What happens on tour should stay on tour

**It was the third night of tour in Salou and so far, so good. No major injuries or hospital visits. No altercations with the police. No missing persons. The biggest challenges we’d had to face was locating that elusive night-time kebab and having to walk up lots of stairs. How quaint. But trouble was looming on the horizon, in a manner we probably should have predicted.**

‘Hey, look at that girl!’ shouted some nice, speedo-clad gentleman, pointing to a girl semi-exposed on the hood of a car, thrusting in the direction of an eagerly receptive crowd. It was slightly less funny when we realised it was one of us. It was downright alarming when we saw the TV camera following her every move from about half a metre away.

I completely understand that the nature of tour itself makes great entertainment, if not great journalism. It’s the trifecta of Daily Mail hatred: students with ‘too much money’, binge drinking and Brits embarrassing themselves abroad. To be honest, lots of the attraction is just sinking in the surreal, fancy-dress smothered atmosphere in the knowledge that no other five days of the year will match it.

{{ quote It would be foolish to take it upon myself to defend or rationalise the actions of people in Salou, but for the majority, it is a safe environment filled with like-minded students looking for a good time. }}

Regardless, there is still something innately wrong and exploitative with swarms of seedy, middle-aged camera men combing the streets of Salou for the most outrageous footage. Imagine yourself on a standard night out with friends, verging on a stage of drunken vulnerability, and then having a microphone shoved in your face and someone asking ‘Are you ashamed of yourself?’

It is taking advantage of people’s limited inhibitions at the crudest level, and for the meaningless cause of ‘gotcha’ journalism. It would be foolish to take it upon myself to defend or rationalise everyone’s actions in Salou, but for the majority, it’s a safe environment filled with like-minded students looking for a good time. Nowhere in that is a desire to be filmed and have a potential employer see you staggering to Burger King in a cape.

The righteous among you will say that there is an easy solution to this – if you’re not comfortable being filmed, you shouldn’t be acting that way in the first place. Nevertheless, I refuse to accept that I need to be camera-ready the whole time I’m on holiday. Or I should at least be paid a TOWIE-esque salary for the privilege of it.