Paralympic gold medallist swaps high jump for high temperatures in SAS: Who Dares Wins
Paralympic gold medallist and former Clere School student Jonathan Broom-Edwards stars in the upcoming series of the hit Channel 4 show Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins, which begins this Sunday.
Broom-Edwards, who competes in the T64 and T44 high jump, won gold at the 2019 Dubai World Championships and the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics following an 18 month injury lay-off after rupturing his achilles.
He was made an MBE in the New Year's Honours List and collected his medal from Prince William in June.
Broom-Edwards made the decision to swap the athletics arena for the Jordanian desert in November 2021 to face a series of challenges that replicate the rigorous SAS selection process alongside celebrities including Love Island's Amber Gill, Strictly Come Dancing's AJ Pritchard, sprinter Dwain Chambers, EastEnders star Maisie Smith and Olympic silver medallist Fatima Whitbread.
The gruelling process will be shown on screen in one hour-and-15-minute premiere and then six hour-long episodes across the next seven weeks.
Broom-Edwards discovered he was in contention for the show upon his return from winning gold in Tokyo – but he wasn't certain he was taking part until three weeks before his flight to Jordan.
"About a week after I arrived back in the UK, having won gold in Tokyo, I got an email to invite me to an audition for SAS: Who Dares Wins," he said.
"I didn't have the audition until a week later, I spoke to the producer as well as three others on the panel who had their screens switched off, I didn't even know who was listening to me.
"Then there was a bit of a wait to find out if I'd been selected.
"That was quite daunting really, I think there were only five weeks before I'd need to get on the place to go out to Jordan.
"A week went by, still no word, I'd spoken to a good friend of mine whose also a personal trainer, we thought we might as well pre-empt it and go about it as though I was going to be on the show.
"He put me through a gruelling training regime, I tried to take some of my professionalism and strictness from my athletics career into my training.
When the call came, Broom-Edwards, 34, had no hesitation in accepting.
"I'm a big fan of the show, I have been for many, many years," he said.
"I think it's one of the most unique TV shows there is, what I love about it is how it transforms everyone that goes on it.
"Once you're in it, it's all go, it's all about surviving, I love the fact that it's such a challenge.
"I'm always looking for ways to challenge myself and subjecting myself to discomfort and, actually, pain.
"It's been the most amazing journey."
Broom-Edwards, as a regular viewer of the show, knew that to overcome the trials and tribulations of the process, he'd need to prepare both mentally and physically.
"I think actually it's more mental than it is physical, I'd say it's like 70 to 80 per cent mental," he said.
"We factored that into the work I was doing in the build up.
"Considering I come from a power event in high jump which is about being explosive and then recovering, I then had to learn about endurance, bear in mind I've probably never run more than three miles in my life.
"We did long runs, high intensity training sessions, cold water submersion, open water swimming, long bike rides, sleep deprivation, long hikes while listening to horrible sounds like babies screaming.
"We did it all to challenge my mind, it became about what pain I was able to endure, and what I can go beyond.
"You don't know how to prepare for something that's going to challenge you in every which way, we had to think outside the box."
Despite having an idea of what was to come, Broom-Edwards was like a "kid in a candy shop" on the flight to Western Asia.
"I wanted to challenge myself, that was the whole point, I also wanted it to be an experience," he said.
"Who gets the chance to do something like this, do these challenges and bond with these amazing people, the excitement overcame the apprehension and the nerves."
One thing the high jumper couldn't prepare for was the harsh climate in the Jordanian desert, with sharp variations between hot, arid days and cold, harsh nights.
He said: "I must admit, I was so glad that I was in a hot country and not a freezing cold one, I don't deal with the cold well at all.
"Then again, we had the intense heat and dehydration of the daytime, followed by the immense cold of the night.
"One evening we'd been beasted at about 11 at night, which involved being submerged in a freezing cold pool, I had no dry kit and a soaking wet sleeping bag.
"I don't think I've ever been that cold in all my life, I think I slept for about half an hour, I remember waiting for the sun to come up so I could thaw, it was horrendous."
He shared the hardships with 13 other celebrities, all from different backgrounds, and describes the group as "such a strong unit".
"I think we surprised the instructors that we were so strong together," he said.
"We lifted each other, we bonded together to help each other through the tough times."
Broom-Edwards was born with congenital talipes equinovarus, which impacts his ability to use his feet and causes a muscular imbalance throughout his body, and is determined to help inspire others to overcome challenges, impairments or disabilities.
He said: "I get immense joy from helping others.
"I do hope that my involvement in the show, and what I've pushed myself through with an impairment, encourages people to push beyond their own challenges.
"We all face challenges, there's always something we have to overcome, but I hope that I can show that challenges can lift you up."
Despite the cold, the pain and the stresses and strains, Broom-Edwards describes his time in Jordan as "the best experience of my life".
"I learned that a lot of my limits, my self-perceived limits, were false," he said.
"You don't realise how strong you are until you've got nothing left, then strong is all you've got, you have to find more, and you can.
"It's changed me as an animal, it's changed how I approach training, it's changed how I approach life."
Broom-Edwards now turns his attention to his training for Paris 2024 and he's determined to channel what he's learned from the show to help him to another Paralympic gold medal.
The first episode of the show airs this Sunday, September 4, at 9:00pm on Channel 4.
