#mccards

McCone refines the casting tests, to make sure the contestants have the stamina it takes to make it interesting. He even has some veto power on people he think will be boring.

(and maybe some he pities. but there's very few of those, and less every season)

Helpless dude is a sacrificial lamb, dead after day or two at most, but negative dude and final dude aren't set until the game really gets going. Helpless dude is there only to get the other two moving, making it viscerally real for them. The network could sniff them out and kill them almost anytime, but it's the desperate and daring escapes that makes good freevie

McCone's got an eye for picking the two real runners, and Killian respects that, because there's always an unpredictable element when the show actually starts.

Laughlin is Killian's favourite for this season. She's got a violent history and has been on the run before. They haven't had a woman in a while, but she's got the right appeal. Richards might be built like a brick shit house, angry and motivated, but he's never been in real trouble, and the sick kid story is borderline for getting too much audience sympathy.

And you know, let's say there's another contender Killian likes. Prefers over Ben. A safer bet, like a veteran or ex-cop.

But McCone looks at Richards and sees that fire, and it stirs something in himself. He uses his pull to get Ben picked. Killian humors him, only because he's so confident in Laughlin.

Then Laughlin proves to have a bit too much of a deathwish, and Ben manages the apartment escape, leaving a lot of bodies in his wake. So the network lull Laughlin into being more brazen, though they don't plan on the kids getting her. But Killian loves that, it's that unpredictable element that the audience craves.

And McCone loves toying with Ben, enjoys pushing him to his limits, trying to get him past them. He actually has to start and really try to kill him. The game's still rigged, and it's only ever going to end one way, but the excitement infects him too. Dirty minds here, please.