Day 5: What's Cooking?

On the fifth day, everyone's up early for our first challenge this season.

"Morning, gentlemen. As you all know by now, Andrea works as a chef at this really upscale place," Mac begins.

"Well, for your first challenge, your task is to impress her with your cooking!"

"I don't feel too good about this," Darnell remarks.

"Now, you don't have to do anything too fancy. As a matter of fact, Andrea likes her comfort food, so you'll all be cooking bacon and eggs. You don't have to be a chef like Milo here to make that, so the playing field should be evened out somewhat."

"Pfft, yeah, sure," Milo scoffs.

"Now, y'all have 30 minutes to prepare your meal. Andrea will choose her three favorites, and those three lucky chefs will get to go on a date with her tomorrow. You'll find everything you need inside these fridges. Good luck!"

And with that, the men spread out to prepare their meals.

It looks like the guys in this corner are doing fine for themselves.

"Eggs and bacon? I can do this in my sleep," Milo claims.

"Yeah? Well, you better keep your eyes open because someone else might get the drop on you," Leroy retorts.

"We'll see."

And the others, well...

"Damn, I spilled some. Better get another egg."

"Oh hell, I don't think the bowl's supposed to move like that."

Not so easy when you don't have a personal chef to make your meals, huh, big guy?

Looks like Daniel is the first to the stove. Will he also be the first to win over Andrea's stomach?

"Looks like there's enough salt and spices."

I don't think you're supposed to taste raw eggs, Min.

"Oh man, I don't think it's supposed to be that color," Aaron panics.

Seems like everyone's doing alright on this side.

And the others aren't too shabby either.

"Alright, guys. Time's up! Start wrapping up if you're not yet done and place your plates on the counter."

And with that, everyone gathers around the eggs as they await the judge's arrival.

"I think I did pretty well for myself," Min Kyu triumphantly exclaims.

"Good for you. I don't feel good about mine," Aaron responds.

Here she is now.

"Morning, Mac!"

"Morning, Ma'am. Breakfast is served. I think we can trust your palate to tell us which guys deserve a date with you."

"Oh, I can't wait. I haven't eaten yet today. I hope you boys made me something good to eat."

"Let's start with...this one!" Andrea excitedly says as she picks up the plate closest to her.

"Well, this is...certainly something..."

Andrea proceeds to go around the counter tasting everyone's dishes.

"Oh, this one has interesting flavors. I can taste a bit of cheese in it."

And once she's done...

"Okay, I've made up my mind, Mac. It was hard for me to choose between two plates, but I've narrowed it down to my three favorites."

"Alright, gather round, everyone. Andrea has made her choice. Now, remember that she doesn't know which one of you cooked which dish to avoid any biases. With that, the men going on tomorrow's date are..."

"Milo"

"Min Kyu"

"...and Dax."

"Good job, everyone! It was a close fight between two of you, but Andrea ultimately decided on Dax's eggs."

"Awesome," Dax exclaims.

"We'll be heading back to the house now, and you're free to spend the rest of the day however you like."

After a short drive, everyone's back at the manor.

"I can't really brag about being good at many things, but eggs and bacon? Easy."

"Oh yeah, I totally intended to have the eggs and bacon end up that way. Apart from being a sick dancer, I'm also a master chef. The other guys should be threatened by me!"

"And that fire the other day was just a fluke. Today's the day I get to make up for it."

"What not a lot of people know is that since I've had to live by myself for a long time now, I do my own cooking. I tried living off deliveries for a while, but I got sick soon enough. And I just love my bacon."

"Hey, sorry to interrupt your show," Andrea chimes in.

"Nah, it's fine. What is it?" Darnell asks.

"Can we...talk somewhere private? Just the two of us?"

"Sure, sure."

"You know, I'm not too crazy about gardens, but I remember seeing this spot last season, and I just fell in love with it."

"Yeah, I guess it looks nice here."

"I just feel like I can really get to know a guy in this place. You can probably tell why I asked you here."

"Whaddaya want to know, Andrea?"

"Preferably something I can't look up online or in a book," Andrea chuckles. "How long have you wanted to be a basketball player, for example?"

"Huh. Well, I've always liked playing ball. As a kid I'd pass the time playing with the neighbor kids. There wasn't much to do growing up poor."

"Ah yes, the ole underdog story. I'm sure they mentioned that in the TV special."

"I didn't plan on making a living out of it back then, though. 'Twas more of a hobby. When I joined my high school's team, that's when I knew that maybe I could make some money out of it. A scout approached me after one game. Turns out he was the coach of the San Myshuno Llamas. Offered me a spot on their team after I graduate. And I took it, because there ain't no way I'm passing that up."

"It's good that you've stuck with them the past 8 years. Loyalty's really something, you know? And my dad really loves the Llamas."

"It helps that it pays a lot too," Darnell nudges Andrea. "It's nice that I've had a well-paying job straight out of high school. At least momma don't have to break her back providing for me and my sis anymore. Oh, and speaking of sis, here's another thing I haven't told anyone: you know my jersey number?"

"Yeah, everyone does."

"It's the year my sister was born. She's one of the reasons I do what I do, you know?"

"That's really sweet."

"Hi! Andrea to Aaron, you read me?"

