Michaella McCollum reveals she learnt to swim ahead of joining Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins
The Co Tyrone woman is one of 14 recruits taking part in the Channel 4 programme which sees celebrities enter SAS training, where they are not eliminated and are instead culled by the directing staff or able to withdraw themselves, with those who remain at the end declared the winners.
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Daily Mirror
an hour ago
- Daily Mirror
Love Island's Dejon Noel-Williams' brother blasts Meg in now-deleted TikTok rant
Family week has not gone down well for one Love Island couple as Dejon Noel-Williams' brother took to social media to share his negative thoughts on Meg's sibling As the Love Island final gets closer by the day, Dejon Noel-Williams' brother Isiah has taken aim at his sibling's partner Meg and her family in a TikTok video that has since been deleted. In the clip, which recapped the recent meet the family episode, Isiah didn't hold back, saying: "I'm watching last night's episode and my brother has picked the wrong family. Meg's sister reminds me of Miss Trunchbull from Matilda with the way she moves, the way she talks. It's not it. That family, let's be real, it's not about that." He went on to praise the families of other contestants instead, adding: "But Shakira, Toni and Yas' parents, they're amazing. They're sensational, what a trio. I like Cach's family, they're quite chill like him. You can see he's a good role model for his little brother. I like that family." This comes as Channel 4 breaks silence after Gogglebox couple suddenly dumped from show. Isiah's remarks caused a stir online, with many fans accusing him of being unnecessarily cruel. One viewer commented, "There are so many valid things he could have said, and he chose to comment on her looks," while another questioned his support, asking, "Are you even voting for your brother at this point?" The backlash didn't stop there. Isiah also shared his controversial takes on some of the other contestants, stating: "Helena, she loves a young man. She needs to give it a rest, she's a gremlin. But Harry, that man, even after all the stuff he's done, he's a top striker." Meanwhile, Dejon's sister Gene also took to TikTok to respond to criticism following the family visit episode. Some fans suggested her on-screen chat with Dejon seemed too relaxed given some of the issues viewers have had with his behaviour at points during the series, but Gene claimed the reality was very different. She told fans: "Believe me or don't believe me I don't care, I'm gonna say my piece. Me and my brother had a conversation for 30 minutes and they showed 30 seconds... I grilled him, mum grilled him... They didn't show a single second. I just think it's crazy what they actually choose to put in the show." With just a few days left to go before the Love Island final, tensions have been escalating between Dejon and Meg after he showed interest in Yasmin by picking her out as a potential partner during a challenge. Meg was clearly hurt, and was discussing the situation with Connor when Dejon walked by, snarking: "You're gonna stop speaking when I walk past?" Their relationship has grown increasingly strained since returnee Blu told the boys that Meg and Helena had been labelled "mean girls" by the public. Many fans believe this has prompted a shift in Dejon's behaviour towards the girl.
Daily Mirror
2 hours ago
- Daily Mirror
Celebrity SAS star Hannah Spearritt's life including quitting UK and S Club heartbreak
S Club 7 star Hannah Sprearitt is best known for being an original band member of the pop group as well as appearing in sci-fi drama Primeval and BBC soaps Casualty and EastEnders Hannah Sprearitt is one of the 14 recruits called up to take part in the latest series of Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins. The famous faces will abandon their glamorous and luxurious lifestyles to immerse themselves in the punishing Special Forces training environment. This year's course will be physically demanding and psychologically gruelling, all but a few who take part will fail but who will make it to the end and eventually pass? Speaking about her latest challenge, Hannah 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." She added: "However the experience goes, I am going to learn about myself. Maybe I'll find out I am a bit of a mess or I might find out that I'm stronger than I think I am…it's finding out things about yourself that you would never, ever find out. "We live in this world where it's so easy to live in our comfort zone, so this is an opportunity to get outside of that and…for me anyway, growth and expansion is one of the most important things, and that is something that hopefully I can pass on to my kids." Why did Hannah leave S Club 7? In 1998, Hannah auditioned for and became a member of S Club 7. In the five years they were together, the group had four UK number one singles and a UK number one album. They recorded a total of four studio albums, released eleven singles and went on to sell over fourteen million albums worldwide. However, In 2003, a year after band member Paul Cattermole left the group, they announced during a live onstage performance that they were to disband. 11 years alter, all seven band members reunited for a UK arenas tour. In February 2023, the band announced that they would reunite for a 25th anniversary tour later that year but two months later, Hannah's ex Paul died of several heart conditions. In May 2023, the group announced that they had changed their name to S Club and that Hannah would not join them on their coming tour, which they would honour as the Good Times Tour as a tribute to Paul. Hannah said at the time that she was "extremely excited" to get back together with her bandmates but Paul's death "changed everything". 'I hadn't been in the best of health. I've got a compromised immune system and stress makes it worse," she told The Sun. "My body just couldn't cope with everything that was happening. I wasn't myself. I was getting these crippling panic attacks, was suffering from really bad vertigo and was tired all the time." She said it was also "affecting my kids too" as she had no energy, adding that she had to make a decision that was right for her and her family. Hannah also issued an apology to fans as she said she didn't want to let them down. Why did Hannah leave the UK? Hannah recently revealed earlier this year that she'd put her pop star days behind her and has taken up a new career a farmer in Costa Rica. A trip to the region in 2018 is said to have proved transformative and inspired the family to seek out a simpler lifestyle. The Reach hitmaker gave fans an insight into her new life on social media after making the move with her partner, Adam Thomas, and their two daughters, Taya and Tora. Taking to Instagram, she shared a picture of her daughters enjoying a meal in their new surroundings. So far the change appears to be agreeing with her with the former Dancing On Ice contestant writing in the accompanying caption: "Well... we finally made it to paradise. Beautiful country, beautiful people." Hannah previously spoke out about being left homeless with the faily being forced to move into an office. They were given two months to find somewhere else to live when their landlord sold the rented property they were living in but the moving date was brought forward and left the couple with nowhere to go.
