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The Joe Baghead Show
momelimberham
Posts: 75 Member
Dating shows are all the rage these days. Who doesn't like to see a bunch of sexy singles locked in a house for weeks on end, slowly driving each other insane in the hopes that two of them might find love and also win a lot of money?
Welcome to the Joe Baghead Show, where we take one mystery individual and force him to wear a bag on his head until the finale. Will the contestants be able to fall in love with "Joe" (not his real name) without knowing what he looks like? If they do fall for him, will they like what they see at the end of the show when all is revealed?
Let's meet our contestants.
First, our bachelor, "Joe Baghead." Since this is reality tv, we thought it would be exciting for viewers for the main "character" to be socially awkward. Being stuck in a house with 7 women with the intention of maybe marrying one of them when he's constantly saying awkward things? Great tv! Joe also describes himself as clumsy and a daydreamer, and he ultimately wants to find his soulmate. Will he be successful?
Joe's vest and shorts combo may not match, but he's not the only fashion disaster!
Next up we have Taylor Swift. No, not THAT Taylor Swift.
[I swear, I randomly generated everyone's names in the game and that was the first result for her]
Taylor describes herself as a cheerful and outgoing romantic. Unlike her famous name twin, she has aspirations to be a body builder.
Next is Devon Cummins. She describes herself as having had a respectable but perhaps sheltered upbringing. She's a bookworm, owing to her lack of television access as a kid, and is proper. Her number 1 goal in life? Well, it's a secret, she says.
Our third bachelorette is Priscilla Martino. She loves knitting and likes to tinker. A romantic, she says her friends would describe her as "self-absorbed". "But am I really the one who's self-absorbed when they all keep talking about me all the time?" she asks.
Sienna Neuburger is our fourth lady. A green fiend who is also a romantic and a scribe, you'd think her goal in life would be to write romance novels. But no, her top priority is a successful lineage.
Rebecca Cartwright is up next. She's a self-assured bookworm who loves the insider life. Like Joe, her lifetime goal is to find her soulmate. Could this be fate?
Gemma Aleman is up next. Yet another romantic, she says her nickname as a kid was "egghead." "I've always been smart, kind of a nerd, and my goal is to be a real Renaissance Sim." We learned that she also doesn't take jokes well, as she glared at us like we were stupid when a cameraman asked if that was her natural hair color.
And our final bachelorette, Katrina Dowling. Most people make assumptions about Katrina based on her alternative hairstyle, but Katrina has a love for plants and a love for socializing, and a love for hair dye.
And those are the contestants. Could one of these women be The One Joe has been waiting for his whole life, or at least the part of his life from between when we put out a casting call and now? Will the girls find Joe's awkward personality and mysterious face too hard to deal with? Will there be a catfight between Devon and Katrina who are wearing the same dress? Tune in for Day 1 of The Joe Baghead Show.
Meta notes
Bonus empty house tour:
Day 1 write-up coming soon. Any favorites so far? Do you think Joe will turn out to be a hideous ghoul, the most handsome man in the universe, or somewhere in between? Is he wearing a bag because he has a mole on his chin he's embarrassed about? Will he end up eloping with the toilet? Will there be an issue at any point that the house is at the base of a volcano? Is anyone there to increase their Simstagram followers rather than to find love? Will I finally remember to actually decorate the upstairs after 3 days? It took me 2 days to remember there wasn't a garbage can, so I guess we'll find out!
Welcome to the Joe Baghead Show, where we take one mystery individual and force him to wear a bag on his head until the finale. Will the contestants be able to fall in love with "Joe" (not his real name) without knowing what he looks like? If they do fall for him, will they like what they see at the end of the show when all is revealed?
Let's meet our contestants.
First, our bachelor, "Joe Baghead." Since this is reality tv, we thought it would be exciting for viewers for the main "character" to be socially awkward. Being stuck in a house with 7 women with the intention of maybe marrying one of them when he's constantly saying awkward things? Great tv! Joe also describes himself as clumsy and a daydreamer, and he ultimately wants to find his soulmate. Will he be successful?
Joe's vest and shorts combo may not match, but he's not the only fashion disaster!
Next up we have Taylor Swift. No, not THAT Taylor Swift.
Taylor describes herself as a cheerful and outgoing romantic. Unlike her famous name twin, she has aspirations to be a body builder.
Next is Devon Cummins. She describes herself as having had a respectable but perhaps sheltered upbringing. She's a bookworm, owing to her lack of television access as a kid, and is proper. Her number 1 goal in life? Well, it's a secret, she says.
Our third bachelorette is Priscilla Martino. She loves knitting and likes to tinker. A romantic, she says her friends would describe her as "self-absorbed". "But am I really the one who's self-absorbed when they all keep talking about me all the time?" she asks.
Sienna Neuburger is our fourth lady. A green fiend who is also a romantic and a scribe, you'd think her goal in life would be to write romance novels. But no, her top priority is a successful lineage.
Rebecca Cartwright is up next. She's a self-assured bookworm who loves the insider life. Like Joe, her lifetime goal is to find her soulmate. Could this be fate?
Gemma Aleman is up next. Yet another romantic, she says her nickname as a kid was "egghead." "I've always been smart, kind of a nerd, and my goal is to be a real Renaissance Sim." We learned that she also doesn't take jokes well, as she glared at us like we were stupid when a cameraman asked if that was her natural hair color.
And our final bachelorette, Katrina Dowling. Most people make assumptions about Katrina based on her alternative hairstyle, but Katrina has a love for plants and a love for socializing, and a love for hair dye.
And those are the contestants. Could one of these women be The One Joe has been waiting for his whole life, or at least the part of his life from between when we put out a casting call and now? Will the girls find Joe's awkward personality and mysterious face too hard to deal with? Will there be a catfight between Devon and Katrina who are wearing the same dress? Tune in for Day 1 of The Joe Baghead Show.
Meta notes
I randomly generated everybody's names, appearances, outfit theming (colors and styles), and traits. Joe is technically the genetic offspring of two randomly generated sims. I took inspiration from Jeb Harris for the "wears a bag at all times" thing. I did have to alter some of the randomly generated stuff, like when there was no Sporty option in the formal section or whatever. And I wanted to give everyone either a Romantic trait or a love-related aspiration. Two of the girls also have jealous traits, to make things exciting. I'm kind of making this up as I go along, partly inspired by The Bachelor and Love Island in that people get rewarded for winning things or by having good relationships. This is also my first time doing like a big sim lit post thingy. I have a simblr but I didn't really post storyline narratives to it and I haven't updated it in like a decade. Sims 4 hadn't even come out yet!
Bonus empty house tour:
Kitchen/dining area
Karaoke machine by back door
Yoga stools and a bunch of microphones in case everyone wants to practice stand-up comedy at the same time. The door is to the bathroom.
4 chess tables, 2 Don't Wake the Llama games, easels
Pool with outdoor shower. This is where I'd put a pool slide... IF I HAD ONE.
Joe's private bedroom and bathroom. The bathroom is one tile wide. He has the state-of-the-art talking toilet in case he needs to vent. And the window is there in case the toilet needs to vent.
Contestants' bedroom.
Upstairs bathroom. Spoiler alert, those showers are not popular.
Karaoke machine by back door
Yoga stools and a bunch of microphones in case everyone wants to practice stand-up comedy at the same time. The door is to the bathroom.
4 chess tables, 2 Don't Wake the Llama games, easels
Pool with outdoor shower. This is where I'd put a pool slide... IF I HAD ONE.
Joe's private bedroom and bathroom. The bathroom is one tile wide. He has the state-of-the-art talking toilet in case he needs to vent. And the window is there in case the toilet needs to vent.
Contestants' bedroom.
Upstairs bathroom. Spoiler alert, those showers are not popular.
Day 1 write-up coming soon. Any favorites so far? Do you think Joe will turn out to be a hideous ghoul, the most handsome man in the universe, or somewhere in between? Is he wearing a bag because he has a mole on his chin he's embarrassed about? Will he end up eloping with the toilet? Will there be an issue at any point that the house is at the base of a volcano? Is anyone there to increase their Simstagram followers rather than to find love? Will I finally remember to actually decorate the upstairs after 3 days? It took me 2 days to remember there wasn't a garbage can, so I guess we'll find out!
Can one awkward man find love when nobody knows what he looks like? Check out Joe Baghead season 1
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The group arrived at the house all the same time. Gemma, Taylor, and Joe stood outside for a while. Perhaps they were too nervous to go inside, or perhaps they thought they could get in some quick mingling time with just the three of them?
Meanwhile, Rebecca headed straight to the pool, and the other four girls each opted to play chess - separately. Perhaps their skills aren't good enough to try playing against another person yet?
Taylor was starving and headed inside to eat, and Gemma wandered in as well. Joe, not wanting to awkwardly stand outside the house when he's supposed to be connecting with women, headed inside to join Sienna's game of chess. They hit it off pretty well at first, talking about theatre, comedy, and tanks. Perhaps they have a mutual fondness of the musical The Producers. Gemma also joined Priscilla's game of chess. Gemma pranked Priscilla into thinking there was a bat behind her, which Priscilla thought was a great joke.
Rebecca decided not to swim after all, and came inside to join Katrina's game of chess. I think they didn't get along too well because the game ended pretty quickly. Priscilla got up to play Don't Wake the Llama alone, ignoring that Taylor was already playing it at the other table. Katrina then joined Devon's game of chess, while Rebecca just kind of hovered in the room to see what was up.
Priscilla, Katrina, and Rebecca were all convinced to join Taylor's llama game, perhaps either because of how much fun she was having or because she told them that players are gonna play play play. Devon got bored of chess and sat at the now-vacant second Llama table. While Joe felt awkward that none of the girls seemed too interested in him so far, he saw an opportunity to be the one to start the talking and joined Devon at the table.
Meanwhile, Gemma and Sienna kept playing chess until Sienna got too bored and went for a dip in the pool.
