The Rehearsal 1x1

1. the band KISS was pretty cool

2. - for a bunch of mimes. - Who is Beavis and Butt-Head?

3. - Ben? - Who are Beavis and Butt-Head?

4. - Yup! - Uh, TV character for 400.

5. - From 1970 to— - I'm not good

6. at meeting people for the first time.

7. - Hey. Nice to meet you. Nathan. - Pleased to meet you. How are you? Kor.

8. - Oh, door city over here. - Uh, yes.

9. - So, this is, um—

10. Basically, it's like a portal, I guess, on some levels.

11. - Yeah.

12. I have been told my personality

13. can make people uncomfortable,

14. so I have to work to offset that.

15. Humor is my go-to instinct, but every joke is a gamble.

16. - Shoes off or... - Oh, please walk as is.

17. - And— - Okay. Shirt off?

18. - Or? Just kidding.

19. - I'll leave my shirt on. - It's not that—

20. No, it's not that kind of place.

21. - No, it's not, I'm just kidding.

22. So far it was going well, and it had to,

23. because I was about to ask this man to trust me

24. with his life.

25. Kor Skeet is a 50-year-old teacher from Brooklyn, New York,

26. and there is nothing he loves more than trivia.

27. I'm very good at television trivia.

28. Who is the youngest person to ever be inducted

29. into the Television Hall of Fame?

30. It's a female.

31. - Who? - Oprah Winfrey.

32. A few months ago, Kor responded

33. to a vague Craigslist post I put on the internet, sharing a story

34. about a lie he told his bar trivia team

35. over 12 years ago.

36. I, um, told my friends that I had an advanced degree,

37. and I didn't. I play trivia with them often,

38. and the problem was that I...

39. um, wanted to seem like I was smarter than I was.

40. My teammates all had advanced degrees.

41. I decided to let them think

42. I had a master's degree when I was just getting

43. my bachelor's.

44. - Oh, wow! You've quite a collection. - Yeah, I'm a bibliophile.

45. "How to Make Love All Night and Drive a Woman Wild?"

46. - Well, you know? - I think we're gonna get along

47. - pretty well. - Well,

48. - I don't know about that. I— - Yeah.

49. - And now it's gotten

50. to the point where he's lying to them every day.

51. I have a friend on the team that keeps sending me,

52. um, jobs that require a master's degree.

53. So now, it's being shoved back in my face again,

54. and I'm running out of excuses.

55. I understand his dilemma.

56. This trivia team is his life.

57. And when you reveal your true self,

58. people don't always like what they see.

59. But I wanted to show him

60. that if you plan for every variable,

61. a happy outcome doesn't have to be left to chance.

62. I assume you've seen some of my previous work? Or...

63. - I'm afraid I haven't. - Okay. Um...

64. It's— I made a show called Nathan For You.

65. Oh, okay.

66. Didn't you say your trivia specialty

67. is television shows?

68. It is but there's even a limitation on that.

69. - Oh, okay.

70. - Um... - Yeah.

71. I mean, you should check it out.

72. - Oh, I mean, definitely. - But a lot of it involved

73. - working with real people... - Yeah.

74. so I'd have to put myself in all these

75. uncertain environments and I became really good

76. at predicting how people would act in a future situation.

77. - Okay, okay. - For example.

78. - Yeah. - Like this conversation's going

79. - pretty well, right? - Okay, I'd like to continue it.

80. I mean, do you think so? I don't know.

81. - Yeah. I'm— So far, so good. - I mean, we've been having fun.

82. - Yes. - I assume we have been

83. - sharing some laughs so far. - Yeah. Yeah.

84. - I hope to continue that way.

85. So, that's no accident.

86. Everything that's happened so far today,

87. I have rehearsed it dozens of times.

88. These exact words, in a replica of your home,

89. - with an actor playing you. - Okay.

90. Remember a couple of weeks ago, when the gas company came by

91. because of a leak in your building?

92. - Yes... - Well, there wasn't a leak

93. in your building, that was my team.

94. Now, when you gave them access, they secretly made

95. a digital map of your entire home.

96. We then recreated every detail of this space

97. as a physical set in a warehouse a few miles from here.

98. And with the help of a fake you, I could practice

99. every single permutation of this interaction

100. and have a plan for it.

101. I mean, do you think I should say something about the doors?

102. The actor I hired analyzed your submission video

103. to mimic your speech patterns and psychology.

104. Well, it's me with my— my parents, I was—

105. I can't remember, maybe I was about ten?

106. "How to Make Love All Night and Drive a Woman Wild?"

107. - Yeah, that was a... - I feel like we're gonna

108. - get along pretty well.

109. And we tried over and over.

110. - Hi. Nathan. - Hey.

111. - Hi. Nathan. - Hi. Hey, hi.

