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A listener note, this episode contains references to suicide and may not be suitable for everyone.

If you or someone you know is struggling with mental health, you can find resources in the episode description.

We're in Bali. It's 2004. It's that perfect green blue water where you can see all the way down to the silky white sand of the ocean floor.

Sprawled on his stomach on a surfboard out past the breakers, Tom is feeling very happy.

We won that lawsuit. It was kind of the beginning of the rest of my life.

He's still a young dude in his 20s, but he's no longer a broke young dude in his 20s.

Not to say that money changes people or anything like that because it wasn't always about money. It was more about something that was ethically morally wrong.

The tabloids pegged the guy's payout at close to 3 million pounds. Then later, changed their guess to something more like 150,000 pounds.

The real amount has never been confirmed, but put it this way. It was certainly worth more than 10 grand in a week on a yacht.

It was a rocky old road, not just the show, but definitely the lawsuit. It was a challenging time, so I thought, right, I'm going to reward myself here and I'm going to go off and have a good old time.

At least for now, Tom has nothing to worry about. The noise of it all, the show, the tabloid coverage, the lawsuit is still vibrating back home in England.

Whenever he's out, Tom gets recognized, but now he feels he's finally made his escape to the middle of the ocean and freaking Bali.

The show at the time had just been sold to Australia, and it was a massive show. Some reason the Aussies just loved it.

Bobbing in the water, looking out at the sparkles of the sea, Tom's just taken a moment, enjoying the sun on his skin.

He hears a faint splashing over his shoulder in burns. There's someone paddling towards him, and as the guy gets closer, he starts to wave.

Tom doesn't recognize him, but he clearly recognizes Tom.

And he was like, oh my god, you're that guy from that show? What are you doing here? Oh my god, that show is huge back home.

Tom hears the guy's Australian accent. His heart sinks. There's no escape, is there?

A lot of Aussie guys who traveled to Bali are really good fun to get drunk within a nightclub, but I did generally think I was just going to get ripped for this show.

But the guy's smile is bright. There's nothing cynical in his look.

Everybody was like, mate, you really did so well on that show. What they did to you guys was awful, but you were such a great guy. Can I buy you a beer?

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