[alli55]

If anyone had told me I’d be spending my Saturday evening watching a makeover show, I’d have told them they were mad. But here I am, doing just that! This, though, is a very different makeover show to the usual run-of-the-mill ones that I dislike so much. This one is edgy and unpredictable, and is made all-the-more exciting for us because we are waiting to see what our friend Gemma has had done. At least three of us are; Maddie already knows, because she saw Gemma yesterday afternoon, after she’d had her makeover.

“You don’t think Gemma got a tattoo, do you?” Lissie asks.

Maddie stays silent, having promised Gemma she wouldn’t say anything before the makeover is revealed on the show.

“I wouldn’t have thought so!” I reply. “She always used to say how much she didn’t like them.”

“Well, in that case, she won’t win this week,” declares Lissie, “not after what Mia’s done!”

“It doesn’t matter, though, does it,” her Dad reminds her, “so long as she keeps out of the bottom three and avoids the Dare-Off!”

“I know! I just want her to win again!”

“You join us as we watch our daredevils undergoing a makeover this week on Britain’s Most Daring. I’m Trixie Stonehill …”

“… and I’m Joe Denecker. We’ve got plenty more of wor daredevils to see, so let’s press on! Here’s Lisa to tell us about Matt’s week.”

Buxom blonde Mancunian, Lisa, is sat in her car, parked at the side of an ordinary-looking street with rows of terraced houses along either side. She is in the driving seat and we, vicariously through the camera operator, are in the front passenger seat. She looks across at us and does her piece to camera.

“I’m outside Matt’s house here in Bolton,” she informs us. “He’s asked two of his friends to do his makeover for him. He’s told them they can do anything they want. I’ve come to check that he means what he says and to find out what they’ve got planned for him. So, we’d best go in!”

We follow her to the front door, which, upon her knocking, is opened by Matt.

“Lisa, come in!”

We enter and go through to the back room. There are two other people, a man and a woman, both in their late twenties by the look of it.

“Let me introduce you,” says Matt. “This is Shanice …”

The woman smiles and says, “Hi!”

“… and this is Digger!”

“Alright?” says Digger, sounding very Mancunian.

“How do you know these people?” Lisa asks Matt.

“Digger’s my best mate, I’ve known him since school,” Matt explains, “and Shanice is my brother’s missus.”

“So, what have you two got planned for Matt?” Lisa enquires.

“We’re going to totally change how he looks,” reveals Digger, with a grin. “We want him to win this dare, so we’re going for maximum impact!”

“How does that sound, Matt?” Lisa asks our daredevil, who is looking a little apprehensive.

“It sounds good,” he says, “I think!” He laughs.

Lisa provides an intermittent voiceover for the montage that follows. We see first Shanice and then Digger set to work on Matt.

“Shanice has done some hairdressing in the past, so she’s been entrusted with the task of restyling Matt’s hair … “

We watch as Shanice gets the clipper out and sets it to number 0. She shaves most of Matt’s head, but leaves a narrow strip that runs down the middle of his head from his forehead to the top of his neck.

“… Shanice is giving Matt a Mohican. It’s a radically different style to any that he’s had before …”

Once Shanice is finished, Digger takes up position in front of Matt.

“… Digger’s experience in a tattoo and piercing parlour is what he brings to the dare …”

We see Digger brandishing his tattoo gun, and inking two identical red roses, one above and slightly forward of each ear on the newly-shaved parts of Matt’s head.

“… The red rose that Digger is tattooing onto Matt’s head is the traditional symbol of Lancashire …”

Digger finishes the tattoos and admires his work.

“… With the tattoos finished, Digger sets to work on the other part of his plan …”

We see Digger insert a cannula needle through the bottom of Matt’s eyebrow and out through the top. He then begins putting a curved barbell in place.

“Digger has decided that an eyebrow piercing is the perfect finish to Matt’s new look. But I’m not sure Matt is keen on the idea!”

As Digger continues to work on the piercing, Matt grimaces and winces. This, we suspect, is more than he was bargaining for! But there’s nothing he can do, and the montage ends with Matt standing up, flanked by Shanice and Digger, all looking into the camera with their thumbs up.

