Christopher LaVoie pushes through a sea of contestants on the set of what he bills “the most important television show ever.” He’s moving fast, a short, compact man wearing dark sunglasses and a black baseball cap pulled low.
An assistant hands LaVoie a crystal flute glass bubbling with champagne. LaVoie takes a long drink, then speaks.LaVoie explains that contestants will compete, reality TV-style, to create businesses that will help solve the world’s biggest problems. Team Hunger, Team Racism, Team Poverty, Team Cancer, Team Climate Change, Team Suicide and more, a list he says was inspired by goals set forth by the United Nations.
Humphrey and others have been trying for months to get answers from LaVoie and his assistants. The main question they are asking is, will LaVoie provide a refund. Wilting from the Miami heat, they take up LaVoie’s chant. “We’re going to change the world! We’re going to change the world!” To prepare for naysayers among friends, family and colleagues who might think trying to save the world was an impossible task, contestants were encouraged in these briefings to think of themselves as courageous, “unrealistic dreamers” who were committed to an “extraordinary task.”
After Fontes departed, Dawson opened his envelope. A slip of paper fell out, imprinted with the number “345,600” — the number of seconds in four days.