"Oh, sorry, I was just engrossed in this book," Aaron apologizes. "Let me just put it back on the shelf. Oh, and please take a seat."

"Oh, no, it's fine, you don't have to put it away and give up your seat."

"Nah, I insist. I've been sitting for hours now anyway. I could use some stretching."

"If you say so."

"You really like reading, don't you?" Andrea asks.

"Definitely. I just get lost in books sometimes. I really like ones about agriculture and botany, but novels and biographies suit me too. I'm not too picky."

"You must spend a lot of time in the library, then. You don't really seem like that type to go out a lot and meet tons of girls. Oh, wait, sorry, that sounded a bit mean. I didn't mean to--"

"Oh, it's fine," Aaron interrupts her. "As a matter of fact, I do spend a lot of time in libraries. Although I did meet a girl when I spent a lot of time in my college library."

"Oooohhhhh..." Andrea says with a mischievous grin. "Did you like her?"

"She's...a good friend. Actually, she's the reason I joined this show."
"Really?"

"Yeah, she kind of signed me up for it."

"And you just went along?"

"Yeah...I guess. She said I should find love and be happy and whatnot."

"Well, she must really like you if she cared that much. Tell me about her."

"Her name's Annie. She's got a full scholarship to my college, and she's a psych student in the same year as me. She's also a part-time staffer at the library, and she's harder to read than any book."

"Maybe you just need more practice reading women," Andrea chuckles.

"It's funny, because I swear she said the same thing. You know, you two are kind of similar in certain ways."

"I hope that's a good thing."

"Leroy! Enjoying yourself?"

"Oh, yeah. The water's nice. Care to join me?" Leroy asks.

"Hold on, I'll just get my swimsuit."

"You know, I may work as a teacher, but I didn't always plan to be this way," Leroy begins.

"What did you want to do?"

"I always wanted something that had to do with the outdoors. It just feels nice being outside surrounded by nature, you see."

"I can't say I'm a huge fan of nature, but I do love the occasional walk in the park."

"Well I love it. I wanted to be a hiker or a park ranger when I was a kid. But then the grownups told me those weren't good career choices."

"I think you can make a decent living as a park ranger. Those grownups don't know what they're talking about."

"It's fine. I also learned that I was into art, so I took a lot of art classes in school. I even took up fine arts in college, and then minored in literature because, hey, why not? There weren't a lot of job openings when I graduated, and one thing led to another, and that's how I ended up teaching art to a bunch of teenagers."

"Do you like it?"

"Eh, it's a living. Teens aren't exactly the most well-behaved people, but I can see that some of them are pretty interested in art, so that's cool. I get to teach them about something I love. And I'm not stuck in the four walls of the classroom either, because we sometimes get to go outside to the school gardens, or sometimes even on field trips, so it's not all bad."

"I guess everything worked out in the end for you, Leroy."

"Daniel! I just knew I'd find you here," Andrea says.

"Andrea! You're looking lovely as always," Daniel says.

"Aww, that's really nice."

"You know, you don't look so bad yourself, lifting those weights. I can see those muscles popping out," Andrea remarks as she eyes Daniel.

"Yeah, gotta stay fit for the job. You know, I actually had to work hard to get what I have. I was pretty overweight when I was a kid."

"Wanna know something? Me too."

"You're kidding. I never would've guessed."

"Well, I had to lose the pounds. And miraculously, I didn't gain them back even when I started working as a chef."

"I didn't like being that way, you know. I was pretty miserable. Kids always gave me crap for it. They can be pretty mean."

"Tell me about it."

"I was always on the computer back then, but one day I decided to take up sports and be more active. My parents were pretty happy I wasn't just lying around all day. I became good enough to be the captain of the football team in high school, actually."

"You must've been a real hit with the ladies," Andrea says. "I remember the captain of our team being really dreamy, but he was an ass, so I stayed as far away from him as possible."

"I guess you can say I was like that," Daniel responds.

"A hit with the ladies, or a dreamy ass?" Andrea jokes.

"Eh..."

After going around talking with the guys, Andrea decides to sit outside by herself for a little alone time. It doesn't last long, however.

"Andy!" Dax excitedly greets. "I can't wait for our date tomorrow,"

"Me too, Dax. We'll be going somewhere fun. I think you'll like it."

"That's good to hear. Maybe I'll get to tell you about that shark story I mentioned. He went chomping around like this," Dax says as he makes biting motions with his hand.

"I'm just glad you made it out safely to tell the tale. I'll be looking forward to your story."

Meanwhile, Min's just sleeping on the couch while Daniel eats the leftovers from this morning's challenge. Maybe all that cooking tired him out.

"Hey, Andrea, since I won't be coming with you tomorrow, I hope you don't have too much fun and forget the rest of us," Daniel says.

"Aww, of course I won't forget about you guys. You're all very memorable."

"I hope y'all enjoy yourselves tomorrow, Andrea," Darnell says. "And I hope I'll get a turn soon."

As the day comes to a close, Andrea decides to get ready for bed. She's got a big day ahead of her, and the guys are pretty excited about it.

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And that concludes our fifth episode for this season of For Love or Money. How will the group date go? Will Andrea find out more about the men's intentions? Stay tuned and find out what happens on the next episode!