Metro
4 hours ago
- Metro
My mum produced a porn film - all I remember is her tears
Arriving home from university to find my strict South Asian mother watching pornography felt like one of those 'I bet you're wondering how I got here' record-scratch moments. Surrounded by a Channel 4 film crew and bright lights, my mother, Jane, was red-faced while watching a threesome and listening to a cacophony of moans. She was doing it for a three-part series called Mums Make Porn in 2019, which followed five mothers producing porn they'd feel comfortable having their adult children watch. They faced explicit videos, sex toys and live-action porn sets. The aim was to tackle the misogyny and exploitation rampant in mainstream porn and challenge its male-dominated narratives. My mother was invited to be a part of the series after the production company approached her on social media. I was astonished that she agreed, but when she asked me if I approved, my curiosity got the better of me and, with some trepidation – Mum had never even seen 50 Shades of Grey, let alone porn – I said yes. Inwardly, I hoped that her participation in the show might lead to more open conversations about sex between us – she was about to be slapped in the face with the cultural gap that I had been navigating for years. Growing up, the only discussions that Mum and I had about sex were her bi-annual missions of barging into my room to proclaim, 'I hope you're still a virgin?' X Factor icon Diana Vickers and Metro's dating expert Alice Giddings dive into your wildest sex, love, and dating dilemmas – every Tuesday. Listen wherever you get your podcasts or watch on YouTube. And be sure to follow and subscribe so you never miss an episode. You can also join the fun on our WhatsApp Group Chat here – share your dilemmas and Diana and Alice may just give you a call. My values towards sex and relationships had developed through exposure to both Western openness and the respect-driven nature of my religious, South Asian upbringing. I had British friends who would have conversations with their mothers about starting contraception, while I faced grave trouble for kissing a boy on my 15th birthday. At school, I was bullied for parroting strict beliefs in sex education class, like not losing my virginity before 21. I never dared make such a proclamation again. One of the scenes Mum and I filmed for the show together involved her asking me whether I knew about threesomes, if I had friends who had tried anal sex, and if I had ever seen a porn movie before. I answered each with a dryly amused 'no'. The truth was, I had friends who had done these things, and this could have been a breakthrough moment for us. However, I could see how deeply my mother was struggling with the experience. Not only was she confronted with hordes of sex toys, but the blasé attitudes of porn directors and, eventually, a live porn set where she witnessed porn actors having sex, which caused one of the other mums to vomit. My mother came home dismayed. She started to have lengthy conversations with me about her inability to align her South Asian morals with what she was seeing. She was doing what I'd spent my whole life doing, navigating the differences in culture. I had learned to deal with it from a young age but I could sense her fear and sadness and that only evoked my compassion. Rather than wishing I could talk more to my mum about sex, I felt deeply sympathetic for her. I couldn't face upsetting her further by bringing the topic up again. Everything came to a head when my mother ultimately decided she couldn't align her values with producing a porn film and tearfully made the decision to drop out of the show. She faced backlash for this online. People mocked her, with many asking why she even bothered to do the show in the first place. When the show was broadcast, I watched scenes of my mother on the set of a live pornography shoot, and they should have been funny; instead, I felt annoyed that viewers wouldn't understand how much of her existing cultural beliefs she had overcome to be there. The image of my mother crying stays with me. In late 2024, my mother celebrated the fifth anniversary of Mums Make Porn at an event. Mum felt happy to see the cast and was warmly greeted, but she had no regrets about leaving the show and her views on porn haven't changed – she still finds it incompatible with her own moral compass. Five years on, my mother and I are stuck in the same dynamic we have always been when it comes to talking about sex and porn. More Trending We have still never really addressed the topic head-on, and I pretend to go to the toilet when there is a sex scene in a movie that we watch together. Ultimately, conversations about sex with parents are uncomfortable in any culture, and they take time and patience, especially when they involve bridging generational and cultural divides. Perhaps the next generation – and any future children I may have – will be better able to retain cultural traditions while exploring more liberal ideas. View More » Until then, I am proud of my mum for standing strong in her morality, and I am touched by her courageous efforts to step out of her cultural comfort zone. Do you have a story you'd like to share? Get in touch by emailing Share your views in the comments below. MORE: I've given up looking for full-time work after being repeatedly ghosted MORE: I turned to ChatGPT to explain why my date went so wrong MORE: I told my husband 'we're over' after carrying the mental load alone
