Do your job, Murray. Just do your fucking job. Feel your feelings later.
As the crew finished dressing the Necklace Ceremony set and Suzette and Carrie corralled the women, I took Romeo-Dylan into our war room. It was actually the Villa’s multimedia room, but we’d appropriated it and installed a lock on the door so none of the contestants could sneak in.
We had a wall covered in the fifteen Juliets’ headshots. I positioned Romeo-Dylan in front of it. ‘All right, mate. We’ve got to whittle it down to twelve. Who are we cutting?’
He bit his lip, thinking. ‘I didn’t talk to either of them during the party.’ He indicated two of the women. ‘And I don’t remember them particularly well from the red carpet, so…’
‘Rani and Samantha. Okay. Who else?’
‘I’m not sure. Maybe her? Or her? Or her?’ He pointed to Kanda, Heather, and Jess K in quick succession.
‘Can I make a suggestion?’
‘Of course.’
I tapped Cece’s picture.
‘No!’ Romeo-Dylan exclaimed. ‘She got pushed in the pool! I’ll look like an arsehole if I cut her!’
‘You didn’t talk to her during the party. And…’
I paused deliberately. I’d figured out within ten minutes of meeting him where his weak spot was, but there was an art to this, digging your thumbs into a pressure point without someone noticing you were doing it.
‘I’ll level with you,’ I said. ‘Cece is really struggling with the cameras. You saw how she was on the red carpet. Letting her go will be the kindest thing you can do.’
Romeo-Dylan’s fingers started tapping.
‘If you’re worried about looking like an arsehole, don’t be,’ I said. ‘We can give you an earpiece. I can feed you some lines that’ll have you coming out looking golden.’
Romeo-Dylan sighed. ‘You sure I can’t cut Lily Fireball?’
‘Yes,’ I replied. ‘Sorry.’
Romeo-Dylan delivered the lines exactly as I fed them to him. ‘I thought long and hard about who to give this last necklace to,’ he said, when only four women – Lily, Cece, Rani and Samantha – were left unchosen at the end of the Necklace Ceremony. ‘I told you at the beginning of tonight that I like strong women. Ballsy women. Women who aren’t afraid to go for what they want.’
Lily started to smirk.
‘Sometimes, though,’ Romeo-Dylan said, ‘it’s possible to take things too far.’
‘Now pause,’ I whispered into my headset.
He didn’t really need to – I had a million other shots of him pausing that I could edit in later to ramp up the tension and the misdirect – but he did.
‘Okay,’ I whispered. ‘And—’
‘I like a woman who stands up for herself,’ he repeated. ‘Someone who stands up for what she believes in. Someone with a strong sense of justice. Someone who fights for what she wants.’
Lily’s smirk deepened. In my peripheral vision, I saw Cece’s eyes light up.
‘And I believe in second chances. Which is why I’d like to give this last necklace to… Lily Fireball.’
All the blood drained out of Cece’s face.
She got paler and paler as Z made an announcement about the twist we’d had foisted upon us: the imposition of the new pandemic restrictions and the fact that no one was allowed to leave the set. ‘Will we be paid?’ she choked out.
‘I’m not sure now is the most appropriate—’ Z began.
‘Answer me! If you don’t know—’
