Backstreet Boys' round-the-world voyage continues apace. AJ, Kevin, Howie, Brian and Nick touched down on their fourth continent in three days and host city Cape Town was certainly ready to welcome them!

The boys jetted back out of Africa five hours later following a press conference in the city's Villa Via Hotel on Granger Bay - but not before they had faced a tricky question from an invited girl guest: 'What would you do if a fan took a bullet for you?' the teenager asked. While Howie promised the guys would 'be very grateful' AJ was more serious. 'We'd make sure she was alright and go to hospital with her,' he assured, before later making it clear that the band would never want their fans to put their lives at risk on the Backstreet Boys' behalf.

It seems the population of Rio, however, wasn't listening as Backstreet hysteria gripped the crowds in the band's next port of call, Rio Di Janeiro, in Brazil. Copacabana Beach swarmed with 45,000 fans, with all eyes trained on one small balcony on the 4th floor of the city's Le Meriden Hotel, everyone hoping for a glimpse of the lads. The fans went crazy as the Backstreet Boys appeared to perform a five-song a cappella set consisting of Shape Of My Heart, Quit Playin' Games, All I Have To Give, Time and I Want It That Way.

Security chiefs feared for Kevin's safety when he clambered up nearby scaffolding and swung 100 feet above the parapet. Fears grew as the band were mobbed on the way back to the airport. 'You would have thought the President was here or Michael Jackson,' said a confused Howie Dorough among the throng ... but even now the Backstreet Boys kept their wits about them. Nick was certainly on the ball when an interviewer threw a cheeky question to the lads at the city's press call. 'Is it true you are not virgins any more?' she asked. 'Well', said Nick, 'this is our first time in Brazil so you'd be correct in saying we're not virgins to Brazil any more!'

(21 November, 2000)