112. - Hi. Nathan. - Hi. Hi.

113. - Oh, door city over here. Huh?

114. And I'd adjust each time until I perfected it.

115. - Or shoes off? - No, no, no,

116. you can leave them on, it's fine.

117. All right. What about shirt off?

118. - Leave it on, please.

119. Yeah, so that will probably make him laugh.

120. So everything that's happened so far today,

121. I have rehearsed it dozens of times.

122. These exact words,

123. in a replica of your home, with an actor playing you.

124. Wow!

125. Wow!

126. This is what we can do for your lie with your friends.

127. - Yeah, uh-huh. - Your trivia, like,

128. this is the potential

129. - is what I am saying. - I see. Like a person, if I had

130. the ability to know— if I knew what— how the other person

131. or other people are gonna react,

132. or how the situation is gonna go...

133. - You'll know. - Yeah.

134. You'll know what exactly to say for every possible way.

135. Well— Oh, then that would be extremely appealing, yes.

136. But as we kept talking, I began to understand

137. the real reason he had been putting this off for so long.

138. Mm. Well,

139. it's good except for one thing. Suppose one of my friends

140. might give a reaction

141. that's very, very violent on some people,

142. even beyond the several predictions you can make.

143. What do you mean by violent?

144. - So— - Like, you know, call me names

145. and saying things that are so unforgivable

146. that I couldn't be their friend after that.

147. Who are you worried about specifically?

148. Uh...

149. Um, I'd rather not reveal the name,

150. not at this point, but um...

151. it's definitely someone that's on the team.

152. I found myself in an odd situation.

153. Kor was willing to point out his friend

154. in a photo, but he wouldn't tell me

155. anything else about her.

156. She looks so nice, what is it about her?

157. Oh, she's a nice person, very nice, but...

158. Hmm, how do I put it?

159. Uh, if she—

160. Depending on her mood, you don't wanna cross her

161. - too much. - Oh, my God! Okay.

162. It was frustrating. My rehearsal for today

163. was designed to get him to open up about this stuff,

164. but perhaps I had done something to put him off.

165. Thinking back, there was a somewhat

166. off-color joke I tried after a trip to the bathroom.

167. Oh, my gosh, I should start traveling with a plunger.

168. - Ooh! - Good?

169. You think he'd find that funny? Or—

170. - Yeah. - But when I did it

171. with the real Kor, it didn't land.

172. Oh, my God, I should start traveling with a plunger.

173. - Oh, well, well. - Hmm?

174. - Oh, well.

175. - Are they expensive? - No. No.

176. Could that joke have been it?

177. I'd intended the joke to be self-deprecating

178. about my unpredictable bowel movements,

179. but reflecting on it later, I realized he could have

180. interpreted it as a criticism

181. that his bathroom was under-equipped.

182. Whatever the reason, I couldn't stage a rehearsal

183. for Kor with no details about his friend.

184. So, I planned a day trip for us upstate,

185. that was strategically designed to endear me to him

186. and hopefully, get him to open up.

187. - Have you ever been? - Never.

188. - You've never? - I— Never in my entire life.

189. So, your last name is Skeet and you've never been

190. - skeet shooting? - No, no.

191. - Oops.

192. Pull.

193. Pull.

194. I didn't tell Kor,

195. but I had arranged ahead...

196. - Pull. - ... of time to have

197. the guns loaded with blanks,

198. - in the hopes... - Pull.

199. that it would create a moment of bonding,

200. because we were both bad at this.

201. - Huh? - You fired too early, man.

202. I fired too early.

203. Wow, we are not good at this.

204. - Eh.

205. But it's nice to have a new experience.

206. Yeah.

207. But this was just laying the groundwork

208. for the main event.

209. The mutual disclosure of personal information

210. in a heated pool.

211. - You mentioned you were married.

212. Yes, I was married for five years.

213. - I was married for three years. - Oh, didn't know that.

214. Is it sad for you?

215. I consider it one of my, um...

216. one of the bigger failures of my life.

217. - One of the what? - Biggest failures of my life.

218. I didn't want to go too deep into my private life,

219. so I'd pre-planned for an elderly swimmer

220. to interrupt us,

221. in the hopes that it would convince Kor

222. I was ready to share more had the moment not been ruined.

223. I wasn't sure if my portrayal of vulnerability was convincing,

224. but on the ride home, Kor finally told me the name

225. of his trivia friend, Tricia, and what she did for a living.

226. - She's been mostly

227. a freelance writer and she has, um,

228. a blog, gives information about things you could do

229. to save money and have fun.

230. - What's the blog called? - Cheap Chick in the City.

231. - "Cheap Chick in the City"? - Cheap Chick in the City.

232. - Cheap Check in the City. - Cheap Chick in the City.

233. - Cheap Check in the City. - Cheap Chick in the City.