Devon and Joe chatted for quite a while, even though Devon seemed very disinterested a number of times, checking her phone quite often. Joe started daydreaming partway through the conversation, which seemed to irritate Devon. Katrina and Taylor listened to Rebecca doing karaoke outside, until Katrina remembered she's on a dating show and sat down to chat with Joe, unaware of the fact that he's daydreaming. Would they have noticed that his mind was elsewhere if his face wasn't just drawn on? Who knows!
When Joe came back out of it, he, Devon, and Katrina played a game of Don't Wake the Llama. He knocked the tower down, perhaps because of his clumsy trait, which for some reason pleased Devon but lowered his relationship bar with Katrina. Katrina said, "He's so weird. He'll be completely out of it for like 15 minutes and then he'll talk your ear off. I don't like it."
The Welcome Wagon unfortunately arrived at this moment, and its sole occupant was Sigrid Funk, and trust me when I tell you that you are not prepared to see her.
Nobody answered the Unwelcome Wagon, which made Sigrid upset with Joe, a man she never met, for some reason.
Rebecca felt more like actually going for a swim after her karaoke performance. Taylor relaxed in a pool floaty, her ears still ringing from the terrible karaoke performance
Joe went back to a chess table and thought about robots for a while, and then got up to join Rebecca in a game of chess. Rebecca unfortunately was more into talking about writing with Devon, and got up and left 4 minutes into the game. Poor Joe!
Priscilla got flirty with thoughts of Joe during a swim, but then went inside to watch a game of Don't Wake the Llama rather than interact with Joe in any way. Priscilla then realized she needed to pee, which reminded Joe he also needed to pee. Rebecca followed him into the bathroom (which is a public restroom style with stalls). I thought she needed to pee as well, but no, she went in there to do finger guns at the stall Joe was in and then she left. We stan a weird and relatable queen.
Gemma confesses that she's sad about seeing everyone coupled up but her, due to her jealous trait. Nobody in the house is even friends, let alone a couple, so her jealousy must be pretty extreme!
Everyone then realizes they're hungry, and with 8 people and one kitchen it was chaos, especially since nobody figured out to serve a meal for everyone. And despite a dining table with 8 chairs and 4 kitchen islands with 4 barstools, Joe opted for the most comfortable spot to eat his French toast in the house - standing up while staring at Rebecca.
Katrina was suddenly naked for no apparent reason, which drew Joe to her immediately for a chat. He then discovered he has a Childish personality. I kind of feel like the adult in a house full of strangers who keeps walking around naked is a little more childish, personally! Katrina cut the chat short and headed out to the ocean with Sienna and Taylor. They all waded into an algae bloom, which gave Sienna and Katrina uncomfortable moodlets - probably worse in Katrina's case as she was still naked. [no nudity in screenshot other than a bare back, as in where the spine is]
Priscilla had a terrible go at karaoke and then headed up to bed at 8:45 pm. I know they say "early to bed, early to rise, makes a sim healthy, wealthy, and wise" but that's a little extreme!
Joe and Gemma headed to bed next at about 10 pm. I don't blame Joe, what's the point in staying up later when nobody wants to talk to you on a show all about dating you?! Maybe things will turn out better tomorrow!
Katrina had some kind of harrowing experience in the algae-infested water, giving her a fear of the ocean. For some reason she continued to swim in it for the next 3 hours, however, even when Taylor and Sienna headed back to the house.
Katrina finally ends her nighttime ocean skinny dip with a Paranoid personality, but rather than go to sleep like a normal person she does a backfloat in the pool at the house. Since she was still naked we opted not to include that image.
Day 1 ends with nobody having made a particularly strong impression on Joe. Sienna has barely the highest friendship bar with him, but nobody really stands out as a contender so far. Taylor barely interacted with Joe at all. Gemma has gained the most skills in the house at the end of the day.
Next time: After the first day of mingling, will things look better for Joe? What happens when things get too hot? And will I notice that I still didn't put a trashcan anywhere on the property? Stay tuned!
Meta notes:
I was kind of surprised NOBODY really seemed to want to talk to Joe? Some of the girls have higher friendship bars with each other than anyone has at Joe at this point. Also Joe staring at Rebecca while he's eating toast is one of my favorite screenshots so far. My favorite of the girls has slowly changed - I'm actually playing day 6 right now - but I won't spoil who it is. I was equally rooting for everyone at the BEGINNING of day 1 but not by the end of the day!
Also I usually play the sims by just having the house zoomed out enough that I can see the entire thing at once, so it's a fun new experience to be zoomed in really close to one sim at a time so I have no idea what the others are doing sometimes. Like I didn't realize Rebecca was singing karaoke until I checked on them later and she had a buff from the performance and Taylor had the ringing ear moodlet, until I posted this and noticed you can see Katrina and Taylor through a window around where the outdoor karaoke machine is! See you next time!
Sienna gets an early start to the day by setting the kitchen on fire at 5 am. Luckily the house has a sprinkler system installed so the fire went out right away, only taking the refrigerator and oven as casualties. Rebecca and Joe survey the damage.
While we waited for the emergency appliance delivery service to replace the food-giving appliances, Taylor broke the sink.
After the appliances were replaced - the sink still broken - Katrina came downstairs to just stand in front of the refrigerator for no apparent reason, still naked. Devon patiently waited for Katrina to, you know, MOVE, then gave up and just left the kitchen even though she was still hungry.
Joe, also hungry, decides to ask Sienna on the outing. "I mean, they do have food outside, right?" says Joe. Joe finds Sienna treading water in the ocean despite being hungry. She's in a confident mood for "extinguishing the fire" even though she STARTED the fire and had nothing to do with it being extinguished.
For a change of scenery, they decide to head to Tartosa's Celebrazioni d'Amore.
In what I'm beginning to see is somewhat of a repeating pattern, Joe and Sienna ordered food at the same time but sat at different tables.
Every townie visiting the lounge just HAD to come over and ask Joe about the paper bag on his head. He was so distracted talking to these people that he didn't notice Sienna slipping away to take a nap in the best possible place - the hot tub.
While Joe sat, wondering where on earth Sienna had disappeared to and wondering if agreeing to be on this show was a good decision after all, a friendly townie - Eleanor Sullivan - came by and Joe got some sage advice on love from her. Joe was then thrilled to spot a genuine celebrity - Judith Talla!
"She still looks the same as she did in those old movies!" Joe gushed.
Sienna, awake from her hot tub nap, really needed to pee. Being a sim, she just stood there and made no effort to go use the toilet.
At 7 pm, Joe decided to call it quits for the day. "She barely spoke to me on this date and I didn't even know where she was for like 4 hours. Maybe I'll focus on the other girls for the rest of the week, if she can't figure out to get a good night's sleep the night before she's getting one-on-one time with me."
Back at the house, everyone is still feeling tense from the fire. Nobody fixed the sink. Joe, sad and tired, goes to bed early. Tomorrow's another day, Joe!
Sienna finally figured out she needed to GO TO SLEEP
Gemma learns she likes "deep thoughts" during a late-night conversation with the girls minus Sienna and Devon, who were both sleeping.
Despite the less-than-ideal outing, Joe's highest relationship is still with Sienna.
Not a super eventful day, other than the fire. Up next: Day 3! Will romance finally spark between anyone in the house? What happens at the mandatory club meeting? And will I FINALLY notice there's no trashcan? Stay tuned!
Meta notes
The shot of Joe and Rebecca in pajamas in front of the burnt fridge is my favorite screenshot so far.
Also by day 3 of this I had actually forgotten what Joe looked like under the bag. I recently took the bag off just to remind myself because all I'd remembered was his hair color and certain specific facial aspects, because I was in CAS anyone to turn off the hair growth for everyone. Very exciting for me!
Also this will be important later, but one of my mods installed has an attractiveness system in it, and I'm keeping track of how everybody feels about each other, because it changes depending on how their romances develop I guess?
Sorry for the gaps between posts! Since day 2 and day 3 are both kind of uneventful I'm planning on having a shorter gap between them.
The house was given a 9 am wakeup call to make sure everyone got as much socializing as possible during the day. Joe attempted to serve breakfast for the house, but the girls kept shoving him out of the way of the fridge so they could prepare their own breakfasts for themselves. Their loss!
At about 10 am, a meeting of the Joe Baghead Club was called. Joe and the 5 women with the lowest relationship score with Joe are members of the club, and must engage in activities of painting, wellness, chess, and romance.
I finally noticed there was no trashcan anywhere on the property, which was why there was so much garbage piling up with the sink being broken. I give them a garbage can, and then Tina Tinker conveniently showed up to see if anything needed fixing! There IS something, Tina, thank you!
Since everyone was just doing their own thing during the club gathering, Joe opted to have everyone play chess together. Rebecca took the initiative to be the one actively playing chess with Joe while the others cheered on, and I guess helped. Is there such a thing as armchair coaching for chess? None of them are very good at chess regardless.
Tina hung around in the house for a while. She did not actively cheer on the chess game, but talked about garbage while sitting at another chess table. Joe found that conversation very engaging. I'm sure he's been feeling like garbage with all these women constantly ignoring him on a dating show all about him!
He ended up finding Tina an engaging conversation partner and chatted about chess with her while the contestants all went back to doing their own things.
Sienna and Devon mingled by the poolside, and Rebecca came back to chat with Joe!
Joe finally manages to get an opportunity to cook, and Devon actually chatted with him while he worked. Is she taking the competition seriously now, or is she up to something?
It was nice to see someone finally being romantic in the club where one of the activities is to be romantic! Priscilla after flirting once went to bed at 8:30 pm. Why does she always go to bed so early?? Everybody else headed to bed at around midnight, except for Taylor who decided the pool was the best place to almost have an energy failure. What's with everybody always going to the water when they're about to pass out? Don't you know you could drown?!
At the end of day 3, Joe and Rebecca have the highest friendship bar, and Joe and Priscilla are the only ones with a romance bar, although it's tiny so far. Katrina spent most of the day painting. Tina did eventually leave.
Next time: A group outing! Flirting! Pancakes!
Day 4:
The producer encourages Joe to flirt with each contestant at least once today.
