Sending an array to Flash from PHP

[TheWaste]

So I'm trying to send an array of values from PHP to Flash, but the problem is any character I could use to separate the values could potentially be in the value itself.

Fine, no problem I thought. I'll just urlencode the variables and allow (for arguments sake) commas to separate the 'encoded' values.

Just after I'd finished laughing about my mighty victory over code adversary as I often do, I attempted to fetch the array from the PHP file and I quickly learned that Flash automatically applies the 'escape' function to the data after it is received. My laughter was replaced by (for theatrical sake) tears!

Well that's great. It seems I need one of the following:
A way to tell Flash to stop automatically 'escaping' the incoming variables, or
A way to send an array of values without using a character that could be used in the variable (which could be anything... fullstops, commas, dashes. Pretty much anything within reason)

Now, before you mention that I should just make a NVP (Name value pair) for each variable in the array, know that there is quite a lot of data already being loaded, and adding (what I consider is) unnecessary extra NVP syntax (which would double the large amount of data I'm sending) could potentially cause trouble, not to mention a general lack of bandwidth.

Should I bite the bullet and NVP my arrays (ugh!), or maybe use an obscure character as the separator... but I would like a practical approach to this solution... like stopping Flash from automatically escaping the input.

Also, if you're having trouble visualising the scenario, here's some example code I whipped up to illustrate the scenario:

<?
$one = "apple";
$two = "pear";
$three = "banana,strawberry";
//Remember, $three should be one array item.

$one = urlencode($one);
$two = urlencode($two);
$three = urlencode($three);

echo "&resultingData=" . $one . "," . $two . "," . $three;
?>

PHP returns:

&resultingData=apple,pear,banana%2Cstrawberry

And the AS:

sender = new LoadVars();
loader = new LoadVars();
sender.sendAndLoad("TESTFILE.php", loader, "GET")
loader.onLoad = function(){
    arrayData = loader.resultingData
    arrayData = arrayData.split(',')
    numOfResults = arrayData.length
    trace ("Fetched array. There were " + numOfResults + " fetched. There should be three.")
    for(i=0;i<arrayData.length;i++){
        trace("Var: " + i + "=" + arrayData[i])
        
    }
}

Flash returns:

Fetched array. There were 4 fetched. There should be three.
Var: 0=apple
Var: 1=pear
Var: 2=banana
Var: 3=strawberry

Edit: Damnit. How did this end up in AS3.0? I could have sworn I chose AS2.0. If a mod could kindly move it to the right spot I would be infinitely grateful. Sorry about the confusion.