Carol Vorderman feared for her life during her torrid underwater trial on I’m A Celebrity... South Africa.
The TV star, 62, thought she was drowning as she struggled to breathe while taking on the Tanks Of Terror alongside pal Fatima Whitbread.
Carol, who left the show last night along with Paul Burrell, revealed: “I was traumatised and my body went into shock afterwards.”
Viewers only saw half of what unfolded on screen... In scenes not aired on ITV, Carol broke down after the trial and sobbed in Fatima’s arms for 10 minutes. Back in camp she even dreamt of drowning that night and has yet to conquer her water fears.
Carol said: “For me, it was even worse than it looked on TV. My two big fears are drowning and being trapped, so it combined the two. But I thought, ‘I can do this, I can switch off from things’. My brain has that capacity to just concentrate on one thing.
“You had to use the breathing holes but I couldn’t see where they were and I was running out of breath. I tried to put my head up and started flailing around, then started gulping. It was so horrible.
“But Fats was saying, ‘Come on, you can do it’, so I had to swim through to the next tank and it seemed like miles. I thought, ‘I have got to try’ but it all started to go to mush in my head. I felt like I might drown.”
Carol managed to get seven stars but didn’t enter the final part of the trial and was seen standing still in the penultimate tank when the challenge ended.
She added: “I could see a snake was in the breathing hole of the last tank and the ranger was trying to put him back in the water, so that got my attention. I had seven stars and I thought I can’t go through there or it is going to affect me for a very, very long time.
“When Fatima and I were walking on the path back to camp, I just started sobbing. You saw a few tears on TV but it was like proper ‘from the belly’ emotion. It was just like this massive trauma, really. So I was quiet for a few days after that.
“I knew that I was safe, as ITV surrounded us with safety officers so nothing can go horribly wrong. But in the moment you’re not thinking about that.
“This was the first time something got to me like this. It made me feel really vulnerable for the first time, you know, like, ‘Is that what it feels like?’
“I’ve got to get over it. I just have to go and take lessons, proper swimming lessons so I can swim underwater. I’ve not swam since then [the trial was shot in September]. It is horrible just talking about it again.”
Pride Of Britain host Carol and former royal butler Paul departed the camp after losing out in the Vile Vineyards survival trial.
And the ex-Countdown star said the fact it involved getting keys out of water brought back her aquatic anxiety, causing her to fail.
However, her stint in the jungle was highly memorable, not least for some of the thought provoking conversations she had in camp.
And Carol says the chat that resonated most with people was the one she had with Myleene Klass and others about control and “the circle of acceptable behaviour”.
She said: “With a normal person, you have a row, you make up, things goes back to normal, on you go. With a controller, they are deliberately pushing you. So unless you end it or do something hugely significant, the circle of acceptable behaviour that you now tolerate is bigger.
“And they know this because they’re driven by this, it is their MO, they know that they can operate within that larger circle now and you will tolerate it. I’ve been a victim of coercive control in the past but the law was different back then. After I discussed it in camp I’ve had loads of heartfelt messages about this. It’s been really interesting.”
Carol said that the series in South Africa was much more challenging than her first experience in the Australian jungle in 2016.
She said: “It was harder and more brutal, it felt different. There was no public vote so they upped the trials and pitted us against each other. I would have liked to get to the final so there was a tiny sense of disappointment but I’m really glad I did it.
"The overall experience, aside from the Tanks of Terror, was absolutely fantastic.”
* I’m A Celebrity... South Africa is on tonight at 9pm on ITV1.