234. - Cheap Chick in the City

235. seemed to be a bare-bones website

236. dedicated to low-cost activities in New York.

237. I was hoping it would be a window into Tricia's psyche,

238. but it seemed like the majority of posts were just apologies

239. for not having anything to post that day.

240. I understand that. Sometimes you don't wanna say anything,

241. but you do want people to know you exist.

242. Regardless, I was hopeful this blog would be enough

243. for the rehearsal actress

244. we'd hire to base her performance on,

245. in addition to Kor's insights.

246. Uh, she has a...

247. an appeal for an actor named Vincent... um, Karth— Karthreiser.

248. But unfortunately, it wasn't enough.

249. I mean, I think it's really useful

250. to get a sense of what their reactions might be,

251. and the kinds of words that they might use.

252. So, to get her better access,

253. I decided to create a blog of my own called Thrifty Boy,

254. and offered Tricia the opportunity

255. to write an article for us. And luckily, she took the gig.

256. Her article would entail

257. interviewing a professional bird watcher for our site,

258. because bird watching is a thrifty thing to do.

259. But what Tricia didn't know

260. is that she'd be interviewing her own doppelganger,

261. who would be studying her every move.

262. - Nice to meet you.

263. Tricia? Oh, that's my daughter's name.

264. Um, I do love hummingbirds.

265. At first glance,

266. this woman didn't seem frightening at all,

267. but she did like to talk.

268. But you know my dad is really into birds.

269. - Oh, yeah? - He seriously has like—

270. He lives in North Carolina, which I guess,

271. apparently, there's a very big bird show there.

272. A really good book called The Huntress,

273. - and I do recommend it. It's World War II. - Okay.

274. But otherwise, I mean, aside from my roommates, I'm actually

275. pretty happy with the way things are,

276. but my roommate's definitely...

277. You know, like, "Hey, I'm running late,"

278. like, but maybe he found a payphone, maybe, but like...

279. One time, like, the plane started plunging, so

280. - after that, like... - Oh.

281. I still get kind of nervous when I'm in a plane and...

282. Over the course of the 30-minute encounter,

283. our actress had trouble getting a single word in,

284. even though she was the one being interviewed.

285. So, I have all the apps, you know, for the different,

286. you know, airlines, on my phone, ready to go,

287. - whenever I need to fly. - Yeah.

288. American Airlines, Delta, um, Gogo inflight entertainment.

289. But before it was over, I wanted to get a sense

290. of how Tricia would respond to being lied to.

291. Data that would be crucial

292. - for our rehearsal.

293. There's actually something I need

294. - to come clean about. Um... - Okay.

295. I said early on that

296. my daughter's name was Tricia...

297. - Mm-hmm. - ... but that was actually a lie.

298. - Oh, okay. - I don't—

299. - I don't have a daughter. Um... - Oh, wow! Okay.

300. I guess I should have guessed when you said you were 39,

301. 'cause it's a little young to have a daughter these days.

302. - That's okay, that's funny,

303. 'cause I was like, I mean, like I said,

304. you don't meet too many other Tricias,

305. so I was a little surprised, but you know,

306. that's— Yeah, that's interesting, but I understand.

307. - I'm sorry that I... - It's fine, no worries.

308. Do you have any funny moments that you had

309. with a bird? With birds? Or any fun stories about birds?

310. - I was surprised by how not mad Tricia was.

311. Was Kor worried for nothing, or was Tricia

312. just able to bottle up her rage because it was a stranger?

313. Kor was so convinced she would have an extreme reaction

314. that he insisted the confession

315. could only go down one-on-one, in a public place.

316. Trivia would be, I think, the only place that would not arouse suspicion,

317. because that's something we do out of habit already.

318. - Okay. - I can probably get her

319. in a trivia event, by ourselves, just between she and I.

320. - But when I saw the trivia bar Kor frequents,

321. I was overwhelmed by the chaos

322. - of the environment.

323. This is footage I collected

324. from the Alligator Lounge

325. in Brooklyn, and it seemed like any aspect of this space

326. could radically transform the tone of his big moment.

327. I had learned this firsthand when I met Kor.

328. I thought I would look cool,

329. but due to just a slight difference in chairs,

330. I looked like a fool.

331. - It's hard to say what about this place

332. could affect Kor's confession,

333. but I did notice there were a lot of chairs,

334. and I didn't want to leave anything to chance.

335. Kor had messaged Tricia to play trivia with him

336. in just under two weeks' time. This is where it would happen.

337. The place where he would finally come clean.

338. So with the clock now ticking, I invited Kor

339. into my secret warehouse to begin his rehearsal.

340. Wow, this is...

341. the perfect replica.

342. I mean, that's not even a funhouse version of it.

343. It has— It looks... Wow!

344. Every detail was meticulously replicated

345. - this time. - Oh, my gosh!

