When I signed on to play Got to Get Out, the unhinged new Hulu reality competition filmed in a Toronto mansion, I thought, ‘I’ve interviewed presidents, celebrities, and even a serial killer who dismembered five people. How hard can a reality show possibly be? Just give me the million-dollar prize right now.’

That was before I saw Omarosa. Yes, the OG reality villain was a fellow contestant — and was now standing between me and a huge payday.

She shook my hand with all the dignity of visiting royalty. She pleasantly said she was looking forward to playing the game with me. 

She smiled warmly. She was so disarming that I almost couldn’t hear the sound of her sharpening her knives to backstab me.

Before I arrived on set, I had assumed that the contestants would be average people who were new to television. 

What I got were Kim Zolciak’s platinum wigs, Cynthia Bailey’s cheekbones, NFL running back Rashad Jennings’ muscles, Val Chmerkovskiy’s dance moves…and Spencer Pratt, whose entire wardrobe appeared to consist of T-shirts emblazoned with wife Heidi Montag’s album tracks.

All their knives were out. Maybe winning the million was going to be harder than i thought.

Daily Mail reporter Steve Helling took part in the Hulu series Got to Get Out, where he went to battle with some of the most notorious TV villains in history

But that wasn’t all. There were four former Bachelorettes, including one from the Greek version of the show. 

I met an undefeated MMA fighter, a model straight from the pages of Vogue, a cop who had been on Squid Games, and Stephen Giannopoulos, a tatted-up firefighter who had lasted 55 days on Big Brother Canada.

Even the smattering of ‘normal’ people were accomplished. The private investigator had been a finalist on the survivalist show Outlast. 

The female firefighter was a CrossFit champion. 

There was a game designer who went by the name of ‘Doodles’, an adventure TV producer, and a TikTok influencer who just so happened to be Beyonce’s cousin.

Was I on the show because of a clerical error?

Contestants (clockwise from left) Athena Vas, Omarosa, Kim Zolciak and Rob Roman

Golden Bachelor star Susan Noles points at the prize money on Day 3. The prize pot would increase by $1 per second to a maximum value of $1 million

So the rules of Got to Get out are simple: the 20 of us were locked in a sprawling mansion. 

The prize pot would increase by $1 per second to a maximum value of $1 million. 

Each day, randomly selected contestants would receive an ‘exit strategy’ that would tell us when a window or door would unlock. 

If one of us managed to exit the house and run through the open front gate, they’d get to keep whatever money was in the pot, and it would reset to $0 — effectively stealing the money from everyone else.

But if the other housemates get wind of an escape, they would throw an alarm switch in the watchtower and hit a red button on the first floor, slamming the gate shut. 

The dejected runner would return to the house, tail between their legs, and promise never to steal money again. 

If there was any cash left in the pot at the end of the game, the contestants who failed to escape could split whatever was left.

On the first night, the 20 of us sat around a massive dining table and agreed that we wouldn’t play the producer’s wicked games, and we’d split the money evenly. 

Each of us would walk away with $50,000 — a tidy sum for 10 days work.

Spoiler alert: that’s not what happened.

Over the next 10 days, we schemed and backstabbed and lied — a lot. People tried to steal the money using outrageous schemes that ranged from effective to preposterous. 

There were fights and injuries and showmances, including one that has turned into an actual romance. 

Shane Dougherty, the MMA fighter, is now dating model (and 2020 Miss Earth) Lindsey Coffey.

Omarosa, the former Apprentice star and White House star, devises tactics with fellow contestants during the show 

I (left) plotted with Bachelorettes Clare Crawley (middle) and Demi Burnett (right) 

Rob Roman, Steve Helling and Dancing with the Stars pro Val Chmerkovskiy

The cast of Got To Get Out were all smiles — until the game began

The cast of ‘Got to Get Out’. Eight episodes of the show are airing on Hulu and 

The Squid Game cop Rob Roman initially played the nice guy — and then made alliances with every single member of the house, complete with promises he’d never be able to keep. 

Even the 67-year-old Golden Bachelor contestant Susan Noles showed a devious side, although she often managed to only sabotage herself.

And as for me? I went into the show planning to be a hero. 

It took me one day to switch to the dark side. 

But the real revelations were the marquee names on the series. Spencer Pratt has mellowed since his time on The Hills, but the father of two hasn’t lost his edge. 

He has replaced his acerbic persona with an scathing yet endearing deadpan humor. 

Still, you don’t want to be on his bad side: After I got caught in my first lie, he began calling me ‘Liar Steve,’ a nickname that stuck until even the host, Simu Liu, started using it.

Both Real Housewives, Kim Zolciak and Cynthia Bailey, came to play the game hard. 

And while Kim got into her share of fights, they were almost done with a wink and a nod — as long as you didn’t steal from her personal stash of bottled water.

Real Housewives of Atlanta’s Cynthia Bailey reads a clue to the group

Spencer Pratt guarded the button to prevent other contestants from escaping the mansion

Omarosa has claimed that she has left her villainy behind, and for the most part, she has. 

But everyone knew that if she had the choice, she wouldn’t split the money with them. 

One night she even put a stuffed rat’s head in my bed one night. She called me the ‘house rat’ and when I confronted her about the prank – which terrified me – she said: ‘Well, you shouldn’t be a rat, and then I won’t have to do that’.

She also tried to tricked me so I would end up in the house ‘jail’, and then stood there and mocked me while I served my time. 

I won’t spoil the show, but I can say that the eight episodes currently on Hulu and Disney+ are exciting, dramatic, and surprisingly funny.

So I survived living with these people, and I actually still like them all. 

And if the producers ever call me to do the sequel, Got To Get Back In, I’ll be there. 

But this time, I’m bringing a bigger knife.