The theatre lights lowered, and spotlights came on lighting up the stage in front of the curtains. A tall, brown-haired guy bounded onto the stage, dressed in a black suit 3-piece suit and black shirt, with the top button undone.
"Hi everyone, I'm Chris and I'll be your host for this evening's fun and games" he announced. "Now, on the way in you were all asked if you would be willing to take part tonight and our 4 contestants have been selected at random from the willing volunteers. They'll be competing for a prize fund based on how well everyone does throughout the challenges, so the harder everyone tries to win, the more money the winner will go home with. So, without further ado, lets introduce you to our contestants"

The theatre lights went out and a drumroll started as, one at a time, 4 spotlights came on, letting the audience see the contestants:
* A tall dark-skinned guy with curly black hair, dressed in tight jeans and a baggy hoodie.
* A short, tanned, muscular guy, with cropped dark-blond hair, in a tight white t-shirt and straight-cut jeans
* A fair-skinned redhead, with shoulder-length hair, in a blue hoodie and black jeans
* A blond with a spikey haircut, dressed in a green Henley top and baggy brown cargo pants

"OK guys, come on up and introduce yourselves" Chris called.
The guys were led up to the stage and lined up in the order their spotlights came on.
"Contestant number 1, tell us your name and age"
"Hi, I'm Lewis" the tall guy answered. He sounded a little apprehensive about what was coming up. "and I'm 24"
"Thank you, Lewis" Chris, responded "No need to be feel nervous everything coming up is going to be a lot of fun"
He smiled and Lewis and Lewis visibly relaxed.
"Contestant 2, who are you?" Chris continued.
"Hi," the second guy responded, with a beaming smile on his tanned face. "I'm Adam and I'm 26. I hope I'm up for the challenge." Adam's tone sounded confident, as if he could handle anything that was thrown his way.
"Thank you, Adam Contestant 3?"
"Hey, I'm Craig I guess at 31 I'm the oldest of these guys"
"No older than me" Chris replied "and when you look as good as we do, I don't think there's anything for us to be worried about"
Craig smiled and nodded in response hard not to, when a cute guy tells you you're good looking.
"And Contestant 4" Chris continued down the line.
The 4th guy had noticeably relaxed as Chris has chatted with the others. "Hi, I'm Ariel and I'm 27 and looking forward to having some fun with these guys!" Ariel's tone of voice clearly indicated that he didn't mind what sort of fun it was.

"Well guys, the way this works is simple we have a series of game and challenges for you. There will be points to be scored and sometimes you will be working together and sometimes competing. While I know the basics of the rounds, there are some details I'll only find out at the same time that you and the audience do. So without further ado"
The curtains drew back revealing a stage with a brightly coloured backdrop, with 4 showers in front of it.
The expressions on the contestants' faces were a mixture of confusion, humour and worry.
"As you can see there are showers on stage from which you might be able to guess, some of the challenges might get a little messy although that is not guaranteed."
As Chris spoke, a set of buckets lowered down above the stage, each with a rope dangling from it. A second set of buckets could be seen just above the first. Chris opened an envelope and started to read the instructions on the card inside.
"Now we didn't want you to get all of your clothes messy, especially not in the first game, so the rules are simple All of you will be blindfolded then, One at a time, each of you will strip topless and pull the ropes on your buckets until a T Shirt falls on you, then you put the T shirt on and strip off your shoes, socks and trousers, then the next contestant takes over and so on until you're all dressed and ready for the rest of the games All clear so far?"
The guys nodded.
"Obviously, everyone stays relatively clean if you all pick the right bucket on the first try, but who knows what's in the other buckets"
"I bet there's some cocky stagehand who likes seeing guys gunked who knows exactly what's in those buckets" Ariel sniggered.
"Very true," Chris winked at Ariel. "Now, to see if you guys manage to add to the prize fund, we need the audience to assist can everyone in the audience use the keypad by their chair to type how many seconds they think it will take for all the guys to complete."
A red circle appeared on the backdrop, filling in green, pie-chart style as the audience put their estimates in. As the last wedge of red disappeared, 02:43 appeared on the green circle.
"Hmmm. That looks a bit tight on the time, but do-able"