346. Oh, my gosh!

347. This spice rack, it's the exact spices they have, the garlic...

348. - Yeah. - ... the basil.

349. This chair is an exact—

350. - This— These rips— - Wow!

351. - Yeah, and that, even that's... - Well...

352. exactly the way it is. The portrait kind of tilts.

353. You see that balloon there? That's in the real bar.

354. Wow! It'll be like walking in, in a normal level,

355. and then being able

356. - to know my bearings. - When you show up

357. on the actual night, it'll feel just like this.

358. - Yes. - No surprises.

359. - No. - You know everything

360. that's gonna happen.

361. There's something strange about entering a space

362. that's indistinguishable from another.

363. In moments, you can forget where you are.

364. To me, it's like— It's a little surreal at times because...

365. - ... I mean it's like...

366. You're the, um...

367. You're Willy Wonka in the Chocolate Factory

368. and I'm Charlie Bucket, trying to get the—

369. I don't remember the plot fully, what did Willy Wonka do?

370. - Was he good? - Well, he created—

371. - Wasn't he a bad guy? - Well, he had

372. some questionable things, he was this mysterious, um...

373. Uh, factory full of candy,

374. - basically. - But I'm Willy—

375. - I'm the bad guy in the story? - Well, but he's a dream maker.

376. - Okay. - And you're doing—

377. You're making some dreams happen for me.

378. But kids died in the factory.

379. Well, they supposedly died, I don't know for sure

380. - if they actually— - Okay.

381. But they didn't get some good fate out of it.

382. I'll read the book again just to... to look into it.

383. Yeah.

384. It's good.

385. We started with basic blocking, and the first choice

386. Kor would have to make is where to sit.

387. - What's yours? This one? - Yep. Yes.

388. - Yeah. - Good?

389. Kor proposed that on the night,

390. he would arrive early,

391. and secure his favorite table using his hat

392. while he went to grab their trivia sheet and drinks

393. for the two of them from the bar.

394. - Hi, can I help you? - Yes, can I have an orange juice, no pulp,

395. - and a margarita, please? - Coming right up.

396. Is that a margarita? What is it?

397. - What did you put in it? - I don't know— Just make—

398. I don't know how to make a margarita.

399. He thought that greeting Tricia with a drink

400. would help put her in a good mood,

401. since she normally shows up at trivia

402. complaining about something.

403. My roommates are driving me crazy, and just,

404. it's one of those days where you're like,

405. "You don't need to be rude."

406. I think it's just, like, we're all human beings here.

407. And he suggested trying to joke with her

408. to lighten her spirits.

409. I would guess I would say, um...

410. I'm gonna probably give you a little buzz tonight

411. because I'm sure someone's plucking your nerves today.

412. Okay, is that a joke? Or just a line—

413. - It'll be more of a joke. - Okay.

414. For every way Tricia could react, I would input

415. a planned response from Kor

416. into specialized flowchart software.

417. - Hey. - Hi, Trish the dish.

418. How you doing?

419. This would allow us to chart the optimal path

420. through the evening.

421. Are you— Are you starting with presidents?

422. - No, I'm starting with twins. - Oh, you went twins and then

423. - go to presidents? - I started with twins and I connected to—

424. - And then go to the presidents? - Yeah.

425. Okay.

426. A decision tree that would guide us towards

427. key milestones and help us avoid pitfalls.

428. - Hey. Hi, man. - Hi. Trish the Dish.

429. Kor had told me there was a chance Tricia could

430. misinterpret his invitation as a sign of romantic interest.

431. I mean, she's a single person and I guess...

432. uh, that after all these years, I'm inviting her by myself.

433. Right.

434. You know I don't drink very much,

435. you trying to get me drunk?

436. But when we ran that simulation,

437. he gave confusing signals.

438. You're leaving your hand touching hers right there.

439. Well, if I move it then

440. it's gonna bring more suspicion to it.

441. I mean, how as a woman,

442. how would you take that? If you touched

443. a guy's hand and he just left it there.

444. She could read that as you flirting back.

445. Right.

446. So, I had Kor practice some standard defenses

447. to any advance she might make.

448. I think it's really nice of you to get me a drink.

449. I feel like it's um...

450. Just, yeah, it's nice to go like, come and...

451. But, of course, all this was designed

452. to lay the perfect foundation for him to confess his lie.

453. - to confess his lie.

454. Did I tell you what happened with my laptop?

455. - No, no idea. - Yeah, so, I—

456. The other day I went to switch it on

457. and it just didn't switch on, and like, it was, you know that

458. thing of— I was in the middle of writing something,

459. so I'm thinking I'm gonna lose the pictures that are in there—

460. Well, it's funny that you think about losing, I wanted—

461. - This might— - It sounds heavy, but actually,

462. don't worry because I— This story turned around,

463. like, I didn't actually end up losing the photos

464. and the stuff, but I did have to take it to get it fixed.

