Phil Tufnell: I threw up first time I went to the top of The Jump
The former cricketer admits taking part in this reality show may not have been the best idea given he’s deathly scared of heights
Former cricketer Phil Tufnell is one of the many celebrities signed up to fling themselves off of a mountain for Channel 4’s reality show The Jump, but admits he had a little trouble the first time he took a peek from the top.
“First time I went up the jump, I threw up,” Tufnell tells RadioTimes.com just hours after finishing yet more training on the slopes, with the show calling on the celebrities to try everything from bobsleigh to ski cross.
“I went to the top, they showed me and I went blurgh…”
In fact, Tuffers is deathly scared of heights, admitting “I had a tear in my eye when I had to do it the first time.”
It might not have been the best choice of show to take part in, I suggest? “Yeah, got that one wrong,” he laughs.
But Tufnell is adamant he’ll at least attempt a live jump when the time comes, with some contestants, including Amy Childs, refusing to do it last year. “The little one, the baby one, I might do. It’s daunting.”
The contestants actually only face the jump if they’ve come last in that day’s timed event, so it could be a few days until he’s faced with the challenge. And it seems Tufnell’s lycra outfit might give him the jolt of inspiration he needs to leap.
“You get a sort of Superman suit. I was like ‘Waayyy, come on!’” he explains, admitting that the show is bringing back his former sporting competitiveness. “I quite like the competition. But I can’t jump well.”
Buddying up with fellow competitor Gogglebox’s Dom Parker, Tuffers thinks they may well have come up with a better idea anyway.
“Me and Dom are thinking of doing ‘Indoor Games’. Like darts and pool and sitting by the fire…”
Now that one we’d sign up to!
