Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
The ‘catfish’ are circling
They “bicker like two old ladies” and admit they could have a “phenomenal set to” while hunkered down...
...And here’s Ellie Goulding wearing Cecilie Bahnsen for the Golden Globe awards.
Although, as she clarifies: “I wasn’t there nor was I nominated.”
Ellie didn’t even attend the ceremony virtually, she merely got dressed up to show “appreciation... for all those shows and films keeping us relatively sane/entertained”.
It’s taken until lockdown No3 for us to start dressing for event television but it’s still got time to catch on. Ballgowns for Sunday’s Bloodlands?
So Loose Women duo Kaye Adams and Nadia Sawalha might end up throwing diva strops worthy of The GC, when they team up to pretend to be Gemma Collins on The Circle.
Kaye, 58, and Nadia, 56, friends for two decades, will live together in a flat for a week while they try to convince other celebrities they are actually TOWIE star Gemma, 40, on the social media game show, which shows how easy it is to “catfish” – make people believe you are someone else online.
The pair chose Gemma because she is “outrageous” and “funny” but they know they might have to throw “massive tantrums” to portray her accurately.
Kaye says: “She takes you on this kind of rollercoaster of frustration, exasperation, and then, ‘Oh, God, actually, she’s quite sweet’, and then she’s funny.”
Kaye insists she had “not a qualm” about living with Nadia for a week, but says: “Who knows? We may have a phenomenal set-to and a fight. I don’t think so, though.”
But Nadia says: “We do bicker. We are a bit like two old ladies sometimes. It’s always all her fault, by the way.”
Geordie Shore star Charlotte Crosby, 30, will pretend to be singer Peter Andre, 48. She thinks he will lead her to victory, as he’s well liked. “He won Dad of the Year about 75 years in a row,” reasons Charlotte.
Celebrity The Circle in aid of Stand Up To Cancer, starts from March 9 on Channel 4.
THE death of a man who died after being restrained by PSNI officers was caused by a “complex” range of factors, experts told an inquest hearing yesterday.
Gerard Mcmahon’s death resulted from a “multiplicity of factors”, with three experts in forensic pathology disagreeing only on the level of emphasis placed on each of the issues outlined.
The cause of the 36-year-old’s death was a cardiac arrest “during physical restraint”, the hearing was told, however, there were many factors which lead to that occurring.
Police officers restrained Mr Mcmahon, from the Short Strand area, after they were called to a disturbance in the Great Victoria Street area of Belfast in September 2016.
He became unresponsive while being detained by officers.
Yesterday’s inquest heard that among the conditions that were contributory factors to Mr Mcmahon’s cardiac arrest were the fact he was suffering from an “Acute Behavioural Disturbance” or ABD, cocaine toxicity, obesity, coronary atheroma (the narrowing of arteries), the use of CS Spray and fractures to a number of his ribs.
How these conditions were affected or exacerbated by Mr Mcmahon’s restraint was a key part of the hearing.
The Coroner will deliver his findings on Friday, the hearing was told.
The doctors giving evidence were Dr James Lynas, Dr Richard Shepherd and Dr Nathaniel Carey.
FINDINGS
Under questioning from counsel for the Coroner Sean Doran, Dr Lynas was asked about his 2017 postmortem “narrative” findings that the use of CS Spray and broken ribs were a factor in Mr Mcmahon’s death.
Dr Lynas explained he had fractures to his ribs that could be explained by the use of resuscitation methods, however, there were also six fractures on the right side which were not so easily explained.
Regarding the use of CS Spray, it is an “irritant” that would have “increased his fear”, Dr Lynas added and this would have lead to “chest tightness”.
The hearing was told the narrowing of Mr Mcmahon’s arteries would “produce a heart vulnerable to arrhythmia” which can lead to cardiac arrest.
Mr Doran asked if the risks of restraint were “heightened” due to obesity, with Dr Lynas answering “yes”.
Dr Lynas said Mr Mcmahon was in a “very dangerous state” due to his cocaine toxicity and ABD. However, he stressed he did “believe restraint played a role in his death”.
When the issue was raised again, Dr Shepherd would not be drawn, saying any suggestion he could have died had he not been restrained was “speculation”.
Dr Carey said there would have been a reduction in the volume of air getting into the lungs if you were in a prone position with your a larger abdomen pressing on the diaphragm.
