was the "new Billy." What if there is this new Billy? She answers telling Mark, that she would be disappointed, thought she will support him however he is, but just not as her boyfriend. Billy now joins Mandy and Mark at bonfire. Mandy nervously sneaks a
look at Billy as he sits down. Billy looks to his right, straight ahead
and then, after what seems an eternity, looks to his left directly at
Mandy who looks right back at him, but only briefly. Mark breaks the ice, and begins, "Say everything that is in your
heart, speak from your heart, and when you are finished tell each other
what your final decision is." Mandy begins her full disclosure. An obviously uncomfortable Billy
puts on his most stoic face. Mandy tells Billy that she had an intimate
moment with someone, though it was nice, it was comforting, it was new,
"it still wasn't my boyfriend." Billy hangs his head low,
taking all of this information in. Mandy tells the distraught Billy
that she wants them to be together for the rest of their lives, to which
Billy does not respond. They leave and Kaya sits down for his bonfire. Mark asks him how he's doing. Kaya responds with a "I'm great! I'm really, really great!" Mark cuts right to the chase and asks Kaya why he didn't take Megan for the final date. Kaya gives a smile, says ,"oh, man." Kaya tells Mark that he did have an amazing day with Megan and shared a special time with her, but he didn't give Alison the same chance that he gave Megan. He admits to having a romantic and emotional connection with Megan. He tells Mark that he feels a similar connection with Alison, which he even has a hard time believing. Mark asks Kaya if this did not pose questions to him, having such strong feelings for two women. Kaya agrees and says, yes, he didn't think it was possible. Kaya adds that both Megan and Alison are two amazing girls, and that the time spent with them on the dates, were two of the best days of his life. He leaves and now it's Valerie's' turn. Valerie walks up to the bonfire sits down, and shyly says hello to Mark, quite the contrast to Kaya. Mark asks Valerie what was the best part of this experience Valerie says that she learned about herself, feelings that she didn't expect to feel, like the time she saw him with Alison on their first dates, and Kaya didn't see her. She said that at that point she had vision of him and that really hurt her. Mark asks her if she's prepared to hear what Kaya has to say, and also what are her biggest fears regarding that. Valerie who chooses her words very carefully, calmly states that if Kaya has had an intimate exchange, she could forgive him, if he regretted it. Her worst fear would be that if Kaya "did something, didn't regret it, and felt like he shouldn't be in a relationship right now." She laughs nervously and says, "yeah, that would be my biggest fear." As Kaya sits down, she can barely look at him. Kaya takes his place and never once looks at Valerie, instead they both look at Mark. This by far is the most serious bonfire, with seriousness, and apprehension hanging in the air, Mark tells them to speak what is in their heart. He implores them to be honest. Mark asks which one of them would like to begin. When Mark doesn't get a response, but just bowed heads, he offers it to Valerie. With tears welling up in her eyes, she begins. Valerie tells Kaya that the first experience that really shook her was when she saw Kaya on his first date with Alison, and yelled his name but he didn't see her. "And I waved at you and I thought you saw me, but when you didn't wave back -- and so I was like did he see me, and not wave at me? -- then my mind started going crazy." She goes on to say that she could have retaliated and shared an intimate moment with a guy, like she would have normally done in the past, but she chose not to. She doesn't think that it was a waste to come to the island, and that she's glad she did it. Valerie pulls out a piece of paper from her pocket, something that she has written to read to Kaya. She begins, "you and I both know that in my past relationships I sometimes acted on temptation. Obviously I must have found something exhilarating about acting on them, but now, I drive my exhilaration from my relationship with you." Valerie's voice starts to crack; the tears start to run down her face. Her voice wrecked with emotion she continues, "And not from acting on those temptations." She finishes and bows her head down to her knees sobbing. She regains composure and waits for Kaya's response. He starts with, "First of all, I just wanted to say, I didn't see you that first day, I can't see long distances without my glasses, you know that." Kaya reminds her that when they decided to do this they were both coming for the experiences, to be able to grow. Kaya explains to Valerie that he feels what happened to him -- more than anyone else on the island -- that he had a wild ride. He set out to conquer and open himself up to any fear that he had. He tells her he took physical challenges, and that he took emotional chances at well. He states that whatever he did, he feels good. He tells a visibly upset Valerie that he can honestly say that he feels no regret for a single thing he did. He tells Valerie that he set out to know the single girls on a deeper level if the connection was there. He adds there were two connections, with girls that he really clicked with and that he had feelings for. He says that it was difficult to be alone and to make these choices. That anytime he was presented with a decision to make, he always chose the most complex choice because that would be the only way for him to grow as a person. He tells Valerie that she never left, she was always there, and always on his mind, and that Valerie makes him who he is, and that she makes him a better man. And he's thankful to her for agreeing to come to Temptation Island. He finishes his speech with, "And I'm only going to be better to you and better for you because of it all." Kaya continues, "And I love you, and you're my choice." Valerie responds by letting out a loud cry and leaping into Kaya's arms. They kiss and hold each other, Valerie still sniffling. She laughs, and says. Let's get out of here. Kaya and Valerie walk into the darkness arm in arm. EPILOGUE KAYA AND VALERIE BILLY AND MANDY ANDY AND SHANNON |
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