Weather: Finally, it goes sunny. 20.

Tonight's telly:
Survivor (ITV) Meeting the sixteen contestants. Including Sarah Odell, former WANTED tracker who came out from one week to train for an endurance event. She's introduced as a model. Such high standards of authenticity.

Mid East In Crisis Once again, the US launches a mission to calm tempers in Israel and the occupied territories. Pandering once again to the Something Must Be Done brigade, without ever addressing the root cause of the problem. Ban all religions. There's a start.

Just when I thought things couldn't get any more strange, they suffer a massive input of Madness from the Planet Bonkers. And I'm not referring to the Grassy Verge theory that there was a *second* egg-thrower at large on Wednesday night. That's for another time.

It turns out that Kaycee's diary, my hope and inspiration for some weeks, is of very dubious provenance. Words like "fake" or "hoax", harsh as they are, are not far from the point. The details of the admission, for those who must know, are at www.vanderwoning.com . The least you need to know is that things were most definitely not as they seemed on the surface, and that the character of Kaycee was an amalgam of other, real, people.

There appear to be some huge holes in the admission, ones that don't tally with other people's experiences, and I've not started to address them. So I'll run with what's claimed. In real life, Kaycee simply wasn't. Didn't exist. Online, she was. Existed. Clearly, something has to give; these two facts can't be squared. What gives in the real world gives online. They can't both be true, surely.

Well, maybe they can. For those who don't go round meeting people in real life, everything has to be taken on faith. Even with the best of intentions, people online can and do project themselves in ways that are different from their real life personae. We have to have faith that people aren't making themselves up. For instance, those who haven't met me have to take on trust that I'm male and in my late 20s, rather than a teenaged girl.

From that expression of faith comes an image of the person. A characterisation, one might say. Making the transition from the online characterisation to the real person is always a huge leap of faith, and even though I've done it something over 25 times with people from this list, it's still mightily scary. Adjusting from the characterisation to the reality can be painful.

But what when that transition doesn't takes place? Then the characterisation will either wither away through neglect, or it will keep on growing. I suppose It depends on how much energy is invested, individually and collectively. Eventually, there may come a point where a characterisation takes on something of a purpose all of its own. It becomes a life of its own. Not a life that one can touch, or see, or one that leaves any direct impression on the material world. But just because it's a concentration of mental energy doesn't mean that it's any less real. Concentrate and focus enough energy, and things will start to happen of their own accord.

Maybe if enough people can buy into this vision, then it will become the stuff that myths are made of. The characterisation turns into a folk legend, and then into god or goddess. Once created, these are so ingrained into the aggregate human psyche that they cannot be removed easily, if at all.

Back to the bizarre tale of Kaycee Nicole, then. The fact is that I've created, bought into - whatever. The exact role doesn't matter. I've certainly participated in a characterisation along these lines. For me, Kaycee is a real psychic creation, the same level as I'm real to many of you. That there are doubts regarding the veracity of the source tale ultimately doesn't change the image, the character of Kaycee. It's out there now, and there's nothing that anyone can do to stop it.

The logical part of my mind is stifling the giggles here. But the heart is saying that energy can be focussed, and react in an unpredictable way when it reaches a critical level. This is what's happened here. A collective will has created a real being.

As someone else once said, proof denies faith, and without faith, psychic creations are nothing. This is a case in point. Proving Kaycee existed would cause all the belief in the central message of the tale to ebb away, and reduce the effectiveness of the characterisation.

If anyone's still with me, congratulations. Now tell me what you're thinking. (The answer: You're crazy, Weaver, will be accepted. Grudgingly.)

Weather: Sunny. Sunny, sunny, sunny. 22

Tonight's telly:
God, The Devil, And Bob In which Megan dates. She'll learn. ****

I have tickets Departure in 26 days. Whoo hoo.

Foot and mouth There's news of a new cluster around Settle, North Yorks. The chief vet says it's "very serious", so it would count as a disaster in anyone else's language. Sixteen farms have been infected, and 45,000 animals slaughtered.
The cull in north Cumbria is now to be restricted to those animals failing blood tests, rather than on the indiscriminate suspicion policy that has led to so many innocent deaths.

