Lisa's bikini-clad body was a new warning to the rest of the girls to do whatever they could to avoid the head to head.

"My mum's watching!" she said after showering the strawberry syrup off and preparing to re-enter the fray.

"I'm sure she'd be proud of how you handled her! You destroyed her!" laughed blonde Ali, trying to settle Lisa's nerves. All eleven girls then lined up and walked back out, their emotions varying: from nervous Libby, to confident strutting Danielle, to ice-cool Eleonara. They all wanted to win.

The Spin

"As Eleonara won the first round she gets a spin on our prize wheel" this was accompanied by "Ooos" from the crowd.
Eleonara hoped against hope that this wheel would land on "golden ticket" allowing her immunity from a head to head once in the game. She spun confidently.
It landed on Choose a player to get a penalty in the next game.
"Do I get to know what the next game will be?" Eleonara asked her host.
"Of course not." was Gez's response.
"Then I will choose." Eleonara surveyed the contestants "Danielle! She's the biggest threat to me and I want her out of the competition."
"Oh wow! Threatened are we!" Danielle remarked spitefully in her light welsh accent.
"Ooh it's already getting catty on this show! We should move onto the next game before they claw each others eyes out!" said Gez.

The Rowing Machines

The studio lights revealed eleven rowing machines. Eleonara allowed herself a small fist pump as rowing was her favourite sport, she was sure she had another win in the bag. In no particular order the girls sat down at a machine, Danielle did go out of her way to sit next to Eleonara however and glared at her.
Some girls looked definitely apprehensive: Stephanie was once sporty but had been eating far too many takeaways at Uni, whereas Hanako, Libby and Harrie were all quite slight girls.
"Now we have a computerised display showing how well everyone is doing." It was the size of a small cinema screen with labelled boats for every girl. "Everyone simply has to row a mile and the slowest two face the head to head. Oh and your penalty Danielle."
Gez leaned across and increased the resistance on the rowing machine from a modest 5 to a hardcore 12. The girls all grabbed their oars and leaned forward ready to start.
"Your pretty blonde face is going down!" whispered Danielle to Eleonara next to her.
Girls, Row! came the instruction.

Eleonara made a composed start to the race, with a flawless gliding technique. Libby, Maia, Hanako and Ali rose slowly and struggled getting their boats moving. Lisa and Jessica were both gym bunnies so made strong starts. Danielle struggled at first with the sheer resistance of her machine but the boat was moving.

Suddenly (if a little predictably) cascades of water began flowing over the machines, soaking the contestants. Some were definitely more fazed than others, but within seconds the girls' hair was damp and matted, their exposed skin was glossy and their clothes clung to them
At the half-way mark Eleonara was streaming out in front, Lisa and Jessica were fighting it out for 2nd, Danielle was gaining on them and looked like taking 4th. All the rest of the girls were almost in one long line: Ivona, Harrie, Maia, Hanako, Ali, Libby. Any two of them could face the head to head.

Ivona and Harrie had both rowed once before, so the pair managed to just find enough technique to get clear water. Ivona's tight tartan trousers weren't exactly practical and Harrie's jumpsuit was definitely verging on see-through after its drenching.
The other four girls were incredibly close going over the line. They strained every muscle they had to get over that finish-would it be Maia, Hanako, Ali or Libby in the head to head. It was suddenly over! Maia and Ali had done just enough, Hanako would face Libby in the eliminator!

The Head to Head Yucky Dip

"So girls how are we feeling? Libby?" Gez asked, loving the tension building up around the studio.
Libby wrinkled her nose nervously before answering "It was so close that round. Hopefully I'm ready for anything you've got prepared!" she showed her crossed fingers to the camera.
"Hanako?"
She seemed more confident than Libby. "Bring it on! I came all the way to the studio so I'm not going home now."
"Right then girls, the first thing to do is to place your hands behind your back."
Both girls obliged, Libby letting out a small squeal when hers were tied with some elasticated cord and her body wriggled timidly.
"Now girls, just like bobbing for apples at Halloween, we want you to bob for these things" Gez held up a poker chip towards the camera. "Now there are different denominations of chip $10, $20, $50 and $100. Strangely enough we have 4 buckets here."
Each girl had four large washing basins around two feet deep and filled to the brim placed in front of them.
"The first is filled with custard, it has 10 $10 chips in it, the next is filled with sour cream and has 8 $20 chips inside it, the third is filled with a month's staff canteen waste and has 4 $50 chips in it. Now the final bucket is filled with fish guts and has 2 $100 chips inside it. Both of you girls will have 2 minutes to fish these chips out using your mouths and drop them in a collecting plate to the side. Whoever gets the most dollar at the end stays in the competition." Unbeknownst to the contestants the fish guts were simulated but very realistic.