465. Kor, I think you need to take control

466. of the conversation, she's not gonna give you an opening.

467. - Oh, okay. - If you just let her talk

468. she's just gonna keep talking, right?

469. I'll try just one more time. To see if I can find another

470. pattern into breaking into the conversation.

471. Okay. Try it.

472. Like, he just couldn't make

473. any kind of conversation

474. and like, he suddenly said like, something

475. about, like, pineapple being a member

476. of the citrus family, and like—

477. My educational situation is a fraud.

478. - What?

479. But just starting his confession

480. wasn't the only challenge. Kor was most worried

481. about the aftermath.

482. So, our entire approach had to be planned around the format

483. of this particular trivia night.

484. Well, there's, uh, um, usually six questions per round,

485. it's about four rounds. After round two, they usually

486. have a ten to 15-minute break.

487. We're gonna take a ten-minute break, and I'm gonna add up

488. all your scores.

489. And then during that time,

490. uh, sometimes we would order some pizza.

491. Here are your two tickets for pizza.

492. The ideal thing would be to talk about it for five minutes

493. and then, yeah, move on. I don't want to linger,

494. I just wanna say it and then pretty much have it dropped.

495. So, you don't have a master's degree?

496. No. I just don't want you to send me any more information

497. - about jobs that have a master's degree— - Definitely not gonna do that.

498. Like, I really wanna understand like, why—

499. How did we end up here?

500. So, you just wanna shut it down.

501. I wanna shut it down. So, at least if I do it toward

502. the end, then the benefit is I can leave if I think,

503. "Okay, too hairy," and say, "Oops,

504. I have an appointment to go to, sorry, I have to go."

505. I don't owe you an explanation for that, I really don't.

506. I owe you an apology for putting you through that,

507. but I don't feel I owe you an explanation.

508. All right, well, can we like, discuss it after the trivia?

509. I don't wanna discuss it any longer about the situation.

510. So, I'd rather say it at least after the last round,

511. - but before the scores.

512. All right, start finishing up your ballots

513. and bring them up to score when you're ready, all right?

514. But as soon as we started incorporating

515. full rounds of trivia into our rehearsal,

516. - it revealed a problem.

517. What is the number on the roof of the bus in Speed?

518. - What... - Wow!

519. is the number on the roof of the bus in Speed?

520. Kor became entranced by the game,

521. and when he didn't know an answer,

522. he couldn't focus on anything else.

523. That's right, I'm gonna lose some points on this one.

524. - Yeah. - I thought I would have known,

525. uh, who hosted Wheel of Fortune

526. - before Pat Sajak. - Okay.

527. And I had 10,000 names in my head but I couldn't

528. - pinpoint anybody. - Sure.

529. Okay, well, do you wanna go into the confession?

530. Or do you wanna try that or...

531. Uh... It's the option...

532. And he grew frustrated that the stress of having

533. to confess this lie was affecting his trivia game.

534. I'm not gonna take the chance to miss good questions

535. because I'm having this burden,

536. 'cause we can actually just lose points

537. because the concentration is off—

538. Right, but who cares if you lose the game?

539. You got this off your chest,

540. I mean, it's just one night of bar trivia.

541. No. One night of bar trivia is sacrosanct to us.

542. And that's when he told me that

543. if it wasn't going well on the actual trivia night,

544. he might bail on the confession entirely.

545. No, I would not— I'm not sacrificing trivia night.

546. - Not for that, no. - Isn't it just for fun?

547. - Like everyone's drunk, right? - No.

548. Then I'm gonna have two things against me,

549. I mess up a good trivia night and I, um, lied to her.

550. So, to me, I gotta take one of them out of the equation.

551. - Okay.

552. I had gone to incredible lengths

553. to eliminate all uncertainty

554. from the night. But the only way to know

555. the actual trivia questions that the real host

556. would be asking would involve some sort of cheating,

557. and that would be unethical.

558. But maybe it's more unethical to leave things to chance

559. when there's something you could have done.

560. - So, posing as the founder of the popular blog

561. Thrifty Boy, I arranged an interview

562. with the real trivia host at one of the other bars he hosts at...

563. - Hey. - Oh, hey. Nice to meet you.

564. under the pretense of doing

565. a Thrifty Boy trivia night feature.

566. Now, is it mandatory to buy drinks?

567. Because our readers really don't like to spend money.

568. There's— We have not had a problem with having

569. people forced to buy drinks or food.

570. And does the bar charge for seltzer water,

571. or is that free?

572. That's up to each individual establishment.

573. - And to— I think... - Very cool, okay.

