Page 10 of A Game of Lies

Henry laughs gently. ‘Everyone’s scared of something. Don’t sweat it.’

‘What are you scared of?’ Aliyah asks.

‘Me? Water.’ Henry looks embarrassed. ‘I almost drowned when I was a kid.’

‘Oh, my God.’ Aliyah puts a hand to her chest. She looks as though she’s about to ask more, but the pair of them are summoned by Jason, who has found a spade and decided they need to dig out the fire pit for a better result.

‘They found bones. Right there,’ Caleb says, and it’s clear he’s been bursting to share this news.

‘Bones?’ Elen looks at Ffion. ‘Do you know about this? It could be a crime scene.’

‘Thanks for the advice, Mam.’

They’re interrupted by a glamorous brunette striding on to screen. At first glance she’s in the same combat trousers as the contestants, but Elen notes that the tailoring is better, and that the utilitarian buttons have been switched for glittering silver ones. In place of the orange fleece is a black gilet, unzipped to reveal a hint of cleavage.

‘Welcome –’ the presenter gives a dramatic pause ‘– to Dragon Mountain!’

The contestants’ cheers are drowned out by the chorus ofIt’s Pen y Ddraig!from Elen’s lounge, almost certainly echoed in every house in Cwm Coed, Elen thinks. Dragon Mountain indeed.Bobl bach!

‘They were going to use the Welsh name,’ Caleb says. ‘But Roxy couldn’t say it properly.’

‘If people can’t say it, they shouldn’t be on it,’ Elen says tartly.

‘Ladies and gentlemen.’ Roxy Wilde has a twinkle in her eye. ‘You think you’re here for a survival show, don’t you?’ There are shouts ofYes!from some of the contestants. Pam and Ryan exchange uneasy glances. Roxy delivers her punchline with panache. ‘You’re wrong.’

‘What does she mean?’ Elen waits for Caleb to explain, but the lad looks as confused as the rest of them.

‘All of you have a secret,’ Roxy says. ‘Something you’ve worked hard to conceal from your friends and family.’ The camera closes in as she smiles wickedly at the seven contestants. ‘You’re not only competing for cash. You’re competing to keep your secret. You’re competing to avoidExposure.’

‘Holy fuck,’ Ffion says.

Seren gives a short, shocked laugh. She turns to Caleb. ‘You kept that quiet.’

‘I – I wasn’t allowed to say anything,’ Caleb says, but Elen sees he’s flustered. He turns away from them, clearly upset that the ‘creative genius’ he so reveres hasn’t let him in on the show’s own big secret.

‘Your objective,’ Roxy is saying, ‘is to finish the fourteen days with your secret intact. Whoever’s still standing after the final episode receives an incredible hundred thousand pounds each!’

‘They can’t do this, Ffionbach, surely?’

‘I think they are doing it, Mam.’

Roxy has produced a metal box which she’s padlocking on to a wooden plinth close to where Jason and Henry were digging the fire pit. She turns and addresses the camera. ‘This box contains all the contestants’ secrets, andyoucan vote for the contestant you want to expose.’

‘Oh, my God, let’s vote to expose Lucas!’ Seren says. ‘I bet he’s a pervert – vicars always are, aren’t they?’

Elen feels nauseous. Who came up with such a twisted idea? How did it ever get approved? She wants to leave the room, but she’s unable to move, gripped by the awfulness of what she’s watching.

‘Voting will be open continuously, and at any point when we decide to, we’ll send the viewers’ least favourite contestant to the confession pod.’ Roxy grins. ‘And let’s just say we have a few tricks up our sleeves to encourage those revelations …’ There follows an abrupt, dizzying montage of a tiny windowless space containing nothing but a throne-like chair fixed to the ground. In the first shot, water pours into the room; in the second, rats swarm over the seat. There are spiders next, then snakes, then cockroaches. A sudden flurry of wings, then the crimson splash of blood. The next shot shows the pod from the outside, and Elen sees that the structure is narrow as a coffin and submerged into the ground. She shudders at the thought of being trapped inside it.

Roxy Wilde is rattling through the rules. Contestants can try to win a day’s immunity by exposing someone else, but if the accuser’s guess is wrong, it’s they who will enter the confession pod to face three minutes of their own personal hell.

‘This is brutal,’ Seren breathes, and yet, on screen, the contestants are giving whoops of excitement.

‘Bring it on!’ cries Jason.

‘I amsoup for this!’ Aliyah says.

Roxy turns to the camera. ‘What do our contestants have to hide? Join us tomorrow evening to find out!’

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