Truth or Lie? - Month 2 Round Up

Well it has been a tightly fought first month on Truth or Lie, and I really appreciate everyone that has taken the time to read the posts, and to have a guess. And so for the moment of truth, here is the leaderboard.

Please note if you took part, guessed but didn't get any correct, then don't worry, the board resets for the new month so please come back and try for Month 3. It's all meant to be a bit of fun really!

So congratulations to MonkbytheSea on having some fabulous guesses this month.
Please contact me by 22nd June ideally as you have won a paperback of your choice. 

One thing I noticed was that everyone was in complete agreement, in that question 2 from Mandy Baggot was a lie. 

Now onto the bonus prize, Peter Jones has let us have 1 e-copy of The Truth About This Charming Man for someone that took part in his week. I have put the names into a randomiser, and the winner is....
Tanya Phillips - Please let me know your email address so I can pass it over to Peter Jones. 

And finally the moment you have all been waiting for, the lies revealed for Zara Stoneley, Mandy Baggot, Kendra Olson and Peter Jones. 

Week 1 - I had Zara Stoneley as my guest, and she had some realistic sounding lies. So here is the truth! 

Question 3 - If you could be an animal what would you be and why? 

Lie – an otter, it would be amazing to be that graceful in water, they’re also very playful and seem to have so much fun – and have such loving bonds with their families.

Truth – I am really not a fan of water, so spending most of my life in it would be a nightmare! Plus, otters can be pretty nasty! I think a cat, I love their independence and they really are incredible animals – there are lots of funny videos about showing cat-fails, but have you ever seen a slo-mo film of them moving? 

Question 10 - Besides reading, which I am guessing is a given, what other hobbies do you have?

Lie – pottery making. It’s really therapeutic using my hands to make something, and not studying a laptop screen, and there’s the satisfaction of producing something I can give to other people.

Truth – I only tried making pots once or twice and they were rubbish (and it was nothing like Ghost), they’d be the worst present ever. I do though love painting, horse-riding, cooking and walking.

Question 11 - Did you have an invisible friend as a child? If so please tell me about them. 

Lie – I did, but it wasn’t another child, it was a dog. I was animal mad and really thought that a dog would be my best friend and do everything with me. I do wonder if I got the idea from watching Lassie!

Truth – I never had an invisible friend, but I did have a real dog. I pestered my parents relentlessly when I was 4 years old until they agreed to us getting a dog. He was called Timmy, and was my 5th birthday present (and was my best friend!).

Now let's see what Mandy Baggot was lieing about in Week 2! 

Question 2 - Tell me about any really memorable dream or nightmare you have had.

Gosh, this is personal. OK *takes deep breath* I once woke up having spent a night dreaming about Pitbull covered in Ben and Jerry’s. (LIE)

I once woke up having spent the night getting hot and heavy with Joey from New Kids on the Block - and not when I was a hormonal teen - like only five years ago! (TRUE)

Question 5 - If you could be a fruit, what would you be and why?

A kiwi fruit – fuzzy, juicy and exotic – that’s me! (LIE – I’m allergic to the suckers!)

I'm not that into fruit! But if I was a vegetable I would be a potato - mashed potato is my favourite food. (TRUE)

Question 12 - What is your guilty pleasure when it comes to music? 

Obviously, it’s the guy who wrote a song about me… Barry Manilow. When ‘Mandy’ comes on I have to stand up and sing at the top of my voice and let everyone know I own it. (LIE)

I don't consider any of my musical preferences guilty pleasures! Some people might think liking country music is a guilty pleasure! How about knowing all the words to Ice Ice Baby by Vanilla Ice? I think that should do it! All right stop, collaborate and listen... (TRUE)

And onto the reveal for Week 3 - Kendra Olson, how believable was she?

Question 3  - Tell me about any really memorable dream or nightmare you have had. 

