Page 106 of The Charm Offensive
“What if I’m like our naïve contestants? What if… what if the love I’ve wanted my whole life isn’t real? What if there are no happily ever afters?”
Jules takes their knotted hands and drops them into her lap, but still, she refuses to let go of him. “I don’t think happily ever after is something that happens to you, Dev. I think it’s something you choose to do for yourself.”
Story notes for editors:
Season 37, Episode 10
Story producer:
Jules Lu
Air date:
Monday, November 15, 2021
Executive producer:
Ryan Parker
Scene:Interviews with Angie Griffin, Lauren Long, and Daphne Reynolds at the live finale
Location:Studio in Burbank
Mark:Are you disappointed at all with the way things turned out?
Angie:Disappointed? Ha, hardly. Look, I auditioned for this show on a dare. Don’t look at me like that, Mark. I’ve done worse things for free alcohol. I figured best-case scenario, I’d get to travel to some cool places with some cool people before starting med school. And I was right—that part was amazing. But I never believed any of the couples on this show actuallyfell in love. I guess I still don’t, since we were all faking the whole time, but also, the truth is, I did fall in love on this show. I fell in love with Charlie. I fell in love with Daphne, who has become one of my closest friends. It’s not romantic love, but I think it matters just as much.
Mark:What have you learned from this process, if anything?
Lauren:I’ve learned it’s possible to be so in love with an idea of something, you can be blinded to the reality. And I’ve learned I want something real.
Mark:If you could go back and give advice to the version of yourself that started your journey on this show six months ago, what would it be?
Daphne:I would tell her to stop chasing someone else’s idea of love. And I would tell her she deserves the kind of love she truly wants.
THE LIVE FINALE
Burbank, California—Monday, November 15, 2021
Charlie
“Can I please,pleasetake off this fucking crown?”
Jules smooths out a crease in his purple tie, then tilts her head up at him. “Absolutely not.”
“I’m not even a prince anymore,” he argues. “I’m just a man, about to talk to another man, about how a third man broke my heart on national television.”
“You can do that in a fucking crown.” She stops grooming him long enough to fuss over his emotional state instead. “Are you going to be okay?”
“Yes, Jules.”
“Did you rehearse the questions I sent you?”
“I did.”
“And you know if at any time, you’re feeling uncomfortable, or need a break, all you have to do is—”
“I know.”
