WE THOUGHT WE WERE GOING TO DIE
Don’t Rock The Boat sees 12 celebrities take on the ultimate rowing challenge. Fleur East, Adam Thomas, and Denise Lewis talk to GEORGIA HUMPHREYS
FILMING new adventure show Don’t Rock The Boat made I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here! feel like a holiday. That’s the verdict of singer/ songwriter Fleur East. She went into the jungle in 2018, and is also one of 12 famous faces who recently rowed the entire length of Britain – all in the name of television.
“I have never seen so many people break all at once,” recalls the London-born star, 32, describing her experience of making Don’t Rock The Boat. “Every single person that took part in this reached their breaking point.”
Airing across five consecutive nights on ITV, the epic series is presented by Top Gear’s Freddie Flintoff and The Voice’s AJ Odudu.
We will see them help guide the two teams of rowers as they are pushed to their physical and mental limits over the 500 miles from John O’Groats to Lands End. And guess what? There are gruelling challenges on-shore too.
Joining Fleur in the red team is supermodel and broadcaster Jodie Kidd, Olympic, World and European cycling champion Victoria Pendleton CBE, politician and author Tom Watson, and actors Craig Charles and Adam Thomas. The opposing blue team consists of The Chase’s Dark Destroyer Shaun Wallace, Pussycat Doll Kimberly Wyatt, YouTuber Joe Weller, ex-Corrie actress Lucy Fallon, sports presenter and Olympian Denise Lewis OBE and Love Island winner Jack Fincham.
Here, Fleur, Denise and Adam tell us more about the “terrifying” competition.
UNFORGETTABLE EXPERIENCE
ROUGH seas, sleeping on the boat, a bucket for a toilet: it’s fair to say none of the celebrities knew quite what they were getting themselves into when they signed up to Don’t Rock The Boat.
“I like to think I’m quite a tough character,” notes 48-year-old Denise, who was born in West Bromwich and won gold in the heptathlon at the 2000 Sydney Olympics.
“I thought I’d seen it all. And there were moments when I thought, ‘This is not right, we shouldn’t be going through this’.
“But there was just something, about that camaraderie, about that need to keep digging deep that just didn’t let you quit.”
Within the teams, they split up into pairs, taking in turns to row for a couple of hours at a time – including through the night.
“When you’re rowing at 2am, rowing into nothing, into just blackness, your oars in the air... Honestly, there were moments when we thought we were going to die, moments when your dignity was just completely out of the window,” reflects Fleur, who was runner-up in the 11th series of The X Factor, back in 2014.
“Sitting on a bucket, in the middle of the ocean...
“It was humiliating at times and really testing. But honestly, the most rewarding thing ever at the same time.”
UNCOMFORTABLE DIGS
DURING the nights they were rowing, they would stop to sleep for a couple of hours.
But “when we say sleeping, the cabin was literally like the length of your body, and you had to be sleeping in there with your rowing partner, so you got to know each other pretty well, very quickly,” says Fleur, chuckling.
“It was really tough, it was like sleeping in a little coffin,” adds Mancunian Adam, 32, who’s known for roles in Emmerdale and Waterloo Road.
“And because of the sea as well, and the rocking and everything, it was so claustrophobic.”
“You’ve reminded me about the cabin... It took a while for me to go in there,” Denise jumps in. “I do have a little bit of claustrophobia and the smell in there – it wasn’t the best!”
PHYSICAL TOLL
ASKED about the impact the challenge had on their bodies, Fleur exclaims: “Oh my god – blisters! We had bruises, we had muscles that were just so tight, we literally had to just stretch out constantly.”
They were all given a rowing machine before filming to use for training, but Fleur scoffs this was “pointless”.
“It’s completely different to when you’re in the boat. Action, discipline, everything. All that training just went out of the window and we were basically starting from square one.
“But there were moments where it was absolutely incredible, to see the sky at night, all the stars. We saw meteor showers, we saw Saturn, Jupiter, Mars – so bright.
“Honestly you can’t get that anywhere else or doing anything else. Those moments made it worthwhile. It was magical seeing that.”
“You should have been focusing on rowing!” quips competitive Denise, which sets them all off laughing.
ONES TO WATCH
THE big question is, did anyone in their teams surprise them by really stepping up to the challenge?
“Tom Watson, who I thought was completely out of his depth, he was amazing!” enthuses Fleur.
“He had such a good stroke and his tenacity was unreal, he just never gave up.”
“I thought Lucy was going to be a bit light, I have to be honest,” confides Denise.
“I thought she was going to be a bit flaky and I saw that girl just go to places that you just don’t want to go to and survive and keep coming back... that was a big moment for me to witness.”
Being in such a confined environment during filming, and with so many big personalities, you’d predict there’d be some clashes – and Fleur confirms this was true.
“We had to do a lot of mediating, which you’ll see,” she teases.
“But, actually, after we had those little tiffs, we got closer.”
FIERCE RIVALRY
THERE are lots of jokes throughout the chat about how Denise didn’t hide how badly she wanted to be on the winning team.
And Adam confirms that it did get “really competitive at times, which I didn’t see coming.
“I just thought, we’re all going to be friends, we’re all going to get on, but as soon as we were separated into two teams, that’s where the journey really began.”
“You know, the show was sold as a competition,” reasons Denise.
“It wasn’t a pleasure boat thing, it wasn’t a sightseeing expedition, it was a competition and so that literally just sparks the Olympian again.
“It’s about trying to get to the destination as quickly as possible, and yeah, once we had our colours, that was it. Game on!”
Don’t Rock The Boat starts on ITV on Monday at 9pm