I was stripped of everything. It’s so raw and real
Actress Jennifer Ellison on finding her strength on brutal reality show
Former Brookside actress Jennifer Ellison found it empowering to stop worrying about how she looked after being stripped of everything she thought mattered to her.
The 39-year-old actress is one of a group of familiar faces who left all home comforts behind to take part in the new series of Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins.
And she found out quickly that any thoughts of her appearance were soon forgotten.
She said: “You care what you look like at first, then you’ve got your head stuffed in sand and you’re weeing and pooing in the desert.
“You get stripped of everything. It takes you back to just you. All the things you thought mattered, your hair, your make-up, your duvet, your pillow, just go. “It’s so raw and real.” But it wasn’t the material things she missed most during the adventure – it was her kids. Yet thoughts of them also made her try even harder to get through the gruelling challenges.
She said: “They’re what spurred me on. When I went in there I was one of the weakest. So every time I wanted to take the armband off, every time I was absolutely terrified, I’d think, ‘They’re going to be watching, I’ve got to do them proud’.”
And she had to do it in blistering heat. For this series, contestants left behind the chilling winds of the Highlands to be put through their paces over a considerably different terrain – a Middle Eastern desert.
Fellow actress Maisie Smith, 21, also liked letting go of the pressure to look her best.
She said: “At the start, I was trying to look in the coffee cups to see if I had spots. And my hair fell out – for a good few showers, clump after clump.
“I think it was just from having it in that tight bun and all the mud and sand stuck in it. But as the days went on, you tend to stop caring at all.”
“I like pushing myself out of my comfort zone and seeing how strong I can be, physically and mentally, and challenging myself.”
Boxing champ Shannon Courtenay, 29, is used to people seeing her physical strength. But she threw her hat in this ring to show them there’s another side to her.
She said: “People only know me in the ring, they don’t know what I’m really like as a person, so I wanted to show the real me, the vulnerable side to me. If any show is going to break you down like that it’s Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins.”
And fellow sporting greats, Olympians Fatima Whitbread and Jade Jones, were there because both felt that they had something to prove.
Javelin Olympic medallist Fatima, 61, was there to represent older women.
She said: “As a young woman I was adventurous, and having lived in a children’s home, I was tough and had a survival instinct. So doing Celebrity SAS is really a knock-on from those days. I’d have liked to have done it as a young Whitbread, but I think I’ve flown the flag for older women!
And Taekwondo champ Jade Jones, 29, had something to prove to herself – that she could do it and regain her confidence after disappointment at the Toyko 2020 Olympics. The world champion arrived in Japan the favourite to take a third consecutive Olympic gold but was beaten in her first bout.
She said: “After losing at the Olympics, I wanted to figure myself out. I wanted to see just how tough I really am because I think I’m a bit of a baby when it comes to anything other than fighting.
“But I had no idea how tough it really is. They make it look easy on TV but when you’re in it, it’s brutal.”
Other celebs taking part are TV personalities Calum Best, 41, Amber Gill, 25, and Ashley Cain, 31; TOWIE’s Pete Wicks, 33, and Ferne McCann, 32, dancers AJ and Curtis Pritchard, 27 and 26, Olympic legends Dwain Chambers, 44 and Jonathan Broom-Edwards, 34.