574. I told him we wanted the profile to include

575. an interactive video component in which he would

576. read the questions for the Alligator Lounge's

577. upcoming trivia night

578. to camera, so our readers could play along

579. at home for free.

580. What conflict began in 1789

581. and led to the beheading of Louis XVI?

582. It was one thing to get the trivia questions

583. for the big night, but making sure Kor knew the answers

584. would be its own challenge.

585. So, I don't know why Archie had trouble choosing them

586. except for the personality

587. cause they look physically the same.

588. I knew that cheating at trivia was something

589. Kor doesn't tangle with.

590. Have you ever cheated at trivia?

591. No.

592. So we started going on daily walks just to chat

593. about life, but I was actually using these casual strolls

594. to covertly implant every single trivia answer

595. into Kor's brain without him knowing.

596. If you ever need to get in, the code is 1789.

597. Oh, okay.

598. Like the year the French Revolution started...

599. - Yes. - ... in 1789.

600. - I'm not a big summer person. - Uh-huh.

601. - And I'm not a big... - Oh, shit!

602. - ... spring person. - It's all over my DKNY pants.

603. Donna Karan New York, DKNY.

604. - Only in New York.

605. Building's looking pretty tall.

606. It is tall, but it's not the tallest building in the world.

607. That'll be the Burj Khalifa in Dubai.

608. - The Burj Khalifa? Huh. - Yup. The Burj Khalifa.

609. Tallest building.

610. - What's going on here? - It's a hostage situation,

611. guy has four people at gunpoint.

612. Shot someone in the head on his way in.

613. Oh, my God! That's nuts.

614. - Oh, my gosh. - It's days like these

615. that I curse the Chinese for inventing gunpowder.

616. - Wow! - That's crazy. Oh, my God.

617. Well, good luck to you, sir. Good luck with the whole

618. - process. - Oh, my God.

619. - Prayers for the family.

620. With just three days to go until Kor would meet up

621. with Tricia at the real Alligator Lounge, I had over

622. 30 actors occupy the space, playing customers, servers.

623. We had real beer on tap and even a working simulation

624. of their pizza oven.

625. Each time we ran through the night, new variables

626. were introduced that he would have to adapt to.

627. With a special focus on the moment

628. when he'd be confessing.

629. I gotta tell you something, and it's been eating

630. - at me for years. - Oh, yeah?

631. Hey guys, how we doing over here?

632. - Good. - I'm fine, thank you.

633. Can we get you another drink? Can I get you a drink?

634. - I think we're good. - Okay, Kor, so you probably

635. don't want the interruption happening during the confession,

636. so maybe you make sure your drink isn't empty

637. - at this point in the night. - Okay.

638. - Right? So, maybe tiny sips. - Right.

639. - Can you just take tinier sips? - I got it, take tiny sips.

640. We ran through the entire night 13 times.

641. But unlike real life, in here,

642. you can always hit the reset button

643. and start over.

644. It was the one place on earth you couldn't fail.

645. Orange juice, no pulp.

646. Hope you don't mind?

647. I decided to give you a little buzz.

648. I decided to... give you a little buzz.

649. It's something that's been eating at me for a long time.

650. Oh, yeah?

651. It's been eating at me for this—

652. forever, and I wanna...

653. I just wanna tell you.

654. - No pulp. - Okay.

655. I gotta tell you something.

656. This has been eating at me for years.

657. My whole educational status has been a scam.

658. Just based after my childhood,

659. I guess there's some issues there. Some insecurities

660. I haven't been able to face until now.

661. As we neared the end, Kor seemed to be testing

662. new approaches,

663. but that didn't mean Tricia always took it well.

664. I don't understand why you felt the need to lie

665. about your education. I mean, it's really messed up.

666. - I— - For years,

667. we were trying to help you get a job 'cause you said

668. you had a master's degree, and that was all bullshit!

669. - Well, I was just trying to— - Is this what you think

670. a friendship is? Like, you have no respect for me, no respect

671. for my time. I don't give a crap about your education.

672. But—

673. but 12 years of deception, that's— Twelve years!

674. It's unforgivable. I don't wanna talk to you again.

675. Please don't go.

676. He lied about having a master's degree.

677. I just heard their conversation.

678. No master's degree?

679. This guy is such a fraud.

680. Who doesn't have a master's degree?

681. And the loser of tonight's trivia is...

682. Kor Skeet.

683. Are you sure you wanna do this? For sure?

684. Well, it still felt good that I got it off my chest,

685. even if it means I might lose a friendship in the process.

686. Like... I don't think it'll go that bad.

687. - Oh. Mm-hmm. - But...

688. I'm literally going into the unknown,

689. the pit of the alligator, and...

690. he's gonna swallow me up or let me go free.

691. We had planned for Kor to get there early

692. to secure his chosen table. But when he arrived,

693. there was a problem. The table was taken.