Katrina and Priscilla both wake up early due to the age-old alarm system of having a full bladder, and they take advantage of the quiet early morning hours to play chess and bond. Then Katrina starts to feel paranoid - perhaps because the house is quiet, too quiet - while Priscilla, being self-absorbed, mostly talks about herself. Priscilla decides to do some sit-ups and then Katrina decides to scream in her face. Satisfied with her paranoia-related self-care, Katrina checks her phone and then takes a shower.
Joe sleeps in, perhaps unmotivated thanks to the lack of interest the girls are showing so far. As usual, Sienna is the last one to wake up.
Once he's finally up for the day, Joe attempts to cook for the household again, and succeeds at getting access to the fridge and oven. He opts to make scrambled eggs with bacon, and I guess all along the secret to winning these women over was bacon, because all 7 of them wander over to the kitchen to chat while he's cooking. Rebecca even volunteered to help - even though scrambled eggs and bacon don't exactly require extra hands - and as a result Joe and Rebecca's relationship shot up to Friend, their friendship bar filling up halfway! Wow! Bacon really is magical!
Gemma and Sienna, perhaps jealous of the bonding going on, also helped - even though scrambled eggs and bacon really don't need FOUR people to help make. Joe appreciated the effort and the attention, though, and began to daydream about hugging someone, anyone.
The house gets an announcement - today all 8 of them will be going to the park! Rebecca and Devon had to speedily shave their legs. Katrina decided to get in some laps before they left, which held everyone up from leaving. But finally they all headed out to Magnolia Blossom Park.
The park made Devon and Sienna flirty, which was perfect for Joe who decided to just flirt with everyone one by one as soon as they arrived. Nobody's romance bar increased (or appeared), however 5 of the girls did sty and chat with Joe for a little bit.
Joe is more confident than ever, and his friendship with Rebecca increased even more!
Gemma seemed tired of listening to Joe talking about himself, but it turned out she was just politely excusing herself to use the restroom. Joe then resorted to compulsive handwashing for no apparent reason. Maybe he was doubting himself over why Gemma left the conversation so abruptly and was expressing this doubt through... handwashing.
Meanwhile, Taylor and Sienna played chess while chatting with Devon about tinkering and handiness. Katrina sat nearby, browsing her phone.
Joe, despite the handwashing incident, was feeling confident, and autonomously flirted with Devon. Shocking! His highest friendship is now with Rebecca, I would've expected him to flirt with her!
Then the group, minus Rebecca and Katrina, all began chatting again - about baseball, breakfast, and urinals. Maybe Joe wants a urinal in the house even though he's the only one with a private bathroom anyway? Katrina just stood nearby, not engaging in conversation, while Rebecca played chess elsewhere.
Joe is now so confident about how the day has been going that he started daydreaming again. Perhaps he's daydreaming about how the show will go, with no dramatic plot twists or anything.
Then Alexa Pancakes waltzed over to share a sob story, and Joe left to go daydream somewhere else. Maybe Joe was daydreaming about Alexa leaving.
We helpfully pointed out to Joe that there was a skating rink at the park, and that might be a fun activity for the group! Joe told us, "I was nervous about rollerskating, especially in front of everyone. I'm clumsy, right? And I've never roller skated before. I was sure I'd fall flat on my face and everyone would laugh. But it was great, I fell a few times but so did everyone else!"
Taylor, exhausted, decided to sneak home early from the fun. Maybe she's beginning to wonder if this show is really right for her after all.
Priscilla also left the rink, but it was to use the toilet. She opted not to return to skating, but decided to play chess instead. Her loss! Or win, since she's playing by herself so either way she wins.
Except it turns out that Taylor decided not to go home after all, and so she and Priscilla chat at the chess table while waiting for the others to tire out.
After we finally sent everyone home, we took stock: Joe is now friends with Sienna, Gemma, and Rebecca, with Rebecca being his highest friendship. Rebecca's only friend in the house is Joe. Joe's relationship bar with Taylor is barely visible, and Priscilla is still the only person with whom he has a romance bar at all.
Katrina seems more interested in befriending Taylor and Devon, checking her phone, and painting. In fact, she's been a painting machine while she's been here. Are we sure Katrina is here for the right reasons?
And what about Taylor - hardly any interactions with Joe, barely a friendship bar. If Taylro wants to be the Juliet to Joe's Romeo, she better say yes to this love story!
Next time: Eggs! Geeks! More Taylor Swift song references!
short meta note: I cannot WAIT to share day 14. These early days when I'm still figuring stuff out are nothing compared to the insanity that week 2 brings.
Taylor lives her best life by eating eggs at the pool at 3 am.
Joe heads down early for breakfast but accidentally catches Sienna using the outdoor shower, naked. Awkward! She didn't care at all, but Joe was so distracted by the awkward moment that he repeatedly cut himself while preparing his breakfast salad. Devon actually sat to chat with him while he ate even though she was also hungry.
At 10 am, the household gets a Mome Mail - GeekCon is in town, and Joe must travel to it with the girl he has the lowest relationship with - Taylor. Taylor is still sound asleep, hungry even though she just had eggs nearly 6 hours ago, and smelly. So this should be fun!
A thunderstorm hit the second they arrived, which disturbed everyone included this naked man I artfully censored with the composition of the screenshot.
By the time Joe runs inside for shelter, the thunderstorm is over. Despite just lasting for a few minutes, every single computer at GeekCon broke from the lightning and rain. Without much else to do, Joe invited Taylor to do one of the only working things at GeekCon - build a rocketship together. Both have 0 rocketry skills starting out, so they don't get very far. Especially when a woman in a llama costume comments on how smelly Taylor is, causing Taylor to leave to go play BlicBlock alone.
Taylor has achieved something truly remarkable - she is the smelliest person at a convention. Darth Maul and Princess Leia both mock her for it.
Joe tried hard throughout the day to socialize with Taylor, but every time he'd approach her, some random convention-goers would show up to interrupt. This inadvertently lead to Joe's friendship with Taylor DECREASING. Oops!
Joe starts feeling overwhelmed by being in such a crowded place with his socially awkward trait. He goes off to play Blic-Block alone one more time before he and Taylor decide to head home for some much-needed showers.
After Joe gets squeaky clean, he immediately goes to chat with Rebecca. They discus art and music, and share memes with each other on their phones.
Joe serves up some mac & cheese for everyone, and they all refused to use the dining table again.
Since Joe was so overwhelmed, he gets sent to bed pretty early - and it turns out Devon had gone to bed even earlier!
Nothing much has changed at the end of day 5, aside from Joe/Taylor's friendship bar being even lower despite spending the whole day together. Maybe this is just a Cruel Summer for Taylor, and perhaps Joe knew she was trouble, trouble, trouble, trouble from the beginning.
Bonus:
Next time: Fish! Mice! Death? And more of Joe than you've ever seen before! (in a family friendly way!)
Meta note
Spoilers for the entire show, they spent nearly a year in this house and being this close to the volcano on a lot with a volcanic activity challenge never mattered even once.
Priscilla, Devon, and Taylor all wake up before 6 am. Priscilla was actually still up at 2:30 am, discovering a love of fitness. Devon woke up in a flirty mood, and luckily for her, Priscilla is interested in men and women, and is awake to flirt with! Priscilla and Devon have a chat in the kitchen, mocking someone who apparently talks too much. Based on what everyone has said and done up to this point, I have to assume they're making fun of Joe. Good thing he's asleep! That would do some real damage to his already extremely fragile self-esteem.
Priscilla decides to bite the bullet and actually flirt with Devon, which pleases both women. Priscilla, being self-absorbed, keeps talking and talking, eventually hitting on some topic that Devon isn't interested in. Is this love doomed before it even starts?
The house gets a 7 am wake-up call for the remaining sleepyheads, and a Mome Mail that they're going to spend the dah fishing. Today is the last full day in the house before the first elimination, and whoever: increases her fishing skills the most OR catches the most fish OR the most expensive fish, depending on which option makes the most sense based on how well they all do (like if they're all tied for fishing skill), gets to go on a private outing with Joe.
Taylor says: "Honestly at this point, the idea of not only fishing all day and then having to spend a day alone with Joe afterwards? I would rather die. Sorry not sorry." Why you gotta be so mean, Taylor?!
Once they arrive at the fishing spot, Rebecca, Gemma, and Devon make a beeline for the fishing spot with Joe, while Priscilla, Sienna, Taylor, and Katrina opt to gossip rather than go fishing. As a quick meta note, it was after this challenge that I learned that only 4 people can "fish together"! Oops!
First catch of the day went to Devon, who caught a digital camera, which I assume does not taste great with tartar sauce. Rebecca really struggled with fishing, but she enjoyed being outside regardless and now Loves Outdoors. Joe stopped fishing to chat with the other girls for a while, and then the unthinkable happened - someone flirted with him! I didn't catch who it was, but I assume Priscilla since they still have a romance bar - and are the only ones with one.
In production's second oopsie of the trip, it was so hot out in the desert that everyone started burning to death. Sorry! So we ended the fishing trip early and sent everyone home to think up plan B. Joe tells us, "I guess if 5 of the girls all died at once, that would make my decision a little easier. Not that I would want any of them to die or anything, of course." Foreshadowing? I don't know her!
Gemma decided she has a cheerful nature while also discovering she has a fear of crowded places. It's your guess as to how she discovered she's afraid of crowded places when she was outdoors by a lake rather than all the times she was stuck inside a small house with 7 other people!
At home, we came up with Plan B - paint as many Large Classic Paintings as possible by 6 pm. Points are awarded based on how many paintings are completed and how much the completed paintings are worth in total. The prize is the same - winner gets a private outing with Joe tomorrow.
Sienna had decided to go swimming in the ocean right when the group got back, so she got a later start than everyone else - and being the only one who didn't already have a painting skill didn't help! While the women paint, Joe loaded the dishwasher and then came over to chat with Sienna. Perhaps he wants to try to make it work with her?
In the first round of painting, Katrina is the only one who painted something different. Perhaps it's due to her paranoia nature that she painted the Social Bunny that these sims aren't familiar with, but their sims 2 ancestors will all know well. Rebecca pulled her phone out almost immediately after starting painting number 2. Maybe she's just not into this challenge?