Chris opened a second envelope and read from the cart "So, if any of you manages under the average time per person, so that's 40 seconds or less, we'll add £5 to the prize total. If you beat it by 10 seconds, we'll add another £5 and if the total time for all 4 of you meets or beats the audience total we'll add another £5, so that's up to £45 up for grabs from this first round"
"We'll go in height order, starting with the tallest, so it's Lewis, then Craig, then Ariel and finally Adam. Of course you will all be blindfolded" Chris handed everyone a set of blacked out goggles to put on " so to know when to start, I'll pie the next contestant in the face and " Chris paused as he read the instructions for the first time "when each person finishes, I'll hand them a pie for them to pie me anywhere, so I know they are done before I pie the next guy to start." Chris shrugged as the guys and the audience laughed at the expression on his face. "I guess I can't host games like this without being willing join in the fun, huh?"

"So if everyone's ready the countdown will start the moment I pie Lewis so blindfolds on"
A stagehand handed Chris a huge cream pie as the guys put their goggles on and another stagehand handed him an envelope labelled "open later".
"All ready, guys? I've just been handed another set of instructions for after the game's over but I am sure it's nothing for you to worry about"

Chris moved over in front of Lewis and raised the pie "3, 2, 1"

The countdown started as Chris slammed the pie into Lewis's face, covering his face and hair, and splattering Craig who was lined up behind him.
While Chris gave a running commentary, the events spoke for themselves. Lewis pulled his hoodie and T Shirt off in one move, revealing a toned torso, then moved in the direction of the ropes and buckets, moving forwards with his hands raised up to feel the ropes. He found the first rope and looked upwards as he pulled the rope sending a fountain of glitter pouring down over him. Moving on fast, Lewis's second bucket was filled with confetti, but still no T Shirt. The audience could see Lewis looking more confident, apparently thinking all the buckets would be the same. As Lewis looked up into the air towards the 3rd bucket a stream of custard poured over him coating his face and chest. Ketchup and Maple syrup followed in the 4th and 5th, clinging to his skin and soaking his curls. A Red T shirt fell out of the 6th, landing squarely on Lewis's face. He lost no time in peeling it off his face and pulling it on over his gunk-covered chest, the fabric clinging to his chest and abs as he pulled it down. Lewis kicked off his shoes and socks but lost a few seconds as he fell over while pulling his tight jeans off. The second the were off, he felt a pie being handed to him and thrust it forwards splatting Chris in groin.
"So much for the suit" Chris moaned as he slammed a fruit and cream pie into Craig's face, who he had led across the stage to where Lewis had finished. As Craig set off, Chris gave Lewis a hand up and helped him out of his goggles through the layers of mess. While the front of Lewis's tight white briefs was clean, the gunge from under his T shirt was beginning to trickle over the black waistband. Meanwhile the back, where he had landed on the floor was soaked in syrup, moulding the fabric to his cheeks. Lewis looked up at the timer and saw "Lewis: 0:41" next to the timer. He hadn't beaten the average, so no money in the prize fund yet.