694. Fortunately, we had rehearsed for this exact scenario.

695. Sorry to bother you, my grandmother died of like,

696. - brain cancer recently... - Same.

697. and this— Terrible thing. This table here

698. - is like a sentimental thing.

699. Um, I know you're all settled here but would you

700. consider to moving to another area?

701. - I know it sounds outrageous.

702. - Yeah, if you want. - Oh, that'd be nice of you.

703. - Thank you so much. - No worries.

704. - Oh, I'm so sorry about that.

705. - Do you have any orange juice? - Yes.

706. Do you have it with no pulp?

707. - Thank you so much.

708. Thank you so much.

709. Hello!

710. - Hey! - Trish the dish.

711. - Gosh! - Now what?

712. - I decided to get you a rum and coke, a little buzz.

713. 'Cause I'm sure everyone's been plucking on your nerves,

714. - or someone you know—

715. - I can understand that.

716. As expected, Tricia showed up

717. not in the best of spirits,

718. but Kor knew exactly what to talk about to cheer her up.

719. - Um, the Bush twins.

720. - Yeah, Jenna and Laura.

721. They're the only two children of a president, that are twins.

722. - With all the presidents,

723. - sometimes having eight or nine kids.

724. - And none of them had twins within that range.

725. - Not even stillborn twins, not even like in that situation.

726. So he's the only one.

727. Kor was sticking to the script,

728. and it was working.

729. He's the earliest president we have that had

730. like— has grandchildren still living from that generation.

731. That is so crazy.

732. And before long, it was time for trivia.

733. Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls,

734. the moment you all have been waiting for,

735. we're gonna start playing trivia.

736. What mode of transportation places

737. the rider in a laid-back, reclining position,

738. distributing the rider's weight comfortably over a large area?

739. Uh, these freaking recumbent bikes are everywhere.

740. What mode of transportation

741. places the rider in a laid-back reclining position,

742. distributing the rider's weight comfortably over a large area?

743. Probably a train. I think Amtrak did that but I'm not sure.

744. Uh... Or it could be a bike,

745. or something like that, one of those reclining bikes?

746. But you don't really, recline the seat of a bike,

747. - right? - Yeah.

748. Kor was slightly off on the first question,

749. and I was worried these answers weren't fully absorbed

750. into his brain.

751. The correct answer to that is a recumbent bike.

752. - This is like, really— - Yeah, I knew it was a bike.

753. But I— I know— I've seen it, but I couldn't imagine the name.

754. I've, uh— I've heard the name.

755. I wouldn't know the name.

756. But then, things started to turn around.

757. The correct answer is the French Revolution.

758. - Look at you!

759. The correct answer, gunpowder.

760. And the correct answer to that

761. is called Burj Khalifa.

762. Good!

763. It was an amazing streak that continued until the end

764. of round four, and he seemed to be brimming with confidence

765. by the time he got up to hand in his score sheet,

766. marking the start of his window to come clean.

767. - Thank you. I'll be right back.

768. In our fake bar, we had practiced an option

769. where he would get pizza for both of them

770. right after the fourth round,

771. so it would be easier for him to initiate

772. the confession while her mouth was full,

773. and since she was in a chatty mood,

774. it seemed like he had decided to go for it.

775. Two cheese pizzas, please.

776. Two cheese? Okay, ten minutes.

777. - Okay. - But then, something happened.

778. When he returned to the table

779. to wait for his pizzas,

780. Tricia wasn't talking. It was the perfect opportunity

781. to begin his confession, but for some reason,

782. he wasn't doing it.

783. - Yeah. Yeah. - Okay.

784. The pizza tastes better after a certain, uh, period of time,

785. the pizza's good but then, after a couple of rounds,

786. it really hits it in...

787. Hits it to the last spot.

788. Especially after a couple rums and cokes.

789. And as the clock kept ticking, he just sat there.

790. In this case, ask over the lady

791. who'd take the pizza, the faster it comes.

792. Oh, my gosh.

793. You know, there's been, uh, something on my mind

794. - I've had to deal with and um...

795. - You know, uh, maybe it's there? - That's right.

796. Hang on a second.

797. Okay. Okay.

798. Almost around the corner.

799. - What's up? - Hmm. They ring the bell,

800. they're getting closer to making the pizza.

801. Well, I guess so. Now what were you saying before?

802. I feel bad that— This has been bothering me a long time

803. - to tell you this. - What's that?

804. Um, my whole educational life has been, like, uh,

805. - kind of a fraud. - Really?

806. Yeah.

807. See, remember when I was showing pictures of my graduation

808. - a couple years ago? - Yeah, sure.

809. In front of the gang and everything like that?

810. - Yeah. - And then you asked at the time,

811. um, said that I got a master's degree.

812. - Mm-hmm. - And I...

813. - And I kinda went along with it. - Really?

