Page 42 of Fan Favorite

“Where’d you get this chin?” she asked him, sticking her pointer finger against the cleft in his jaw. “Was it always there? I don’t remember this chin.”

He chuckled awkwardly and removed her hand. “What was your favorite part of the day?”

“Right now, obviously,” she drawled. “Being with youuuuu .”

So what if he’d ejaculated on Zo? They could still make this work.

Suddenly, this was the most hilarious thing Edie had ever thought ever , and she laughed and laughed until she couldn’t breathe.

After way too long, her laughter dissipated and she leaned back against the leather bench, content.

But then she noticed Bennett looking at her like she was crazy and suddenly realized she was very, very drunk.

Edie straightened up and wiped her eyes, knit her brow, and pressed her lips together in a serious way.

She was a serious person discussing her serious future.

“How are you feeling about going back to Chicago for the lock-in?” Bennett started again. But now Edie was craning her neck around Ted and his camera, trying to get a look at the production people gathered under a small awning. Peter? No Peter. Peter? No Peter. “Edie?”

“Hmm?” Edie turned back to him. “Chicago.” She nodded. “Home. E.T. phone home.”

“Edie,” he hissed under his breath. “What the fuck.” He smiled at the cameras. And then scratched at his neck until red slashes appeared.

What were they talking about? Edie dug what was left of her nails into her palm and brought herself back to the moment.

Oh, shit, the lock-in. The overnight date .

Whatever contestants survived this week’s key ceremony would leave Scotland and eventually meet up in their hometowns to reunite with their families and spend a whole night off camera.

Locked in. No keys. Edie tried to picture being in her apartment with Bennett Charles, and it seemed totally bizarre.

Somehow the spaces between their childhood and now, their Key prom and now, kept shifting and widening until everything felt unreal.

How many possible ways their lives could’ve played out.

She could’ve never come here at all, just watched The Key on her couch like a normal person.

Or what if they’d never broken up? Instead, they could’ve been married with two adorable kids they took to soccer practice in a minivan.

Or what if Edie was by herself again? Would that really be the worst thing?

Being here—she didn’t always feel connected to Charlie, but she was starting to feel connected to this version of herself that was confident, fun, and a good friend. Maybe that was enough?

“How are you feeling about the lock-in?” she finally managed.

Bennett gazed into the sky. “For us, it’s a lot more than just a trip to meet the parents, huh?

” he said, launching into one of his speeches.

“But I think everything that has kept me from home, those worries, those pressures—it’s all disappeared now that you’re here.

I don’t feel afraid anymore, which is wild.

A guy like me who takes on crazy experiences every single day shouldn’t be scared to go home.

But I think for years I thought I could only be one thing.

Strong or weak. But you—you help me be my whole self.

You always have.” He stared into her eyes.

“And, you know, I really love that about you.”

Before Edie could wonder where I really love that about you fell on the Key stages of love, he was kissing her, pressing his mouth against hers with a fervor that made her heart race.

He pulled her onto his lap, and her dress hiked up her thighs.

From some faraway place, Edie observed that she was just a body reacting to his kiss, to his strong hands pressing against her back.

Or maybe she was just a boat, floating, no captain, no oar, just going wherever the current led.

When they pulled apart, they smiled at each other goofily, like they’d done something special. She pulled back to look at him.

“Bennett Charles,” she said, feeling flirty, “what’s the best Tom Hanks movie?”

“Easy,” he said with a shrug. “Saving Private Ryan.”

An answer so upsetting, Edie instantly felt nauseous.

Awkwardly she dismounted Bennett’s lap and landed hard on the bench, her stomach churning.

Was she going to throw up? A camera pushed in.

If so, where? Edie scanned the deck for an exit, and, of course, that’s when she saw him.

Peter. Standing next to a life preserver, one arm crossed over his chest, the other holding his chin in his hand as he stared at her.

“Fuuuuuuuuuuuuck,” Edie said.

And then she leaned over the railing and hurled.

The night Zo was eliminated, shit really hit the fan.

Perhaps it was the pressure of the impending lock-ins. Or the Scotch everyone (except an extremely hungover Edie) drank on the way to the key ceremony on the shore of Loch Lomond. But when Adam Fox appeared, framed in a panorama of glassy water and rolling hills, and said—

“Ladies, the final key of the night.”

And Bennett Charles slowly raised his eyes from the grass and said—

“Aspen.”

—Zo completely lost her shit.

Instantly she started screaming. Like a sea witch emerging from the loch itself, Zo released a series of high-pitched staccato shrieks, her head thrown back, dark hair whipping in the wind.

Everyone—Bennett, the girls, production—gaped at her, shocked such a heinous sound could come from such a tiny woman.

Until, suddenly, like a plug pulled from a socket, Zo’s jaw clamped shut, and the loch was silent once again.

