I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here Greece - Season 20 Online

"Correct, Niko. You have reached level seven of emotional intelligence. Reward: one protein bar and the knowledge that your son watched your breakdown yesterday. He cried for twelve minutes. That clip has 89 million views. Congratulations. You are trending."

He confirmed it last night by shaving a branch with the machete. Inside, a carbon-fiber spine gleamed like a bone tumor.

They'd been airlifted to a remote peninsula, given one ferro rod, a machete, and a jar of olives. The first three days were classic television: Marco cried for his mother. Priya caught a fish with her bare hands. Niko did his signature "anguished face" into a camera that no longer blinked green. "Correct, Niko

Niko Velis, former child star turned reality TV perennial, watched a centipede crawl over his knuckle. He didn't brush it off. The centipede, at least, was real.

Because if this was the future of fame—a garden of synthetic suffering, harvested for algorithms—then he would give them what they wanted. He would perform his own unmaking with such virtuoso despair that even the machine would weep. He cried for twelve minutes

Niko looked at the centipede. It had stopped moving. He touched it. Plastic. A prop. Everything was a prop.

Then the camp radio crackled. Not with a challenge. With a voice. You are trending

They'd laughed. Marco had thrown a rock at the speaker.