Luckily for Anastasia, she lived right in the heart of Los Angeles. When she got that letter about the reality show she admittedly auditioned for as part of a lost bet, she was rather surprised. A biological engineer who had just very recently graduated from Northeastern was going to be on a reality show, at least that was as far as she knew according to the letter. There was the possibility that this was a [i]very good[/i] fake -- but the letter just seemed too real for her to pass up. There was an email and everything, and a quick Google search yielded results that boded well for Anna, and a quick phone call also verified what the letter said. Everything added up - hell even the address that was listed on the piece of paper was real. It took Anna a while to consider her options, but in the very end, after spending some time thinking about it, she decided to accept the offer and start packing for the trip. 

Even though Anna was right there in Los Angeles, meaning Malibu was only a forty minute drive away (on paper), she was still going to pack heavy for the trip. The Ukrainian woman had a feeling that she wasn't going to be allowed to go back and forth between her actual home and her Malibu home to grab what she needed. That meant her suitcases were going to be packed full of a variety of items, from clothes all the way to the various things she used to apply makeup. After some time packing, Anna was successfully packed, somehow managing to fit her giant pieces of luggage into the back of the Ford Expedition that was picking her up, and she made her way to the venue that was laid out on the piece of paper. Hopefully this was going to be a good opportunity for her, because this girl was way out of her element when it came to being on national television, especially someone who only applied to this thing as a joke.

Anna didn't really have much of a reputation in the grand scheme of things. She was just someone who sat in a laboratory or an office all day and worked magic with science. Nobody outside of her little bubble of life really knew who she was. She was about as hard to find as a needle in a haystack. Nothing made her stand out among seven billion people in this world. Her social media followers were in the high [i]hundreds[/i], and she had all the platforms you could think of. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram... you name it, she had it. The wild premise of the show meant that Anna was going to be submerged into an entirely new world she couldn't even fathom. Anna thought she was the shit at her company. After all, she [i]was[/i] appointed the leader of a huge project at some point. That meant that her superiors saw something in her that made her stand out from the rest. That meant she was good, and she [i]knew it[/i]. However, that didn't mean shit in the scope of this show. No biological engineering magic could save her from whatever situation would arise from being on this show.

The drive from Los Angeles to Malibu took nearly two hours, as it was peak rush hour and Anna made the unfortunate mistake of leaving right in the meat of it. She spent most of the drive just sitting on the freeway, the SUV inching along as she listened to whatever was on the radio drone on and on and one about god knows what. It was annoying that Los Angeles had some of the worst traffic in the entire country... she would've been able to get to the address a long time ago if it wasn't for Los Angeles's poor infrastructure and the overabundance of people in the county. She was frustrated. However, that frustration soon melted away when she [i]finally[/i] got to an exit she could take, where she could gain back some time and zoom away. Gone was the stop-and-go traffic of I-10 and in was the flowing, free road of CA-1, also known as one of the most beautiful highways in the entire country.

The Pacific Ocean was a beautiful sight for eyes to behold, and this day in late May made it so much more beautiful. The waters were calm, and people were frolicking about on the sandy beach. The closer she got to the destination, the more aware she was of the caliber of the situation she was dealing with. This was rich person territory, this was extravagant territory, this was territory where a square inch costed more than her entire apartment. Anna was [i]really[/i] out of her territory here, and it wasn't long before she arrived at the extravagantly fabulous venue of the show. Just looking at it made her feel broke, and she could already sense that the net worth that had congregated onto this property was sky high. Anna suddenly felt a little bit nervous, but that just meant she had to compensate. So what if  she was just some lowly biomechanical engineer? That didn't mean she didn't have anything to offer.

The SUV stopped in front of the front door, before Anna was allowed to leave and gather her things. Hopefully she could unpack and find her room and gather her bearings first, but the production crew had different plans. A camera was already trained onto her, watching her every move as she reached into the trunk and pulled out her rather large suitcases. An announcer spoke into the microphone as she pulled her belongings out, "And now we have our last, but not least participant, Anastasia Ivanova!" The man beamed, as the camera zoomed in on her closing the trunk door, one of her suitcases in hand as she prepared to walk to the front door. "This twenty five year old biomechanical engineer is our tenth participant! Why don't we see what we're getting from her, shall we?" 

Anna didn't make it more than five steps before the production crew came up to her, in which she was rather startled and taken aback by. However, this was a critical and pivotal moment for her. This moment with the camera was going to be the first out of MANY as she participated in this show. This moment was going to define who she was as a character on this show, even if she was a real person. The tone she took, and the words she chose to use were going to make an impression. She might as well have given them something to go off of.

"Hello there, Miss Ivanova. Do you have some time to answer some questions for us? It sure would be great if you did!" The announcer asked, a smile on his face. Something told Anna that she didn't really have the option to decline.

"Sure." She smiled, brushing a lock of hair behind her ear to make sure the audience got a clear shot of her face.

"Great! So first off, where are you from?" 

This was information that was revealed in her audition tape. Couldn't the editors just put it on the screen or something instead of asking her outright? She was rather confused as to why they were asking her this, unless they meant where she was [i]from[/i] from and not where she was a couple of hours ago. "Well I was born in Kiev, Ukraine before my family moved to Boston, where I spent most of my life and went to college in. After that, I got my degree and I moved to Los Angeles."

That was about as generic of a reply as any, but it was the best given the material. "Splendid! So what brought you here? Why did you want to come onto this show?"

Anna had the option of revealing the [i]actual reason[/i] as to why she was here, but her gut told her not to do it. Having someone that only auditioned as a joke wasn't going to go over too well, especially with the production crew who had no idea. She had to think of a bullshit answer rather quickly. "Well... I joined because I wanted something different to do. I like my job, but I can only do the same thing for so long before I just wanna rip my hair out of my head." 

Hopefully they bought that.

"That, we can all agree with, Miss! Now tell us, what are your hobbies like? What do you do? Maybe long walks on the beach?"

"I like to uh... watch TV, I guess? Once in a while I'll go to a bar." 

The announcer nodded, before finally getting onto the last question. "Now, do you have any special person in your life? Someone you go home to?"

"No. Not unless you count the creeps at the bar." Anna laughed, flashing an awkward smile. It was a rather disastrous interview, Anna thought, but she thought it would be fine for the most part considering she wasn't a crazy celeb, but instead just a regular Joe.

"Really now? A beautiful woman like you? Well, you think you'll meet someone here?"

"I don't know. We'll see what happens. Maybe I'll find someone good enough for me. Maybe I won't."

The announcer made a face that could only be interpreted as shock, but in a juicy sort of way. Seemed like they had a feisty one when it came to Anna. "Well that's all I have for you, Anastasia Ivanova, head on in and get settled!" 

Anna nodded and smiled, before pulling her suitcase up the walkway and into the house. Walking into the house had taken every single bit of air she had inside of her lungs. It was large, it was grand, it was grandeur, and it was definitely beautiful. This beat the shit out of every single place she had stepped into prior to today. She couldn't believe her eyes, and she couldn't believe the people that were in here. Anna honestly didn't know what to do with herself. It seemed like everyone else did, however, with how a rather young looking girl with glasses and a tattoo on her arm was conversing with a long haired man, both with drinks in hand. Anna stood there for a while, trying to figure out what to do now that she was here. Maybe a drink was in order? There were a ton of them at the table. Yeah, a drink sounded good. Anna made her way to the drink table, leaving her luggage near the door. Hopefully she'd be able to run into someone there, and get the ball rolling.