[alli55]

“So, if Keenan’s going, little Miss Know-It-All,” Phil asks Lissie, “who’s going to win, then?”

“And don’t just say Gemma!” Maddie warns her sister.

“I wasn’t going to!” she protests.

“Really?!” her sister replies, disbelievingly. “So, who, then?”

“Not Matt,” she says, as she ponders her options. “Jaz maybe, … or Dylan, … or maybe Eilidh, … and, actually, I think Gemma has a proper chance as well!”

“Oh, well that’s really narrowed it down!” her Dad remarks, sarcastically.

“Well, I don’t know!” retorts Lissie. “They all look good so far!”

“She’s right!” I agree, coming to my youngest’s aid. “Apart from Keenan, they all seem to be quite good at what they’re doing! We’ll just have to wait to see the performances, I reckon!”

“Hello, and welcome back to Britain’s Most Daring!” Trixie greets our return.

“This week, it’s wor Circus Special,” Joe reminds us, “and wor daredevils have been getting some intensive training on their chosen skills.”

“Except for Keenan,” Trixie points out, “who still hadn’t found anything to suit his abilities, when we last saw him!”

“So, has that changed?” Joe wonders. “Let’s see!”

“Maybe I could do magic tricks!” Keenan tells Aleksandra.

“Do you know any magic tricks?” she asks.

“No!”

“Okay!”

“Probably not that, then!” Keenan concedes. “D’you reckon street dancing would be okay for a circus?”

“You weren’t very good at street dancing!” she reminds him.

“Yeah, there is that!”

“There must be something that you can do!” Aleksandra says.

“I could be the ringmaster!” he suggests.

“Hmm, I’m not sure that counts!” she states …

… “Having proved he’s got the strength to be a reliable base, Matt is working through some of the routine that he’s going to be performing, with Dale, Carla and Krissy,” Lisa tells us.

They are working next to a large wall mirror, so that Matt can copy Dale’s position and Dale, in turn, can keep an eye on Matt. Both the lads are laying, head-to-head, on their backs.

“Okay,” Dale instructs, “lift your legs, so that they are vertical! Now, bring your knees to your chest, but keep your feet flat, soles upwards!”

Once Dale is satisfied with Matt’s position, the girls climb aboard, each sitting on one of the lads’ feet.

“Right, extend your legs fully,” Dale tells Matt “and keep them as steady as you can!” Carla, on Dale’s feet, is already changing her posture, and, as soon as Matt’s legs are fully extended, Krissy begins to move as well. She leans her head right back, lowering herself into a near-horizontal position, extending her legs out the other way to maintain her balance. She rests her foot against the back of Matt’s knee, and holds it in place with one hand. Then she lifts her other leg into a vertical position, extending it fully. Both girls lean their heads back so they are looking at each other. Dale takes a look in the mirror, and seems happy with the pose.

“How was that?” he asks, when the girls have dismounted.

“He was good, really stable!” Krissy tells him.

“It really tests your leg muscles!” Matt admits.

“I’m not that heavy!” Krissy protests, jokingly. Matt sniggers.

“Want to try another?” Dale asks.

“Yeah! Defo!” Matt replies.

“Let’s try a foot-stand! Carla, you do the honours!”

Following Dale’s instructions, Matt lays on his back once more, and bends his knees, keeping his heels on the floor. He raises his hands for Carla to take hold of them, as she steps onto his feet. Extending his legs fully, he waits for her to shift along so that she is now kneeling on his feet. One-by-one he bends his knees, and she stands, sole-to-sole, on his feet, so that she ends up crouching, feet-to-feet, holding his hands. Carefully, she lets go of his hands and steadies herself, as he extends his legs fully once more. She then completes the foot-stand by lifting herself into a fully upright, standing position: she is, literally, standing on his feet!

“How are your legs now?” Dale asks.

“Yeah, okay,” Matt tells him, “I don’t think Carla’s as heavy as Krissy!”

“Yay!” cries Carla. “Hear that, heavyweight?” she taunts Krissy. “That’s all those pizzas you keep ordering!”

“That you help me eat!” Krissy retorts.

“Right, Carla, dismount, and then, everyone, we’ll freshen up, and get together and have a think about putting a routine together!” …

… Richie is standing in the grounds of Blenheim Palace, as tourists mingle around. “Sergey is pleased with the way Jaz is gaining confidence on the flying trapeze,” he reveals, “but, now, it’s time for her biggest test yet! Re-attaching herself to a loose trapeze swing!”

“You ready?” Sergey asks Jaz. She nods, and he tells her to push off, in the nicest possible sense, of course! She swings once and then releases, twisting 360 degrees and allowing Dimitry to catch her. “Okay, do 180 back, so you can see where swing is!” Sergey calls to her. Dmitry swings her back towards the middle, and she releases, twists and reaches for the empty swing. She misses and falls into the safety net. “No problem!” Sergey assures her. “It is normal! Back up and try again!”

We see her try again, and miss again, ending up in the net once more. “Again!” Sergey calls down to her.

“It takes a while,” we hear Riche say, over footage of Jaz missing the trapeze again, “and more falls than she’d like to remember, but eventually Jaz manages to get herself back to the platform the proper way!” We see Dmitry release Jaz, who twists 180 degrees and reaches for the empty swing; this time, she grabs hold of it, and swings back up to the platform, where Sergey grabs her and gives her a hug!

“I can’t believe I did it!” she exclaims. “That was amazing!”

“Now you must do it again, and again, and again,” he tells her, “until you do it every time!”

“Yeah!” Jaz promises.

“Then, you can do some tricks, maybe!”

“Oh, yeah, I really want to try some!” she enthuses.

