Read One To Watch for Free Online Page B

overseeing the day-to-day operations of
Main Squeeze
for the past four seasons. That I’ve made myself indispensable—and that the cast, the crew, and the network all work with me a lot more than they work with certain men whose primary roles at the show have devolved into acting like pigs and cashing huge checks.”
    “And you convinced the network that it was worth losing the pigs to save themselves the checks.”
    Lauren tapped her nose—bingo.
    “So why rock the boat?” Bea asked. “If you’re finally running the show, why not just go with the old blueprint and keep your job secure?”
    “First of all, the old blueprint isn’t working—last season was our lowest-rated finale in five years. Second, what’s the point of putting me in charge if I’m just going to execute someone else’s regressive vision? I told the network that I’m going to shake things up and deliver higher ratings, and I’m working on a lot of exciting ways to do that.”
    “Such as?” Bea prompted.
    “Eradicating spoilers, for one.”
    “What? How can you humanly contain them?” Bea was extremely skeptical—ever since the advent of cell-phone cameras, the twists and turns of every season of
Main Squeeze
were captured by rabid fans and spread across the Internet well before they ever made it to television.
    “By changing up our shooting schedule. Instead of filming the whole season in advance and then airing it afterward, we’re going to kick things off with a live premiere, and then film our episodes on a nearly real-time schedule: The dates we shoot each week will air the following Monday.”
    “Holy shit.” Bea was genuinely impressed. “Is that even possible?”
    “Sure! There are British reality shows that air new episodes every
day
—it won’t be easy, but I know our editing unit can turn around an episode per week no problem. Getting rid of spoilers is one half of my strategy—casting you is the other. America has never seen anyone like you lead a show like this. We’re going to be right in the middle of the zeitgeist and send our ratings through the roof.”
    “Even if that’s a sound strategy, why would you choose me? I’m sure the fact that I have a built-in fan base is a plus, but why not cast someone who hasn’t, you know, openly vilified the show? Don’t you think people will see me as some kind of fame-seeking hypocrite if I do this?”
    “The fact that you have a lot of followers is huge for us,” Lauren admitted. “But Bea, your piece is the
reason
I want to cast you. You wrote about why you watch the show in the first place—how much you connect with all these silly people risking looking like idiots on national television because they really do want to find love. You felt let down by the fact that the show was saying that not a single one of those silly idiots could look remotely like you. If you come on the show, it’s a chance to prove that you—and, by extension, millions of women who look like you—
can
find love. And that you deserve the spotlight as much as any other woman.”
    Bea picked up her French 75 and took a deep drink, letting the fizzy, astringent liquid prickle down her throat.
    “Can I ask you a question?” Lauren gazed at Bea with her piercing eyes. “Bea, why
wouldn’t
you do this?”
    “Being a fat woman in the public eye isn’t exactly a cakewalk,” Bea replied. “I got a taste of massive trolling when my piece went viral.”
    “I read about the SlimFast shakes.” Lauren scowled. “Fucking disgusting.”
    The shakes had been terrible. What started as a daily laugh with Dante the UPS guy morphed into full-blown mortification as hundreds and eventually thousands of shakes arrived at her doorstep. But they weren’t the worst of it—not by a long shot.
    “I couldn’t post anything on Twitter without getting rape threats and death threats. They posted my home address all over the Internet, sent revolting text messages from anonymous phone numbers, dick pics at