Craig had pulled off his blue hoodie almost a soon as the pie had hit his face. That move smeared the cream and fruit from the pie into his hair, leaving streaks of purple and white in his red locks. His body was fit from cycling, with just a smattering of hair leading up to his belly button. Because of where Lewis had finished, Craig started right in the middle of the buckets a fresh set having descended as Lewis's were raised up pulling ropes as fast as he could get to them, he ended up with a face-full of strawberry yoghurt, a splattering of passata over his face and chest, some fruit filling over his head, a shower of custard and a blue Tshirt all in quick succession. Pulling the T Shirt on forced the food downwards as he stepped out of his jeans, kicking his trainers off at the same time. No socks had saved him a fraction of time. Literally as the pie was handed to him, he pushed it away from him, splattering Chris's chest.
As Chris thrust a lemon cream pie into Ariel's face to start the next run, Craig removed his blindfold and looked down at himself. While Lewis's groin had stayed fairly clean, Craig's looser jeans had allowed the mess to flow inside them as he had pulled his T Shirt on. The blue boxer briefs were now coated with a layer of pink, red and yellow, the moisture moulding the underwear to his noticeable bulge. Craig sighed this was just the beginning. He went to join Lewis on a set of stools that had been placed just at the edge of the bucket area someone wanted the guys to get a bit of extra splashing as the game went on, it seemed. Looking up at the timer he read "Craig: 0:32" so he had beaten the average, but not by 10 seconds. £5 into the prize fund though.

Ariel had got off to a flying start, literally tearing his top off had left his blond spikes with flecks of white and cream in them, but as he rushed forwards, pulling a rope that hit his hand, he slipped in the mess on the ground, sending him flying forwards landing chest first in a mixture of syrup, custard and other things, meanwhile the swinging bucket had released mayonnaise that landed on his butt and legs and a second rope he'd grabbed on the way down coated his back in BBQ sauce. Lewis, at the side of the stage got splashed with the mess too, leaving him more colourful than before. The tight muscles of Ariel's swimmer's physique were painted with residue from the other buckets and his cargo pants were soaked and messed up front and back. As he stood up, he grabbed a 3rd rope and a yellow T shirt hit his face before landing in the puddle he had just stood up from. Ariel knelt down in the gunk and grabbed the T shirt, pulling it on fast, then lying back to pull his cargo pants off, with shoes and socks at the same time. As Ariel felt the pie handed to him from above, he pushed it forwards and upwards, inadvertently catching Chris between the legs, coating his suit trousers with more cream and pie filling.
Chris spun to the side, delivering a cherry pie into Adam's face. He turned back to help Ariel up from the floor. Ariel slightly lost his balance as he stood up, resulting in a roughly Ariel-shaped outline in assorted foodstuffs on the front of Chris's suit. As Ariel regained his balance and removed the goggles, he looked down at the state of his outfit. The combination of the fall and using the floor to get undressed had left his white boxer briefs covered front and back, with liquids soaking in. While Ariel had nothing to be ashamed of, he didn't normally show it off but now anyone who looked his way could get a pretty good idea. As moved to the stools, Ariel glanced up and read "Ariel: 0:29". His run may have been a disaster, but he had been lucky too. £10 to the total prize fund, for beating the average by 10s. He looked a mess, but it was worth it.

