Bernie’s reaction to the temptation was hysterical. He told me after that he felt so vindicated getting all that money out of the vending machine after putting money into a machine like that for so many years. Lol. It was pretty shocking to me that everyone participated, but with so much time before the weigh-in, I guess they all felt it was worth the calories. No one seemed to much enjoy the snacks they got. Watching Kelly forcing herself to eat those candies, was like that movie when the little boy gets caught smoking, and his dad makes him smoke until he gets sick to teach him a lesson. She hated every minute of it.
That zip-line challenge was SO COOL. The first thing I said when I saw it was “I want a turn!!” lol – that is so my thing. The whole time we were up there shooting it was so windy. Seriously, we were being sand-blasted up there. But it was so worth it for the coolest challenge ever. Jay and Kelly both had to face major fears to accomplish the task. And they succeeded. Everyone was so proud of them for doing such a great job.
And afterwards, I leapt at my chance to take a turn on the zip-line. Maggie didn’t get to participate because of the uneven teams, so she and I both hiked up to the far side of the set-up, and got to just fly down-hill across the whole 500 foot canyon. We had so much fun!!! Maggie and I were screaming and laughing the whole way. Seriously, the coolest thing ever. Even though we were all tired and dirty afterwards, it was such a fun day.
Saying goodbye to Bernie was so difficult for everyone, the black team and the crew. We all loved having him around on campus, making everyone laugh and being such a great competitor. He’s such a great guy, and I was so sorry to say goodbye to him. But, wow, he left campus in about the most honorable, classy way you could go. He sacrificed himself for his teammate, and didn’t regret it for a second. The whole time it was just concerned for his teammates, showing that he is the strength and the support-system for that whole team, not just through his words but his actions too. I couldn’t help but notice how they were all holding hands during the voting, and that he had nothing but encouraging things to say to his teammates as he left. Bernie is truly a great guy.
