‘There have been lots of loud personalities in the house,’ Janine comments. ‘How did you cope with that?’

‘Some of them were outright painful, weren’t they?’ Kiel adds his own comment once again and Darcy bristles that he’s trying to coax more drama out of the interview.

Thankfully Ty ignores Kiel’s comment and reads the cue card. ‘I tried to get to know all of them, but some connections form more naturally than others.’

‘The finale is fast approaching. Can you tell us if you’re planning on proposing?’

Darcy knows Ty’s cue card by heart: Anything is possible. They don’t want to give too much away, but still offer a hook.

‘I don’t think so,’ Ty says, his attention on Janine.

Oh God. Darcy waves the cue card around frantically, trying to get Ty’s attention.

‘Oh.’ Janine’s clearly surprised by his answer.

Kiel eagerly jumps on the new comment. ‘What are you saying, Ty? None of these girls are the one?’

Janine laughs a little nervously, knowing repercussions for the show and network are at stake. ‘You’re not going to disappoint The One viewers nationwide, are you, Ty?’

Ty now looks up at Darcy, his expression nervous and apologetic. He looks back to Kiel and Janine. ‘The truth is, my heart still belongs to someone else. Someone not on the show.’

This can’t be happening. Darcy wants to scream cut, but she has no power on this set.

‘Oh, Ty,’ Janine murmurs, now on the edge of her seat.

‘My ex broke off our engagement and I thought this would be the best way for me to move on, but as it turns out, I was wrong. I can’t stop thinking about her.’

Fuck! He wasn’t nervous about being on live TV, he was nervous about revealing the truth. Darcy dumps the cue cards and rushes to the floor manager, panic climbing fast. ‘Can we go to an ad break?’

The floor manager relays Darcy’s request into her headset to the Good Morning director, who is in the control room. But the floor manager shakes her head. ‘There’s still thirty seconds until the ad break.’

‘It’ll ruin our show if he keeps talking!’ But Darcy knows deep down that the damage has already been done.

The floor manager offers a sympathetic shrug; her hands are tied.

Darcy knows she’s supposed to remain a silent spectator, but her career depends on ending this. She can’t have Ty ruin the show. ‘Ty!’ she calls out loudly to him across the set. ‘Don’t do this!’ Her heart is pounding in her chest. ‘Ty!’

The floor manager grabs Darcy by the arm. ‘I’ll have security remove you from the studio if you don’t remain quiet.’