The Yukon. Well, I have no fun facts here, apart from that it's close to Alaska. It's just snowy tundra from what I can tell. The closest I've been to Canada is New York (so you know I'll be talking about that next episode), and all I know is that I would not try going to the Yukon. I don't like snow or cold weather. It's bad enough to go to London during Christmas where just touching a pole with a finger is enough to get stuck (you can pull away, but I think I remember it happening like that when I was five and the temperature was zero).

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Since it was Chris' turn to host, he didn't tell me where we were going next, but he did say "You can wear your black cardie at our next destination. I'm wearing my furry coat." So I knew it was somewhere cold, but not where.

One thing I did get to do as benefit for staff is that I got to look at the confessional tapes. The ones with non-confessional visits were already wiped, so I just saw the ones from the first three episodes. Some where more interesting than others. I found out that Heather did not like Sierra and was befriending her as strategy. Big deal. She also considered Alejandro a threat and too good to be true. Judging by a confessional from the man himself, he wished he still had Sierra on his side, but then added that no one knew anything about him and he wanted to keep it that way because…well, he considered himself a lot worse than Heather.

This did make me wonder if there was any reason to not flirt with him, but I dismissed it. He might be evil to the contestants, but I wasn't a contestant. He couldn't do a thing to me. And if he didn't encourage me, or declined, I could stop any time. And if I found out anything that really did warn me away from him, I would know to stop. Considering what he'd said in the confessional so far, I was pretty sure he'd say something there.

There wasn't too much else that was interesting. Bridgette had a confessional telling Geoff that no, she wasn't interested in Alejandro, but then slipped up by saying Geoff had dark hair, then quickly corrected herself with "blonde". Sierra proved she was not impressed by Alejandro at all by saying he'd never been on TV before and she didn't see what the other girls saw in him. Yeah, and she thinks she can call them loco when she's a living embodiment of every stalker song ever?

I didn't do it this time, though. I didn't know her well enough, even though we were in First Class together since Team Amazon had won the last challenge. Courtney and Heather were still in a power struggle, but Gwen was staying out of it. "I felt awful when we got in that fight last challenge," she explained to me. "We were just lucky Cody and Sierra did the commercial themselves. I should have gone back to help them, really. But Heather and Courtney just make things so hard sometimes. I've decided to just avoid conflict from now on."

I smiled at her. "Good plan. Maybe you'll be able to surpass your personal best placing this season."

A blush appeared under Gwen's makeup. "I guess. Trent said that just before I left. I know we'll still be together no matter what, but knowing he believes in me does make me want to win a little more. But considering we've had Owen and Lindsay so far, the odds aren't really in my favour."

"We kind of need a dark-haired winner, then," I teased. "Why not you?"

Gwen smiled a little. "You know my natural hair colour is actually red, not dark?"

I gasped. "Seriously? I can't imagine you without the black and teal. Not that I thought the blue was natural, but I can't imagine you not having black hair."

"Only because you've never seen me without my makeup on." Gwen laughed. "But I'm actually naturally pale. I just wear even paler foundation. "

Well, that was interesting trivia. "You know," I said, lowering my voice, "You should ask Sierra if she knows that."

Gwen grimaced. "Maybe not. If she doesn't know, I don't particularly want to enlighten her. She knows more about all of us than what we would have told her already."

We all got a good night's sleep, at least. But in the morning, Cody was the last awake. The thing was, he woke up to find one of his shoes and socks of and Sierra massaging his bare foot.

"Sierra, what are you doing?" he asked with clear discomfort in his voice.

"Everyone loves a foot massage." Sierra replied brightly, looking up at him.

Cody pulled away. "Yeah, normally, but, uh, I don't like having my feet touched."

Sierra, completely obliviously, took his foot back, asking "Did you know that there's a certain pressure point between the tarsal bones that can temporarily paralyze the body?"

Cody, not seeing the punchline, replied "Uh, cool, but you can stop now-" He froze when Sierra pressed her thumb into a certain area.

"Um, Sierra," I said carefully, jumping up to be helpful, "I don't think a spontaneous foot massage is the best way to win Cody's heart. In my experience, guys don't like girls to get too close straight away."

Cody, recovering from the paralysis, shot me a grateful look, but Sierra didn't seem at all discouraged. "Oh, well, sure, at the start," she agreed. "But I'm way past that point. You should read my blog 'I Dream of Cody'. That would explain how I already passed the initial flirting stage, and how I've married him on there. Now I just need to get there in real life, too."

