We woke up to what is termed a beautiful day in Northern Ireland this morning, even though it was slightly overcast and about 15’C and headed down to the beach for the start of the Bushmills Bushcamp challenges.
It started with the barrel roll and I don’t think any of the contestants could have guessed just how exhausting it would be to roll a barrel around a course on the beach. But South African boys did us proud by coming first in their heat against the USA and two media teams. Unfortunately, we were not given a moments rest as we were in the last heat and so the Jonathan and Sean had to go straight into the final heat. We came third, which considering that Jonathan had to stop to almost bring up his breakfast, was not a bad attempt.
Then it was straight onto the golf challenge, which proved a lot more challenging than people anticipated. Not only that but as soon as South Africa’s heat came up, it started to rain. Not that any of the beach goers flinched. There was still a speck of sunshine through the clouds and therefore a beach day. I was standing in a snow jacket”¦I must have a complete idiot to them, but I felt better knowing that they in fact didn’t look all that clever sitting on the beach in the rain.
Then it was back to the distillery for the whiskey tasting challenge, which was also really tricky. The guys managed to guess one of the whiskeys correctly. But it seemed most of the contestants struggled. Then it was off to the cocktail making challenge. This was where things got really competitive. The contestants were allowed to use 5 ingredients as well as Bushmills whiskey, which of course was a compulsory ingredient. Our boys made a cream-based cocktail that one could easily enjoy after dinner, as the one judge pointed out. It was named: Magical Madiba!
We journalists were then sent back to our rooms at the Bushmills Inn and the contestants were given a short time to come up with a skit/dance/poem or whatever they wanted to convince the judges that they have what it takes to Make it 2 Bushmills.
The winners will be announced tonight. GO BOKKE!