Feeling the need for Greed Former minister Neil Hamilton, loser of the Battle of Tatton in 1997, and of "Rant!" and "Rant II!" in the High Court the last two years, has been declared bankrupt. A petition brought by Mohammed Fayed for £1.5 million in legal fees from the Rant cases is granted in Macclesfield.

SURVIVOR
Sixteen people, one desert island, one million pounds, one massive hype.

Who are these people?

The Laing Tribe, symbol a bird, colour yellow, is...
Charlotte, former beauty queen from South Wales.
James, property developer from London.
Uzma, businesswoman from Bradford.
Andy, long haul pilot.
Adrian, barrister's clerk from Kent.
Jayne, rower. As in works with oars, not fights a lot.
Simon, ex-footballer from Birmingham.
JJ, female, ran a military prison in the Falklands.

As for the Ulah tribe, colour blue, symbol a snake.
Sarah ... blinkin' heck! It's Sarah Odell. A Season 2 WANTED tracker! Described as a model from Fulham.
Mick, a retired policeman.
Eve, former army bomb disposal officer, Oxfordshire.
Pete, "not a male model", Stockport.
Zoe, psychology and drama student, London.
Richard, psychiatrist, Cardiff.
Nick, former naval rating.
Jackie, airline buyer.

JJ, I think, was on Channel 5's rather good JAILBREAK last autumn. Sarah, model? Shome mishtake, shurely!

This is a major gaffe by ITV. Just from the 30 minute preview show, I know that they've misled us on the background to one of their contestants. How many other models and business people will turn out to be jungle fighters or hired assassins? Can we believe anything else we see? If this much is fake, how much more?

Back to the show. And stuff the silly names; these are the Blues and Yellows. TREASURE ISLAND had the right idea with their Blue Team and Red Team.

Mark Austin is the host. He's taking time out as an ITN correspondent, to lend a voice over with some gravitas. He's slightly more intense and serious that Glen Huggil of THE MOLE, but there's not much in it.

The island is about 3 miles by 1 mile, in the shape of a lazy W. The island is the subject of government protection orders, so there'll be no cutting down the plants, and the crew have left helpful material on the island.

Nick takes charge for the Blues. JJ baulks at the Yellows' reliance on planning by committee, and reckons a lean-to is not good. Sorry, is anyone else having deja vu here?

Fresh water is carefully provided by the all-benevolent Producers. They've even left a map and compass. Not that this helps the Yellows' runners, who set off without the compass. Two hours later, they get it.

Interesting use of infra-red "Night-cams", as seen on FORT BOYARD, and THE CRYSTAL MAZE, and THE ADVENTURE GAME...

Strokes of fortune for both sides. Yellows find a cigarette lighter, Blues find they've built something of a trap for fish.

We don't take a break till 30 minutes into the show. MILLIONAIRE would already be on its second by now.

Format of the game:
Day 3. Immunity challenge. Losing tribe will vote someone off.
Day 4. Tribal council. Time to reveal whom the tribe thinks should go.
Day 5. Reward challenge. Winning tribe gets something to make their life easier.
Repeat until we find the winner.

The challenges are played out before a very large, but incredibly silly looking, construction of wood. It's meant to be the Malaysian fire icon, but I don't think it is. Swim to the rafts, bring them back to shore, light torches en route. First to the plywood construction wins. Amid much screaming and hollering, the Blues win. Except they missed a torch en route, giving the Yellows passage to the next phase. Cue stereotyped shots of the Blues walking off in slow motion, and some people in very long shot at sunset waving about torches. Very pretty, very clearly faked.

The next day, the Blues know that one of their number will go. Nick tries to organise a plot to assure people that they can stay in the game. Has he learned *nothing* from Big Brother?

Thence to Council, passing a mud pool where some people daub their faces in the gunk. The members go to vote. Write their name on a piece of paper, some of them show it to the camera, and explain their reasons. There's a slightly pointless ritual involving torches, which does something to the symbolism and drama, but doesn't add to the game play.

