Hear the Wind Blow, Dear...Hear the Wind Blow

December 18, 1998 had been a day that would go down in the record books for being one of the most destructive wind storms recorded in Murwillumbah, a town about 40 minutes east of where I'm A Celebrity if filmed. Some of the older crew members working on set retold stories of how powerful the 111 km/h wind gusts had been and one of the members had been one of only 3 residents who's home had been practically destroyed when it lost its roof. Many of the younger crew members thought the tales being told were probably embellished and were nothing more than "fish tales" which seemed to grow each time it was talked about.

Ant and Dec had spent the last several seasons sitting in on safety protocol meetings in the weeks before filming would begin and each year they heard the same warning messages but had never experienced such violent weather...ever. There had been heavy rainstorms and lightening strikes had caused the contestants to be evacuated out of their camp a few years earlier but this time, things were going to change and they were going to find themselves right in the middle of the worst that mother nature could possibly throw at them.

The day had started out like any other with the boys arriving on site during the early morning hours with a full day's agenda set out for them. The contestants would be arriving in two weeks and there was much to do before.

Several meetings were on the morning's agenda as well as filming promos that would be used during commercial breaks in the following weeks of filming. First up, though, was time spent in the recording booth doing voice overs for items that had already been filmed before meeting with medic Bob McCarron for their annual check-ups. Both Ant and Dec made a point of visiting their own physicians back in London well before their trip to Australia to make sure they were ready for the rigorous schedule that lay ahead of them. They'd also get their medications for malaria as well as any other injections their doctors deemed necessary for that particular season. Once they'd arrive in Australia, Bob would spend time with each of them, assessing for himself how they were doing and if they were ready for the weeks ahead. It also gave him a chance to see what illnesses had been faced during the previous year as well as establish his own baseline for their health in the event one of them fell ill or were injured.

It was after lunch when Ant knocked on one of the exam rooms inside the clinic. Hearing Bob call him in, he and Dec walked into the room and closed the door behind them. It had been about a year since the group had last been together and there were hugs and time was spent catching up on what was going on with family and mutual friends before Bob was ready to get down to business. While Ant sat in a chair off to the side, thumbing through his phone, answering some emails and texts, Dec hopped up on the exam table and swung his legs back and forth as he watched Bob gather his materials together in order to begin his exam. The medic spent several minutes taking Dec's temperature, blood pressure and pulse before going through a list of questions concerning how the entertainer was currently feeling. Once finished, Ant traded positions with Dec and the process played itself out once more.

Minutes later, Bob sat down at Ant's side on the table and reminded the boys what he expected, in the way he expected them to come directly to him in the event they weren't feeling well as well as pointing out any observations that had been made around the camp as far as illnesses that were showing up among the crew members. After about an hour of being in the clinic, Ant and Dec were already out the door and moving on to the next item of business while Bob was cleaning up after the exams. Suddenly, his radio began blaring from where it lay on a nearby desk. At the particular tone, Bob tilted his head and muttered, "storm warning," before picking up the device and speaking with a national meteorologist that I'm A Celebrity kept in constant contact with during filming. He walked to the outer door of the clinic, opened it and glanced outside and up at the canopy overhead. There was a gentle breeze moving the trees about but the meteorologist was warning of a system off the coast bringing the possibilities of wind gusts that could potentially be damaging. Once he finished with his conversation, Bob headed out the of the clinic and made his way to the producer's trailer to relay the warnings and to activate plans to keep everyone safe since, at that moment, there were a couple hundred people on site. Things could go pear shaped very quickly with the ever changing Australian weather and everyone needed to be ready for anything to happen.