Restaurant owner The waiting staff noticed he was very quiet at the table. He didn’t seem to want to bring attention to himself, I think. Although a young boy asked for his autograph and he obliged. Not all stars do that when they’re out for dinner.

Martha Marks Would you say he was intoxicated, or in any way agitated, when he left your restaurant?

Owner He was . . . more animated than he had been. But I wouldn’t say he was intoxicated . . . It was a shock to see everything go off the way it did. One moment we were getting their coats, the next we were calling the police.

M. M. Did you see how it started?

Owner Not really. A diner near the windows had made us aware a small group of fans had gathered and was waiting for him outside. But we had no jurisdiction to move them on from the street, and after he had given his autograph to the boy, we assumed he would be happy with it anyway. He and his party paid and left, the door closed and then we heard shouting. I looked out and saw him start throwing punches. It was as fast as that.

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Elderly lady He’s a disgrace. He should be banned from the town. And the sport. All sport! Once a thug, always a thug!

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Chairlift operator I dunno, it’s like he’s got some self-destruct button. Why get announced for this massive deal, and then launch a fist fight? (Taps his head) Ask me, he’s got a screw loose.

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Boarder Put him back in the water and point his board towards Australia. They can have him back. He’s not welcome here.

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Another week passed in quiet lethargy. The extent of Kit’s injuries meant training, or even getting on the snow, wasn’t possible and the Saas-Fee trip had had to be pushed so far back, it was now in doubt if they would even go at all. Clover had a feeling of being under house arrest. Only Matty and Johnny ever went out, to film – each time drawing looks of outright suspicion from Kit and concern from Ari – getting short interviews with people on the street about Kit’s ambassadorship of their town. What they came back with was stunningly negative. The fight, and the resulting wave of sensationalist press, had stuck in the craw of this conservative town. Tourism was its lifeblood. Zell am See was known as the Megève of Austria; it couldn’t and wouldn’t become known for ‘loutish behaviour’ and ‘snow yobs’.