As Katrina finished her painting, the only thing on her mind was simoleons. Her celebrity level keeps increasing while she's been in the house, and now all she can think about is money. Was she really here for fame and money all along, not love?
Joe continues to be really into chatting with Sienna; meanwhile, Devon developed a fear of failure while working on her second painting. Her paintings are just as terrible as everyone else's, but we can't help the way we feel about our progress sometimes, right?
Taylor is the last person to finish her FIRST painting, after nearly 3 hours, despite being one of the first ones to start. "I really don't think she wants to be here," says Joe. "Wouldn't it be easier to just ask her to leave now?" Sure would!
More of the gals are chatting with Joe, which is slowing them down. That won't help them win the competition, but the friendlier you are with Joe the less likely he'll be to eliminate you tomorrow, so it's a good strategy!
At this point it's very clearly that Joe has two favorites - Sienna and Rebecca - but he IS trying to treat everyone fairly.
After a while, Joe gets tired of conversation and goes for a dip in the pool. As the girls are all busy painting, they miss their glimpse of the most we've seen of Joe - and WILL see of Joe until the finale - and miss their chance to wonder how a paper bag survives being in pool water. It turns out Joe has freckles on his shoulders! Which suggests he make have some on his face!
We allow the contestants to finish up whatever painting they started before 6 pm. As they all finish up, Joe spots a mouse!
Everyone except Taylor finishes up at about the same time, and Sienna and Katrina are so into painting that they immediately start new paintings. Those won't count for the final total, but we love the enthusiasm! Taylor FINALLY finished her last pre-6 pm painting at about 10 pm.
The outcome of the painting competition - everyone except Katrina finished 4 paintings, Katrina did 3. Devon's total painting value comes out to $469 - meaning she made less than Katrina despite getting one more painting done than her - and Priscilla's total value was $754, making her the winner! Since it's 10 pm it's too late for a one-on-one outing now, so she and Joe will have their outing tomorrow before elimination. I'm surprised Taylor didn't do the worst considering how slow she was - she actually came in third place! Joe says, "Taylor seems to hate being here, so I thought she might try to throw the challenge by making awful paintings really slowly. Maybe she figured she would be eliminated anyway so she didn't want to seem petty by making almost no effort?"
Joe also says, "I'm happy to get to spend one-on-one time with any of these women. It's easier to bond that way. I do feel romantic sparks with Priscilla, so I'm not mad that she won, but I do have to say I'm feeling a stronger connection with Sienna and Rebecca. Neither of them did so well in the painting challenge, but I think that's because we were chatting so much that it was distracting them?"
After the art competition ended, Joe sat at a Llama table with Devon and Rebecca. He didn't talk to them, he just sat there while they talked. He got up to try some painting of his own when Rebecca left to help Katrina cook a meal. Rebecca and Katrina became good friends while Joe made this absolutely masterpiece, and Sienna came to make weird hand gestures at him and chat.
And say, day 6 comes to a close. Elimination is tomorrow. who will it be? Katrina, who seems to be here to get more followers for simstagram? Taylor, who likes Joe the least out of anyone in the house, who only has any kind of relationship with Sienna? Priscilla, the only person in the house with a romance bar with Joe but who seems more interested in getting to know Devon? Devon, who hasn't made an impression yet?
Next time: Date! Elimination! Chicken sliders!
Bonus info: Rebecca was in the lead in the fishing competition when we had to cut it short, with 3 fish and one plumbing part caught, the fish totaling $38. Devon was in second place, with $13 from 2 fish and the digital camera. Gemma caught a robot. Like I said, I didn't know that only 4 people can fish together. I've learned a lot about the game over the course of this show. (Also I've been playing "Joe" and his choice after the show ended in my game, and I realized that it's been almost a year in-game since the finale and it's pretty wild how much has happened. I thought maybe for each elimination I'd have a "where are they are now" update for the eliminated contestant.) Also I'm dying because I finally got used to calling "Joe Baghead" by his actual name in my game so now I'm not longer used to call him "Joe"! Also I goofed up, I made the next season cast already neighborhood stories already distributed 5 of them across the game to different marriages, so, oops! They're all wearing costumes so there'll just be a bright yellow bear walking by Joe's house sometimes.
We asked Joe how he was feeling in the morning before elimination. "I"m kind of nervous. I have a good idea of who I'm sending home, unless she makes some kind of crazy grand gesture today. It's just, I know whatever happens it's going to be really awkward. What if she makes a scene. What if she DOESN'T make a scene? What if the other girls get upset?" Then we asked how he was feeling about his prize date with the painting competition winner, Priscilla. "Pretty excited. I mean, my last two one-on-ones didn't go very well, but I'm hoping since Priscilla and I have a spark of romance with each other that we might make a better connection today than I did with Sienna and Taylor before."
Joe has wanted to "hug someone" for the past 5 days, so he opted to do so as soon as the two arrived at their date destination. Much to Joe's surprise, Priscilla loved the hug, which in turn gave Joe the Charisma skill.
The two stood outside and chatted about grilled cheese and fast food for some time. As usual, the conversation turned to be about Priscilla herself. They hugged again, leading Joe to compliment Priscilla - I don't know on what, there's no "hugging" skill. This lead to hand holding, and shock of all shocks - they kissed! A very seasonally timely mistletoe kiss as it is summer in-game and also August in real life.
This very successful string of socializing gave Joe a confidence boost, much-needed, but he still felt he needed reassurance from Priscilla about if he was flirting correctly. Priscilla chuckled and told him he was doing just fine, boosting their relationship to "friends."
Joe and Priscilla start having a deep conversation. 5 hours into the date, they still haven't even gone inside the building yet. They're at a library, so, I guess that makes sense. They'd have to be quieter inside. 6 hours into the date, Joe seems to have hit his socialization limit for the day, as the conversation abruptly ends and Joe starts checking his phone. Perhaps he was looking for dating tips online, because he suddenly complimented Priscilla. Like most people, she loves compliments. Being self-absorbed, she likes them even more than other people! She liked the compliment so much that she blew Joe a kiss. This flustered Joe enough that he didn't know what to do anymore and just stood there as the time limit on the date ran out. Just as the last seconds ended, Joe decided to try to kiss Priscilla, but s soon as the timer ended, Priscilla marched inside the building to practice programming and he didn't get a chance.
"I like the ambition and all, but it seems a bit rude to just leave abruptly as soon as a date ends? She didn't even say goodbye. It's not like her shift was over," Joe said nervously.
We asked Priscilla what was up with that. "Well, the house doesn't have a computer, and I was really itching to do something useful as long as we were at the library, you know? By the way, who chooses a library as a date location? Anyway, I thought the date went great! Joe really came out of his shell, telling me how great i am, and he agreed with me about basically everything I said! It's weird, I find him extremely attractive now even though I don't know what he looks like!"
So with that, the pair returned home. Joe kisses Priscilla before they headed inside the house. I guess it was a good kiss because he started daydreaming immediately afterwards, and then tripped his way into the house to flirt with Devon. Before he could, though, he got distracted by the house's 9th resident, the mouse, and forgot all about her. Elimination's in 3 hours, and I bet Priscilla's safe!
In the last few hours before elimination, a meeting of the house club is called, to help encourage everyone to get some socializing with Joe done at the end. But as usual, Joe ends up doing an activity alone. Perhaps the ladies think there's no use trying to sway Joe at this point so they're having fun as a group while they can.
In the final half hour, Taylor gets upset about losing Don't Wake the Llama with Devon, only to win the next round. Joe opted to paint some more while chatting with Rebecca and Priscilla who were playing chess nearby. Watching Joe inspired Rebecca to get up and paint as well.
So, Joe, what's the scoop? “Well, I have the lowest relationship with Taylor and Katrina is the second-lowest. From the beginning I felt like neither of them really wanted to be here. I get it, when you sign up for a show like this you don’t know who you’re gonna end up spending time with, but it feels to me like Taylor has made no effort to get to know me at all. Katrina doesn’t talk much to me either, but Taylor almost seems to be actively avoiding me? Even on our one-on-one outing she didn’t seem really interested in even talking to me even if she didn’t want to do the activities at the convention. I still feel like Katrina’s just here for fame, but Taylor I don’t understand why she’s here at all. So I’m going to ask her to leave the house.” Ouch! Can you share your first thoughts about Taylor with us? “Well, I thought she was kind of basic-looking at first, and that didn’t change. To be honest I didn’t really feel anything when we met. I felt a stronger connection with Tina Tinker the brief time she came by to fix the sink. I’m sad to see Taylor go just because I know some of the girls are losing a friend, but I’d rather reduce the house numbers so I can spend more time with the ones who actually seem to like me.”
And Taylor? “I don’t really care. I thought this was gonna be like one of those other dating shows where there’s dozens of super hot guys all vying for your attention. If I’d known when I saw the Simslist ad for auditionees for a ‘hot new reality show’ that there was only gonna be one guy and he’d have a bag on his head the whole time, I would’ve scrolled on past. The other girls can have him, I don’t care.” Ouch, tell us how you REALLY feel, Taylor! I guess Taylor won't write this Joe on HER long list of ex-lovers.
Although Gemma is friends with Taylor, she was glad to see her go. “Well, not only is it one less woman to compete against and share a bathroom with, but I do feel slightly less agoraphobic with 7 people in the house now versus 8 earlier."
Everyone spent the rest of the evening mingling and relaxing. Joe finished up yet another painting. “I guess if this ends and I’m still single, at least I’ll have a great art career ahead of me.” He decided to stretch his legs and go for a short swim in the pool, where Priscilla already was. “You can tell from his everyday outfit that he’s got an okay body, but this was my first time seeming almost all of him, and wow! He’s not built like an athlete but he looks great. I am completely smitten!”
Joe, tired by the day's events, heads off to bed without chatting anymore with anyone. As the girls sort of say goodnight, they notice a new Mome Mail has arrived. "Starting tomorrow, each of you will go on a one-on-one date with Joe for each day of the week. Devon, you're first up. Get a good night's sleep!"
Day 7 ends with Joe's highest friendship being with Rebecca despite his good date with Priscilla. Joe mused, "I wonder if the date might've gone better if we hadn't had to kiss through a paper bag." You've got 6 dates coming up, I guess we'll see!
