AJ fails to forget the tough times!
DREAM AFTER NIGHTMARES
SHE may be living the dream hosting Celebrity Big Brother – but AJ Odudu hasn’t forgotten her TV nightmares.
In 2019, she was pushed to the limit on Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Win when, after carrying 45kg of equipment up a steep hill, she collapsed.
The star recalled: “There’s a whole team of people who are like, ‘Just stop, you’re allowed to stop,’ and I’m like, ‘No, I’m fine!’ I’ve got a really high pain threshold. I can endure some things then I go, ‘Actually, maybe, I wasn’t fine, gosh, that was touch and go.’”
Two years later, on Strictly Come Dancing, AJ was forced to pull out of the final when she tore a ligament in her ankle – a turn of events that still stings.
She explained: “It was so distressing. I had this acute pain that literally made me projectile-vomit on the spot – that’s how sharp the pain was.
“I was having fluid drained out of my foot, I was having ultrasounds, then I’m in a moon boot speaking to the team at Strictly saying, ‘Do you think we could do an iconic dance where I am in a moon boot?’”
Fortunately, these days all AJ has to worry about is the nail-nibbling tension of live television – if she had any nails left to nibble, that is. Speaking on Elizabeth Day’s How To Fail podcast, she said: “I even saw a therapist about it one time. I was like, ‘Am I stressed out? Is this an anxious trait?
“I’ve tried acrylic and gel nails because they’re really hard and tough to get through, but I will gnaw them down – I’ve even tried putting plasters on the ends of my fingers!”
Celebrity Big Brother continues tonight at 9pm on ITV1 and ITVX.