PHYSICAL EDUCATION
BEN SHEPHARD, ROCHELLE HUMES AND CHRIS KAMARA ARE PRACTISING THEIR NINJA SKILLS…
Britain’s most physically challenging obstacle course is back to test the nation’s physical endurance! As usual, the whole thing has been souped-up to make it more demanding than ever – but that’s not the only change, as this year’s competition is open to celebrities as well as civilians. Presenters Ben Shephard, Rochelle Humes and Chris ‘Kammy’ Kamara gave us the full lowdown.
What’s the standard like in this year’s competition?
Ben Our competitors are much better prepared than they were, certainly for series one. We’re now on series four, and they know what to expect – or they think they know what to expect! So we have to try to raise the bar, because they’re certainly the best competitors that we’ve ever had.
Will we see more returning contestants this year?
Rochelle The people who’ve competed before feel the most pressure – they feel like they’ve got something to prove. Some of them are getting hung up on the smallest of things. “Dude, you’ve done this already!” But come the second time, they want to be as good as the first. Kammy There’s an added respect from the competitors to the person who’s gone the furthest the year before, so that respect means they’re under pressure. If they make a mistake, that filters through to the rest of the athletes.
And celebrities are also taking part this year…
Rochelle Every year people ask us if we’re going to do a celebrity version, and our view has always been if you want to take part and you’re a celebrity, fine – but there’s no special treatment. You take part with everyone else!
And your husband Marvin gave it a go, didn’t he?
Rochelle We were just saying that next time, Ben or Kammy should walk alongside him, because I was just going,
“What are you doing?! Come on! Don’t do that!” So I don’t think it was very useful.
Ben Marvin had done the Text
Santa version, so he had a little insight, and he understands the make-up of the course more than any of the other celebrities. I thought he was very calm this year compared with the first time because he’d prepared. You can’t turn up and not take it seriously!