The contestants found themselves at a swimming pool somewhere out in Western Sydney (thank you to my car nav yet again for getting me there at 4am in the morning). The challenges are becoming more crucial to win and this one was a test of the contestants’ balance. Beams were placed over the water and every so often (without notice) a beam would fall into the water and the contestants had to stay upright on the beam - if they lost their balance, they were out of the competition. There was quite a lot of banter but little Pheebs stayed strong and won the challenge and immunity.

The day of the 21km run very quickly came around and due to the impending heat, we woke at 3am and headed south to a National Park near Cronulla - another reason to love my car’s navigational system…TBL has taken me to parts of NSW I never would have known existed! The race started albeit without injured David, Lisa and Shannon and the competitors were Joe, Caitlin, Pheebs, Rick and Phil.

How amazing are these guys! Phil finished first with Joe not far behind and the remaining contestants finished the race in gradual succession. It was without doubt a very emotional day and just when the contestants thought the day was over, I dropped a bombshell! Phil, being the winner, was told that he had another challenge ahead of him and that he should choose a fellow player to ‘assist him’ with it - he chose Joe. A long pause followed and a loud roar from a massive army truck came towards us through the brush and over the bridge. Now, I hadn’t even met the Commando before we filmed this episode so even to have him jump out of the truck and yell “Surprise” was a massive shock to my system.

On the day we filmed this, I was so overwhelmed by the Commando’s presence that I found it very hard to get the words out of my mouth to form a sentence. I was also very saddened that Joe and Phil would be leaving us for such a long period of time and seeing Joe cry was almost too much to bear. Needless to say, it was an emotional farewell and we hoped for their sakes that they would survive the Commando’s gruelling training regime.

Masterclass was extremely fun this week and now that I’m a regular in the kitchen with Janella, I’m picking up some very handy tips in the kitchen. The contestants battled it out in the MC challenge and Rick and Lisa came away as winners of the illustrious MC shield when they produced the healthiest lunch for a hungry group of gym junkies.

It feels like the numbers in the house have very quickly dwindled and at this week’s weigh-in, we only had six contestants weighing in. The weigh-in days are always such a mixed bag of emotions and this one was no different. There were amazing weight loss results by the contestants and I’m also very proud to share with anyone out there who may read this blog (please let there be one or two readers) that I also had a very proud moment at the taping of this weigh-in. Are you ready for this amazing accomplishment? I taught our wardrobe supervisor, Mandy how to crochet when we had a long break in filming due to technical issues!

I know, very boring and ‘mumsy’ but since day one at Camp BL, I’ve knitted my 12-year-old Jacob a jumper, crocheted a granny square blanket for Kai for Christmas and I’m half-way through a cable-knit number for Greg to go fishing in. I know that may sound boring to some but when there is no children or husband to pick up after, I need something to occupy my mind. Pheebs is a mad keen cross stitcher, so when we start talking craft, the boys roll their eyes and Lisa gets melancholy about home!

Thank you to everyone that has supported me too. I do read the feedback (and sometimes the forums, although I know I enter dangerous waters by doing that) and I appreciate all your comments.

Hayley