IT’S four years since No Time To Die and the script for the next 007 movie hasn’t even been written – but a group of Brits got a licence to live like the world’s most famous spy.
They swam with sharks in the Bahamas, leapt from the GoldenEye dam in Switzerland, shot Skyfall pistols in Mexico, traversed the Spectre cable car in Austria and bet a fortune on the turn of a card in a casino in a bid to win a million pound prize money.
Pals Noddy Fagan and Ricky Essex traverse an Alpine cable from a Bond film[/caption]
Sisters Cat and Maiya Roberts go on a Day of the Dead Bond mission[/caption]
Steven Franklyn and his wife Shelley try to evade lasers[/caption]
The hit reality show 007: Road to a Million, which was rated number one in 27 countries for Amazon Prime Video, has returned with even more daring challenges.
Eight pairs of contestants go toe to toe in this series trying to finish the missions set by actor Brian Cox in the fastest time.
Many of the contestants selected had already faced death and danger in their lives.
Taxi driver Steven Franklyn, from south London, once pulled a driver from a burning car and charity coordinator Sam Waddington, from Bridlington, East Yorkshire, lost a leg in a motorbike accident.
Best mates Noddy Fagan and Ricky Essex, both 42, were ready for whatever Cox as ‘the controller’ threw at them.
Noddy had been stabbed on the streets of south London as a teenager and Ricky survived cancer when he was aged five.
But diving to a shipwreck surrounded by sharks was the scariest moment of Noddy’s life.
Father-of-three Noddy, 42, who used to be a bodyguard, says: “I have got a phobia of open water. I have been in the water with the kids but I always make sure I can see the shoreline.
“When we were on a naval ship in the Bahamas with nothing around us but sea and then to be told you’ll be diving to a shipwreck that was terrifying.
“The sharks were a nice surprise when we got down there. The sharks took my mind off the impending drowning when we were down there.
“It’s the most scared I’ve ever been in my life. You are being put into a real life Bond situation.”
Noddy and Ricky were born hours apart in the same hospital, went to the same nursery, primary school, secondary school and did their first two jobs together.
Defied death
Daredevil Ricky, 42, who had been skydiving for fun, decided you only live once after he survived a neuroblastoma in the stomach when he was little.
The gas industry manager says: “I was only five years old when I got the all clear from cancer, but as you get older and you grow a little bit and you realise what you’ve been through you think you only live once and you better go for it.”
Ricky, who is married but doesn’t have children yet, displays no fear on the show, taking the lead when the pairs have to traverse the cables on the Gaislachkogel gondola, which appears in Spectre.
Like Daniel Craig’s Bond, the contestants have to get out of the car near the summit of a mountain at 10,000ft in the Austrian Alps.
If I had told her I was going to be James Bond, she’d still be laughing now to be fair
Noddy Fagan
He says: “My wife was very supportive. Her reaction was the same as I tell her anything I’m up to – ‘oh my God what are you getting yourself into’
“I like to do high action stuff, I’ve done a bungee jump when we were on holiday. I’m like let’s go rent a quad bike out, she kind of knows what I’m like.”
Noddy’s wife, on the other hand, wondered if they were going to need to use their life insurance.
He laughs: “When I told my wife, she was basically double checking my insurance.
“If I had told her I was going to be James Bond, she’d still be laughing now to be fair.”
Scared to tears
The sisters had to climb out on to the cable car seen in Spectre[/caption]
Maiya and Cat riding to find clues in Thailand[/caption]
For 25-year-old law graduate Maiya Roberts, just the thought of going up in the cable car was scary enough.
She becomes tearful when told she needs to get out of the safety of the cabin.
The West Londoner admits: “For me that was the most terrifying moment. I am absolutely terrified of heights. Even from the moment we got into the gondola, just looking up.
“I hated every second of that element, climbing on top of the gondola.”
I hated every second of climbing on top of the gondola
Maiya Roberts
Maiya only went on the show because her older, daring sister Cat, 27, wanted to do it.
Model Cat, who has worked with Hugo Boss, Asos and H&M, has a licence to drive racing cars, likes skiing and clay pigeon shooting.
All skills which might prove useful on secret missions.
Living the high life as they criss-crossed the globe from one glamorous location to another, getting to do 007 things such as drive an Aston Martin got Cat into the role.
She recalls: “I think I might have said we are like Bond girls now.”
Maiya, who can scuba dive, was pushed well out of her comfort zone to get to that point.
Top secret
The show was filmed over several months last year and all the contestants had to keep their participation top secret.
In the first series no one took home the million pound prize.
The show, which was produced by Barbara Broccoli and her brother Michael G Wilson prior to parting ways with Amazon, will start streaming from August 22.
For both pairs, it was worth doing just to live like Bond for a short while.
The sharks took my mind off the impending drowning when we were down there
Noddy Fagan
From tuxedos, to Martinis to getting in the classic Aston Martin DB5 driven by 007, they got a taste of the movies.
Ricky says: “We love Bond. It’s always been something in my life. I remember going to my nan and grandad’s on a Sunday, having a spot of Sunday dinner and watching a Bond film.
“I had the cars, the DB5 toy when I was a kid.”
Maiya concludes: “Every single second of it feels surreal. It did feel like we were on a Bond mission.”
007: Road to a Million is streaming on Amazon Prime Video now.
Dylan Jackson takes on a Spectre shot with dad Daniel[/caption]
Best mates Ricky Essex and Noddy Fagan lived another day in 007: Road to a Million[/caption]
The Day of the Dead mission in Mexico City[/caption]