THE BIG CHILL
An extremehealth guru puts celebrities to the test in ICE-COLD CONDITIONS…
NEW REALITY Freeze the Fear with Wim Hof
Tuesday, 9pm, BBC1
IT’S NO SURPRISE that health-andfitness guru Wim Hof is known as the Iceman. The 62-year-old Dutchman believes that the secret to a long and healthy life is yoga, meditation – and frequent exposure to freezing-cold temperatures.
Hollywood stars Tom Cruise and Harrison Ford are among his admirers, while Hof has also set a world record for swimming under ice and climbed halfway up Mount Everest in shorts and sandals.
Now, in a new six-part series on BBC1, Hof helps eight celebrities – including presenter Gabby Logan, weatherman Owain Wyn Evans and former footballer
Patrice Evra – push themselves to the limits in freezing conditions.
FEELING THE FREEZE
The series, filmed in the Italian Alps and hosted by Lee Mack and Holly Willoughby, sees the celebs tackle a range of sub-zero challenges designed to test them physically and mentally, while living together in tents on a freezing mountainside.
‘Wim is amazing. He’s also a bona fide lunatic,’ says Mack. ‘Everyone has a kind of on-screen persona but Wim is the real Mccoy. If he shows you the splits on camera, he’ll be showing you them off camera, too. Even the way he dresses [in woolly smocks], that’s how he always dresses.’
Among the ice-cold challenges are abseiling down a mountainside, and jumping into a frozen lake.
‘It was so intense both physically and mentally,’ says Willoughby. ‘What I found interesting was that the grandest challenges didn’t always unfold as the toughest ones. There was one about breathing. The celebrities all stepped into Wim’s tent, thinking, “Oh, this one will be easy,” but for a lot of them it was the most emotional one, which made it the most challenging.’
Having spent time with Hof, and seen his methods up close, both presenters have become believers in the health benefits of his ideas.
‘Wim is doing this show because he wants to change people for the better, not because he wants to be a TV star,’ says Mack. ‘He’s already a massive star through the internet; he doesn’t need TV. For the sake of the show I was the cynical one asking a lot of questions, but I totally believe in everything Wim is doing.’