Next time: Dates! Bowling! Don Lothario!
meta note
Side note - Priscilla doesn't have any CC on her face, so I have no idea why it usually looks like her left eye is almost closed and the right eye is wide open but white.
Also if you're familiar with America's Next Top Model, you should read "WHO will be eliminated toNIGHT" in Tyra's distinct delivery.
Joe went on an individual date at the newly constructed Midtown Lanes bowling alley in Newcrest with woman in alphabetical order by first name. Each date was in the same location to be totally fair to everyone.
Day 8 - date with Devon.
Joe starts the date with the wants to "flirt with someone" and "not stumble for 4 hours" which is cute and sad at the same time. Mark Eggleston interrupted the date at first before running off to chase Bella Frank and Candy Behr. Joe flirted with Devon, which she seemed receptive to. The topic turned to money, so Joe could get an idea as to whether she was there for love or money, and she suddenly had to check her phone. His next attempt to flirt fell flat. Hmm.
When they headed inside to bowl, Devon opted to use Don Lothario's bowling lane rather than the one Joe had reserved.
Surprisingly, Devon turned out to be worse at bowling than clumsy Joe, possibly because she was wearing platform sandals the whole time. Joe won the game, but did he win Devon's heart? Devon tells us, "I didn't know Judith Ward and Don Lothario were in the same bowling league! Oh, Joe? I don't know. I know he's trying and all, but he's so boring to talk to sometimes. I'm not really vibing."
Priscilla lamented that Joe headed up straight to bed as soon as he got home. She had wanted to kiss him hello and ask how the date went, but he didn't stop to talk to anybody. "Devon didn't say anything either. Was their date just so amazing that they're too tired afterwards to talk about it?"
Day 9 - date with Gemma
Priscilla wakes up energized, hoping to do a lot of activities today to keep her mind off Joe going on another date.
Joe tells us he's not feeling great about this date. 3 out of the 4 dates/outings he's had so far have gone poorly, so he's not expecting this one to go well. He does hope that since he's now familiar with the bowling alley, it'll be a little less nerve-wracking to be there.
Gemma tells us that she's confident she'll do quite well at bowling, being a fast learner. "But he's socially awkward and I'm afraid of crowds, so I'm worried that the non-bowling parts might not go great. But I'm sure this date can't go worse than his one with Taylor."
Before leaving, Gemma decided to ask Joe's romantic orientation. "I'm sure he's into women, but what else?" This interaction left Priscilla absolutely steaming. Priscilla says, "I’d never considered myself a jealous person before, but knowing that Gemma was going on a date and so openly flirting with Joe in front of me… I just saw green and then red.” Whoops!
After arriving at the alley, Joe and Gemma chatted outside for a bit. Joe told a joke about llamas, which was well-received, and Joe realized he might be a Cheerful sim. Gemma was so pleased for his new personality discovery that she hugged him, leading him to discover that he likes affection. He's received so little of it so far, I don't blame him!
Having now become good friends, the pair headed inside to bowl. Joe is in a cheerful mood and is pleased when he makes some random blond woman and Jacob Volkov laugh.
Taylor rudely called Gemma during the date to ask if Gemma wanted to go get tea with her. Then Agnes Crumplebottom arrived to make sure nobody was having any fun. She disapproved of Joe's paper bag but was satisfied that there was no romance occurring.
Gemma ends the date very pleased to find out that Joe is a very funny guy if you give him a chance. "I still don't really feel a spark of romance for him, but I'm a lot happier to give him a chance now that I know he's not just some bumbling awkward guy."
Joe tells us the date went better than he expected. "I'm still not really into her, but she's nice! I hope we can stay friends at the end of this if she doesn't end up being The One. I know she was starting to feel sick towards the end, and she promised it wasn't me making her feel ill. Especially since she can't even see my face, I know that couldn't have been it!"
The day ends with a familiar sight - Joe playing chess, alone.
Day 10 - date with Katrina
Joe's not looking forward to this one. "She's never seemed super interested in me, and she flatout told me to my face she thinks I'm 'basic-looking' even though she doesn't even know what I look like? I think she looks basic too, though, so, whatever. I do have to say she seems to have laid off on the simfluencer stuff since Taylor got eliminated, but I'm still not convinced she isn't just here for fame."
Before they left for their date, Joe found himself chatting with Rebecca. Priscilla briefly joined the conversation, then left, and we caught Joe staring at Rebecca again... as much as we can tell he's staring with that bag on. Then, surprisingly, Katrina came over to talk about art with him, which just confused him even more about her intentions. Katrina left to use the restroom before they left, and Joe once again stared at Rebecca as she walked by.
As soon as they arrived at the alley, Katrina struck a sexy pose, which finally made a romance bar appear. When Joe flirted back, this creeped Katrina out and as soon as their bar appeared, the romance lowered. Embarrassed, Joe ran inside for a drink. 15 minutes into the date and it's already going poorly! What a record.
Taylor once again interrupted a date by calling Katrina to ask if she should befriend Bella Frank. Make your own decisions, Taylor! It's not as if there's some larger force out there who can control your every move if she wanted to! Katrina gets distracted by some celebrity who keeps making people faint. Rude.
The mood lightens a bit later when Joe and Katrina realize it's snowing. There are no windows in the bowling alley, so someone must've told them about the snow. "It doesn't snow in Sulani! This is so exciting!" Katrina squealed. Their game ended and Joe immediately went to order another drink, followed by ordering YET ANOTHER DRINK after he used the restroom. He doesn't have a problem, he's mostly been ordering root beer.
What's Joe's post-date scoop? "Yikes."
Katrina was mostly excited that she probably ended up in the background of every single selfie some celebrity took while she was in the alley briefly, and was a little shocked when she found out Joe ordered three drinks during this date but didn't order anything on his other dates.
Up next: A good date, a great date, and a mediocre date! Then after that, the second elimination - with a twist!
So, Joe, this is the first time you've had a second date with anyone. How do you feel? "Pretty good. So far she's the only person I've felt any kind of romantic feelings towards. But I also feel like she's mad at me? I mean I kind of always think people are upset with me, but she seems exceptionally upset lately."
Priscilla says, "Well, I really like him. I know I got steamed about him flirting the other day, but I'm trying to remind myself this IS a dating show so obviously he has to flirt sometimes. Hopefully we can rekindle things today."
Speaking of, before the date, Joe decided on his own to confess his attraction to Katrina. She did NOT appreciate this gesture, lowering both their friendship and relationship bars. Rebecca woke up in a confident mood today, and gave Joe a pep talk after that sound rejection.
Rebecca's talk in turn made Joe confident, giving him the courage to try a bold pickup line once he and Priscilla arrived at the bowling alley. This was extremely well-received.
As Sigrid Funk walked by, wearing only the most appropriate outfit for a bowling alley, the date officially ended on a Gold level, pleasing Joe and Priscilla and earning them both an "opposites attract" sentiment.
Unfortunately, trouble was on the horizon, as Agnes Crumplebottom appeared and smacked Priscilla for daring to be flirty with her date at a bar. This infuriated Priscilla so much that she couldn't even stand it when Joe tried to flirt with her later, leading to her shouting a string of forbidden words in the toilet.
Joe has this to say, "You know how they say if you smell dog poop everywhere you go, check the bottom of your shoe? Almost every date has gone badly so far, and I'm the only common denominator in each date. It's gotta be me that's the problem. It must've just been a fluke when that first date with Priscilla went so well."
After returning to the house, Joe decided to host a guided meditation session, partly to even out his emotions and calm Priscilla down. However, Priscilla opted not to participate, as did Devon. The rest of the girls seemed to enjoy it, with Gemma and Sienna even striking up a conversation with Joe afterwards. "I guess that's two things I'm good at - bowling and meditating," says Joe. Priscilla stood nearby during the conversation, and opted to do sit-ups rather than participate. "Well, since I'm an active sim, exercising helps get my frustration out. And maybe I was trying to show off for Joe," Priscilla tells us.
Day 12 - date with Rebecca
We can already assume what Joe has to say about his upcoming date, but we asked anyway! "Well, I'm not optimistic. Every day has either ended badly or at least mediocre...ly. I might be a cheerful sim, but being cheerful doesn't change the facts. I do really like Rebecca, though. She's my best friend in the house. So hopefully at least this will be a fun day out even if nothing else happens. And, well... to be honest I've always found her the most attractive in the house, so I can't pretend I'm upset about getting a chance to look at her all day, even though the moonlight bowling makes it hard to see anybody."
And Rebecca? "Oh, I'm stoked. I've gotten like zero one-on-one time with Joe this entire time even though we're such good friends. I’m not happy to have to end up being the next-to-last date. I’m sure he’s mostly gonna remember his date tomorrow with Sienna the most, and then his earliest date this week with Devon he was probably at his freshest and most optimistic. But I’m feeling great about the date. At the very very very least I can’t see myself going home this week no matter how badly this goes – but it won’t go badly at all!”
Before they left, Joe told Rebecca she looked nice, which lead to Priscilla slapping him in a jealous rage. "I don't get it!" laments Joe.
At the bowling alley, Rebecca starts with a trifecta of useful whims/wants for a date - chat with Joe, do something romantic, and have a drink. One of Joe's wants is the much less useful "be mean to a child."
Joe ordered a root beer float for the two of them. “Well, every other date I started by flirting outside for a while, and that hasn’t gone well. So I thought we’d just go in and get a drink and chat instead.” Lucky for him, Rebecca dove head-first into flirting with Joe, which overwhelmed him so much he left to start a bowling game. For the first time this week, both people on the date became flirty at the same time.” Wow, I really like bowling!” Priscilla cheers as she bowls a strike on her first try.
Taylor Swift called during the date, of course, to ask Rebecca if she should go on a date with Layne Bach. The audacity, really. Rebecca has no idea who Layne Bach even is but encourages Taylor to go for it. After all, it’s not like Taylor is harboring any lasting affection for Joe!
