The women on The Island with Bear Grylls faced some pretty grim medical ailments this week – and some were so extreme – including 55-year-old Julie collapsing from dehydration – viewers thought they might die.

Four weeks in, problems for the 10 remaining women escalated when they threw away one of two jerry cans used for boiling essential drinking water. They binned it because it was a bit yucky after they’d used it to store leftover meat from last week’s pig – which inevitably rotted.

So what illnesses struck the island? Well…

1. Parasites from the pig carcass

The first medical problem the women faced was pretty minor but still very unpleasant – ticks from the leftover pig.

One of the best quotes came from Chavala: “Turns out I’ve had a tick right on my bum! It’s made a right mess… it didn’t half hurt.”

Viewers felt for the women too.

2. Food poisoning

The next step into what Bear called “dangerous medical territory” was food poisoning after storing the pig meat underground – in the jerry can – failed.

There was a bit of diarrhoea and vomiting when the women (except veggie Jaime) tucked into the “rancid” pork that apparently smelt like vomit.

3. Dehydration

Viewers realised the ladies’ mistake of throwing away the jerry can way before the women did.

As Bear pointed out, they instantly halved their drinking water supply.

Thus, the phrase ‘jerry can’ came up a lot.

And viewers realised the moral of the story way before the end.

Viewers were really worried.

4. Near death

Some viewers lost faith in the girls.

Some thought they might die.

Or even resort to cannibalism.

5. Killing each other

Aside from cannibalism, when Jaime told the group: “I can help with jobs that benefit me, and that means anything to do with water. Things that don’t benefit me? No, I don’t care,” – well, let’s just say if looks could kill…

Jaime The Island
Jaime and her bottle of water (The Island/Channel 4)

And it wasn’t just the other women who were channelling negativity towards her.

Thankfully by the end she listened to these wise words from Bear.

6. Chronic dehydration

Things got serious – and it all stemmed from the jerry can – when the women got chronically dehydrated from averaging one litre instead of the up to four litres needed to survive.

Bear warned us their internal organs could shut down in a few days – and death looked even more likely.

Some viewers found that funny though.

Dr Belinda tested the women’s urine and their weight.

But, more importantly…

7. Julie collapses

The most dramatic moment was when Julie collapsed from dehydration on the rocks and was left gasping.

The Island
(The Island/Channel 4)

But the illusion of survival was somewhat ruined when her island pal shouted: “Get B and get on the blower”. It didn’t go unnoticed.

Some viewers weren’t that concerned though.

8. Extremely extreme chronic dehydration

If we hadn’t realised by this point – it was the lack of that jerry can which had put the women at risk and meant they were really really really dehydrated.

The medical experts offered their advice and were tempted to pull all the women from the island.

But, there was a solution. Viewers had screamed it at the screen for the whole episode – use the jerry can they had discarded earlier. The women had a choice – use that rancid jerry can or face a “lifetime of dialysis”.

The answer: Use the other jerry can

And then everything was pretty much fine. They found the jerry can, cleaned it, got more water, rehydrated.

New favourite Julie, now revitalised, even scored a fish from a fisherman – who happened to be passing by the island.

And they all lived happily ever. Oh no wait, there are still two weeks on the island to go.