The voting ends Nick 5, Jackie 3.

It's all very well put together, professionally shot, slickly edited. Lots of shots of bare (or as bare as you can decently get) flesh. Unlike TREASURE ISLAND, the show proceeds at a reasonable pace, and Mark Austin can never be as dull as the Aussie who voices that show. Or the man who voices US WEAKEST LINK. The music is authentically tribal, though the drum-heavy yodelling sound brings to mind more Central African than SE Asian.

Series producer: Nigel Lithgoe
Format: Charlie Parsons
There are five Reality Producers credited.
A Planet 24 production.

Then we get Nick's exiting piece to camera, and the casting votes. Too much control too early, is the main excuse.

I have two big problems. This is billed as the ultimate reality game show. Already, after just one night, I've spotted one sequence that is probably faked, and one contestant whose past has been distorted. I know that producers will edit the footage to make a good story. I understand that, I respect that. Deliberately misleading the viewers, however, is beyond the pale. Reality it is not.

The other problem is that this show is very, very late. Ideally, it would have been nice to have it air last year. This feels like ITV jumping on the bandwagon some time after the train left the station. Voting people off? That's WEAKEST LINK, that's BIG BROTHER, that's last summer. Heck, the voting sequence positively *cries out* for Anne Robinson's involvement. Living on an island? That's the BBC's social documentary CASTAWAY, that's Channel 4's SHIPWRECKED, that's 18 months ago.

This is going to be big. Of course it's going to be big. It's been given more promotion by ITV than any show in a good ten years. But I can't help feeling I've seen it all before.

As a postscript, overnight viewing figures show just 6.6 million saw the opening show. In the same timeslot in the autumn, Millionaire pulled 11 million, though that was not on a hot, sunny summer's evening. Maybe it won't be big. Doubt it.

Weather: Sunny, getting sultry. 24.

And work is so hot it begins to hurt.

Tonight's Telly:

Cease fire Israel unexpectedly calls a halt to its land acquisition programme in the occupied territories, and says it will no longer launch attacks or open fire on Palestinians.

Dangerously Nazi-like Afghanistan's Taliban rulers decree that anyone who isn't Islamic must wear markings on their clothes.

Make It Count Ministers face accusations of covering up the scale of the foot and mouth epidemic as scores of extra vets and army reinforcements were sent to North Yorkshire to deal with the re-emergence of a disease that many thought was disappearing. MAFF's role in obfuscating the true nature of the Settle outbreak - now 17 cases in 14 days - is exposed in detail by their dealings with the local Conservative MP David Curry.
Not a radical nor a Maff-hater, he expresses complete bewilderment about the ministry's use of the Data Protection Act to explain it why it didn't - still hasn't - and won't - give him details of stock numbers involved, both on infected farms and contiguous ones (a total of properties heading rapidly towards 100). As the ministry says, a balance needs to be struck between individual farmers' commercial interests and the public good. But there hasn't been any sane balance in this at all.
The outcome for the Dales was never going to be good; the earlier stages of the disease lost them 60% of expected tourist numbers and 50,000 animals slaughtered. But the inevitable, and now somewhat panic-stricken emergence of the facts about Settle has, comprehensively, wrecked the whole season. Everyone obviously hopes that the current swamping of the area with cullers and clearers-up stifles the outbreak; but equally important, Settle is a lesson in the dangers of hiding or blurring the facts. The government, at best, colluded in the impression that foot and mouth was old hat and that we should all be getting on with the election. That policy has bitten nastily back.

Angela Bigos:
I am obviously missing messages!
Let's start at the beginning. Girl, dyes hair red...

What, when and HOW did this happen?
You can thank some of the more imbecilic United Stations for this one. They're the ones that think they'll contract Mad Sheep disease from visiting the UK, their hands will fall off and their mouths will have to be surgically sewn shut. They're the ones detouring to other, far more dangerous, destinations. Like France, where they might encounter protesting snails. They're the ones leaving loads and loads of room on trans Atlantic flights, which airlines are having to sell off dirt cheap.

