Fifteen celebrities from the world of entertainment, sport and journalism have signed up to take part in this year’s unique version of Special Forces selection, in the longest ever series of Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins. Amongst the celebrities taking part this year is actress and comedian, Shazia Mirza.
For those of you who don’t know, Shazia is a comedian who has toured internationally with her stand up shows, most notably, Coconuts (nominated for ‘Best Stand Up Show’ at the Channel 4 Comedy Awards) and With Love from St Tropez.
Shazia is also a writer with published articles in New Statesman and Daily Telegraph and was a columnist at The Guardian from 2008-2010. In 2007, she presented the BBC documentary, I’m a Hairy Woman, is a regular panellist on The Wright Stuff and is the co-host of the podcast, Pale, Male and Stale. To round it all off, she was recognised amongst the BBC’s 100 Women in 2013.
Filmed in New Zealand, Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins, is a first for the award-winning comedian who discusses her experience in full.
Why did you say yes to this show?
Well, initially, I didn’t! They asked me three times and I kept saying no! I had friends who had done it before, like Zoe Lyons, and they told me not to do it, however, they kept asking. When I asked why they said, “Because we saw you on The Island with Bear Grylls and you were amazing. So, we think you’d be great on here.” I had watched SAS before and it was horrific!
What were you hoping to get out of the experience?
I didn’t realise how unfit I was. Before I thought that I was very fit because I swim every day in cold water and I run. What I thought I would get out of appearing on the show is the reassurance that I’m a strong person mentally. Largely because I’ve done these kind of things before, like The Island with Bear Grylls. I survived that for a whole month without any food. I did all the fishing and it was a lot longer than this which is only eight days. I wanted to see how long I’d last.
Did you do any preparation for the course?
Yeah, I did. I ran with a 32 kg weighted vest every day. Then I took the vest with me to New Zealand, and I also ran with the weighted vest on for a week before we started. I was also swimming in cold water, which is what I normally do, and I was going to the gym and doing weights. So I did prepare for it as much as I could. They didn’t give us much notice to say that we were going to be on the show, it was only a few weeks, so I did what I could to prepare for it.
Did you speak to Zoe Lyons who took part previously?
I did, I spoke to her quite a lot. I know her very well from the comedy world anyway, and she said that she got trench foot. She told me to do the weighted vest, and she said it was going to be ‘mind over matter’ at certain points.
What did you think about being in New Zealand?
When they said they were going to New Zealand, I thought, “You know what? I’ve never been to New Zealand”, thinking that I was going to see all the incredible sights. I really thought it was going to be like Lord of the Rings! New Zealand was amazing, the scenery was incredible – it was breath taking – and it was a really amazing environment to be in, but the training was as horrific as I thought it was going to be. It was more Game of Thrones than Lord of the Rings, it was awful! Although I do cold swims, I thought I would be prepared but New Zealand was freezing! On the show every time we did something wrong, they wanted us to go into the ice bath head first. You think you would get used to it after a while, but you don’t because you get dry and you get warm, and then you see them taking you near water or near ice, and you’re like, “oh, not again!”
Did you bond with the other recruits?
Well, it was weird because every time we woke up, somebody was missing. Somebody had gone. We would wake up and ask, “Where’s Rachel? Where’s Pete? Where’s Chris?” Once they take you out, you can’t go in and say goodbye, you know, that’s it. Then once they’ve left, they’ve left. I have to say the girls were fantastic. The way we really stuck together, me, Rachel Johnson, Cherry Healey, Georgia Harrison, and Bianca. Maybe on paper we wouldn’t get on – we’re so different. But us girls really stuck together and supported each other. Ovie was so nice to me and was so supportive, helpful, kind and just so encouraging, which helped me, I think, stay in as long as I did. He was really just a great support and a really nice guy.
Did you learn anything from the DS?
I learned a lot from them. They fought in places like Afghanistan and Bosnia, in these really dangerous situations. I learned a lot from each of them about keeping calm, using your brain, not reacting in the moment and to just think things through. They taught me a lot about resilience and never giving up, no matter how tired you get, no matter how down you feel, you never, ever, ever give up. He taught us a lot about survival, about keeping going and why you’ve got to keep going even when you think you’ve got nothing left to give there’s always a little bit more in the tank.
What was the hardest part of the course?
This for me, was all ‘mind over matter’. Yes, you’ve got to be physically fit to a point, but there comes a point where it doesn’t matter whether you’re physically fit, because it is mind over matter and realising you are stronger than you think. The mind is way stronger than the body. When the body gives up, the mind can keep going and can really propel you forward.
Was it more a mental challenge than a physical one?
I’m good mentally. For me, it was the physical work, I really felt that I was not that fit, I could have done more weights. That’s what Rudy said to me, “You need to do some weights”. And since I came out of there, I’ve been doing weights and been beast-ing the gym SAS style!
Did the course live up to expectations?
It was worse than I expected. It was worse than what I’d seen because they can only show so much on TV. I mean, it was actually horrific. When I think about the women that I was in there with, like Rachel Johnson and people like that, they were fantastic. For a 58 year old woman she outlasted a lot of the young people, and I think from what I saw, women are mentally much stronger than men.
Did you learn anything about yourself during the course?
I learned that, “Do you know what? If I can do this, I can probably do anything”. I say I fear this and I fear that, but if I had to do it, I’d do it. I’m scared of heights. I’m scared of the freezing cold. I’m scared of going really deep under water without an oxygen tank, but I did everything. I never, ever backed out of a task. I failed at tasks, but I never backed out of one. That’s good.
So would you do it again?
No, there’s no need! I know Pete did it twice, but there’s no need to keep doing this. If you do it once, you do it properly, you give it everything, and you learn something from it, and you did the best you could do, then there’s no need for you to do that again.
Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins will be available to stream or watch live on Channel 4 on Sundays and Mondays at 9pm from 22 September.
