Faith, hope... and snoring
Celebrities set off on spiritual journey as hit series returns
They are embarking on an epic quest of faith but all pilgrims must endure hardship on the path to spiritual enlightenment – and these celebrities truly suffer in the name of religion.
First of all, Adrian Chiles’ thunderous snoring keeps everyone awake at night, then former MP Edwina Currie is accused of ‘scrumping fruit from Serbian peasants’.
That’s not all, though. Prankster Dom Joly dares blind presenter Amar Latif to bungee jump off the towering ramparts of a historic monastery and city-loving broadcaster Mim Shaikh displays his irrational fear of ‘sticks on the floor’ while trekking through a wood.
The third series of this hit show sees seven household names – also including Father Ted actress Pauline McLynn and former Olympian Fatima Whitbread – travelling from Belgrade across the Balkans to the Süleymaniye Mosque in Istanbul.
In two weeks they’ll travel along the Sultan’s Trail, an ancient military route once used by the armies of the Ottoman Empire to invade Europe.
Now, however, it’s a modern path of peace which promotes tolerance among all religions. As ever, the celebrities are a mixture of true believers, atheists and those who fall somewhere in between.
They’ll visit places of worship, experience different cultures and ponder their own faith. Amar, who was raised a Muslim, said: “I lost my sight as a teenager and it made me question God. I hope this pilgrimage will bring clarity to how religion can fit into my life.”
When the group visit the Crveni Krst concentration camp in Niš, Serbia, they’re appalled to learn that more than 10,000 people were killed by the Nazis there during the Second World War.
Edwina, a lapsed Jew, said: “It’s a place of brutality and destruction.
“It’s a challenge to faith because, if God exists, how could he let this happen?”