Queens of the desert
Frankie Bridge, Sam Womack and Loise Minchin on their Sport Relief challenge
It wasn’t quite what they signed up for – and it was certainly a good deal warmer than expected. And while not one of them survived unscathed, it’s now become an experience they will not forget.
Particularly when they’re still finding sand in all the wrong places.
Seven brave celebs spent months training for a 100-mile trip across an ice lake in Mongolia for Sport Relief, until coronavirus fears forced a change with a few days’ notice to a 100-mile expedition through Namibia’s desert.
That meant swapping flat terrain and temperatures of minus 35C for the blazing 40C sunshine and the world’s highest sand dunes.
Now ahead of a documentary tonight, three of the volunteers, Frankie Bridge, ex-EastEnder Sam Womack and BBC Breakfast’s Louise
Minchin reveal how the cycling and trekking pushed them to their limits.
“I don’t even like walking on sand to get a cocktail on holiday,” laughs mumof-two Frankie. “So I really wasn’t looking forward to exercising non-stop for four days in the desert.”
Joined by Nick Grimshaw, Rob Rinder, Karim Zeroual and Krishnan Guru-Murthy, the trio had no time to rest after arriving at the Namib Desert.
“We were completely thrown in at the deep end,” recalls Frankie, 31. “On day one we had to cycle up and down sand dunes on fat-bikes [which have wide tyres and no gears]. The most I’ve ever cycled is a spin class.
“Louise does extreme sports. But as soon as she went down the first dune she fell off. I thought if Lou can’t get down it, I don’t stand a chance.”
Frankie wasn’t the only one to struggle. “It was absolutely brutal,” recalls Sam, 47, who has seen her fair share of brutality as Walford’s Ronnie Mitchell. “None of us were prepared for how hard it was going to be. The bikes just sank into the soft sand. Krishnan had a bad fall and cut his leg. I had to get off and walk. By the end of the day we were broken.”
Unfortunately there was no five-star hotel. The challengers spent their time in the desert under canvas.
“You get to know people pretty quickly when you share a tent,” jokes Frankie. “Nick Grimshaw had interviewed me but I wouldn’t say I knew him. Suddenly I was getting into a sleeping bag next to him, praying he didn’t snore.”
“By the second day we were feeling like a dysfunctional family,” adds Lou, 51. “Frankie was camp mum, reminding me to eat and telling me to brush my hair.”
Meanwhile, Sam suffered an upset stomach during day two’s 25-mile desert trek. “Every single one of us cried at some point,” mum-of-two Sam recalls. “My toughest time was on the second day. In addition to heat exhaustion, I picked up a stomach bug.
“I’ve got Nordic heritage so I’m better in the cold. I honestly thought I was going to have to give up.
“As soon as I dragged myself to the top of one dune, all I could see was seven more. There was no shade.
“By the time I got back to camp my ears were throbbing, I had stars in my eyes and my toenail was hanging off. It’s amazing how quickly you bond with someone when you puke over their feet – sorry, Louise!”
After a restless second night under the stars, Sam, Frankie and Louise woke to the news that day three was “Big Dunes Day”. They had to trek 35 miles over 19 even larger dunes in the Namib Naukluft National Park.
Dune number seven is the world’s highest at 1,256ft (383metres) – that’s nearly 2.5 times the height of Blackpool Tower and four times as tall as Big Ben’s clock tower.
“We were on dune 12 when I suddenly felt dizzy and couldn’t focus,” says Lou. “I knew that I couldn’t stop. I just had to push through.”
Frankie was facing her own battles behind them. The challenge is raising money to help Sport Relief support mental health causes as 450 million people around the world experience mental
lth problems and discrimination. m has spoken openly about her own les with anxiety and her dad’s 2009 cide, while mum-of-two Lou ered post-traumatic stress disorder r the difficult birth of her eldest ghter Scarlett, 15. rankie spent time in a psychiatric pital after fame in The Saturdays. The biggest challenge was a mental ,” she says. “It was so much harder n any of us could have imagined. voices in my head kept telling me t I couldn’t do it. But I knew that I to prove the voices wrong. There were so many times in the tering heat when I was staggering a sand dune thinking I wanted to up. But I wanted to show people t mental health shouldn’t stop you m doing the things you want to do.” ay four entailed a 13-mile cycle to finish line – on the ominously med Skeleton Coast. All seven team-mates waited to cross the line together. “I quite enjoyed the final day,” admits Frankie. “Don’t get me wrong, it was insanely tough but we all knew the end was in sight. Quite literally we could see the sea.”
She adds: “It was by far the most physically demanding experience of my life and an unforgettable one. I surprised myself. The next time I am really struggling I’ll think about my toughest point in the desert and remind myself that no matter how hard it got I did it,
I got through.”
“I was utterly broken,” Lou adds. “It’ll take me a long time to recover. I just hope the public support what we’ve done.”
■ Sport Relief: The Heat is On airs on BBC 1 tonight at 8pm. Donate at www. sportrelief.com