Enter Weaver stage right, clutching a packet by which his house purchase came in under budget. Exactly the right amount to take one of these deeply discounted flights.

Iain, in TEXAS!?!?!?!?! Texas isn't *that* far from California she sniffs!
Well, yes and no. On the planet, the shortest distance between two points is always part of a Great Circle. My route - Birmingham to Dallas via Newark - is 7659km. It crosses the coast of North America at 3606km, Fogo Island, NF. I'm already going more than twice as far into North America as required. The first (alleged) civilisation en route, Stephenville, 3938km, is still only just over half way.

Newark to San Fransisco is *another* 4107km. Twice as far across the land mass as I'm taking. LA is further still.

(Useless fact: Diverting the Great Circle via Newark adds just 149km to the route.)

I really hope it's sunny when I'm over land. Flying over civilisation, not sea and Arctic tundra, will be a view to remember.

But, sadly, California is not on the agenda for this trip. Maybe we could split the difference next time; Arizona, say.

Weather: Sunny again. 23.

Tonight's Telly
Survivor (ITV) Ep 2. See below.

D 50, R 49, Ind 1 Senator Jim Jeffords, 67, has resigned from the Republican party, returning the Senate to Democrat control for the first time since 1994. The Democrats will now take over key committees. "This isn't about a single senate seat," said Senator Bob Torricelli. "It's about controlling the legislative agenda. This is an enormous shift of influence in the federal government."
In a press conference in his home state of Vermont, Mr Jeffords said he could no longer continue to work with the Republican party leadershit. "It has become a struggle for party leaders to deal with me, and for me to deal with them."

No-one has found the luxury resort on the north side of the island, the one that's putting up the crew and providing the water. At least, we don't *think* they've found it.

The reward challenge: eat a slug-like creature, known as a butak. It tastes like mature cheese, apparently. I never knew they were bringing BBC Catering in to provide the food... At the end of the day, everyone has eaten one worm. To break the deadlock, one member of each team - chosen by the opposition - has to eat two slugettes. It's Uzma for the yellows, Jackie for the blues. It's quick, it's brutal, it's Jackie. The reward: dessert. Strawberries and cream.

Back at the beach, the yellow's hut has fallen victim to flooding. Lots of sand everywhere. Lots of things washed away. Darn and double darn. JJ gets annoyed over a snagged net. She's being built up to go. The yellows are eating rat and rice. They *have* brought in the BBC Canteen.

To the immunity challenge. One member of each team is hidden somewhere in the jungle. Object: bring them back on a stretcher. Which they have to make themselves. Only four to carry the stretchers. Yellows take a slight advantage to the captives, but the blues are first away. Yellows overtake on the way back, but everyone falls over on the beach. Can we suggest that there might be a bit of plotting here? Blues somehow claim the victory, and keep it.

The sequence is crying out for a Richard O'Brien style mocking commentary. Heavy weather of a simple job.

Again, JJ is built up as a ranting woman, who swears like a trouper. Or Zi from THE MOLE. The yellows are split between her and Uzma, who has been physically weak from the start. Who is not playing as part of a team? Who is failing to pull their weight? It's time to vote off...

Well, it's a tie. Uzma and JJ have tied - we presume at 4-4, though we're not told. The other six huddle to make a decision, then re-vote.
JJ is voted out, 4-2. She's clearly cut up, and lashes out at the others.

Curtain

Weather: Cloudy, with the odd sunny spell. 22.

Tonight's telly:
Buffy (Sky1) In which it's clearly Willow On Top. A bravura performance by two of this season's baddies, and not enough screen time for Anya to become annoying. A success, in other words.

Come in to work to find the mail server is still going down the dumper, as there's not much more than 1.5 smidgeons of disk space available. Not good. So, grab a print out of some of the top offenders (in terms of people hogging server space). Turn on the charm, and go round them. Simple filing of old mail means six people in the top 20 move out of the top 50, and below the limits we're proposing for them. Explain why it's needed, what I'm doing, and people are malleable like putty.