“So, lots of practice!” he states. “Make Dimitry tired out!”

“D’you know what?” Joe asks Trixie, as they turn back to face us, “Every time we go back and see Jaz, she gets more and more impressive!”

“I know what you mean!” Trixie tells him. “I’m really looking forward to seeing her performance a bit later on!”

“I’ll tell you what I want to see,” Joe reveals, “and that’s Lowri getting pied!”

“Let’s see if Dylan can make your wish come true, then!” says Trixie, providing a link to the next segment.

“You must be Dylan,” says a cheerful chap, in red dungarees and a backwards baseball cap, who, otherwise, looks alarmingly like Professor Eilidh from last week’s show! “Pip!” he adds, by way of introduction.

“Hi!” replies Dylan.

“So, you’re going to be my accomplice?” Pip checks. “Are you ready for that?”

“Absolutely!”

“Okay, so, I’m usually a solo performer,” he explains, “but we can do a couple of fairly standard skits that always go down well! How are you at taking a pie?”

“Is there a special technique?” Dylan asks.

“Yep! Shut your eyes at the last minute, and don’t eat too much of it! It’ll make you fat!” Pip deadpans.

“Nice one!” Dylan laughs. “So, I take it I’m getting pied!”

“There’s a strict hierarchy in a good clown routine,” Pip informs him, “otherwise it degenerates into chaos, and you lose your audience. We want them to feel the injustice of you always being on the receiving end, so they become emotionally involved. That’s the key, you have to engage the audience, and get them involved!”

“Right, I get it!”

“Then, maybe, at the end, we can throw in a twist, and give them what they’ll want by then,” he adds, “which is you getting a bit of revenge! Maybe! Sometimes it’s better just to leave them clamouring for it!”

The camera pulls back, to reveal a table full of clown’s pies, ready and waiting to be used. “So, let’s see how you do!” Pip says, as he reaches for a pie. He proceeds to splat Dylan fully in the face with it. Dylan immediately reaches up to wipe the gunk away from his eyes. “Try not to do that straight away,” Pip tells him, “it’s funnier to allow it to slowly drip down for a bit, then wipe!” He pies Dylan again, and this time Dylan resists the urge to clear his eyes, keeping them shut. “You do need to open your eyes, though!” Pip instructs. “Let’s try again!” Another pie lands on Dylan’s face, and this time he opens his eyes as bits of gunk slowly fall down his face.

“My turn!” we hear Lowri say, and before anyone can stop her, she smacks Dylan in the face with a pie. “Oh, yes, that felt good!” she remarks, and sniggers.

“No, no, that’s the wrong way round!” Joe exclaims. “That’s so disappointing! Surely, someone’s got to get her before we finish! I’ll pay good money!”

Trixie snickers, but quickly gets a grip of herself, and says, “Let’s see some more circus action! Here’s Mairie, with an update on Gemma’s week!”

“Take a look up there!” Mairie says, pointing up and behind.

The camera zooms in, following the direction of her finger. Stuey is swinging on the trapeze, in a Knee Hang, ready to catch; Gemma is on the other trapeze, and leaps across to be caught by Stuey; they swing back and then, on the return to the middle, Gemma releases, twists, and catches the free trapeze, and plants her feet on the platform when it comes within reach.

“How about that!” we hear Mairie say.

Once Gemma, Stuey and Lilly are all back on the ground, Mairie takes the opportunity to get an interview with them.

“So, Gemma,” she begins, “that was phenomenal! How did you feel up there?”

“It was magic!” the excited teenager tells her. “Flying through the air, my God, it’s like nothing I’ve ever experienced!”

“How’s she doing?” Mairie asks Stuey.,

“She’s doing champion!” he replies. “She’s come on tremendously with her confidence, and that’s what it’s all about!”

“Lilly, is there anything else she needs to learn?” Mairie enquires.

“Not really, not for our act, at least!” Lilly says. “We are normally just a duo, so we just do simple catcher-flyer moves. As long as she can get back to the platform every time, she’ll be fine for the performance!”

“How does that sound?” Mairie asks Gemma.

“That sounds awesome!” she enthuses. “I canna wait!”

“You’ve got lots of practice, before then!” Stuey warns her. “Lots of practice!” he emphasises. …

… One person who is definitely going to need some practice is Keenan, if he can ever decide what he’s actually going to do!

“So, Keenan,” Aleksandra asks him, “what’s your latest idea?”

“This is the one!” he tells her. “I’ve found my thing! For definite, this is it!”

“That’s great!” she says. “So, what is it?”

“A comedy plate-spinning routine!” he states. “I’m going to pretend to not be able to do it, so it all goes wrong!”

“I don’t think you need to pretend!” she remarks.

“That’s the beauty of it!” he explains. “It’ll all come naturally! All I have to do is add the comedy reactions, and, boom, it’s done. Circus magic!”

“I can’t wait!” she says, leaving us unsure as to whether she really means it, or if she’s developed a sarcastic streak.

Back in the studio, Trixie and Joe seem equally unsure about Keenan’s idea.

“Well, that’s either inspired or desperate!” Joe declares. “I just don’t know which!”

“Hmmm, well, we’ll find out soon enough!” Trixie informs him, and us. “We’re going to take another break now, but when we come back it’ll be showtime! We’ll see then how our daredevils cope with their big nights! Join us, for all the thrills and spills of the ring, on Britain’s Most Daring’s Circus Special. Right after this!”

“D’you know what? I reckon Gemma’s going to win!” Lissie tells us.

“She certainly looked good!” agrees Maddie.

“She was brilliant!” Lissie corrects her.

“It’ll be really interesting, that’s for sure!” I remark.

“It’ll be awesome if she wins!” Lissie says. “Really awesome!”