As the girls readied themselves they both knew this was a hard challenge. They could go for easy quick money or brave the fouler smelling buckets for a big money chip. To wolf-whistles from the crowd Hanako removed her white vest top to show an extraordinary backless swimsuit.
Hanako plunged in quicker than Libby, skipping the custard and plunging her head straight into the thick, white sour cream. Libby started on the custard gingerly before dipping her entire head below the surface and plucking out a poker chip. First blood to the girl from Surrey! She spluttered the chip out onto the plate before plunging again into the custard.
Hanako's head was fully submerged for 20 seconds before emerging for air. Her elaborate hair was plastered across her face. She took a breath then plunged back into the sour cream in search of an elusive poker chip. Libby had got her second one up and was winning by $20 with 30 seconds gone.

Libby quickly added a 3rd and a 4th to go $40 up, before Hanako added a $20 chip. With a minute to go Libby decided to switch to the canteen waste: she couldn't even go near the fish guts. In her kneeling position she dipped her gloopy yellow head into the horrid mixture, pushing aside the vegetable peelings with her nose and trying not to gag at the taste of bolognese sauce. Her teeth clasped something hard. Triumphantly she recoiled from the basin and spat out the $50 chip onto her plate.
Hanako added another $20 but saw the chip on Libby's plate through the white sour cream haze that engulfed her.

She knew she'd have to go for broke and that would take guts. Literally!

Hanako dived her head into the slimy foetid mixture, feeling as best she could for something hard and plastic with her lips. There was now 30 seconds left. Libby had switched to sour cream and quickly added a chip, she was leading by $110 to Hanako's $40. She allowed herself a breather and a smile to herself.
The audience counted down the last 10 seconds with Hanako thrashing frantically around the fish guts basin. As the audience counted "5" she reared up from the murky, gory basin and regurgitated onto the plate an eyea squid tentacle..
and a $100 chip.

Even under all of that mess coating her face and collar of her shirt-dress, Libby's face dropped. The studio crowd went wild for the last second drama and for once fortune really had favoured the brave!

The Winner

Gez now boomed "With $140 to $110 of poker chips, Hanako is our winner!!! So Hanako, ever eating sushi again?"
"Of course, these fish guts kept me in this competition! How can I not love them?!" she beamed animatedly, with a hint of South Yorkshire in her accent. Her face and hair were a weird shade of pink from the crimson fruit de mer mixing with the white sour cream.
"Now Libby, you really didn't appreciate the fish guts we spent ages preparing for you, did you?" Gez asked "They were fake but incredibly realistic"
"No, they were foul, but.." Libby's face was a mix of indiscernible substances, though she appeared to have a piece of mouldy cabbage clinging to her hair "..maybe I should have tried to appreciate them a bit more"
Four female stage-hands were lurking behind her
"Well Libby, we don't want all of these guts going to waste do weand we've already ruined your pretty little face so girls (referring to the stage-hands) you know what to do!"

To Libby's horror the front of her shirt dress was unbuttoned and two stage-hands poured the whole of the fish gut basin down the front of her chest, slithering down her bare skin inside her dress. She was too shocked to scream!
The English Lit student walked down the gangway back to the dressing room: the front of her dress bulging with gore, as if she was in a Tarantino film. The only thing keeping her going was a George Orwell quote
"It is a feeling of relief, almost of pleasure, at knowing yourself at last genuinely down and out. You have talked so often of going to the dogs and well, here are the dogs, and you have reached them, and you can stand it."

Epilogue Libby eventually went on to be the very successful Hollywood screenwriter known for "They Came From the Deep", "They Came From the Deep II" and "They Came From the Deep III Dark Plaice". It was always questioned what the creative spark behind a series of films about gory zombified fish came from but she was always koi about it