‘Well, that sounds like a no-brainer,’ I say, trying to sound more cheerful about it. There’s zero chance of me ever winning. ‘Will I see you when I’m in there?’
‘Yes. I’ll be pretty much in and out the whole time. The issue is that we’d be on camera the whole time so… erm, even conversations would be difficult.’
‘If only there was a secret blind spot that no one but us knew about.’
Cam looks at me with a sparkle in his eye. I can see his mind whirring. ‘We’d need a code word.’
He takes my hand and leads me to the dining table. He clears stuff away, gets out a roll of paper and unfurls it. He shows me the blueprint of the villa, where the hidden camera hides are, which walls are fake and turn into secret doors and most importantly, how to switch off the microphone in the toilet while I’m in there. He swishes his finger over his iPad to give me a virtual tour of the villa.
‘Don’t touch anything in the villa kitchen, it’s all fake,’ he warns
‘You’re kidding,’ I say. ‘Don’t the islanders cook their own food?’
‘Nope. We cook lunch in a secret kitchen behind the false wall in the communal bedroom. It then gets delivered to them round the back of the villa. But we never show those bits. Too boring. Dinner is cooked at the production village and brought over.’
‘Tell me everything.’
‘The place is so big you could probably avoid everyone if you really needed to. That’s the pool obviously,’ he says pointing out an Olympic-sized, kidney-shaped pool on the map. ‘You have to remember to take your mic pack off or it’ll cost two hundred dollars to replace, and Porscha will personally come down and kick you up the fanny.’
Whaaaat?
Cam looks at my shocked face. ‘You don’t have that expression?’ Cam seems shocked that I am shocked.
‘So, anyway, that’s the Tree House over there for couples wanting to get intimate. Why anyone would want to climb up there is beyond me. We have four cameras up there and two microphones.’
‘How many cameras are there hidden around?’
Cam blows out his cheeks, ‘I’d say seventy hidden cameras dotted around and twelve camera hides. That’s the bigger cameras with operators. They catch most of the action that we show. The firepit gatherings, the bedroom scenes and the Beach Hut.’
‘Beach Hut?’
‘You know where the contestants go to talk to camera. So, they have more chance of getting on the final cut.’
I shudder which makes Cam laugh. ‘The whole point of this show is to be on TV, Libby. You can’t come on it and hide away. You have to have fun while you’re in there, and let people get to know you. Let the viewers get to know you.’
‘Yikes.’
‘I’ll tell you a secret hack that will mean you get your own bedroom and bathroom,’ he says. ‘Just until you settle in. Do not let on that I told you.’
The last thing I want to do is put his career at risk, but Cam assures me that he won’t be working on the show next year. He can’t bear the direction that Porscha is taking the show.
‘Are you sure?’ I ask.
‘I’m so sick of her,’ he says. ‘It’s time I set up my own company anyway.’
‘With any luck, I’ll be voted straight off after a few days and that’ll be that. Life can go back to normal,’ I tell him.
‘Do you want it to go back to normal?’
My heart swells as he stops what he is doing to run a tanned hand through his hair. Christ, he is so sexy even under pressure.
‘I guess not. No.’
‘Okay. Good. Good.’
Things are tense.
‘About earlier…’ I say, the almost kiss still fresh in my mind. ‘When we almost –’