Joe left to order a drink, and Rebecca followed, surprising everyone by kissing him on his drawn-on mouth! “She’s just so easy to talk to, it’s like everything melts away. Worries, other sims, bar countertops.” After Rebecca narrowly avoided a potty emergency, Joe invited her to dance to the bowling alley’s one loudspeaker that’s next to the bathrooms for some reason. Whoever designed this bowling alley sure made some weird decisions!
Rebecca noticed a photobooth. “I thought, nobody ever goes back to this part of the alley. Seems like a good place to get a fun, quick woohoo in. But I think Joe would probably die of awkwardness if I even suggested it, heehee. I’m not ready to go that far anyway, but I think it could be fun! I did convince him to take a photo with me in there, though.”
After sending the newly minted lovers home, we asked Joe what he thought. “Wow it actually went okay! I mean, it went GREAT. We kissed! I don’t have a lot of experience kissing, and I can’t tell how good it was since I have a bag on my head. But it’s exciting anyway! It felt kind of different from when Priscilla kissed me on our first date last week. I mean, not physically, just… different energy, I guess? I felt like Rebecca was also making the most effort this week during the dates. I still want to give everyone else a fair chance, but to be honest she’s the frontrunner so far. I do still weirdly feel friendlier with Gemma, but I definitely feel the most romantic spark with Rebecca. Even before Priscilla’s jealous anger bout I didn’t feel as romantically close to her.”
And Rebecca? “I am totally smitten. He’s funny, he’s charming. It’s cute that he just keeps ordering root beer when he’s nervous, which is constantly. I can’t wait to go on another date with him! I’m still hoping that it doesn’t turn out that he has like 3 heads under that bag or a portal to another dimension where his eyes should be, but I think if I get to know him better I won’t mind if that’s the case?”
Well, I don't think I have to tell which of "good, great, and mediocre" this date was!
Day 13 - date with Sienna
So, Joe, how ya feeling? “Exhausted. Going bowling 5 days in a row with girls who vary from seeming completely disinterested to mildly interested to very interested… I’m so tired. I really cannot wait for day 14 when I can just stay in. And be around 6 women who have varying amounts of romantic feelings for me and three of them are jealous. Maybe I’ll go to the bowling alley tomorrow after all.” But, the date, Joe? “Oh, right. Well, I like Sienna. She was the one I had my eye on from day 1, even though I found Rebecca the most attractive I liked Sienna the most for the first few days. I’m hoping now that we’ve had time to mingle more that our second one-on-one outing together might go better? As usual she really can’t do worse than Taylor and Katrina did, but it’ll be hard to top Rebecca’s date from yesterday.”
And Sienna? “Saving the best for last, right? I’m looking forward to showing all those girls how a WOMAN gets it done.”
The day begins stormily, literally and figuratively. Joe gets in some quick painting, and Rebecca comes over for a chat. Priscilla feels pangs of jealousy, before Katrina screams at her, once again due to her paranoia brain combined with the fear of thunderstorm. A conversation goes very badly and Joe’s romance bar with everybody decreases dramatically.
Joe starts the date with a bold pickup line due to feeling unexpectedly confident about the date. Sienna is very receptive and becomes flirty immediately. The good times are cut short by the appearance of ol’ Crumpy. She hits Joe with her purse, and Joe yells at her. She then hits Sienna, which Sienna thinks is hilarious, and Joe tells Crumpy to just go away. “I don’t really know what got into me. I guess I was just mad at her for interrupting every single date. Didn’t even give me much of a chance on this one!”
The timed portion of the date earns the pair a Legendary reward. “I thought it started off so poorly, but like… with Crumplebottom hitting us, I just went off on her and Sienna seemed so thrilled… I haven’t felt this strongly so quickly about anyone else. All I can say is that Sienna and Rebecca are definitely not getting eliminated tomorrow.” [note: he has the “deeply in love” sentiment about Sienna but only has like one-eighth full romance bar and barely half friendship]
Sienna? “I’m totally smitten, but I kind of get the feeling that he’s more into me than I am into him.” Sienna tries for one more bold move to make the day memorable by kissing Joe outside the house.
And that wraps up the 6 date days in a row! Who could've foreseen any of this?
Up next: Cheerleading! Elimination! Fruit cake! And a plot twist... or is it?!
meta note
And if it wasn't obvious, I'm the one who designed the bowling alley, so the weirdly placed speaker was my fault.
Also by coincidence, as I'm playing season 2 of Joe Baghead, there's a plot twist for season 2's third elimination, which was again all autonomy's doing.
So what’s the scoop, Joe? “Well after 6 dates in a row, I’m not totally sure. I’m kind of head over heels for Sienna, but I have such a better friendship with Rebecca in addition to feeling smitten with her – not to mention I still think she’s the most attractive in the house. Gemma I have no romance with at all so far, but I feel like I’m the closest friends with her. Priscilla was the first to win me over romantically, but she runs so hot and cold, I’m not sure how much I can take of that. But then I don’t know if the jealousy will go away if we end up exclusive one day? I’m still suspicious of Katrina, but I haven’t seen her do much that made me think she was just here for Simstagram. Then again, I’ve barely been home all week. Katrina made that one flirty move that really excited me and then never did anything else, so I don’t know how much she’s actually into me either. Devon I’m kind of neutral on. Our date didn’t go very well, and she still seems bored when I talk to her. Maybe it’s just her face? I do like her new haircut.”
Let's see what the girls have to say!
Gemma: “Joe’s my best friend. I don’t feel that romantic spark with him. I still really want to stay in the house to see if I can make that spark happen. I wonder if I’ve been fooling myself my whole life by saying looks don’t matter to me.”
Priscilla: “He’s my total opposite in every way that I can see, but I just feel like he belongs to me. I wish he would just eliminate everyone today so we could hurry up and be together. I thought he was basic when we first met but I’m very attracted to him now.”
Katrina: “I admit I was initially interested in this show for the fame aspect, but I’m actually growing fond of Joe. And after finding out that almost everyone else has done it, I want to try kissing his paperbag face too!”
Devon: “I get along with Joe. I don’t get along with the others.”
Rebecca: “I really like Joe! I feel good about my chances of staying this week, but it was a pleasure knowing him even if he decides to boot me for whatever reason.”
Sienna: “I really think I’ve got this in the bag. It doesn’t matter what I feel, what matters is how HE feels. And if he’s really got such a huge crush as me as I think he does, then I’m feeling fine.”
Since it's Harvestfest, Joe decides to make a Grand Breakfast for the house, and Rebecca and Priscilla helped. Rebecca poured salt on the floor at one point, which was very helpful.
Suddenly with the elimination approaching, everyone was all smiles and attention. And… Maaike Lothario invited herself to use the pool, apparently. She doesn't even live in Sulani, so I don't know where she came from! Or where she got that book from, since there's no bookcase in the house!
Since today was also Sports Festival Day, Joe thought it would be good for everyone to head out to the festival to give everyone one last shot, and to see if he could use the time to make up his mind. At this point he's pretty certain he wants either Katrina or Devon gone, but can't decide more than that. "Maybe it'll be up to a coin flip," he sighs.
Most of the ladies got too distracted by cheerleading and food, Rebecca was the only one who participated in the football contest (scoring 15 points). It was very helpful that the game told me after the festival was OVER that Rebecca was supposed to tell the judge her score.
After the festival was over, the group mingled for a while on the field, and improvised a cheerleading routine. Rebecca was terrible at it.
We sent the girls home one at a time while Joe stayed on the field, hoping to take the time to finally come to a decision. When he finally returns home, it turns out his decision was made up for him.
Sienna died.
Day 15 - grieving
“I don’t know what happened,” says Joe. “She got back to the house before I did. I guess she was in energy failure. She’s had that problem before, of being completely exhausted but just refusing to go to bed, right? I guess it finally caught up to her.”
“I’m devastated,” says Priscilla. “I was on my hands and knees, begging the Grim Reaper not to take Sienna. She was so young, so full of life. She just made one stupid mistake, it’s not fair to take her from us so soon! But he wouldn’t listen. Is it my fault? Could I have done more?”
Katrina: “Why did he leave the tombstone on the back deck, though?”
Devon asks, “So does this mean there’s no elimination this week, or…?” Devon is notably the only person in the house not to feel sad about the tragic death.
In lieu of recent events, we opted not to have Joe eliminate anyone. But with only 5 girls left, eliminations will no longer take place weekly. Next week, one girl will be eliminated on Monday, and then one on Friday. After that, it’ll be up to the final 3 to fight for the next 8 days for Joe’s heart.
Everyone had a good sleep-in after Sienna’s untimely passing. Travis Scott and Sigrid Funk came by as part of the… grieving wagon? I have never had this happen in my game ever before. Devon helped herself to some condolences fruitcake with a huge smile on her face. This is the best mood she’s ever been in. Her mood turns sour as it turns out like most sims, she does not enjoy fruitcake.
Rebecca, who also does not like fruitcake, has a friendly conversation with Travis. Travis is a little down in the dumps – his two best friends split and married other people. He thought maybe one or the both of them had crushes on him, but apparently not. He thought moving to Sulani would be a great change of scenery for him, but everyone who lives in the area is married, except for Sigrid and the cast of the Joe Baghead Show. Rebecca tells him, “Well who knows, once Joe makes his final pick you might hit it off with the rejects!”
Devon decided what the house really needed is her terrible karaoke singing, and then she yelled at Rebecca to clean the house.
Sienna’s ghost invited Gemma to the spice festival, but Gemma declined the offer.
I don't know about you, but I see nothing weird about taking a nap in the place where my friend died less than 24 hours after she died, in view of her tombstone!
Devon spent the rest of the day repeatedly insulting and being mean to Rebecca for no apparent reason.
Next time: Camping! Fighting! Ghosts!
meta note
I just gotta say all the people who aren't reading this are really missing out on the buildup to the reveal of what Joe actually looks like.
Some people say the best test for a relationship is to go on a vacation together. So we're sending Joe and the remaining contestants out on a vacation!