814. - Yeah. - Wow.

815. I felt kinda bad because I didn't wanna level with you

816. - about that. - Okay. Well...

817. I was only going for my bachelor's degree

818. at the time.

819. It's still pretty impressive. I mean, you know, lots of people

820. - don't have master's degrees.

821. - Yeah. - It's cool, I'm not surprised,

822. but like, 'cause I thought you had a master's but...

823. - Hang on a second, one second.

824. Yeah, thank you.

825. - Two cheese? - Yes. Thank you.

826. So, wow. I didn't realize you didn't have

827. your master's degree, 'cause I thought you did.

828. - That's what you said before. - Yeah, yeah, I've—

829. See the thing is that, um, what made it worse

830. was I came into the group, the trivia group...

831. - Mm-hmm. - ... I was, like, the last person

832. that even had a college degree.

833. - Mm-hmm. - And I kinda felt like inferior

834. - about that. - That's so silly,

835. don't you feel upset about that.

836. Lots of people barely even finish high school.

837. My sister only got her GED like two years ago.

838. You know?

839. Well, I just, um, you know,

840. and I kept that lie going on all that time.

841. And it kinda ate at me and then, you helped me, you know,

842. apply for jobs, so it actually went that far to even

843. send my résumé just to appease you.

844. Oh, wow, I appreciate that so much, I had no idea.

845. And I feel— You know? I just...

846. My friendship with you means a great deal.

847. - Me too. - And I don't want you

848. to think that I would even continue lying to you.

849. But you know, I've been living this lie all this time and

850. - I kinda felt bad about that. - Well, it's so sweet to finally tell me, I had no idea.

851. But, like— It's, you know, it's very brave of you

852. to tell me this, and I really had no clue.

853. Instead of trying to move on to another topic,

854. Kor sat with her for the next hour-and-a-half and began

855. sharing things that he had never told Tricia

856. in their nearly 20 years of friendship.

857. And my father used the situation where he sent

858. the child support, which could be for my college education,

859. - for me and my sister. - Wow!

860. And by the time we came of age, he doesn't wanna pay for it.

861. Wow, that's rough. I'm sorry to hear that. I really am.

862. And what made it worse was when I was graduating...

863. While we were practicing,

864. I also had Kor

865. rehearse the aftermath of his confession

866. beyond the actual night.

867. Whether it be the torment of a friendship lost...

868. or the joy of a friendship strengthened.

869. Where his confession opens the floodgates to actually

870. talking for the first time.

871. This is so nice, it's like,

872. like such a difference from just normally

873. when we're hanging out in the city in a bar, you know,

874. just playing trivia and...

875. Maybe it's easiest to choose a path

876. when you can live the future first.

877. To free yourself from doubt and regret,

878. to always know the answers.

879. As a symbol of support

880. for those living with AIDS

881. - and HIV. - So, what is a ribbon?

882. - Oh, yeah. - Red ribbons.

883. - I would have lost a point... - Yeah.

884. on the color.

885. - So, how are you feeling? - Fantastic.

886. We actually did better than expected,

887. - when we actually won. - Well, congrats.

888. Yeah. There were questions that were in my wheelhouse.

889. The questions that were in my wheelhouse, I was able

890. to answer those particular questions correctly.

891. You got everything off your chest,

892. and it must feel good.

893. I got it off my chest, and I still won that night.

894. - Trivia— - Which is an ex—

895. I won a trivia night,

896. and that's the extra cherry on the sundae, I guess.

897. There's something I need to...

898. come clean about.

899. - Um... - Oh.

900. and I taught you them in advance without you knowing,

901. and I know you're against cheating and this isn't cheating

902. because you actually didn't know I was doing it,

903. but I was just— wanted you to focus on the confession,

904. and I wanted your confidence to be up, but I feel terrible

905. about it, and I just— I'm sorry.

906. I wanna say I'm sorry.

907. Uh, yeah, I... Um...

908. Okay, I understand what you're saying and um...

909. I appreciate your motivation, but...

910. you've tainted, you've ruined the whole thing for me,

911. 'cause I knew the answers, I knew the answers

912. and I'm on TV now, and everybody now is gonna think

913. that I didn't know them, that I'm a fake and you...

914. You know how important this was for me?

915. This is a mistake.

916. It was a huge mistake, and you fucked this all up.

917. You're an awful...

918. awful person.

919. I think you're... a great guy.

920. Like you're a great person.

921. Oh, well, thank you for the compliment.

922. Yeah, just...

923. I don't give compliments a lot, so I wanted to come clean

924. about just kind of saying the compliment.

925. I don't affirm people enough.

926. - Oh. - Yeah, so...

927. - It's just kind of like— Yeah. - That's nice of you to say.

928. - Thank you, - You are, you are.

929. - That's very touching. - Of course.