[alli55]

Kiss-chase has been happening in primary school playgrounds up and down the UK since time immemorial, at least according to my Mum!

I think I’ve found an error ... If Jaz got a bonus point for kissing a teacher in front of his class, shouldn’t Gemma have as well? I demand a re-count!

No-ooooo! I tried so hard to make sure the scoring was accurate for this episode! But, I did get impossibly confused at one point, and ... yes, you have found an error!

The kiss-chase episode, along with the betting one, are the two that I think represent BMD at its best ... running around, accosting members of the public, doing random, stupid things. Much as I like some of the other, skill-based episodes (especially the concert and the circus), these silly episodes are, I think, the essence of the show.

"Fortune favours the brave" is another popular misquote here. No-one, but no-one uses "bold" instead of "brave".

“Joe hugs his fellow Geordie, for whom he’s had a special affection from the very start.” — Really? I hadn’t noticed. (No, that’s not sarcasm.)

It's there from the very start, in the auditions, but it is quite subtle a lot of the time.

As usual, Mam is wise and Stacie is… powerful. A very good friend to have.

Over the course of the story, Stacie has largely been just a source of text-messaging fun (with the exception of the troll incident). She and Gemma owe a lot to Maddie's family, and I wanted to give Stacie the chance to do something meaningful in return. This was the perfect opportunity.

“You’re hot-wired to not get in amongst them!” — ‘Hard-wired’ — ‘hot-wire’ is something you do to a car to start it when you haven’t a key… except in England. Ten dictionaries agree with me and one English dictionary with you. “Sad, to be all alone in the world.”

You're right, and I knew it when I wrote it. I just thought it would be fun to have Lowri mangle the expression!

I’m really surprised that Dylan is so resistant; he seemed to have been involved in several nude shoots in the past.

He had a "wardrobe malfunction" that he was unaware had been caught on camera; and then faced the embarrassment of BMD getting hold of a naked selfie he had taken ... and which modern British teenager hasn't taken one of those?!!
I wouldn't class either of those as 'nude shoots', and his reaction to the idea of standing naked in front of a group of people, who will be studying his body in detail, is entirely understandable and in keeping with his character, I would suggest.
His mistake, if you will, was to forget just how anarchic Lowri can be!

Rally-car racing should be more involved than they think it is, though not at all dangerous. Back in high school my second-best friend’s older brother did a LOT of rallies, and he made it seem very involved and difficult, the idea being to finish in as close to the established time as possible WITHOUT KNOWING WHAT THE ESTABLISHED TIME IS. Much more difficult than just trying to finish first. …and your rally is nothing like that.

But the dare wasn't to enter a rally, it was to co-drive for a rally driver around a particular course ... with the twist that the driver was blind. Never mind keeping to a time, or even going fastest, I'm with Matt on this one - I'm not getting in the car!!

By the way, it took me 6 ½ hours to get through episodes 12 and 13, and this much of 14; I can't imagine how long it took you to write it.

It took a long, lo-ong time! But it was so much fun!
I'm also acutely aware of how much time and effort it has taken everyone to read ... and I'm so, so grateful to each of you who has stuck with it. I really hope you have found it worth sticking with!

Anyway, nearly done now. I've just posted the penultimate part. It all finishes tomorrow!!