━━━━ five

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ADELE
CAITLYN
NADINE
JACQUELINE
MATHILDA
KATE
JAMES
MYLES
ROMAN
ANDREW
IAN
CLIFF

That is the settled upon order for who wins the roast dinners on offer during the live trial. Truthfully, Mathilda envies the celebrities who are playing for food because, while it may be very important for morale in camp, food is nowhere near as important as the letters from home that she is currently playing to win. Having a roast dinner would be an incredible luxury, but she would give it up in a heartbeat for any one of the others, and definitely for her letter from her family. She isn't sure exactly who has written it but she has to assume it's Sam as he is the most articulate of them all.

She is transported to their starting location for the race across the outback, Nadine firmly at her side as they loop their arms together and attempt to mentally prepare themselves for what is in store for them. Myles and Kate are leading the way, exchanging muttered assurances to one another and occasionally turning around to shoot the two young women encouraging smiles.

━━ TALKING TO THE CAMERA ━━

"In an ideal world we'll come back with twelve letters for twelve celebrities, and we'll all read them with full stomachs from a roast dinner," Mathilda says, adjusting her bandanna after some loose hair is blown free by the breeze. "Either way, we won't settle for anything less than twelve letters. If we miss a single one then I will just pick a nice, shady spot and stay in the middle of nowhere for the rest of my days because I couldn't face everyone. Is that dramatic?" She pauses, tapping her chin in thought. "Nope."

A laminate is waiting for them at the beginning of their journey and Kate wastes no time in reading the contents of it. "Celebrities, today you will face a series of challenges in order to win care packages from home. Scattered across the Australian Bush are twelve care packages - one for each celebrity. Each of you are responsible for three care packages and it is up to you to decide whose care packages you play for. You have two hours to retrieve as many care packages as you can. Any care packages not retrieved when the time runs out will be lost, so every second counts. Everything you need is in front of you. Your time starts now!"

There is a mad scramble to grab as much equipment as possible, distributing items equally.

"I've found another post!" Mathilda calls after running ahead, refusing to waste any time on this crucial mission.

Myles jogs over and immediately begins to read the message aloud. "Celebrities, welcome to the first challenge, where each of you will have to go over the edge." They spot a cliff close by and it is abundantly clear that they will be abseiling for the first part of this trial. Mathilda isn't afraid of heights, but the fear of falling is a fairly new development that has occurred over the last ten seconds.

Her thoughts are thankfully interrupted by Myles' soothing voice as he continues. "Suspended high above the jungle floor are the first four care packages. To retrieve each care package, you will play in pairs. One of you will be lowered over the edge while the other will control their partner's descent."

Nadine immediately volunteers to play for Adele, considering that they were partnered up to begin with. Kate chooses James because she wants to finally be able to give him something that he can't refuse due to his chivalrous upbringing. Myles then grabs the tag with Andrew's name on it, stating that he thinks he could do with a pick-me-up recently; something they all agree with wholeheartedly. Finally, Mathilda decides to go with Ian based on the fact that he has just seemed a little upset in the past few days and she hopes to cheer him up with this gesture.

"Okay, let's go go go!" Exclaims Mathilda as they sprint to the cliff and set themselves up in the harnesses. She may not be afraid of heights but the ground is an undeniably long way down and the thought of controlling Myles' descent is less than appealing.

𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗻𝗼𝘄 ━━━━ roman kempWhere stories live. Discover now