Sink or Swim

Chapter 7 - Party in The USA

The flight between Los Angeles and Honolulu lasted around 7 hours, another full day of travelling. They arrived at around 9:30pm  Hawaiian standard time and by the time the girls had transferred from the airport to the marina, boarded the 'The Blue Sea'  as well as unpacked they needed to go to bed and sleep. In the morning they had an exclusive media interview to attend.

The Ritz-Carlton Residences are located at the gateway to Waikiki Beach and adjacent to the world-class shops of Luxury Row. It was the chosen venue for the exclusive media interview. The 552 ocean-view residences combined the legendary services of The Ritz-Carlton with amenities including a full-service spa, fitness centre, Waikiki's two highest infinity pools and five extraordinary dining experiences including Sushi Sho, an acclaimed sushi restaurant led by a legendary master. The girls, accompanied by Juliette, arrived at the location two hours before the scheduled interview time. They were met by producers and shown straight through to make-up. The interview was due to start at 10:30am but due to unforeseen circumstances started at 11:00am. Had this been a live interview the late start would have been cause for concern, but as this was a recording the delay did not have any impact on the event.

The four girls sat in a semi-circular arrangement, much like a girl-band, Leanne, sat at one end, Jessica at the other with Abi and Jo sandwiched in-between. As they sat waiting for the interviewer they still had no idea who they would be talking to. About fifteen minutes before the cameras rolled the producer walked in and introduced the girls to nonother than Piers Morgan.

Piers Morgan is an English broadcaster, journalist, writer, and television personality. He is the  co-presenter of the, British ITV Breakfast programme 'Good Morning Britain' from Monday to Wednesday each week. A veteran Fleet Street journalist, Morgan is world-renowned as a writer and editor for several tabloid papers, including The Sun, News of the World, and the Daily Mirror. On television, he hosted Piers Morgan Live on CNN from 2011 to 2014, replacing 'Larry King Live' in the timeslot following King's retirement. He was a judge on America's Got Talent and Britain's Got Talent and in 2008, won the seventh season of the US Celebrity Apprentice. In the UK, he has presented Piers Morgan's Life Stories since 2009, and has written eight books, including four volumes of memoirs. All-in-all he fitted the bill perfectly to interview the girls.

The interview took the style of friendly chat and banter, particularly from Leanne who as an ardent supporter of Tottenham Hotspur football club had ample opportunity to dig at close club rivals Arsenal, with whom Piers has a celebrated famous connection.

Serious questions were asked too, opinions were made and Morgan even went onto discuss relationships and personal family details, including Leanne's unknown father. She went as far to appeal to him that she had started to look for him and would be happy for him to get in touch. The girls came across as natural television personalities, even Jessica and Joanne who were more introvert when compared to Leanne and Abi.

"So, where do you go from here?" Piers concluded the interview.

Leanne, almost the spokesperson of the group was non-comital, "I would hope we could reach our Olympic dream - that's almost where our story started but I guess now with the fame we seem to have achieved I guess the world is our oyster."

Morgan wrapped the interview and thanked the girls for the exclusive talk. Aaron and Fiona would have final approval on the interview edit before it would be broadcast exclusively as a one-off 'Life Stories' special in the UK before being sold to audiences worldwide.

"Well that went very well," suggested Juliette, as the girls left the five-star Ritz-Carlton complex making their way to the waiting limo. 

"Yeah, sure did," Leanne agreed. "I wonder if my father will come forward if he see's it?"