Take5

YOUR STARS FOR 2026!

Ts & Cs apply.

Welcome to Take5 home of WINNING!

Ican’t really say I’ve inherited any particular special skills from my parents. Not in the way Kate Hudson can sing and act like her mum, Goldie Hawn, or Robert Irwin can be in close quarters with a croc and other dangerous wildlife like his dad,...

MY SON’S KILLER STOLE HIS IDENTIT Y AND CALLED ME ‘MUM’

I

loved reading Joyce’s story on page 8 in this issue. She lived to 101 – what a great innings! But it got the team talking in the office. Have times changed when it comes to dating? Obviously it has with all the online dating but do women react...

DAUGHTER’S EVIL EX TORCHED OUR HOUSE ON BOXING DAY

MY BOY WAS MURDERED AS I COOKED A CHRISTMAS ROAST

BORN IN ANTARCTICA and it’s still home!

SHOVED EVIL EX OUT THE WINDOW TO SAVE MY LIFE

DOCTOR ABDUCTED AND KILLED MY SISTER

DOCTOR ABDUCTED ANDKILLED MY SISTER

DON’T STOP ME NOW

Sitting in a camping chair outside my motorhome, I scrolled through Facebook on my phone. “Look at this,” I said to my brother, Paul. “Blaze Aid do such amazing things, but because of COVID they can’t help those poor people affected by the fires.”...

In what year did Nikita move to Tamworth?

You’ll find the answer to the question somewhere in this week’s Take 5. When you’ve got the answer, write it on the coupon on page 49.

Welcome to Take5 home of WINNING!

Being a kid in hospital can be scary. I remember getting my tonsils out and later having feet surgery, before age 10. My parents tried to be with me as much as possible, while juggling work and caring for my sisters. But driving to and from the busy...

MY TUMMY COULD EXPLODE AT ANY MOMENT!

WIN! RENT MORTGAGE OR PAID FOR A YEAR!

Ts & Cs apply. See page 15 for all the details.

CON MAN EX BUTCHERED MY SISTER TO HIDE HIS SECRETS

BREAKING BARRIERS

The man looked at my colouring-in and smiled. “Michelle is the winner,” he announced. “Yes!” I cried out. It was 1979 and I was seven, living on the air base in Penang, Malaysia, where my dad worked as an engineer for the RAAF. e prize for the...

SAVE 23%

Ahot topic among the team this week has been ‘fight or flight’ – would we run towards danger or away from it? I’d always wondered what I’d do if someone tried to climb over my lower level apartment balcony and one night, while I was lazing on the...

MY BABY ’ S GHOST HELPED JAIL MY EVIL FAMILY

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I’m sure we’ve all been there – that moment when you wake up at 3am and all the worries of the world hit you. I’m certainly guilty of it, but my mum takes the cake. She’s always telling me she was up in the night worrying about my dad, my sisters or...

FIND POLLY PUZZLER & WIN $50

The older I get, the more I realise age really is just a number. Several of my closest friends are almost a decade older than me and we get along great, until they start singing Meatloaf songs I’ve barely heard! My parents, have a nine-year age gap....

THE FOOTPATH IS MY RUNWAY!

Michelle Trebilco, 67, Dandenong Ranges, Vic. Manning the counter at my local op shop, I got chatting to Melissa, another volunteer. She was raving about a Facebook group for secondhand fashion lovers and eagerly showed me pictures on her...

Welcome to Take 5 home of WINNING!

Ihave a reputation for asking friends what they’re having for dinner. Both to awaken my taste buds and for inspiration but usually I go home and whip up the same chicken and veg stir fry I had last week. That doesn’t mean I don’t wish to get more...

My boss sent me a NEW KIDNEY

KILLER POSTED PICS OF MY GIRL’S MURDER ONLINE

PRIZE PARADISE!

4 It’s Take 5’s most coveted prize – a brand-new Toyota Yaris Cross, worth up to $32,927! To be in the running for this fantastic car, complete the puzzle, write the answer on the coupon on page 49 and send it in for your chance to win. How to...

Maisie’s smile MADE HER A STAR

MURDERED MY MAN TO FULFIL SICK FANTASY

I pay my rent with old receipts

WIN!

Ts & Cs apply. See page 6 for all the details.

FIND POLLY PUZZLER & WIN $50

Find Polly Puzzler hidden among the pages of Take 5. Write the page number on the coupon on page 49.

Wicked neighbour killed Dad over 40 BUCKS

BONUS PUZZLES, CASH PRIZES GALORE!

