Her face drains of colour. ‘How did you get this?’ She can’t believe the audacity.
‘Does it matter?’
‘Who else has seen it?’ she hisses.
‘Everyone. You might not be as popular among the crew as you think.’
‘I’m the boss. I don’t get paid to be popular.’ She tries to swipe the phone from me.
‘If you continue to bully me or any of the contestants, I’ll make sure this finds its way on to the internet.’
‘You wouldn’t dare.’
I stand my ground. ‘Try me.’
We lock eyes. I have never felt so confident. She nods silently, holds up her hands and disappears backwards through the door.
And my work here is done.
* * *
We gather round the firepit: Mimi, Amber and me on one side of Destiny; and Giovanni, Henri and Carlton on the other.
‘New Islanders, it is time to make your decision. Out with the old, or in with the new?’ Destiny 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 on to 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 girls opt to pick Giovanni and Carlton, it’s time to say goodbye to the remaining Islanders, including me.
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.
30
Two days later, Lois, Tyrone, Cam and I are sitting at the lovely spicy-beer Mexican restaurant in the village with a banquet of delicious-looking dishes in front of us. Onions, peppers, strips of meat and strips of vegetables are hissing and sizzling from hotplates. Bowls of tacos, nachos, guacamole and glasses of spicy beer weigh the table down. Lois and I are glammed up to the eyeballs in fabulous make-up and hairpieces. 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. The men’s 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?’