Paddle to freedom
February 19, 2004
It's struggling for viewers, and now even the contestants want to escape The HotHouse.
There was a hint of it on air last night, there'll be a bigger hint tonight, and the whole sordid tale will unfold tomorrow night.
Trudy the surfer chick did a runner from Bribie Island on Tuesday night. She grabbed her surfboard, leapt into the canal and paddled to freedom, not even telling partner Beau.
Now they've both been tossed off the site by the show's producers for breaking the rules.
Trudy, who was fast gaining a rep as a scheming, conniving back-stabber, paddled across the canal and rang a mate in Surfers to say "come and get me out of here", but the so-called mate rang the producers instead.
The producers grabbed their cameras and found Trudy at the shops, all muddy and bedraggled, still with her precious surfboard under her arm. Within the hour, she and Beau had packed their gear from the caravan and been run off the set.
Trudy told The Eye she'd just had enough of voting off people to their face.
So, "like Forrest Gump", she went for a paddle . . . and, just kept on going.
Evading 20 security guards, Trudy flagged a passing motorist on the other side of the canal and asked him to drive her into town.
She picked up some clothes from a boutique (staff recognised her from the show and handed them over for nix) and raised the alarm.
"I realised I didn't want to be in there," Trudy said.
"I put up this strong facade, but I'm really soft and I couldn't handle voting for people I liked."
It was voting off knockabout South Australians Peter and Tina that pushed her over the edge.
Trudy also missed surfing.
"When I went for a paddle and got to the other side, I just felt happy again," she said. "I hadn't felt like that for ages."
Trudy said Beau was upset at missing out on the $2 million house, but understood her need to get out.
"He's just laughing, because he knows me," she said. "Look, money can't buy you happiness."
Which is just as well, because the couple might not pocket their post-elimination $10,000 prize because they broke the rules.
now for the others to do the same! i hope that they quit during elimination day lol and totally screw up the show and make ch 10 scared of making another reality show ever again.