After I heard that, I couldn't help writing off Sierra as a total lost cause. It looked like the only way to keep her away from Cody was going to be by force, and I wasn't exactly in a position to play protector. Not while I was hosting, anyway. This episode, I could do it, but did I really want to?

Eventually, I asked Gwen in a whisper if she'd try to look after Cody. She paused, looking at him uneasily, and then whispered back "I want to. I mean, I consider Cody a friend. But, the thing is, you know he still has a major crush on me. I know he respects Trent and wouldn't hit on me because of that – I mean, he helped set us up – but it's still a little uncomfortable."

"As uncomfortable as getting sexually harassed the way Sierra's doing to him?" I challenged.

Gwen heaved a sigh. "Point taken. I'll try to step in if it gets to the whole taking-shoes-off-and-touching-without-permission point...or equivalent."

If you were wondering where we were going, by the way, we were all dumped into a giant snowdrift. Yeah, me included. At least I was allowed my cardigan.

"Welcome to the Yukon!" Chris announced.

Yep. After flying to the top of Africa and travelling clear across Asia, we ended up back in Canada for the third location. Chris had told me where we were going after this (since I was hosting next), and it wasn't far, but at least it wasn't in the same country we just left.

I was still cold, although not as cold as Chris, who was in a woolly coat and drinking cocoa, yet still had the nerve to complain about not wearing mittens.

"Um, hello? Where are our jackets?" Heather demanded, glaring at us. Understandable – she was still in her sandals, tank halter top and tiny shorts.

"Relax," Chris replied, "I ordered coats for everyone." There were a few cheers. "They won't be ready for weeks, but as soon as they arrive, I'll be sure to hand them out."

Courtney, who was a bit more covered than Heather but still had exposed skin, spoke up, teeth chattering. "Maybe we should huddle for warmth?"

Cody hopefully took a step towards Gwen. She glanced at me, and then allowed him to hang onto her. It didn't help, though, because Sierra immediately pulled him off and hugged him tightly.

I, personally, would have gone for Alejandro, but Izzy, Lindsay and Leshawna all got there first. Noah, on the other hand, tried to hold Bridgette, but she elbowed him away. "I have a boyfriend!" she reminded him.

"You can cuddle me, buddy!" Owen offered.

Me? I pulled at one of Chris' sleeves. "You gonna leave your little cousin to shiver, Chrissy?" I teased.
He scowled at me. "Oh, come on, Toni, I'm letting you wear that cardigan. You don't need a hug too."

The challenge seemed pretty simple. There was a river with a tonne of icebergs. The contestants had to hop across them. First across had to harness themselves to one of three sleds. The second contestant would get on the sled, and the harnessed one would pull ahead, picking up the rest of their teammates at marked meeting points. First full team across the finish line won.

So, I decided straight away that I didn't want to do the river crossing, but I'd walk through the meeting points. So Chris let me come across with him and Chef. Then they left me to walk. Every sled passed me, actually. First was DJ pulling Leshawna in the nicest, coolest of the sleds. Then Courtney, getting whipped by Heather in a flimsier flax but still quite cute and comfy sled. Heather even got a fluffy hat. Lastly was Tyler, pulling a bunch of radioactive boxes with Izzy sitting on one, glowing green.

"Hi, Toni!" Izzy called, waving as she passed me. "Someone stole our radio! Let us know if you find it, huh?"

I had no idea what she was talking about, but I just smiled and waved back.

Because I was so late, I didn't see anyone at first. It was only when I had lost count of the meeting points that I found Bridgette. She was standing there miserably, with her tongue stuck to the pole. When she saw me, she started talking, but I couldn't understand a word.

"Hang on, I saw this on a website once…" I frowned. "Do you have any saliva?"

Bridgette managed to shake her head. "My mouth's dry from cold." I understood enough to guess what she was saying.

I sighed. "Okay, this is going to be kind of disgusting, but it's the only way, since I don't have any water." I licked my finger, then started rubbing it exactly where Bridgette's tongue was connected with the pole. It loosened. I did it as many times as I needed to, until she was totally free.

"Thank you!" Bridgette said with a lot of warmth as she was free and able to speak clearly again. She even gave me a hug. "I haven't seen my team yet, but Leshawna said we should go straight to the finish line, so I better…"
"Walk with me?" I suggested. "We can go faster than I planned. I'm good at running, so I don't think I'll slow you down."

