Five Little Words

Part 1

"You have GOT to be kidding?!"

The audience laughed at the indignant exclamation, cheering as Stephen grinned evilly at the two boys. He had just sprung the details of that night's Ant vs Dec on them, and now he was watching as his friends took in the reality of what they were going to be doing in just under ten minutes time.

What they were going to be doing was a race along an obstacle course. But this was no ordinary obstacle course: this one was set about two hundred feet in the air, and ended with a hundred metre long zip wire fall to the finish line.

"He he" Stephen giggled, almost maniacally. "I'm not kidding you, boys! We'll head on up to the roof to get you in position, but first let's go back to our star guest announcer for tonight to find out what else is coming up!"

If looks could kill, Stephen would have been dead three times over by now.

"What's coming up, Matt?"

Their guest announcer for that night, Matt Smith, grinned in an almost equally cheeky way and replied with "Thanks Stephen! Still to come tonight: it's Hell or High Ropes in Ant versus Dec, right after the break! Don't go anywhere!"

As soon as the cameras were off, Ant and Dec went back to their dressing room to change into their reflective suits for the challenge.

"He's bloody mad, he is!" Dec grumbled, pulling on his gloves after about half a minute of silence.

Ant gave him a sympathetic half-smile: he knew how his friend felt when it came to doing any height-related challenges. He was just grateful that they didn't seem to do too many of them these days.

"Aye, I know kidda" he nodded in agreement, putting his own gloved hand on Dec's shoulder. "But it'll all be over in ten minutes, so just try and keep your chin up, okay?"

Getting a reluctant nod in return, the boys walked out of their dressing room and over to the lift to head on up to the roof.

Stepping out onto the top of the building, they were both immediately accosted by the strong wind that almost blew them sideways.

"Couldn't turn the wind down a bit, could ye?!" Ant growled at the sky, getting a rumble of faint thunder in response.

The army supervisors hurried to get them both harnessed up and into position - the show just moments away from returning from the break.

"Just be careful when you're out there" one of the soldiers muttered in Ant's ear as he helped him adjust his harness. "This wind will send you both over the side if you're not careful where you stand, and that rain is likely to make things pretty darn slippery."

Ant grimaced - as if he needed any more reason to worry.

He wasn't scared of heights - he didn't like them, but he wasn't scared of them. But he was more worried about Dec, who harboured a very well-known and intense fear of heights.

Stealing a glance across at his best mate, he had to admit that he didn't like the paleness of his cheeks, or the faint trembling in his body that was invisible to everyone but Ant.

He finally managed to catch Dec's eye, and he gave him an encouraging smile and a thumbs up. Dec just looked back at him with a frightened, but determined, steel in his eyes and he swallowed hard.

The show had come back from the ad break by this point, and Stephen was reciting his script to the camera behind them. Neither of the boys paid him any mind, and simply focused on getting themselves ready to do the challenge.

The challenge was set up like a high-ropes course against the side of the ITV building. Both of the boys would have their own identical course to follow; with obstacles to clamber over and around, as well as a tightrope walk to the final platform - suspended more than two hundred feet above the ground.