TV presenter Laura Whitmore said she was feeling “very exhausted” and bruised as she finished a trek at the edge of the Arctic Circle for Comic Relief.
The former host of Love Island was joined by Alex Scott, Sara Davies and Vicky Pattison, who completed Snow Going Back: Comic Relief vs The Arctic after four days braving freezing temperatures.
The quartet, who are the first all-female Red Nose Day celebrity challenge line-up, started their trek in Tromso, Norway, and used cross-country skis, fat bikes and snowshoes to travel 50km to the finish line.
Whitmore said: “We did it! We finally got to the end…we’re very excited, we’re very exhausted, there’s bruises, there’s aches.
“I feel quite emotional now because I wasn’t sure we’d all finish it, and we did.
“It is the toughest thing I’ve done physically on my body and also mentally but we are doing it for a really brilliant cause.
“I would never put myself in this situation by choice, except if it’s for Comic Relief and I’ve seen first hand the work that they do.
“Projects funded by Comic Relief are helping with everything from just basic survival, to putting food on the table for your family, paying for basic heating and just trying to get on with each day as much as possible.
“Thank you so much to everyone who supported us, we needed those words of encouragement because at times, we’ve been really low.
“I just can’t believe we’ve made it to the end so please keep donating, keep supporting us.”
Dragons’ Den star Davies (39) said she could not feel her extremities when they were doing the trek.
“I remember there was that one night, we trekked for 10km, we couldn’t feel our fingers, we couldn’t feel our toes, we got there and we had four shovels and we had to dig to get in the tent,” she said.
“And I remember we just laid in that tent absolutely freezing, and the reality hit of that’s only a couple of nights for us, but for a lot of people, it’s an everyday thing trying to get warm in their house and I think it just gave us time to reflect on how lucky we are.
“And therefore, how we want to use the platforms we have to raise awareness and raise those funds.”
On their final day, the team’s Norwegian guide had given them news of a weather warning for an impending snow storm.
Braving deep snowfall, the team began the day on cross-country skis before swapping to snowshoes to complete their 50km trek.
A documentary about the challenge will air on BBC One on March 15th.
