Spin The Bottle at the London Eye

Last night my friend Nikki and I went to the London Eye for the launch of Oasis Mango. Nikki invited me to this a few weeks ago, and I didn't have to think twice before I said yes. It was only 'til 20 minutes before the event that I started to get nervous: as I'm scared of heights and enclosed spaces I suddenly came to the realisation that perhaps not the best event for me...

My nerves soon disappeared with the sight of the extremely handsome, and extremely tall, Rick Edwards who was being photographed with a queue of girls (and some guys). Nikki and I dutifully got into the line and waited for our photo op. Hoping for some champagne for Dutch courage, I was disappointed: tonight the only drinks on the cocktails list was mocktails. Though delicious mocktails at that.

We headed outside to the balcony. With about 100 people there, all competition winners from a Spin The Bottle app on Facebook, it felt wonderfully exclusive and, well, a little VIP. It was an absolutely beautiful evening, clear, warm yet breezy without a sight of the humidity we have been enduring over the past few days. Once outside, we met the cast of Made In Chelsea (Lucy, Proudlock and Stevie); the cast of The Only Way Is Essex (Jasmin, Abbie, Dan and James) and of course the lovely Rick. Nikki has 'history' (no, not like that) with Rick - they met in Centre Parks during respective stag and hen dos, so we had a good natter with him. We also had a chat to Proudlock as he lives near both Nikki and I - find something in common and run with it. Proudlock even gave me a sip of his drink... that means we've basically kissed, right?

At about half past nine we were ushered to the Eye for the big Spin The Bottle. Each pod was decked out with a giant light (including a lighting man complete with orange hard hat). I'd never been on the Eye before, so the idea of jumping onto a moving contraption was pretty terrifying, but, clutching Nikki's hand, I jumped on unscathed! We ended up being on a pod with just one other couple, the lighting man and one of the crew, which was absolutely wonderful as other pods were more crowded. The feeling of moving round is odd, but once you get over it, looking at the views, which really are breath-taking, takes over. London at night is stunning, and last night reminded me how lucky I am to live here. There were two Spin The Bottle games - on a giant screen a bottle was spun, and as the bottle spun past our pods lit up. Wherever the bottle landed the pod remained lit up. We had some near misses, but unfortunately that is what they were - our pod didn't win (the prize was a night out at Mahiki, VIP-style and a hotel stay).


This was such a unique and fun evening where I conquered my fears (we ended up going round on the Eye twice!) and met some really hot celebrities. Aces.

Images: Nikki Williams