LIE: I’ll never forget the nightmare I had shortly before my sixteenth birthday. In it I had just gotten my driving licence and was driving my father’s car for the first time on my own. Suddenly, a car came out of nowhere and rammed into me, causing my car’s engine to catch fire. Then I woke up. I’ll never forget this dream because a week after getting my licence in real life, I narrowly missed being hit when a pick-up truck decided to speed through the red lights at an intersection near our house. I believe the dream was an omen. 

TRUE ANSWER: I once had a dream that my (somewhat overweight) cat metamorphosed into a (very large) person while I shrunk down to the size of a cat. He then proceeded to pick me up. 

Question 4 - What was your most memorable holiday ever? 

LIE: Barbados, 2006. My partner and I stayed in a luxury hotel for four days to celebrate our fifth anniversary. Every morning we went snorkelling along the shore, and one day we saw a hawksbill turtle, who chose to swim beside us for a full hour. Amazing doesn’t even begin to describe it. 

TRUE ANSWER: The driving trips we took every Christmas when I was a kid from California to Colorado, along Interstate 40 and old Route 66—1,200 miles through the desert and into the Rocky Mountains, over three days and just as many states. 

Question 9 - Besides reading, which I am guessing is a given, what other hobbies do you have? 

LIE: When I’m not reading/writing/blogging I enjoy singing in a choir. There’s something wonderfully relaxing about singing as a group.

TRUE ANSWER: Writing (of course!), baking (I make a delicious vegetarian pizza, and an even better blueberry pie), walking/hiking (because I love to explore new places, and you can’t sit down all the time) and spending time with friends and family. 

Finally let's reveal the truth of Week 4 and Peter Jones.

Question 4 - If you could be an animal what would you be and why?

LIE: A velociraptor. Apparently chicks really dig that steely cold, I-might-tear-you-to-shreds-any-moment look. How else do you explain Jason Stratham’s appeal?

TRUTH: A velociraptor! Are you kidding!? I’d much rather become a cat. They’ve totally got the whole meaning of life thing figured out. So make me a cat. A ginger tom if possible. My own cat could show me the ropes and then we’d go find ourselves a nice owner who would pour affection upon us, and feed us tins of tuna. Bliss.

Question 8 - What is your dream job, and have you tried to achieve it?

LIE: I’ve always wanted to be an astronaut.  Apparently though there’s a maximum height restriction. Something to do with the height of the doors on the Space Shuttle. I guess it must be a health and safety thing. Or maybe NASA just can’t risk having their cosmonauts accidentally bashing their heads whilst boarding the shuttle. That kind of idiocy tends to detract from the historic gravitas of a manned space mission. You can see the headlines now: “English Astronaut struggles to get through six foot doorway – will he find Mars?” It’s a shame too, because I’ve got a whole load of ideas for Zero G experiments. Mostly involving my cat. (Apparently you can’t take cats to space either. Who makes these dumb rules?)

TRUTH: Obviously my ‘dream job’ is full time author … and after leaving my banking job six years ago I’m kinda there already. Bit more money wouldn’t go amiss, but the speaking gigs and odd freelance writing job keeps me ticking over.

14) Can you let us in on an embarrassing secret?

LIE: I fainted during the sex education film at school. Three times. True story.

TRUTH: Oh ok, I didn’t faint three times. It was only twice. Once when I was eleven years old (the room was hot and stuffy, and sixty sweaty eleven year old boys can give off quite an odour… we hadn’t even got to any of the “sexy bits”, last thing I remember was hearing about the dangers of greasy food and how it gives you acne, and bang… I was out for the count) and then again when I was sixteen. By this stage they’d updated the film but some twit thought it might be a good idea if there were responsible members of the sixth form dotted around the room whilst the first years were being traumatised by the facts of life – you know, to give moral support. I managed to make it through the greasy food warning, but fainted during the sexy bit.

Thank you everyone that has taken part in month 2 of Truth or Lie? I really appreciate everyone's comments including those that just mention on twitter how hard this is, why not have a go next time, you never know you may win a prize. 

Month 3 will be starting on 8th July with Linda Hill from Linda's Book Bag... so get yourself over to her blog over the next couple of weeks while I'm on holiday and see if you can gain any hints for her interview!