Adam's run was going both well and badly at the same time it had taken him no time to pull off his T shirt and his shoes gave him a good grip on the floor. He was racing through the buckets, but unfortunately the results were not going his way. His tanned skin had now been coated with treacle, chocolate sauce, gravy, something he thought might have been red wine and his 5th bucket was filled with glitter. He was having fun and a huge smile was on his face as he moved onwards, the glitter highlighting the muscles of his gym fit body. He heard a low moan from the crowd as Chris announced that the countdown timer was now hidden no one could see how long it was taking. Another bucket dropped baked beans over Adam, washing some of the glitter away. Everyone watching could see that the gunk covering the hunky lad was sliding down inside the loose waistband of his jeans as well as outside. Porridge and honey followed in the next 2 buckets covering Adam's hair, still he felt he was moving fast. Tinned spaghetti followed next, with double cream pouring from the 10th. Finally, a green T Shirt fell from the 11th bucket, sticking to Adam's hair and face. He pulled the T shirt on as fast as he could, forcing various foodstuffs over and under his jeans as he did so. Standing on one leg, he pulled one shoe off then swapped to pull off the other then whipped his jeans down as fast as he could. As he felt the pie pressed into his hands he guessed and pushed slightly upwards into Chris's face as a claxon sounded.
"Well done guys" Chris said as he wiped the pie off his face. "I think we'll need to watch that in slow motion if we want to catch all the detail, given how fast you went!"
Adam joined the other guys on the stools, while they looked a mess, he could tell he was far messier. His orange and grey boxer briefs were covered in a mess of different foodstuffs, he could hardly tell their original colour from his angle. He tried to clean out some of the gunk from under his T Shirt, but pulling it down just resulted in more landing on his bulge.
"Well, now" said Chris as he approached the guys "We can see that Ariel and Craig raised £15 for the prize fund but will it get any bigger?"
"There are a lot of things getting bigger here" Ariel said quietly while looking at the guys lined up with him, resulting in some muffled sniggers.
"So, how does everyone think Adam did?" Chris asked.
"Seemed like he went faster than the rest of us" Lewis answered.
"Yeah, faster, but way less lucky with the buckets" Craig replied.
"I'm hoping I didn't let everyone down" Adam added "but either way, this has been great fun so far"
"Well, everyone" Chris continued "before we reveal Adam's time lets see what that last envelope I was given had to say."

Chris took the envelope from inside his jacket and removed 3 cards from inside.
Looking at the first card, he read "As you may have noticed, there are showers on stage. If the contestants beat or equal the timer, they get to use the showers to clean up. If they fail to beat the timer by 5 seconds or less, they get to share 2 of the showers to clean up. If they fail to beat the timer by 10 seconds or less, they get to use 1 shower, all together, to clean up. If they fail by a wider margin, then they go into the next game as they are!"
As Chris had been making the announcement, everyone's eyes had been looking at the showers while they had doors, they were made from clouded glass, and did not go all the way to the floor nor rise far above waist level, so while modesty may be preserved, it was only with the slimmest of margins.

"Onto the second card If the total time is 10 seconds or more below the target, Chris has to help the guys get clean in any way they see fit hmmm, that sounds a little unfair"
"You've managed so far, Chris" Ariel laughed "I'm sure you can cope helping us out a bit more"
Chris raised his eyebrows playfully and eyed the lads up "I guess it couldn't be all bad" he grinned

"And so, onto the last card As the contestants are in their underwear, if any guy hit Chris in the crotch with their pie" Chris looked at Ariel then Lewis with fake annoyance, then down at his ruined suit "Chris gets to spend the rest of the show without his trousers"
Chris turned to the audience as everyone laughed in good humour "Well, I guess I don't get any choice here". He sat on the edge of the stage and slowly removed his dress shoes before standing up and turning away from the audience. "I suppose I should have expected this and made allowances while making my wardrobe choices today." He said over his shoulder as he bent forwards and slowly shimmied out of his suit trousers, revealing a black sports jock framing his smooth butt cheeks. There were a few wolf whistles from the crowd as Chris took his time straightening up before his jacket and the tail of his shirt hid most of what the jock revealed.

"OK then on with the show" Chris exclaimed as he slipped back into his dress shoes. "I guess it's time to reveal Adam's time and thus the overall result"
A drumroll began, ending with Adam's time appearing under the others "Adam: 1:01"
"Well, Adam, that's not anywhere close to the average time, so no individual reward but let's reveal the total time The combined time for all 4 of you was" another drumroll as the countdown appeared on the screen reading "0:00" " dead on 2 minutes and 43 seconds. Well done guys that's another £5 into your prize fund, bringing the current total to £20. But that's just the first round. On top of that showers all round so I'll leave the 4 of you in the privacy of this wide-open stage to get cleaned up as we get the stage prepared for round 2.
As Chris headed off stage, the 4 guys headed to the showers on stage to clean up, struggling their best to stay upright in bare feet as they walked, slid and skidded across the mess that they had been tipping over themselves.

<to be="" continued="" in="" part="" />