It could happen to anyone: you're on a business trip, get into a car accident and wake up in hospital with no memory of who you are or how you got there.

But don't panic. We've compiled a handy survival guide to help you cope with that very situation!

First, find a mirror. Look in it; it’s helpful to know a bit about yourself. What colour is your hair, are your eyes, etc.

If you’re not sure if you’re looking at yourself, try rolling up your tongue. Only one in four people can do it, so if you can get it right you’ve got a one in four chance of being yourself.

The hospital may have logged your personal possessions when you were admitted. Getting hold of your wallet and cellphone can be tremendously useful in helping you figure out your identity. Your wallet may contain a driver’s license or Makro card with your name on it. If you’re very lucky, it may contain one of those cards where you get a sticker every time you buy a smoothie. This could help jog your memory. Think back. When was the last time you had a smoothie? Where were you, what flavour was it? Who were you with?

If you can’t get hold of your wallet, get hold of someone else’s. Other people’s wallets may contain cash, or credit cards that actually still have some credit on them. Try the doctors’ locker room in the hospital.

Your cellphone can tell you a lot about yourself. If it’s a Blackberry, you’re probably over 40 and work in an office park somewhere. If it’s an Iphone, you can use handy features like geo-location and photo-streaming to take a look back into your past:



If you’ve downloaded Danny K’s Shout Against Crime recently, you’re probably upper-middle class and listen to talk radio. If you’ve got LMFAO’s Party Rock Anthem as your ringtone, you really shouldn’t.

If your personal possessions include a passport, you can use it to figure out which country you’re in. Hotel lobbies are great places for dramatic confrontations, so if you get amnesia while you’re abroad, you’re in luck. Books of matches are a surefire way to identify which hotel you were staying in (handy hint: grab a couple before you get amnesia, even if you don’t smoke).

Once you’ve figured out which hotel is yours, go there immediately. Your wife should be the one person who knows you as well as you know yourself, so track her down as soon as possible. Hopefully she hasn’t check out yet.
If you wife claims not to recognise you, stop. Think. Is this necessarily a bad thing? After all, divorce lawyers can be expensive. If she looks like January Jones, however, it probably is, and you should do everything you can to jog her memory. Try rolling your toungue to prove you’re you.

If all of this fails, hit the streets. In all likelihood, you’ll come across a beautiful, exotic young woman with nothing better to do than help you discover the truth about your identity. Adventures may ensue. Go with it. This is your chance to become a whole new person.

Also, don’t forget to catch Unknown, Sun 17 Jun at 20:05 on M-Net and M-Net HD.