TV surival star had a point to prove
‘I’M NO DAFT MILLENNIAL’ – GRADUATE
A GRADUATE has revealed how she signed up for the toughest show on TV to prove she “wasn’t a daft millennial”.
Sammy Day can currently be seen on television screens fighting for survival as part of Channel 4 show, The Island with Bear Grylls.
Now the 24-year-old from Sunderland has told how she ended up on a desert island in the middle of the Pacific with a group of strangers.
“At first it was to prove that I wasn’t a daft millennial,” said Sammy.
“But I also wanted to see if I was mentally strong enough to get through it.
“A friend I went to the University of Sunderland with had put on social media that they were applying.
“So, on an impulse, I said to myself, ‘well I can do that too’, so I ended up filling in the application.
“Then, as the weeks went by, I started to realise that I wanted to do this to prove something to myself – that I could get by without relying on my mam or my boyfriend.
“By the final stages, I just wanted to prove a point – that I could survive on an island.”
Despite having to learn to hunt for her own food and make her own shelter, Sammy’s biggest battle was overcoming the loneliness she felt.
She said: “I knew it was going to be tough and I was expecting the problems there turned out to be in getting food, carrying water, chopping wood, building shelters etc. But what I wasn’t prepared for was just how lonely it was going to be.
“I know some people might find it hard to believe because I was there with a group of other people, but they weren’t my friends, they weren’t my family.”
Sammy, who went to Castle View School before the University of Sunderland, said the day-to-day work of life on the island did keep her mind busy, most of the time.
She added: “The majority of the day was just taken up with the various tasks but, when I got a second to think, I felt I was just in the middle of nowhere, almost like I’d disappeared off the face of the earth.”
Sammy, who is currently working in recruitment, said: “I did become good friends with Ben who was in the camp with me, and we would spend our time having a bit of a giggle.” So what did Sammy learn from the experience?
“Well, I may not be a gym bunny and I may not look like Lara Croft, but I realised I was quite strong mentally, and that’s what got me through it all.
“I look back now and see what an amazing experience it was but I definitely won’t be heading back to the island anytime soon.”
The Island with Bear Grylls is on Channel 4 every Monday at 9pm.