Chapter Text
Interview 2
Miriam Foster
Age: 76
1st place in Disventure Camp Season 1
“Welcome back to Amidst the Chaos.” Emily smiles at the camera. “Next up we have someone who is really getting to be too old for being on this kind of show. She was somehow the first winner of Disventure Camp, leading people to make the claim of age being just a number. It’s Miriam Foster everyone!”
Miriam scowls as she walks out, wearing a similar but somewhat altered version of her usual attire. She wears a green shirt like usual, but it is now spotted with blue flowers instead of the old white. A pink scarf is tied loosely around her neck, and she wears slippers that match her shirt and dark green pants to complete her outfit.
“I didn’t come here for your attitude.” Miriam sits down, crossing her arms. “I’m still more than young enough to know you’re being rather rude, young lady.”
“And you’re a bit much for a geriatric.” Emily glares for a moment before shrugging and looking at her notes. “We’ve wasted enough time. Miriam, you are the first winner this show has ever had, and quite the shocking one to this day. It took until nearly the end of your season for anyone to see your win coming. How must that feel?”
“It felt like a million bucks.” Miriam chuckles, folding her hands in her lap. “Why should I care if people liked how I won? What matters is I won, and I proved anyone who said I’m too old very wrong.”
“There certainly was some irony in you as the oldest contestant beating the youngest in the final two.” Emily watches her reaction. “A lot of fans had you both pegged as early boots when the cast was first revealed.”
“Bah, they just jumped on stereotypes.” Miriam waves her hand dismissively. “I’m a fighter, and that Fiore was quite the schemer. Neither of us were going down easily.”
“You two did prove any doubters wrong, that’s for sure.” Emily smirks a bit. “And you found a sort of family along the way. Why don’t you tell us about Jake?”
Miriam smiles fondly, reaching into a pocket and pulling out a photo of her and Jake in front of a house. The two are smiling brightly with renewed joy in their eyes. “I didn’t have a whole lot to live for when I came on the show. But Jake managed to fill that void, and I could be the family he so desperately needed. His real family wasn’t worth the dirt I walked over to get here, he’s much better off without that influence in his life.”
“We’ll have plenty to ask Jake when he’s here himself, but he did have a pretty hard life from everything we saw.” Emily nods, smiling a bit sympathetically. “Awful parents, losing his grandma, abusive boyfriend, the whole nine yards really. I bet he’s glad to have you there for him.”
“Yes, but I don’t need you butting into our life any more than that. He’s doing fine.” Miriam scowls, putting the photo away. “I may have opened up a bit but that hardly makes me an open book.”
“We’ll just see what we can get out of Jake himself later.” Emily moves to a new note card with a slight smirk. “Now… what about your family from before? Your late husband and son, you spoke of them quite fondly.”
Miriam looks down glumly, letting out a solemn sigh. “Jonathan and Kurt were the light of my life for so long. With them my days were full of light and joy. I had a reason to live… until a horrible accident took them from me. It was meant to be a joyous day, and instead it became marked with death. And I was left alone with the bitter weight of the world crashing down upon me.”
“That would explain why you were the way you were in your season.” Emily looks slightly sympathetic. “I can’t fully relate to having people I care that much about, but I’m not heartless. I know how much loss can hurt people.”
“I was in a bad place for a few years.” Miriam looks up with a slight frown, not letting too much emotion show around the reporter. “I was alone and barely cared if I lived or died. But something in me told me to keep trying. That I kept my life while they didn’t for a reason. So I hung on against the tide, fought the waves of depression… until one day I saw the call to audition for Disventure Camp.”
“So you decided the cure to finding purpose in your life was… a reality show?” Emily can’t help but laugh a bit. “I mean it worked out for you, but why would you think that in the moment?”
Miriam scowls before shifting to a slight smile. “Because it was a campground. A place that reminded me of happy memories as a young girl, and even some with my family. And yes, I did experience some memories of youth there. I found something to live for again I wasn’t expecting, but that’s just how life surprises us. We never know what may happen to us around the next corner, and it filled me with a purpose to never gave up. And what do you know, it left me a million dollars richer.”
“Well I’m not going to argue with results.” Emily chuckles a bit, moving to her next note. “Now, the fans would like to know who you’ve kept in contact with from the show. Beyond the obvious in Jake.”
“Do they now?” Miriam thinks for a moment. “Let’s see here, need to rack my memory for a second…. oh right, seen Tom a few times, not as much as I’d like though. He’s still avoiding Jake more than he should. I’ll let those two handle that mess though.”
“Oh I’m sure we’ll get plenty of juicy info out of those two.” Emily waves her hand impatiently. “And the others?”
“Not much to say for the rest.” Miriam shrugs, leaning back as she speaks. “Dan I see once in a while at group gatherings and such, he’s a tolerable presence. Drew’s a good kid, and he deserves a bit more respect among these so called fans. To think they like people like Alec and Grett, bah. I barely see those two and its still too often. I’d say the same for Fiore, but she’s still a child so I sympathize with her a little. Doesn’t make what she did any better.”
“What can I say, people love a good villain. And I’m people.” Emily leans forward with a smirk. “And the rest?”
“Not much to say on most of them.” Miriam thinks for a moment. “Ashley and Will are nice enough, just never talked much to them. Nick is a bit pretentious but has a good heart, he’s around on occasion for reason I don’t understand. Lill I’ve actually become something of a friend with, we share an interest in nature’s beauty and she’s got quite a few stories to tell…. oh and those girls. Ellie and her girlfriend.” Miriam scowls, looking protective. “I won’t have anything to do with them until she apologizes for what she did to Jake. I feel for Gabby a little from what I’ve heard of her life, but if she’s going to choose to attach herself to that woman, then she’ll get no sympathy from me.”
“Do I sense some animosity?” Emily moves to her next card. “Perfect, we love to see it. But now we’re almost out of time, so for one last order of business… do you have anything to say to the fans who think you lucked your way into your win? That you did nothing for much of the game and took the win when more deserving players had gotten themselves eliminated?”
“Who said that?” Miriam glares at her. “Did you say that? If anyone genuinely thinks that they can shove it right up where the sun don’t shine. Anyone who wins this game deserves their win no matter how they got there, and if anyone wants to bitch and moan, I’m just going to tune them out. Most of them would probably fail before they got half as far as I did.”
Emily laughs, smiling a bit. “Spoken like a true legend of the game. So any closing thoughts? Plans for the your game on Island of the Stars perhaps?”
“I’m coming into this season with a much lighter mind.” Miriam smiles kindly at the camera, her scarf intertwined in her fingers. “I have a bright future, a family again, and a desire to get the best out of my life. So I think I’m going to go in playing hard but without any real expectations. I’ll enjoy what time I have, go as deep I can cause I’m not a quitter, and when my time there is up I’ll be cheering on Jake from the sidelines. And who knows, maybe I’ll meet some more people I can tolerate.” She casts a mischievous wink at the camera. “After all, you never know what’s around the river bend.”