As we ran, I asked the vital question. "How'd you get stuck there anyway?"

Bridgette scowled. "It was Alejandro. You must have noticed he's been flirting with me. I know I shouldn't have been flirting back and when I get home, if Geoff dumps me, I can't blame him. But I don't know why I was doing it – it was like I couldn't stop myself. He made out like he was going to kiss me back there, but he didn't do it. I'm not sure what happened, but one minute he was leaning in, and I was coming, the next, he was on his team's sled and I was stuck there. And the thing is, he'd been so sweet to me before that. He'd even taken off his shirt and put it around me because I was shivering. And I know he must have been cold too. And then, after he left, Chris arrived and made me sing."

"Typical Chrissy, making you sing when you could hardly talk. I remember, he said the worse the singing, the higher the ratings." And I'd heard enough of the first couple of songs to know that Bridgette's voice was one of the better ones. "So do you think Alejandro did it on purpose or not?"

"I'm not sure." Bridgette admitted. "But one thing's for sure – I am not letting him get near me if I'm on this show for longer. After this challenge, I am going to tell him that I have my own boyfriend and I don't want him to come anywhere near me for this show, and if he does, I'll tell everyone that he did it all just to make me lose, even though I'm not sure."

I smiled. "I'll come with you for moral support if you like. And…well, is it okay if I…"

"If you flirt with him?" Bridgette finished. "Go ahead if you want, but I think you should be on your guard. You might get hurt." She looked really concerned. In that moment, I felt like we had finally become friends. We'd always got on, but this was the first time I'd felt that close to her.

"I'll be okay." I reassured her. "I'm not a contestant, so he can't do a thing to me. Except reject me, and then, that's that. No big deal."

You know what was a big deal? The win. Team Amazon had won the last two gigs, but this time, they came in last. Bridgette and I jogged past the finish line just as Team Chris zoomed past us and Team Victory more slowly pulled until they were over the line, followed by less than a sled's length by Team Amazon.

I watched Alejandro carefully to see how he reacted when he saw Bridgette. I know he saw her, but I saw no reaction. Not a flicker. Maybe he really hadn't meant to leave her stuck.

Again, it was an elimination challenge. This time, Team Amazon was cutting someone loose. And I had Izzy and the boys up in First Class with me.

Chris did pull me aside before elimination. "I reviewed the footage," he told me straight, "And I saw what you did for Bridgette. I just thought I should let you know that's not over the line, but it's close. You should really have left her there, but since her team didn't win either way, the producers and I are letting it slide. I'm sure you've guessed what happened, but you are not to tell Bridgette anything more."

I knew he was referring to the fact that I knew Alejandro was not exactly presenting himself in a realistic light. It did make it more likely that he got Bridgette stuck on purpose, but unless he made a confessional about it, I had no reason to make a decision on it.

I said as much. "Chill, Chrissy. I don't know the total truth, and I promised. I won't tell anyone."

Now, for me, I expected Heather to go. Possibly Courtney. Gwen told me they'd both talked to her, but I knew I wasn't allowed to influence the votes.

"Go with your heart." I told her. "Heather was awful in the first season, Courtney was awful in the second. Who's going to damage the team more?"

I didn't mean to influence Gwen, really, but when I said that, her eyes lit up. "That's a thought," she said slowly. "Because Heather always works really hard to keep the team working together, but…"

So I knew she was going to vote for Courtney. It all depended on Cody and Sierra now, and I had a feeling Cody would vote for Sierra. I would have.

So I took a peek into Economy Class as soon as Chris came back through the plane.

Heather was looking triumphant, and Gwen was looking guilty.

It looked like, despite Heather whipping Courtney and her long-standing vendetta with Gwen, she was enough of a team player to stay for this round.

And that's the Yukon! I know a lot of people wanted to keep Bridgette longer, so we'll have a bit more of a study into her, also concerning her guilt over cheating on Geoff. I know I didn't write in much of a reaction from Alejandro, but let's be honest – he's probably annoyed on the inside, but he's able to keep it off his face. He was particularly good at it early on, when the stress of the competition hadn't really been getting to him. As for Courtney going home…well, I can't make her OG storyline have a payoff since Gwen is still dating Trent. Heather would have made more sense, but I wanted to keep her, especially as this was an important season for her and I seem to keep taking her out early in other stories.