The words below are all flowers. They can read backwards or forwards, vertically, horizontally or diagonally. One word in the list is not in the grid. This is the winning word. Write this on the...

HOUSEMATE KILLED MY BABY FOR CRYING

50-YEAR-OLD NOTE JAILED MY ABUSER

A grape killed my son

THE SEARCH FOR LOVE

Butterflies fluttered around my stomach as I applied a coat of lippie, before standing back and checking my reflection in the mirror. Not bad, I thought. It was 2018, and I was throwing myself back into the dating game after recently divorcing my...

Editor

Moving to Australia from the UK, you think there are going to be killer animals everywhere! "Ooh, I couldn’t live there,” family and friends said, as I hugged them goodbye, “don’t you have to check under the toilet seat and in your shoes for snakes?” I...

Dad escaped jail and took me ON THE RUN!

$25,000

YOU CHOOSE Ts & Cs apply. See p68

Grandma is my MUM AND BESTIE

NO SUCH THING AS CAN'T

My mum, Pam, and I had been called to the principal’s office. Aged 12, I was in Year 8, and had only been at the high school for a couple of months. Am I in trouble? I worried. In the room, there was also a representative from the Department of...

GERONIMO GRAN

Shielding my eyes against the bright sun, I watched skydivers landing on Kirra Beach, Qld, and whooping for joy. Oh, what a thrill that must be! I thought, grinning. I was 79, and seeing them with their parachutes reminded me of being in the Women’s...

I’m spreading joy with my PAINTED NUTS!

LAST CHANCE TROLLEY DASH

$46,000 CASH PRIZE $41000 , MAZDA + FUEL! $15,000 CROSSWORD $32,927 TOYOTA

WIN! FREE STATIONERY FOR A YEAR!

This is embarrassing, but my friend got me kicked out of choir when we were at school, because I was so tone-deaf it was distracting for her! Plus, my vocal talent – or lack of it – was a running joke in my family. But singing makes you happy, doesn’t...

WIN!

Subscribe to Take 5 for your chance to go into the draw to win this stunning jewellery. Ts & Cs apply. See page 56.

NEW PRIZES!

Some stories are just so unique and beautiful, they make us love our jobs even more. The story that’s had that effect on us this week is Jonny’s over the page. I won’t ruin it by giving anything away, but he’s the global postie on our cover, and...

OUR GIRL WAS KIDNAPPED FROM A SLEEPOVER

My bestie branded me a PAEDO for falling for her boy

Finally a man at 62... & MY WIFE STUCK BY ME

fighting for our FAMILY

As my partner, Joseph, 28, and I walked to the gym, I excitedly opened a new email on my phone. Congratulations, it read. “We’re having a baby!” I cried out, hugging Joseph tight. Joseph and I had always talked about how much we wanted to have...

Kissed by a stranger then I crossed the world to find him

then I crossed the world to find him Kissed by a stranger

BLAST FROM THE PAST

Stepping out of the church in my beautiful wedding dress, I smiled at the crowd. “Congratulations,” cheered my friends, as they threw confetti over me and my handsome new husband, Bill. “Stand over there,” instructed the wedding photographer. Bill and...

BEST MATE KILLED MY MUM THEN FRAMED ME!

MY EX KILLED OUR GIRL ON XMAS DAY

Rachel Editor

Abit of housekeeping for our first Christmas issue! Take note of the Christmas on sale dates on the page opposite, as there’s a change this year due to Thursday falling on Boxing Day. It means issue 1 will be in the shops on Monday Dec 30 instead. This...

win a stocking stuffed with cash!

MAKE AHEAD & FREEZE DESSERTS

PLUS! NO COOK CHRISTMAS

WHEN THE HONEYMOON PHASE IS OVER

I MARRY COUPLES IN MY BUDGY SMUGGLERS!

WIN A CAR!

Have you ever dreamed of having dinner with Dolly Parton? Well, now you can… Kind of! She and her sister Rachel have released a cookbook, sharing beloved recipes that anyone can cook, as well as fun family stories. With more than 80 delicious dishes in...

HE KILLED MY GIRL THEN BLAMED THE PUPPY

Forever YOUNG

Our inner child is the part of us that has been picking up messages long before we could fully process what was going on, emotionally and mentally. ey are a part of our subconscious, which holds our memories, our emotions, our beliefs about the past,...

STABBED 8 TIMES... I PLAYED DEAD TO SURVIVE

MY HUBBY WAS HUNTED & KILLED BY MY NEPHEW