Then to Mandatory Elfin Safety training. A video on how to use a fire extinguisher is no substitute for the real thing, and leaves me a little more confused than when we started. How To Lift and How To Sit are trivial and patronising, presented by people who think that setting a quiz and discussing the answers is the best thing since sliced bread. At least we get a free lunch out of it.

Collapse A wedding hall in Jerusalem collapses during the reception, plunging almost 300 guests down three stories. 275 survive. The hall's owners and their builders are arrested; recent work had removed many of the supporting pillars and replaced floor tiles with heavier versions.

Jaeda:
The Tale of Kaycee is making me think of Griffen and Sabine.......
Actually, that is a *very* appropriate analogy. For those unaquainted with the story, London based artist Griffin receives a series of postcards from Sabine on a very small Pacific island. They exchange correspondence. Griffin goes to visit, only to find Sabine is looking for *him*. The ending is appropriately nebulous. The whole tale is documented in amazingly lush detail in a series of three books by Nick Bantock.

Griffin's dilemma throughout is that he can never be sure if Sabine is a figment of his imagination, or real. She exists in some kind of limbo, a netherworld between the physical and psychic, perhaps connected to both, perhaps to one.

Since Monday, facts about Kaycee's place in the real world have come to light. There was no such person. She was invented as a nom-de-net by a group of schoolgirls some years ago, and borrowed liberally from their real lives. One of their mothers adopted the creation, and used it to express her feelings and life through a younger voice. Only the whole thing got out of hand, and the deception had to be stopped.

Of course, the media has picked up on the story. CNN and MSNBC have already spoken with some of the sleuths who picked up the pieces, and articles appeared Wednesday in Peabody, Hillsborough and Marion. Expect national or international coverage by the end of the week, probably as a charming little "aren't these net-heads *mad*" story. Names to watch: Debbie Swenson, the mother; Kellie Swenson, her daughter; Julie [family name withheld by request], a student at Oaklahoma State University whose picture was hijacked for the campaign; and Randy van der Woning, duped web master in Hong Kong.

(The so-called list: bringing you the news *before* it happens :)

That pretty much covers the intellectual side of the story. The spiritual side, though, has been somewhat neglected. While the huge force of concentrated energy I spoke of two days ago has been almost totally dispersed now, it's still left something in its wake. For some, cynicism and a hardening of the heart. For others, pride in sleuthing well done. Some are angry at themselves for being duped this way. Still others are grieving the loss of a life that never physically existed.

For me, there *is* a Kaycee. Just like there *is* a Santa Claus. They may not be physically real, but that doesn't matter. Spirits have an existence all of their own, and once summoned, they won't leave. This spirit may have changed its cloak from inspiration to laughing stock, but it's now firmly part of internet culture. Perhaps into internet folklore.

Project this down the line a fair few iterations, and we may just end up with a small religion on our hands. Perhaps a large religion, if we're really unlucky.

At least "I just sent you sunshine" is a more accommodating slogan than "power and chaos."

(The so-called list: Bringing you new religions, years before they begin *;)

Collectively, people have created this person. Griffin may have managed to create Sabine through his mental energies; the world has combined to bring Kaycee to an unplanned life. An awesome display.

The bottom line is this. I met someone. My outlook on life changed. It turned out I never met that person. My outlook on life doesn't change back.

Weather: The odd sunny spell, but mainly cloudy. 21.

Echelon detectors start here European citizens are given an unprecedented warning about the threat to their privacy from a highly illegal global eavesdropping network led by the British and US intelligence services. A European parliament document urges everyone to encode all electronic communications to protect their emails and faxes from interception after finding overwhelming evidence of the existence of the shadowy electronic spying system known as Echelon.
The MEPs' document concludes that the primary purpose of the system of spy satellites and listening posts is to "intercept private and commercial communications and not military communications". The MEPs' report coincides with a warning that Echelon could become a "cyber secret police". In a new book, Body of Secrets, about the US national security agency and its links with Britain's GCHQ, James Bamford warns: "The real issue is whether Echelon is doing away with individual privacy, a basic human right."
Operated by the US and Britain, along with Canada, Australia and New Zealand, Echelon was designed to gather intelligence during the cold war. But in recent years, its unique global eavesdropping capabilities have provoked allegations that it is being used to intercept personal and commercially sensitive communications.
In a veiled warning to the UK, the only EU Echelon member, the document warns that any state involved in an electronic eavesdropping system used to spy on European citizens and companies would be in breach of both the European convention on human rights and EU law.

