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Chapter 5

I woke up the next morning, the sunlight was streaming through a gap in the blinds, and for a moment I thought I was back home. Then I took a look around and realised that that was wishful thinking. I dragged myself out of bed, did what needed to be done in the bathroom and then splashed cold water over my face to help revive myself into the land of the living.

“Ugh” I groaned as I looked at my reflection. I looked like shit. Mornings are not really my thing.

We were all due to meet downstairs at ten, so I pulled on the clean t-shirt and overalls which I’d been given and then headed off to meet them. Duncan and the film crew had gone on ahead of us so that they could set up ready for the next bit of filming, so it was just us and the New Kids left in the hotel.

A man dressed smartly and carrying a silver tray appeared and we all stopped doing what we were doing and looked around to see if we could see the hidden cameras. The last time they’d done this to us, we’d later found out that cameras had been hidden in the room. They were there somewhere, but where, I couldn’t tell.

“Shall I read it?” Jordan asked as he walked towards the man with the tray.

Celebrities,

We hope you slept well last night as it’ll be a few days before you encounter such luxuries again.

As you are aware, today will kick off with a new challenge, one which is entitled ‘Welcome To The Jungle’. The object of the game this time is to test your endurance, both physically and mentally. The jungle can be a tough place, possibly fatal if you don’t pay attention. You will be given basic rations and equipment needed to survive and complete the task.

If you would like to grab your back packs and head outside, there is a mini bus waiting for you.

Further information will follow once you reach the starting point.

Good luck!

“The stuff we need is over there” I pointed to the far wall where a pile of back packs were stacked. We each grabbed one and had a quick look inside.

“What is this shit?” AJ said as he pulled out a packet a freeze dried, high energy, beef and potato casserole from his back pack.

“Um, whatever it says on the label dude” I replied, and rummaged through my supplies to see what was in there. Freeze dried sachets, energy bars in various flavours and a few snack type things were what I found, along with bottles of water.

“Come on, we better get going” Brian said and slung his back pack over his shoulder “the sooner we start, the sooner we finish”. I knew he would rather be home with his wife and kid, who wouldn’t? But this was something we’d never forget. It was the chance of a lifetime. At least that was how I thought of it. If Bear Grylls could survive the jungle, then so could Nick Carter and Co.

With that we left the hotel with our back packs and got into the waiting mini bus which would take us to the airport.

“We’re going on that thing?” I said, looking at the ancient little propeller plane which was waiting for us on the runway. Now you’d think that after all the years of plane hopping we’d done that we’d be OK with this, but to tell you the truth, I’m not fussed on flying. I’m especially not keen when the plane I’m expected to get on looks like it should be on the scrap heap. I could see that I wasn’t alone in my thoughts.

“Morning guys and yep, you are indeed flying on this plane today. I know it may look like a piece of shit, but we won’t be able to get there in anything else, and this plane is reliable” said Jason, a member of the production team whom we’d met during our time in Peru.

“Are you getting on it? It looks like a tin can!” Brian observed as he nervously bit his nails. He wasn’t too good with small planes.

“It’s perfectly safe. Eduardo here has thirty years experience” Jason indicated towards a skinny, dark haired man with a handlebar moustache who was wearing a pilot’s shirt and black trousers “isn’t that right Eduardo”

Eduardo nodded and smiled. I wondered whether he spoke English.

And so we took his word for it, after all, the TV company wouldn’t book us on anything less than perfect would they? So we climbed aboard. As I was first on, I sat at the back with AJ and next to me, directly in front was Brian and Howie, then Jordan, Jon and Donnie were in front of them and Joey and Danny were right behind Eduardo. There was just enough room for our rucksacks.

“Fasten your seatbelts kids” Jason called out and chuckled to himself as he waved us off.

I would’ve felt safer in a paper airplane! We were bouncing up and down as if we were on a trampoline in a sardine tin! Jordan said he felt sick, Brian actually was sick into a paper bag which had been conveniently placed on each seat. AJ clung to me (which I kind of didn’t mind as I was also a little scared) and swore constantly and Howie had managed to nod off amongst all of it.

About an hour into the flight we began to relax and regain our confidence. We were getting used to the way the plane bounced up and down, and Eduardo seemed perfectly calm, proving that we had no reason to be afraid I looked out of the window from time to time, below us was nothing but trees in every direction, thick dense rainforest to be precise, stretching for as far as the eye could see. I wondered how far we were from landing.

All of a sudden, the plane began to lose altitude quite drastically. This couldn’t be right could it?

“What the fuck” AJ muttered, obviously noticing the same thing as I was.

“Erm, Eduardo, what’s going on?” I shouted, hoping he could hear me from where I was sitting at the back of the plane.

He didn’t reply, he obviously hadn’t heard me. But I noticed his cool and calm demeanour had slipped and he seemed to be frantically fiddling with the controls. And then the engine stopped.

“Hey, Eduardo, that engine doesn’t sound too good, in fact the engine isn’t making any sound at all” Donnie called out.

“Eduardo” shouted Joey “what the fuck is going on man?”

“It cut out……engine, it stop” Eduardo said, beads of sweat developing on his forehead.

“What the fuck? You mean there’s nothing keeping us up here?” AJ asked as Brian held his hands in the prayer position and began to pray. Howie was now awake and as freaked out as the rest of us.

“I knew I shouldn’t have done this” Jon muttered “I could’ve been finishing the renovations on my house, and now I’m going to die”

“We aren’t going to die” Howie tried to be the voice of reason, although his voice trembled as he spoke. Good old Howie, always trying to be optimistic, even in the face of doom.

“We glide down, make crash landing” Eduardo said, sounding reasonably calm considering we were facing death.

“OK, everyone assume the crash landing position, make sure your seat belts are secure, we’re in for a bumpy ride” Donnie called out.

“Oh god, oh fuck, I’m gonna die, I’m gonna die” AJ screamed as we began plummeting towards the ground.

“Arghhhhhhh Lord save us” screamed Brian clinging to Howie. As if prayers would work, he should save them for if we ever got off this plane.

Danny and Joey remained pretty quiet, took their positions and closed their eyes. Jon, Jordan and Donnie clung to each other, also praying to whomever.

Me, well, I was shitting my pants, I’m not going to lie.

The ground was approaching way too fast, this was going to end horribly, I just knew it.