[I] believe restraint played a role in Mr Mcmahon’s death DR JAMES LYNAS INQUEST HEARING YESTERDAY
Ben Fogle is no stranger to inhospitable environments – he has rowed the Atlantic, climbed Everest and trekked across the Sahara and Antarctica.
But the former Castaway star faced danger of a different kind during a week in the “eerie and wretched” Chernobyl exclusion zone.
After months of negotiations with Ukrainian authorities, he was granted access to the control room of reactor No4, the spot where a series of mistakes led to the world’s worst nuclear accident 35 years ago.
Once under the protective shield that covers the toxic site, the threat of radiation poisoning is still so intense that the 47-year-old was allowed to linger for just five minutes.
Ben said: “We had to be tested... for radiation levels before, after, and multiple times during. You’re advised to burn your clothes afterwards.”
Before making the trip, the presenter spoke seriously with his wife and kids Ludo, 11, and 10-yearold Iona, about the dangers of spending a week in Chernobyl.
He said: “I had to do a course with a radiation expert before committing, so that I could explain to Marina and the children the risks involved. I decided that the benefits of making a film that would entertain people, educate people and maybe give them a little bit of hope outweighed the risks to my own health.
“There are risks there, for sure. But it’s a bit like Everest, as long as you’re sensible and as long as you listen to the experts... you’ll be OK.”
Millions of drama fans are familiar with the tragic events of April 26, 1986 thanks to the stunning Sky Atlantic series of 2019.
They will no doubt be fascinated to see Fogle, who also presents Channel 5 series New Lives in the Wild, step inside the deserted city of Pripyat.
Experts say the vast area around the plant will be uninhabitable for 20,000 years.
But Ben discovers that the 1,600 square miles around the epicentre is doubling up as Europe’s biggest rewilding project, with trees growing through the cracks in the roads and wild animals roaming freely.
He said: “The place is quite harrowing and bleak but I also did genuinely take away some hope because I discovered that this radioactive wasteland is already being re-inhabited. I saw a whole pack of wolves. I saw wild horses walking through Pripyat. No one fully under
EERIE QUIET City of Pripyat stands how all these animals are able to thrive.
“But once humans leave, actually the power of flora and fauna to... regrow is extraordinary. “It’s a big, safe zone. Hunting is very popular in Ukraine and Russia so actually for the wildlife, the exclusion zone has become a sanctuary.” In tomorrow’s documentary, Fogle also speaks to a woman who was one of the 48,000 forced to leave her home at the time and told never to return. But Valentina was so unhappy that she decided to move back, and is one of a handful of people living unofficially inside the zone. She is content there, even though it keeps her apart from her children and grandchildren.
Ben said: “Valentina was amazing. From a mental health perspective she is doing better than many of the people who had to leave.
“The majority of them all died prematurely, not from radiation, but from depression and health issues that probably came out of the trauma of being pushed from their homes, losing their livelihoods, losing... jobs.”
Another highlight of the film is when Fogle meets Aleksey Moskalenkow, a policeman who was on duty outside the power station the night the reactor exploded.
He literally witnessed the explosion and yet somehow, against all the odds, he has survived. Ben says: “It’s a huge mystery. People are affected differently by radiation. All the female officers who were with him that night died within hours and yet, somehow, he survived.”
Just 28 people died in the immediate aftermath of the explosion, but thousands more have since succumbed to illnesses linked to radiation poisoning and mental health issues. The number of victims has always been kept hazy.
Ben said: “Depending on who you speak to, some people say it’s tens of thousands, others say it’s hundreds of thousands. No one really knows.”
In the documentary, he also ventures inside a deserted school and
RUINED After 1986 blast
finds it has trees growing up through the floor.
He has a look around Hospital 126 too, where the victims were treated
“It was just the most extraordinary week,” Ben concludes.
“I’m normally in green jungles or mountains – some of the most beautiful places on Earth. To actually go to one of the most eerie and arguably wretched places, was very much a change of landscape for me.
“But I found it fascinating, moving and surprisingly hopeful.”
■ Ben Fogle: Inside Chernobyl, 9pm, tomorrow, Channel 5.
nicola.methven@mirror.co.uk
No one knows how these animals thrive BEN FOGLE ON FAUNA IN THE CHERNOBYL AREA