“Give him a warm welcome, everyone,” urges Trixie, “it’s Matt!”

The welcome Matt gets from the audience is more than warm, it is scorching. The audience, at least, are mightily impressed by the extreme makeover he has been put through.

“Matt, Matt,” begins Joe, “what have they done to you?”

Matt laughs. “I know!” he replies. “Mad!”

“Did you have any idea what you were letting yourself in for?”

“I knew Shanice would do something with my hair, but I didn’t really know what Digger was planning!”

“It’s certainly striking!” Trixie remarks.

“I don’t mind it!” he tells her.

“Are you keeping the whole look?” she asks him.

“That’s the clever thing,” he confides. “It can all be covered over, eventually. The piercing can come out and the hole will heal, and if I grow my hair back the tatts get covered over!”

Whether revealing that was a mistake or not remains to be seen. The DAPAs may knock Matt’s score down a bit now they know it isn’t necessarily as permanent and radical as it first appeared.

“Well, you know what comes next,” Trixie tells him, “it’s time for the DAPAs to do their stuff!”

An 8 from Danielle is followed by another 8 from Dan, giving Matt a total of 16, which puts him in front, knocking Mia off the top.

A worthy round of applause follows, before Trixie says, “Well done, Matt, you’re our new leader!”

“Magic!” says Matt. “Digger’ll be made up! Big thanks to him and Shanice!”

“Matt everybody, … Matt!” cries Trixie, initiating another round of applause.

“Well, that’s going to take some beating!” remarks Joe. “So, let’s see if Mitchell is up to the task. Trixie, here, went with him, and here’s her report.”

When we see Trixie this time, she is wearing a cream roll-neck jumper over tight-fitting jeans. The black beanie hat she has on tells us that this dare was filmed on a cold day. She is inside a shopping centre, strolling along slowly, and once she has passed the camera, we see she is walking towards Mitchell and a young woman who is with him. She stops when she reaches them.

The shot changes to a close-up of the three, as Trixie greets Mitchell. “Mitchell, hi, who have you got to help with your dare?”

“This is my girlfriend, Sammi,” he says, introducing the young woman to us. “She’s going to be doing my makeover.”

“Nice to meet you, Sammi,” Trixie says. “What have you got planned for Mitchell?”

Sammi reveals far more than Mitchell wants her to, when she answers, “Well, I know the sort of look that Mitch likes, and I think that’s why he trusts me not to do anything too over-the-top. So, I’m going to sort of tweak his usual look a bit and give it a fresher appearance.”

“Well,” Trixie says to camera, “let’s see how that goes!”

Our next montage begins with the three of them in a clothes shop, as Sammi selects some casual trousers and a floral-print shirt. The scene then changes, as the rest of the montage appears to have been filmed in the room of a house somewhere. Initially, Sammi is applying fake tan to all the exposed parts of Mitchell’s body. We then see her adding some lighter highlights to his mousy-brown hair, before having him put on the trousers and shirt we saw her select earlier. The final shot sees Mitchell posing with his new ‘tweaked’ look beside a smiling Sammi.

Back in the studio, Trixie welcomes Mitchell in her usual exuberant manner. Once the applause dies down, the interview can begin.

“Well, that shirt’s got a lot to say for itself,” exclaims Joe, “and it’s saying it loud and clear!”

Mitchell grins, but doesn’t say anything.

“Has Sammi come up with the sort of look you were expecting?” Trixie asks.

“Yeah,” Mitchell says, “I pretty much knew what sort of thing she’d do. It’s the sort of look she likes on me.”

“But is it the sort of look the DAPAs like on you?” asks Joe, giving Dan and Danielle their cue.

The answer to Joe’s question is immediate and negative. Danielle instantly hits her keypad and awards just 3 points, whilst Dan quickly follows suit. The total of 6 points is comfortably the lowest score this week, and we can be pretty sure that Mitchell is going to be taking part in tonight’s Dare-Off.

“I think you might have paid the price for Sammi’s predictability!” Trixie comments. “Never mind,” she consoles him, before eliciting a polite round of applause from the audience. As this starts to fade, she continues, “I’m not the only one who’s been out with some of our daredevils this week, am I Joe?”