But first, Devon prepares a breakfast burrito at 4 am. Rebecca, still awake, apologizes for having used the last of the cheese on her own breakfast burrito. Devon throws a drink in her face because of the audacity, which causes Rebecca to throw down. Rebecca emerges from the fight victorious, and now Rebecca and Devon are enemies. Joe, who was watching the whole time, is thrilled his friend won the fight. "She really is amazing!" sighs Joe.
Devon tells us, "I've always aspired to be Public Enemy Number 1, so this was just part of my plan. Of course I wanted to WIN the fight, but having an official enemy has always been a dream of mine. So the next few days before elimination should be fun!"
With that out of the way, we sent everyone to Granite Falls! We thought making them camp would be fun, so we had to send Joe out to buy camping supplies. Rebecca and Priscilla played horseshoes while the other girls complained about sleeping outside. Gemma lit the campfire and Katrina immediately put it out, which happened about 8 other times throughout the trip with different lighters and putter-outers.
Joe later joined the game of horseshoes, but as usual was more interested in chatting with Rebecca than playing.
Katrina made dinner for everyone, and then Joe tried to tell a group story, but nobody was interested, except this ghost.
Joe went into the tent to be sad for a while, and Rebecca followed him in. The other girls were distracted elsewhere, so Rebecca took advantage of their alone time... to tell a ghost story.
The other girls headed to the bathroom, with Priscilla and Gemma having a newfound fear of ghosts. Devon was spooked by the ghost but doesn't have a fear of ghosts, and is for some reason in an inspired mood, so went hiking alone in platform sandals at 1 am, followed by her warming herself up at someone else's campfire with a bear.
When the sun comes on day 2 of this vacation, Joe tells us how weird he feels. "I've had my own private bedroom the whole time in the house, so this is the first time I've slept next to somebody. It was kind of nice, even though the ground is lumpy and one of them snores."
Rebecca goes on a solo hike while Joe zones out when Priscilla is talking to him. The other three girls set the camping chairs on fire.
Joe tries to play cards with the girls he has the highest relationship with - Priscilla, Rebecca, and Gemma. Devon is offended she wasn't included so goes to pout in the tent, but then comes back out to have a conversation with Gemma, who abandons the game.
Later, Joe has the idea that the 6 of them should have a snowball fight. It doesn't snow in Sulani, and it's been snowing off and on since they got here, but it's finally deep enough to play in! The group separates into sort of redheads versus brunets - Katrina's hair looks red but is actually brown, and I figure you may have realized Joe has dark hair based on the glimpse of his body hair earlier!
On the final full day of vacation, everyone wakes up at 8 am. For some reason Devon, Priscilla, and Gemma went back in to take naps at 9 am. Rebecca took advantage of things being quiet to flirt with Joe by the fireside. Everything went great until Priscilla woke up and emerged from the tent. Furious at Joe "cheating", she slapped the heck out of him, leading their romance bar to turn one quarter red. Priscilla then opted to go for a jog after her jealous outburst. Rebecca and Joe made s'mores. Upon Priscilla's return, she flirted with Joe like absolutely nothing happened between them earlier. Priscilla is confident that things will ultimately work between the two of them. Joe just wants to go home.
After a while, we asked Joe for an update. Joe said, "I was kind of impressed, Gemma started flirting with me harder than she had before. Maybe it’s this snow, it’s got everybody in a romantic mood."
Okay. Why did you start talking about marriage with Rebecca, though? Flustered, Joe tells us, "I what? When? Oh when I was chatting with Gemma and Rebecca? Oh, I remember. Rebecca said something about how the scenery is so beautiful, what did we think about getting married in a place like this I guess? I said I never really thought about where to get married, but Tartosa seemed pretty. Fewer bugs there, too.” [he seriously autonomously talked about marriage with Rebecca]
In all the fun, everyone seems to have forgotten the impending elimination. Joe? “Oh gosh, I complete forgot. Hm, I don’t know. It was an easier choice a few days ago, but suddenly everybody’s taking things so much more seriously. Gemma’s finally making an effort to flirt and we have good compatibility. Rebecca, I mean… yeah. Katrina’s doing better than she was before… Devon still seems to have little to no interest in me, but apparently since she and Rebecca hate each other now it’ll be good ratings to keep them both in one house for a long time? And Priscilla is just… She rages at me for “cheating on her” even though we’re not even boyfriend/girlfriend, she slaps me, she storms off, and then comes back to flirt with me, and then rages at me, and then flirts some more. It’s exhausting. I don’t know how much more I can take of this. I guess she really likes me, but I’m not desperate enough to live with that kind of behavior for much longer. After a lot of deliberation that went into the next morning, I decided ultimately to say goodbye to Katrina. I know I had doubts about her all along, and I feel bad because she seemed to be trying to correct her behavior, but she got the ‘single and lovin’ it’ lifestyle. I want to find my soulmate, and I don’t think I can find it in someone who enjoys being single.”
So, we say farewell to Katrina. Any parting thoughts? “I’m not surprised. I had more fun on this show than I thought I would. I did want to just build my online following, but I made some great friends here. I’m dying to find out what Joe looks like, but I think he made the right choice. I just don’t think we were ever going to be compatible. And I don’t think I could win the fight for his heart with Rebecca and Priscilla as competitors. Or Sienna’s ghost, I guess.” So with that we say adieu to Katrina.
Next time: the first of four days of individual outings for each remaining contestant! You won't want to miss the fourth one!
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There's one more elimination on Friday. Will the remaining girls step it up into high gear now that we're nearing the end? They'll all have the chance to! This week, Joe will go on a one-on-one outing with each girl in ascending order of romance bar - Priscilla, Devon, Gemma, and then finally Rebecca. There happens to be some event each day so they can each go on a special outing that isn't to the bowling alley again!
But first: Gemma sits down at a chess table with Joe, but he's too busy chatting with - you guessed it- Rebecca, before he gets up to make tea.
After his tea he's more happy to chat with Gemma and Devon, with Gemma primarily complaining about the garbage pile in the kitchen. Devon decides the best place to do sit-ups is that garbage pile. Rebecca says, "Well that's where she belongs!"
GeekCon is once again in town, and so Joe and Priscilla will be heading there for their outing. Luckily this time there's no thunderstorm to kill all the electronics, so Joe and Priscilla participate in the hackathon after briefly working together to build a rocket. "Should be easy for her, since she practiced programming immediately when our first date ended," says Joe with a hint of bitterness. "But at least she didn't go off to talk with everyone else like when I took Taylor to GeekCon before."
Priscilla completes the Hackathon at 17% while Joe only manages 14%. He's pleased he did so well considering he has no experience with computers. Priscilla wins the contest, and gets a computer as a prize!
GeekCon draws to a close, and there's an after-convention Happy Hour at the nearby karaoke bar, so the pair head over. Priscilla opts to order Love Potion Number 4, putting her in a flirty mood. Joe's still cautious around her but their relationship does slowly improve, until Joe spots a dog and decides he'd rather interact with her. Her name is Ginger and her owner is Caleb Vatore! Why is she at the karaoke bar?! The competition is RUFF.
Joe says, "I really liked that dog. I'm glad she has a good home but I was hoping she was a stray so I could adopt her."
While Joe plays with the dog, Priscilla goes off to talk about money with this townie, before going to chat with yet another townie. The dog went home so Joe sadly goes back to talking to Priscilla.
Joe becomes inspired by all the displays at the karaoke contest, and decides to participate himself. Despite having no singing skill whatsoever, he has a lot of fun. In a totally wild turn of events, Joe WINS the contest with a score of 52, briefly putting him in a Very Confident mood!
At the end of the night, their romance bar is neutral – no longer red, but not green either. “She did make an effort for most of the day to at least be near me, even if we didn’t talk or flirt much,” says Joe thoughtfully. “I’m just afraid the same thing is going to happen again – that she’ll see someone flirting with me or me flirting with someone and become enraged like I cheated on her. Being self-absorbed and jealous seems like a terrible combination for being on a show like this. And I don’t know if I’d be able to take her running hot and cold if we were exclusive anyway.”
Fairly uneventful day. What's in store for the future, though? Next time: Celebrities! Trilobites! A ghost! Someone paying the bills so the power gets turned back on!
In a few Sim-months Ginger the dog will be granted a wish and made immortal.
Today is Winterfest, but our outing today is to the "meet a celebrity" event at Orchid A Go Go.
Since the event isn't until a little later, there's plenty of time for festive shenigans in the house! Rebecca places a prank gift - can't imagine for whom! - and the household decorates the tree with varying success. For some reason decorating made Priscilla flirty, but she doesn't flirt with anyone.
Rebecca makes sure to tell Devon that she doesn't like her before Devon and Joe leave for their outing. Rebecca may not have the highest fitness skill in the house, but she’s gradually getting more pronounced abs. We replaced some of the microphones with treadmills - since nobody was using the microphones - so let’s see if anyone gets even more fit!
The celebrity at the lounge is Dirk Dreamer. “Oh, I was hoping to see Judith Talla again,” says Joe, pretending not to be disappointed. Devon says, “I thought he was dead!”
Joe heads straight to the bar to order a root beer float, which has been his typical drink order, while Devon heads over to chat about neatness with Dirk. Whatever she said made him shout forbidden words at her.
oops
maybe he was mad that she was in a swimsuit first, haha
Joe finished his drink, did pushups, and then ordered another drink. He flirted with Devon, which went okay at first. Her attempts to flirt back were disastrous. Joe: “She kept asking Dirk for advice about making money, it was weird.” Devon: “How famous would I get by making a Proper Celebrity my enemy?”
Devon opted to get up to practice guitar- “I’m not good yet, but with all these people around this is BOUND to make me famous.” Dirk gives her a 2 simoleon tip. Dirk tells us “I was a struggling artist once too. She’s terrible, but we all have to start somewhere, right? Plus it gives me a good reputation to do this kind of thing.”
While spacing out in the bathroom, Joe discovers he likes dancing.
Dirk Dreamer heads home for the day, and Joe decides to head home as well. “One thing I learned is that Dirk is married to the bartender from GeekCon, that’s pretty cool.”
Joe continues to tell us, “With it being Winterfest, I decided to kiss everyone under the mistletoe. Rebecca and Gemma were thrilled, Devon went to sleep before I even got to talk to her, and Priscilla hated it, but then immediately offered me a rose after she rejected the kiss. This is really driving me nuts.”
