Cass invoked her sister’s poise and read her lines flawlessly, hitting every beat. She even tossed in a well-timed joke at Austin’s expense, and saw Sasha try to hide her smirk as Austin stumbled ever so slightly on his next line. Then the hosts had a break as the four remaining contestants started working on the recipe, the cameras moving to capture the fast-paced energy of the bakers as they tried to re-create the croquembouche tower in half the time it actually took to do it well. Another mirage of television: everything looked more frenetic during these test kitchen tapings because contestants were not given the time for errors or missteps, of which there were always a few.

Austin and Cass had to come on camera a few times during the baking race, to make it seem as though they had been carefully watching and scrutinizing the process from beginning to end. Soon they were down to the last five minutes on the clock. Cass and Austin moved back to their marks to get ready for the frenzy they were expected to whip up as the timer counted down.

“And . . . stop!” Austin said. “Step back from your towers, bakers.”

Now Austin and Cass were on the move, the cameras following them as they walked from one taped X on the floor to another, in front of the workstation of the first contestant, a twenty-five-year-old named Dani who had a custom cake shop in Idaho. Cass and Austin evaluated the croquembouche—a valiant effort, though it leaned ever so slightly to the right—and offered first impressions of the confection, which were already prepared and on the teleprompter.

Dani looked petrified, though she tried to hide it behind a wide smile as she moved to serve the dessert on the gold-plated dishes that were used for judging. Except Dani didn’t get to serve anything. Cass, who swept her hand in front of the pastry tower as she delivered her line, did not feel her bracelet release from her wrist until it was too late. The bracelet crashed into the top of Dani’s slightly short and somewhat leaning tower of pastries. For a split second it seemed the bracelet might only have taken off the top two rows, which meant they could edit out the flying bracelet and Cass’s loud gasp. But then the already leaning tower toppled sideways, and the entire dessert ended up on the floor on top of Cass’s too-high heels.

Austin laughed and clapped Cass on the back, wheezing out, “Good one, Goodwin!” Dani stared at the mess on the floor, her hands holding a few of the croquembouche pastries she’d managed to catch before the tower collapsed. And Cass, horrified, felt she might throw up. Especially when Austin pointed to her arm—glancing at her smooth, clear skin on her wrist—and said, “Hey, where’s your tattoo?”

Cass’s eyes shot to Priya, who looked stricken.

“Wrong arm,” Cass mumbled, reaching down to retrieve the bracelet, which she quickly secured on her other wrist.