It's a bit of a nightmare scenario. It's been so long since I was young free and single that it's hard to go there mentally.
I did occasionally think about how I would have felt if Paul had been my son, but quoshed those thoughts quickly. To many Oedipus connotations, he's too cute!
However had he been my son, Amma Josh, Elizabeth and possibly Brian would have not escaped the finale party without wishing they could crawl into a small hole.
Not wishing to be too immodest, (as if!) I can say that I am capable of reducing grown men to a quivering wreck when I unleash my (verbal) onslaughts upon them. I never shout or lose control and fear not dear friends, I have only ever done this in defence of my sons, but it has been very effective!
Back to the question. No, I wouldn't have sold a story. I thought the two previous boyfriends of Helen were awful, and obviously were of an entirely different moral character and calibre to Paul.
Mind you I did think that Big G was remarkably circumspect in given the awful situation he found himself in. I am sure the tabloids pursued him relentlessly, and I think that he was probably forced into giving Helen the 'Big E' after the meal because of this. It's just as well he did though given subsequent events.
To be fair to Paul, he did keep thinking about poor old Big G. Even after he threw in the towel and submitted to Helen's advances,
he kept saying to Helen 'When we get out of here, you are going to tell me something about your relationship with Big G which is going to make me feel better aren't you?'
The closest parallel to your question is an interview I saw somewhere with Melanie, Paul's ex, which was really nice.
She said he would have tried not to hurt anyone, and that it was not his style to sleep with Helen in the house. I think I read that in a local Reading rag online, and it probably wasn't done for money.
It would be interesting to know what Elizabeth's friends thought indeed.
Oh, how I laughed when in the final week Dean asked who her best friend at school was (for the getting to know you task) and she said she didn't have one.
Quelle surprise!