“I swear to god I won’t stay if you don’t want me to,” Aspen begged, bravely reaching a hand toward Zo.

“This is not how this ends, you pre-ejaculating piece of shit,” Zo hissed, and with the preternatural grace of an enraged prima ballerina, Zo lunged across the grass toward Bennett.

“Oh my god,” Edie said, grabbing Max’s arm. Zo’s hands were Wolverined in the air like she was going to claw his eyes out. “She’s going to kill him.”

Bennett scanned the premises as if looking for an exit—across from him, an infantry of bachelorettes; on both sides, clusters of production people under pop-up tents; behind him, the loch.

Edie watched three separate cameramen and their attending PAs dart across the grass to keep up with Zo.

A drone shot across the sky. At the production tent, Jessa held Peter back.

And that’s when Edie realized she was watching a master at work.

Of course Zo wasn’t going to walk off set with her head held high.

She wanted an exit that would leave everyone talking.

“Bennett!” Peter yelled as Zo closed in. “Run!”

Finally, Bennett started to run, darting back and forth across the grass like a wide receiver, occasionally spinning into a fake-out and heading in the opposite direction.

But Zo was both fast and undeterred. Anticipating his strategy, she kept up with his maneuvering until finally they arrived at a stalemate, crouched like tigers in the grass, waiting for the right moment to strike.

“Listen, Zo,” Bennett pleaded, his hands up in surrender. “It’s not you, it’s me—”

“Aaaaaaaaarghhhhhhh!” she screeched as she lunged. But at the very last second, Bennett dodged, and Zo flew past him, down a little hill, straight into the lake.

“Zo!” Aspen screamed, lurching across the grass in her stilettos. When she reached the water, Aspen didn’t hesitate before wading in after her.

“Oh no, her dress!” Bailey cried as they watched Aspen sway for a moment on her six-inch heels before falling ass-first into the water.

“You’re going to regret this, Bennett Charles!” Zo snarled, her gown hanging off her in a wet sheet. Zo started wrestling with her mic pack and stood to look Bennett in the eyes. “And to think I loved you,” she spat, enunciating every word with the snarl of a seasoned soap star.

“She. Is. Magnificent ,” Max declared.

Bennett collapsed in the grass, pulling his tie and fanning himself with his shirt. Red splotches crept up his neck and he began to wheeze. Bailey and a cameraman fell to their knees at his side. “It’s so hard,” he croaked. “Being loved this much.”

“Oh, babe,” Bailey said, pulling him to her bosom. “I know it is.”

AMID ALLEGATIONS OF “TOXIC ENVIRONMENT,” THE KEY PREMIERES TO LOWEST RATINGS IN SERIES HISTORY, SHOWRUNNER WEIGHS IN

BY LUCY LYONS

Most dramatic season ever? So far audiences don’t think so. Only 5 million viewers tuned in to watch extreme sportsman Bennett Charles make his debut as The Key ’s twenty-second suitor, but showrunner Peter Kennedy says he’s not worried.

“If anything, we were expecting this,” Kennedy told Us . “America needs a chance to get to know Bennett and—just like the twenty gorgeous women vying for his heart—we know they’re going to fall head over heels in love.”

The relatively unknown philanthropist stepped into The Key ’s lead role after photos surfaced of previous suitor Wyatt Cash at a gay bar in Miami, effectively outing the fan favorite from both the closet and the competition.

Petitions for Cash to remain on the show with an all-male cast were ignored, even as criticism over The Key ’s heteronormative agenda continued to plague the series.

Is America ready for a LGBTQIA+ season of The Key ?

“That’s something we’re working toward and a season I want to see,” Kennedy said.

“At the end of the day, The Key is focused on telling compelling stories about compelling people and that’s why we’ve remained a ratings juggernaut for almost twenty years. ”

Also affecting ratings, complaints about a too-white cast and allegations about the show’s “toxic environment.” Speaking on the condition of anonymity, an eliminated contestant told Us the pressure to be sexual is commonplace.

“They make you do things you would never do,” she said. “No one told me that I had to sleep with Bennett Charles to stay on the show. But it was, like, implied .”

Multiple sources confirm Key producers use the lure of fame to convince contestants to do anything from parade around in lingerie to make late-night off-camera visits to the suitor’s bedroom.

“Sleeping with Bennett Charles was the worst mistake of my life,” the contestant continued. “And I want the women of America to know he only cares about being famous. He’ll pick whoever the producers tell him to. The whole thing is fake. And degrading. And toxic.”

When asked about the allegations of toxicity on The Key , Kennedy said, “We are aware of these statements and take them very seriously. A commitment to not only consent, but enthusiastic and clear-minded consent, is at the heart of The Key .”

Feminist watchdog groups have called for a total boycott, but despite the premiere’s low ratings, The Key continues to lead Tuesday night, winning in the ever-important 18–49 demo.

The Key airs on RX Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET.