Somebody To Love: Bachelor In Paradise – Interview With The Bachelor ~ BackStory Part 1

Sul Sul! This is Roxanna Llama-Llama reporting to you LIVE from the tropical island of Sulani. Today we are setting sail for Mua Pel’am to snag an interview with our elusive bachelor. And look! Benny took this great photo of me on the outrigger canoe. Terrific, huh? I know. I’m so photogenic.

And we’re here! We follow a little pathway through some palm trees to a clearing. And let me tell you, I am NOT prepared for what I see. The guy lives in a shack. Yes, a SHACK! It looks like he collected driftwood on the beach and haphazardly hammered it together. Oh, my word! This is the guy who was chosen in a simworld search for a bachelor? This can’t be the guy.

I see a sim fishing near the water and I shout out, “Sul Sul! Are you Rick Goengeter?” And the guy turns around and says yes. Well, I can’t tell if he’s smiling or frowning because he’s got this huge growth of beard going on. I still can’t believe he’s the right one, so I ask, “The Rick who is going to be on Bachelor in Paradise?”

“Yep, one and the same, “ he says coming towards us, “Did you need help with anything?”

You know for a moment there, and only a moment, I, Roxanna Llama-Llama, was speechless. This really was Rick Goengeter! He was a scraggly mess but when he looked at me I was caught off-guard by his blue eyes. His eyes were blue like the sea, crystal clear blue, a perfect, cloudless sky kind of blue, all warm like the feeling you get wrapped up in a blue blanket before a fire kind of blue…Prince Charming blue.

Benny was quick to save the day and shook Rick’s hand, “Sul Sul! Nice to meet you, Rick. I’m Benny Fielding…and this is…”

“Um…yes…I’m Roxanna Llama-Llama, the hostess for the Bachelor in Paradise show. The producers sent us over to do a pre-show interview with you. Is now a good time?”

“Oh sure, I was just about to fix some lunch. My specialty…grilled fruit. Hungry?” Rick answered with a smile.

Hmmm….the man can cook and is charming to boot. After we grabbed some food, I opened my notepad and got right to it.

“So, Rick, are you from the island of Sulani?” I was not wasting time here, I had this burning urge to find out where Rick was from.

“No, not really. I came here on a vacation and just never left.”

I looked down at my notepad and crossed off Sulani from my list of possible places Rick might be from.

“But around here everyone calls me ‘Island Rick’,” he laughed as if he was sharing some private joke.

“Oh, and why is that?” queried Roxanna.

“Well, when I came to the island, I was in bad shape. I had actually come to Sulani to forget some things. To escape, you might say. And  I spent a lot of time down at The Sand Bar in Ohan’Ali Town. I mean A LOT of time. It’s owned by my good friend, Manu Kawai and his beautiful wife, Noelani. Manu kind of helped me…to, well, get my life back together.” Rick paused to take a bite of pineapple and then continued.

“I guess I told him the story of why I was in Sulani one night, and the next morning he was at my door asking if I wanted to head out and do some fishing. I really was in no shape to be doing anything, but he waited and he took me out on his outrigger canoe, and oh my plumbobs, I was sick. The whole time we were fishing, I was so sick. And Manu just kept talking to me about lures and the types of fish you could catch and never once mentioned anything about what I had said the night before.

At the end of the day when we were on-shore, he turned to me and said, ‘Healing comes from the earth, the water, the people, and the surroundings. Sulani is a good place to heal and make a new beginning.’ Then Manu gave me a smile, waved goodbye and headed down the road. It was quite a profound statement,” Rick said as he cleared the plates and sat down again.

“The next morning, Manu knocked on my door again and he showed up at my door every single day after that. Not just to go fishing, but to have me help him with some odd jobs around the island. Pretty soon, I got to know all the locals in Sulani and Manu said that he was really too busy with The Sand Bar to be doing all these odd jobs, but that I should continue without him. And that’s how I got to be known as ‘Island Rick’,” he laughed again.

“How long ago was that Rick?” I asked, underlining the words “a good place to heal.”

“About seven years now, I guess. Time moves more slowly here,” replied Rick.

“Well, from what I’ve seen it’s a beautiful island. I can understand why you wanted to stay,” said Roxanna looking out across the water.

“Yes, well after that first day with Manu, I thought a lot about what he had said about Sulani being a good place to make a new beginning. It’s true, the year before I had just been living my life in a daze. Wasting my life away. Within the week, I had called my boss and quit, arranged with a friend to clear out my place and sell my stuff. My friend wired me some simoleons here and I have a bit tucked away still.” Rick emphasized waving his arms, “Had enough to buy this island. Best thing I’ve ever done.”

“Yeah, Rick, I agree, this place is a beaut. Right on the water. Can come and go as you please. Are there some good dive sites around here because I’ve been taking some snorkeling lessons and…” asked Benny enthusiastically.

“Ahem….” Roxanna said clearing her throat giving Benny “the look”.

“Oh right…yeah…heck, we can chat about all that later. I’ll just look around a bit and take some photos. I’ll be down near the water if you need me….” replied Benny taking a quick snap of a “living room” area.

“Manu sounds like a really good friend. Benny and I have been to The Sand Bar. Great place and I’ve met Manu. He’s the one who told me where to find you. But I didn’t have the pleasure of meeting his wife, Noelani.” I said as I scribbled some notes to myself (Note to Self: Speak to Noelani in town).

“Oh, Noelani is the sweetest sim. Tried to “match” me up with every single female sim on the island. And anytime they had a party, I was always invited. In fact, word got around, and I was invited to a lot of parties. You know, the habitually single “extra male sim”. She’s the one who signed me up for that simworld bachelor search. Kept telling me that I needed ‘somebody to love’,” Rick chuckled shaking his head.

“So it was Noelani who signed you up for this?” I asked raising an eyebrow (Note to Self: Really, Really need to speak with Noelani in town).

“Oh, yes, she can be quite persistent! In fact, when she was filling out the application, she changed my last name,” Rick said suppressing a smile.

I almost did an arm pump when he said this. I knew it! I knew that Goengeter was a fake name! I, Roxanna Llama-Llama, am so psychic!

“Really? It’s kind of an unusual last name. Why that name?” I replied jotting down more ideas of who he might be.

“I think it was to give me some incentive. Because if you pronounce Goengeter phonetically, it’s GO-AND-GET-HER. Noelani has quite the sense of humor, ” Rick laughed and continued, “She had already submitted the application when I found out. Really nothing I could do about it,” Rick explained.

“Oh very clever!” I answered. …Darn, no secret agent…I was so hoping.

“Well, if Goengeter isn’t your REAL last name, what is?” I asked. Heck, I still wanted to do a background search on the guy. Right?

“Well, the producers told me not to reveal it to anyone. Not even you,” said Rick with a straight face, “They didn’t want the contestants googling me, or getting any ‘inside’ information. Plus, they thought it would be great publicity for the show. And, hey, who am I to argue?” Rick finished shrugging his shoulders.

I stared at him. THE PRODUCERS? Well, I never…!!! How could they keep this information from ‘moi‘?  Just wait until I get back to town. I am going to call them….the wrath of Roxanna Llama-Llama will be upon them!!!

I took a deep breath to compose myself and laughed lightly, “Well, that makes you a bachelor with an “aura of mystery” about you. How very intriguing. The contestants will love it!”

Just then Benny ran up from the beach, “Hey, Roxanna! Rick! You will never guess what I just saw! Dolphins! There are dolphins here! I took some photos of them in the water…if only I could get closer to them…I could get some really great photos.”

Rick laughed, “Oh, that’s probably Dolphina waiting for me. When I’m here I usually give her some treats about now. I guess you could say she’s a dolphin friend or a dolphriend”

 

“You feed them?” Benny said with his mouth agape, “Oh, those would be really great photos, Roxanna. Are you able to take a break? Because she’s still out there….”

“Yeah, I think a short break would be a good idea. Give me a chance to look over my notes, stretch my legs…head to the restroom.…” I looked around wondering where one might be, “Um, Rick, where are the facilities?”

Rick smiled and pointed to some trees near the “living room” area. “You see that bush? Right behind there,” he said giving me a wink.

Oh, my word! Behind a bush? Am I supposed to use some banana leaves to um…you know? Seriously? He’s been here how many years and he still uses a bush? Gah, I hope I don’t get a rash. This off-the-grid living may work for Rick, but I’m not sure it would be right for me. Sure, it’s beautiful here and peaceful, but a sim needs, you know, certain amenities. And a proper restroom is one of them!

I rounded the corner behind the bush and was rather surprised to see a rustic wooden building. I ventured inside and saw that it had a latrine on one side and a shower on the other. I shook my head. Oh, he is funny! Hilarious! Had me going there! Oh yeah, Rick is a funny guy.

Err, if you’ll just excuse me…we’ll continue this interview in just a moment. Until then…Wikki Wikki Wii from Sulani.

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To be continued…

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Author’s Notes:

Ahhhh….finally our bachelor is revealed…well, sort of.

The quote from Manu to Rick about “Healing comes from the earth, the water, the people, the surroundings,” is actually a quote about Hawaii. Read more about it.

The Healing Island of Hawaii

Credits:

I was looking for a little off-the-grid castaway build and this one is perfect. I did add some living room items, the “debug” restroom, “debug” fishing sign, and some other small items, but used this build basically as is.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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