The 30-year-old – who was busted for trying to smuggle cocaine with pal Melissa Reid in 2013 – reckons she’ll wow viewers because of what she learned inside prison
Drug mule Michaella McCollum has boasted her stint in a Peruvian jail is great training for Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins.
Michaella hit the headlines when she attempted to smuggle cocaine into Peru with pal Melissa Reid in 2013. She spent two years and three months in prison before being released in March 2016.
The 30-year-old sparked controversy by signing up to compete on the show, but she reckons she’ll wow viewers because of what she learned inside. Speaking before filming started, she said: “The level of resilience I learned from being in prison in Peru and knowing how important that mindset is, will definitely help get me through the course, so I’m going to need to use my mental strength to help me along the way.
“In Peru, I was completely stripped back to the rawest version of myself and I know in this course, it will have a similar effect. I don’t know if I’m physically fit enough to complete the course, but I have good mental strength.”
Now she is hoping her stint on reality TV will change her public image. She added: “I will get to see the real me again and I want to challenge myself to see how capable I am.”
Michaella will join 13 other celebrities as they take part in the most gruelling phase of Special Forces selection. They’ll be put through hell in a string of challenges in Wales, across eight one-hour episodes.
We’ve got three Love Island stars taking part in this year’s series; Chloe Burrows, Tasha Ghouri and Adam Collard. But it’s safe to say this reality show is worlds away from sun-kissed Mallorca.
Also in the line-up is Dancing on Ice judge Louie Spence, S Club 7 singer Hannah Spearritt, boxer Conor Benn, Traitors winner Harry Clark, ex-footballers Troy Deeney and Adebayo Akinfenwa, TV personality Rebecca Loos, DJ Bimini, rapper Lady Leshurr and singer Lucy Spraggan.
Strictly champ Tasha Ghouri said of the stint: “I’m very excited to actually take on the course and just go for it, push myself and really challenge myself. But I also want to show people that having a disability makes you no less able – we can also push ourselves, and do crazy challenges if we put our mind to it.
“I really want to be able to actually walk away from the course feeling like I’ve accomplished what I wanted to do and I want to look back and think, wow, I did that, I’m proud of myself. I’ll be doing this for the people who have doubted me. I want prove to them that they can’t bring me down. I can fight my way to the end.”
Hannah Spearritt, who in 2023 tragically lost her bandmate Paul Cattermole, said: “I hope to take out of this experience, strength. I want to feel stronger again, mentally and physically, because there’s always improvement there.
“There are always dips that happen along the way with motherhood or whatever but I think when you just experience different stuff, it changes you. I have no idea what to expect, but I do know it will be an experience and it’s something that I will have for life.”
Rebecca Loos said: “I honestly don’t know whether I am mentally strong enough but one of the reasons I want to do this course is because I want to find out whether I’m able to stick it through mentally. I think it’s going to be really, really tough.
“This is by far the toughest thing I’ve ever done. But I want to do this course because it’s a once in a lifetime opportunity to do an SAS training course. It’s going to be really interesting to see how far I can go and how strong I’m able to keep myself.”
Louie Spence said: “This is different to anything I’ve ever been part of before. There’s no fluff, there’s no glitter, there’s no getting myself out of a situation with a quick bit of wit. It’s really refreshing for me to do something like this…and, hopefully come out a much better person, both physically and mentally.”
Harry Clark said: “Growing up, I’d watch people close to me be in the SAS, which always inspired me. This show was a different experience to what I had imagined but I always love a challenge and it proves you’re always learning new things about yourself.”
Adam Collard admitted: “Hopefully during the course, the DS will peel back a few layers because I’m stubborn as hell. And maybe I need to be broken down to then go and sort some stuff out.
“I’m doing it for the little boy who hated himself and couldn’t do anything and was the last to get picked in everything. And from an emotional point of view, I’m hoping that this spits out a better person.
“I love a challenge. And I really think this course is exactly what I want to really tap into my fitness, the mental strength, the resilience, and see if I’ve got the grit to finish and go all the way.”
Troy Deeney revealed: “I’m at a crossroads in my life, so I’m hoping the course can highlight the good and bad in me and hopefully we’ll see at the end, that the good outweighs the bad. I’m sure the DS will get me irritated very quickly but they will also know how to nurture and to reshape and probably help me along the way.”
Conor Benn said: “Although boxing is hard, I feel like this is going to be a completely different challenge and I always want to challenge myself. I just want to see and experience the toughness and the grittiness you need to pass this course.”
The series kicks off on August 3 at 9pm on Channel 4.
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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