A familiar face came by with cookies, but just stood outside with them.
Priscilla got electrocuted fixing the tea brewer, but just like Tiny Tim, did NOT die. Joe starts a preposterous rumor about Priscilla while Gemma flirts with him.
Father Winter appears and: Joe got 1 Enormous Trilobite; Rebecca got 1 Grand Plans Chess Table (Rebecca: “Just what I needed! A chess table!”); Devon got 1 Selium; Priscilla got 1 Starter Flowers; and Gemma got various upgrade parts. Gemma: “Hooray?”
Astoundingly, everyone sat at the dining table, and Joe and Rebecca blew each other kisses across it while Father Winter was giving Gemma her gift.
Priscilla, though exhausted and fried, has everyone open gifts. Devon is annoyed to receive a lump of coal, while Priscilla and Gemma receive nothing. Joe received a second Enormous Trilobite. Sienna’s Ghost didn’t seem to get a gift either. Joe asks, “Were we supposed to get a gift for her? Am I supposed to flirt with her like I do with the other contestants even though she was technically eliminated, literally?”
Day 21 - outing with Gemma
Joe starts his day by exercising, then flirting with Gemma in the upstairs bathroom while holding a bowl of beans. Just what every girl wants - bathroom beans.
Everybody builds skills separately before Rebecca can no longer take the filth they live in and starts cleaning.
Joe and Gemma get some flirting done before their outing, which puts Joe in a flirty mood, which inspires him to kiss…. Rebecca! Luckily there’s no jealous outburst from anyone this time. Joe then decides to hunt for shells by the pool until it’s time to leave for his outing with Gemma – the high school football competition! Where it’s very snowy.
Joe and Gemma do some regular football practice, but Gemma refuses to actually go onto the football field. Joe scores 30, the game doesn’t tell me how much Gemma scored, but when the results are revealed it tells me she didn’t win – but nothing about Joe! Both of them then urgently have to pee but feel awkward about going into the school to use the toilet. Gemma then takes a nap on the bench in the school gym, because I know when I feel awkward about using a high school bathroom I always somehow feel super comfortable about sleeping at the high school!
Joe and Gemma flirt some more. Gemma has a whim to kiss, and Joe has a whim to get a girlfriend. They head home, as Gemma has no OPTION to kiss Joe, and choosing a contestant to be his girlfriend seems like a little too much potential drama for Joe to want to deal with just yet.
Next time: A wish, a kiss, an update you won't want to miss!
meta note
Gemma's outing so SO SHORT that I just couldn't give its own post.
Bonus round: These don't have time stamps so I forgot to include them when they actually happened
I'm judging her but I do not have a mustache, nice or otherwise.
The neighborhood action thingies are turned off in my game so nobody except Joe ever wore a bag, but talk about timing!
The day starts lazily for all the contestants. Joe makes pancakes for everyone, and he and Gemma flirt a bit. Then Katrina calls Joe to ask if she should ask out Duane Talla. Aside from how incredibly rude that is to ask someone you were trying to date on a dating show, I'm pretty sure Duane Talla was Judith Ward's husband. Did she die??
Joe goes for a swim while Priscilla is already in the pool. He swims over to chat with her, and she kicks water at him, lowering their friendship bar. I’m no relationship expert, but I don’t think repeatedly antagonizing the guy you were in love with a week ago is the best way to win him over!
Rebecca takes a nap, which is great because her outing today is to the Festival of Lights! Get some good shuteye, don’t want to have an energy failure in the hot tub like SOME people!
After a pretty uneventful day, Joe and Rebecca head to the festival. Rebecca decides to cloudgaze and Joe does pushups. When Joe joins Rebecca in cloudgazing, Rebecca gets up and walks around. Joe notices everyone wearing traditional clothing, and discovers where to purchase it. [and meta oopsie, when he changed into the festival outfit, his bag came off and he was wearing a towel on his head like you do when you get out of the shower! When Rebecca changed into traditional outfits, she ended up with a ski helmet+goggles on her head??? Obviously I fixed both of those issues]
After Rebecca finishes changing, she gets a call – her great-great-grand-second-once-removed-cousin’s friend’s grandpa has passed away and left her money! Naturally suspicious, she asks what the conditions are for her to accept this vast fortune left to her by her father’s brother’s nephew’s cousin’s former roommate or whatever. She’s all for it if the conditions are to spend one night in a haunted house. “I mean we already live in one, right?” The mystery caller says a confusing word salad that results in Rebecca getting a small sum of money without something super wacky like having to get married in 7 days or something.
Joe and Rebecca make a wish together on the tree. “What did you wish for?” Rebecca asks. Joe tells her, “If I tell you, it won’t come true!”
Guess who neglected to change their shoes into something appropriate for the occasion!
Rebecca asks Joe if he wants to cozy up by the bonfire. “Would you think it was lame if I said that was my wish?” asks Joe. They kiss. And then Rebecca immediately left to do a firedance! Says Joe: “I could never. I’m awkward, I’m clumsy, and with a paper bag on my head I feel like it’s especially unsafe.”
Rebecca and Joe dance by the fire. Joe feels inspired and tries to fire dance, and lights his sleeve on fire. "See, I knew it was a bad idea!"
Wolfgang Munch decides Joe and Rebecca really need to hear his opinions on air travel and computers – more like Elon Munch, am I right? Rebecca talks about babies and sunsets before autonomously kissing Joe.
They cozy up by the bonfire one more time and then chat with Wolfgang some more. Rebecca talks about grilled cheese seductively, and then finds out Wolfgang is mean. Rebecca found out she hates pranks and malicious social interactions thanks to Devon – although logically, most people hate those things – so her budding friendship with Wolfgang goes down the toilet.
Joe is so into the outing that he completely misses that the day changed. There was supposed to be an elimination at the end of day 22, but I guess it can wait! Pretty fair to guess that Rebecca's safe once again, anyway!
meta note: I'd never gone to the festival of light before in the game, I thought it was a Star Wars thing lmao
Day 23
Since the other girls didn't get nearly as long for THEIR outings, to be fair we sadly must rip Joe and Rebecca from their falling in love montage and send them home. After all, it's elimination time!
Let's have a post-outing check-in:
Joe says, "Cozying up by the bonfire wasn’t really my wish, but, well… I have a better feeling now about my actual wish coming true than I would have a few months ago. This was a really nice outing."
Rebecca says, "Well, there’s nothing really to it. I’m in love. I don’t know what I’ll do if Joe ends up picking someone else at the end of the show. I feel like we’re soulmates, you know?”
Great! Now how's everyone feeling about the looming elimination?
Priscilla: “I know we’ve had our ups and downs, but I feel like the ups ultimately outweigh the downs. I find Joe Very Attractive now, and I just know that he’ll keep me as part of the final 3. I was the first to flirt with him, after all. He can’t forget that!”
Gemma: “I’m feeling pretty good about this elimination. We’ve got good compatibility; our romance bar is at a good spot. I’m sure once he takes that bag off I’ll find him attractive.”
Devon: “I’m not fussed either way. We had a good run at romance, it’s just not there. I’ll probably be furious if Rebecca ends up winning this whole thing, but the romance between me and Joe was never really there. So, oh well.”
Rebecca: “Feeling pretty good about my chances of staying in the house. Pretty much just wondering if he’ll boot Devon or Priscilla tonight.”
And Joe, how do you feel? “These eliminations get harder and easier at the same time. I know who I want to stay in the house but I don’t know who to eliminate. It’s pretty much the same problem as last time – do I get rid of Devon, who I’ve had basically no romantic interaction with and who hates Rebecca? Or do I get rid of Priscilla, who can’t seem to decide if she wants to kick me or kiss me? I just don’t know.” Better make up your mind soon, Joe!
Joe and Rebecca have drinks... somehow... and chat. Devon sits alone at the Llama table, with only a Fine moodlet, doing no action. Priscilla and Gemma chatted at the chess table before Priscilla got up to shower. “Gotta look my best for the elimination tonight, right?
Rebecca is the only one interacting with Joe, so clearly nobody is super worried. Joe attempts to kiss Rebecca, but she heads upstairs for a nap before he has the chance. Joe decides to go for a nap as well, since they both got back at like 4 am. [and it was almost 4 am in real life at this point so I was like "HA. WEAKLINGS."]
This anti-environmentalist trespasses, and Devon rips him a new one.
Rebecca and Joe flirt while Joe is on an endurance run, and Katrina calls to say she’s in love with Duane Talla. “Well I guess she CAN be bothered to romance people!”
Devon starts insulting this trespasser, Fetu Kalawai’a, after Joe learns that Fetu is evil. A few insults, ordering him to clean, and a solid shove result in Fetu starting a fight with Devon. She wins THIS fight, and is very proud of herself not only for winning, but for finishing step one of the Public Enemy aspiration as she is now disliked by 2 sims.
Fetu seems to respect Devon and starts making friendly conversation with her. Could this be an "enemies to lovers" romance blooming?
Priscilla gets some flirting done at the kitchen islands, bringing her/Joe’s romance bar back into the pink rather than the red. “See what I mean? I never know with her," Joe shrugs.
In the end, Joe opts to eliminate… Devon! “Well, it’s supposed to be a dating show, after all. It would feel kind of scummy if I had someone with no romantic interest in me at all in the final three, right? Kind of like I was stacking the deck? And I’m told that with how Priscilla is, leaving her in the house for the final decision if she’s not The One should make for good ratings. Seems kind of mean to me, but whatever.”
So we say farewell to Devon. “Yeah, like I said, wasn’t really unexpected. I just need a criminal kingpin to marry instead!”
So with that, only the finale remains. Sure seems like a foregone conclusion as to who will win, but who knows? We've already had plenty of unexpected happenings so far. On day 1 I had Sienna pegged as one of the final 3, and look how that worked out! You just never know.
Next time: Skiing, snowboarding, and maybe smooching? It's a 3-day Mt. Komorebi excursion before the finale! And you won't want to miss THAT or the epilogue!