Wanted: June 15, 1997

Nick Gates reckons this was the most gripping hour of game show ever. I don't think I disagree.

Darren and Adrian are theatre ushers, playing in the area east of Leicester, Houghton on the Hill to be exact. Their task is to blow glass. In Bath, they blow it. In Horsham, they make it. Back to Stroud, more in the bag. Matt Randall's up by Stoke. He gets directed to Wales; our lads are in London. "That's a bit devastating." Success in Yorkshire takes the kitty to £4000.
The studio crew reckons they're in Thurmaston, but it's a false lead.

Hannah and Amy are two telesales girls, playing in SE London. Burntwood Lane at Garratt Lane, to be exact. It's home turf for both Paul Denchfield and Victoria Fay.
Hannah and Amy are to assist a pest controller each day. Andy doesn't count as a pest. Fumigating ants, removing wasps. Andy gets dodgy leads to Leeds while our heroines head to Doncaster. It's a rat trap. And some mole busters. Pigeons in Bristol, but nothing's happening on Saturday until they find rats. No sign of Andy all week, so £6000 in the pot.
Andy doesn't trust their landlord, and heads south of their hotel in Clapham. There are false leads at Clapham South and Clapham Common. "I bet my eyebrow," says Paul. Andy goes to Windmill Drive, halfway between the two. There's no box. But there's another lead - might be four minutes, might be five. It's too long - Andy's at Springfield Park when time expires, less than 750m away.

Victoria and Charlotte are *still* out there, somehow, and playing in Nottingham. Kimberley leisure centre, Swingate Lane, to be exact. Their task: have their future told. Filmed by 10am Monday. Then to Morecambe, where all the fortune tellers have seen them coming and moved out. To the Appleby gypsy fair, which is also moving on and moving out. Up to Carlisle, where Charlotte's warned to be wary of an over-sexed man. They're filmed at Gretna Green, Brampton, York, and doing the task at Scarborough. In fact, they're playing - once again - for the grand non-total of £0. "If they catch you, you could lose the lot!"
Lots of false leads for the city centre, Victoria throws them away. John moves in, but with just two minutes to play. Out of his truck, and the capture with 79 seconds to play.

Eric Geyer, you used spoiler space correctly. That means you *are* today's strongest link, and leave with 2,570 [hugs]. Or thanks and warm handshakes, whichever you prefer.

Gillian
hey, i heard they were going to put buffy on upn, but i also heard that it was completly over b/c of the violence and demons, but that doesn't make since,
As Ray Cokes once said, don't believe everything you see on tv. Buffy is a confirmed starter in UPN's autumn lineup. Demons have this habit of being shown the door, sooner or later, and those that don't are sent off on promotional tours of British backwaters. (James Marsters, who plays Spike, will be in Wolverhampton the weekend after next. So will I.)

because angel and charmed are basically the same.
Nope, Angel has one really annoying ditz. Charmed has a different number, though I've never worked out exactly what that number is, it's not one.

does anyone know FOR SURE what is happening?
Yes, you're about to get brutally edited.

wouldn't it be awesome if they trained [%~_!} as the new {snippediddy doo dah}? There is already. Review seasons 2 and 3.

Though Gillian didn't give *much* away about season 5, please remember that this *is* an international list, and that many countries will *not* see this series until later in the year. Spoilers, as exemplified by Eric, are a necessary courtesy.

---

sorry about the "spoiler"
Thank you.

buit considering that i am new, here,give me some f*cking slack.
I am prepared to give a little leeway for Blatant Comma Misuse, purely on the grounds that you *are* posting from an AOL address and this *is* the week when we find out the Biggest Dumb-Ass In The US.

