I feel a stab of guilt at what I’m doing because she genuinely looks hurt.
‘I know,’ she says abruptly. ‘I heard it from someone else. Who cares anyway? I was never that interested but he should have come clean and not led me to believe it was you he was interested in. Men!’ she says, throwing her hands up in exasperation. ‘Do not touch that microphone! I’m still watching you.’ She turns at the last moment. ‘And if you think a Brit is going to win this show, you have another think coming. Just go out there and do as you are told.’
‘Oh, just one last thing,’ I say to her. She can’t believe the audacity. I pull out my phone and open the email attachment that Cam has just sent through. I hold it up so that she can see herself blackmailing me to stay on the show and threatening to ruin Cam’s career.
Her face drains of colour. She nods silently, holds up her hands and disappears backwards through the door.
And my work here is done.
As we gather round the firepit, Mimi, Amber and I on one side of Destiny and Giovanni, Henri and Carlton stand on the other.
‘New islanders, it is time to make your decision. Out with the old, or in with the new?’ she says dramatically. As the sombre music is piped out from the loudspeakers, we watch Destiny zone out once more and the camera operators slide the camera back round to the new islanders. They have all been instructed to look like their lives are hanging in the balance.
First up is Eugene. ‘I’m choosing this girl because she has a kind heart, and she rescues animals for a living in her spare time as a hobby. She’s someone that I can see being a great stepmom to my fur baby.’
Don’t get me started, I’m not even going there.
‘If she was a dog she’d be a Chow Chow. The girl I’d like to couple up with is…’
Mimi and Amber are exchanging confused looks. Out of the corner of my eye I can see Porscha hovering by the camera operator. She is pressing her earpiece and looking at her notes. She nearly has a kitten when he says Mimi’s name. I swing my eyes back to see Mimi scream with excitement as she leapfrogs the firepit to get to Eugene. She reminds me of the flying squirrel I saw earlier. She clamps onto him until it becomes embarrassing for everyone involved.
Destiny is quick to move on to the next contestant which greatly vexes Porscha, by the way she is staring at her. I can see the Cameron rumours may have driven a wedge between them. When Amber gets picked by Winston, and two of the new girlsopt to pick Giovanni and Carlton, it’s time to say goodbye to the remaining islanders.
Over half of the new islanders burst into noisy tears.
‘CUT!’ yells Porscha charging towards us. ‘What is going on? Why are you all picking the wrong islanders? Where the bloody hell is Cam?’
Destiny takes the opportunity to power down while the islanders start accusing one another of being two-faced traitors and race over to Porscha to beg her not to dump them from the island.
Amid the chaos, Porscha swivels round to point at me. ‘You. It’s you, isn’t it?’
I smile serenely back with a shrug.
I will leave karma to do the rest.
Chapter 30
Two days later, the four of us are sitting at the Mexican restaurant in the village with a banquet of delicious-looking, authentic dishes in front of us. Onions, peppers, strips of meat and strips of vegetables are hissing and sizzling from hot plates. Bowls of tacos, nachos, guacamole and glasses of spicy beer weigh the table down. Me and Lois are glammed up to the eyeballs in fabulous make-up and hair pieces. We are wearing two of the showstopper outfits I chose back in London, and we are wearing killer heels which make us almost as tall as our partners. Their eyes almost popped out of their heads when we walked into the hotel bar to meet them.
Lois has told us all about her time in the villa. ‘Libby, you could have warned me though. It’s one thing seeing them on screen but in real life… they’re all so much…’
‘Better looking?’ I say.
‘Yes! And…’
‘Taller?’
‘Christ, yes. And they all have such…’
‘Perfect white teeth?’
‘Uh-huh, and don’t get me started on how…’
‘Ripped they all are?’ I nod back.
‘Insanely ripped.’
Cam asks Tyrone, ‘Are they always like this?’