“No,” he confirms, “I popped back up to the North-East and hooked up with last week’s winner, Gemma. Take a look at this!”

Good! Lissie is about to be put out of her misery! She pulls herself a little closer to the TV and watches excitedly.

We see Joe, dressed in his usual t-shirt and slightly-worn jeans, inside a hairdressing salon, where Gemma is stood with a couple of girls her age. One of them, at least, looks to be a hairdresser.

“So, Gemma,” begins Joe, “who have we got here?”

Gemma indicates the two other girls in turn. “This is Tamsin,” she says of the shorter, blonde girl, “and this is Cherise.” The taller, auburn-haired girl waves enthusiastically.

“And they’re helping you with your dare?”

“Tamsin is going to do my makeover for me,” Gemma informs him, and us, “and Cherise is here for a bit of moral support!”

“Cherise is Gemma’s best friend,” Maddie explains to us. “I don’t know Tamsin.”

Tamsin sits Gemma in the chair and sets to work. We see another hairdressing montage, during which there is a clip that might be significant, especially if the DAPAs have been paying close attention: at one point, Tamsin appears as if she is about to cut a plentiful amount of Gemma’s hair, but before she can begin, Cherise stops her and whispers something in her ear which makes her change her mind and leave Gemma’s long blonde hair intact. By the end of the montage, Gemma’s blonde hair has become multicoloured, with Tamsin having created a rainbow design that runs from red on one side of her head through the whole spectrum to purple on the other side. It is certainly striking!

“Oh my God!” cries Lissie. “I can’t believe she’s done that!”

“I told you!” Maddie says.

“Dearie me,” Phil comments, “I hope it washes out easily!”

“What do you reckon?” Joe asks Cherise.

“It’s different!” says Cherise, in that polite way that tells us she doesn’t like it but doesn’t want to offend either Gemma or Tamsin.

“It’s certainly that!” Joe addresses this last comment to us, the viewers at home, and he raises an eyebrow knowingly.

“Give it up for Gemma,” urges Trixie, as the teenager emerges from backstage, rainbow locks bouncing as she walks over to Trixie and Joe.

It is Joe who begins the interview. “Gemma,” he says, “what did you think when you first saw what Tamsin had done to you?”

“I was a bit surprised,” Gemma admits, “but there was not a lot I could do about it, so I just decided to make the best of it!”

“I imagine you’ve been getting plenty of attention!” comments Trixie.

“Yeah, I have,” Gemma tells her. “People keep checking it out. Some don’t like it, but I think plenty do.”

“Do you?” asks Trixie.

“Kind of!” Gemma replies, without really giving away her true feelings about her vivid hairstyle.

“She doesn’t!” Maddie informs us. “She said she’s going to wash it out as soon as she gets back from the studio this weekend.”

Joe has picked up on the non-committed nature of her response. “Well, let’s hope the DAPAs are a bit more certain. What d’you reckon D ’n’ D?”

Dan reckons it’s worth 6 points, whilst Danielle awards 5, making a total of 11 points. That puts Gemma in the bottom three as things stand.

“How does that compare with what you were expecting?” Trixie asks Gemma.

“It’s a bit lower,” admits Gemma, “I was hoping for more than that!”

After Gemma has taken her place amongst the daredevils who we have already seen tonight, Trixie recaps the situation and takes us into the next ad-break.

“So, we’re about halfway through our makeovers, and it’s Gemma, Tariq, and Mitchell facing the Live Dare-Off as it stands. But it could all change, so join us, after the break, to see the next set of daredevils being transformed on Britain’s Most Daring!”

Lissie looks across at her Dad, with a concerned expression on her face. Once again, he reads his daughter’s thoughts and answers her question before she has even asked it.

“Gemma will be fine!” he reassures her. “It’s only going to need one more to mess up and she’s away from the Dare-Off. One of the others is bound sure to get a worse score!”

I can see that Lissie knows her father is right, but I sense that she won’t be able to relax until Gemma is actually out of the bottom three.