Anglo-Saxon epithets do nothing to aid your call, and are best eschewed in polite circles.

i don't need to be criticized for this crap.
How else are you, or other people, going to learn? If the rest of us tolerate minor spoiler Q, such as yours, then someone posting major spoiler QQ can scream that they weren't told. By then, the damage is done.

it's not like anyone gave the "official rules" of being on this damn list.
There don't need to be "official" rules. Most of it is straighforward common sense. You saw Eric's original post. You replied to it. You had to delete, yourself, the 25 carefully-inserted lines preventing accidental disclosure of the contents.

Do you think these lines were there because they looked cool? Or because they were a personal affectation of Eric's? No, they were there because Eric has manners. Eric knows that there are people who (gasp!) may not have yet seen the show under discussion. And people who (shock!) may not want their enjoyment spoiled by knowing the conclusion.

So, for all our sakes, leave spoiler space in. If in doubt, put in 25 blank lines.

To redress the negative energies in this post, here's a non-spoiler for any episode of Buffy. All, some, or fewer of the following happen:
* Giles drinks a cup of tea.
* Buffy says "Oh."
* Cordelia / Anya is annoying.
* Xander gets embarrassed.

Weather: Wet early, cloudy for much of the day. 20.

Wanted June 22, 1997

Darren and Adrian are in Blackpool. This was good for Victoria & Charlotte two weeks ago. Matt Randall is in a helicopter, resurrecting the ghost of Treasure Hunt. Matt reckons they're not in the countryside, and concentrates on the town.
Entertainers at a holiday camp are the tasks for the camp duo. They're at Great Yarmouth, Matt's racing down from Boston. Tuesday sees the pair hit Skegness, Matt goes to Golden Sands, 15 miles south. Wednesday, the paths cross at Cleethorpes. Thence to Scarborough, but not the right camp. Friday is a blow-out, Saturday at North Blackpool is a winner; getting caught on Sunday in Blackpool proper gives a total of £8000.
Tom The Memory Man calls in. He knows 16,000 phone boxes in Blackpool. "Get a life," recommends Ray.
Behind the train station at the Odeon? Touch and go getting there. Matt doesn't make it, as they're actually in Higher Ballam, deep in the country.

Hannah and Amy in Worthing, feeling lucky. Andy Stewart is in the pub. Paul Denchfield spots that it's raining at the box, but not where Andy is. Except it *is* raining now.
Their task is to build a three-foot sandcastle, and see it washed away. Monday is a planning day, too many nerves. Tuesday is another blow-out, cold feet en route to Great Yarmouth. Wednesday goes to Leeds, Chester, and Weston Super Mud. Thursday: is this a sandcastle I see. Well, a mud castle. Friday is wet, the runners go to Dawlish, Andy's in Torbay. Success in Worthing gives a total of £6000.
Paul has changed his mind. Head out of the rain, it's not that heavy. "Coombes!" shouts Paul. Andy pulls past the box, and ambles to open the door with 41 seconds left. Not before Andy has threatened to leave them be, costing Paul his eyebrows.

George and Kenn are in Enfield, on a one-week mad dash. Victoria Fay is on the case, at the Spurs ground.
Their task: have a water-skiing lesson. In their swimsuits. Yuck. They miss Victoria at Glossop, but don't go on the water. At Stoke, Victoria grabs her men. And, thanks to Dave in Glossop, nabs them in Shrewsbury. Even though their taxi driver tries to block Vic's path. Ruisip is caught. Welshpool was a hit, so it's doubled up to £4000.
John discards four leads submitted before the show starts. Too suspicious.
Head for the London Road at Southbury, suggests John. Enfield shopping precinct. It's closed. Victoria finds the candidate box, but it's not that one. They're actually down at Chingford.

So, the final scores. 13 teams run, £65,000 won.
Sarah and Matt 8 films, 3 captures.
Paul and Andy 7 films, 5 captures.
Victoria and John 31 films, 3 captures.

Look for a new look to this diary next week.