ANCHORWOMAN ON THE RUN: TV HOST KAY BURLEY’S CHARITY ADVENTURE

Sky presenter KAY BURLEY gives her personal account of the ups and downs of trying to survive two weeks as a fugitive – while evading capture by a tenacious former police officer – in the adrenaline-soaked new series of Celebrity Hunted

Bonnie and Clyde, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, even Ned Kelly – I’ve always had a secret yearning to be a fugitive. It’s a romantic, Hollywood-style notion of running, hiding, staying one step ahead of the law – an underdog who lives on their wits. So when I was given the opportunity to take part in Celebrity Hunted, a charity version of the Bafta-nominated Channel 4 series in which a group of ‘fugitives’ are pursued by a team of crack security and intelligence officers, I was straight out of the traps.

Of course, the reality was totally different. No Bolivian landscapes or high-speed car chases in a 1934 Ford Deluxe. Instead, I found myself hiding in dark corners, sleeping fitfully on a cliff face and taking part in a slow-speed motorway chase in a bread van, while higher-octane escapades included a London Fire Brigade boat trip down the Thames. Oh, and clambering up a rocky peninsula before cantering across a manicured croquet lawn, and hiding under a bed in a luxury hotel to avoid a heat-seeking drone…

But not another word – I don’t want to spoil any of the programme’s adrenaline-fuelled surprises. Safe to say, the whole experience of being hunted was nerve-jangling, terrifying at times, and exhausting. Ultimately, it was also exhilarating, especially when my ‘hunter’ was as ridiculously handsome as former Met robbery squad cop Paul Cashmore. Although when he leapt panther-like from a blacked- out Volvo estate and shouted, ‘Stay where you are!’, I burst into tears before dashing in the opposite direction.

My journey began at a Central London location with the other seven fugitives – including writer and comedian Dom Joly and Olympic gymnast Louis Smith. We’d been woken early, then corralled together and each given £50 in cash plus a credit card with access to a further £50. We knew that if we used the card while on the run, Hunted HQ would be alerted to our exact position and the ground crews would be on us immediately – a calculation we would need to make further into our journey.

As the clock ticked down, we checked our rucksacks and wished each other well, hoping we’d meet again two weeks later at the designated extraction point. I’d packed and re-packed my belongings a dozen times. A tent, sleeping bag, ground sheet, minimal clothing and only essential toiletries. No phones – too easy for the hunters to track – so no Google Maps; instead just a compass and a road map of the UK. With a few

The hunted and the hunter: Kay and Paul Cashmore