‘I could never do it again’: Helen Flanagan reflects on doing I’m A Celebrity... South Africa’s ‘hardest’ trial

Helen Flanagan has spoken out about her first I’m A Celebrity… South Africa challenge after the all-star edition debuted on ITV.

The former Coronation Street actress, 32, was chosen to star in the first ever all-star edition, following on from her seventh place finish on the popular reality show in 2012.

The spin-off show was pre-recorded in winter, so Helen got to relive her first scary task from the comfort of her sofa when the first episode aired last night (24 April).

Viewers saw Helen enter the jungle via helicopter, where she was greeted by Olympic javelin thrower Fatima Whitbread and cricketer Phil Tufnell.

After enjoying a drink, the trio were given their first challenge. They had to take on Newton’s Cradle, which involved jumping between four huge red balls which were hanging 2,000 feet above ground, in order to earn a star for their first meal at camp.

Taking to her Instagram Stories before the episode began, Helen spoke about the challenge, without giving too much away to her fans. She said: “Honestly, the trial that I did to get to the jungle was just so horrendous, that actually when I did it, I really felt like I was in some kind of weird dream. It was just awful, and like I could never do it again. It really really was really quite horrible.”

During the challenge, Helen was seen talking to herself for motivation. She said: “Right, calm your mind. Calm your mind. Calm. Right, calm.”

After thanking Fatima and John for their support, she added: “I think I need my own mind chat now.”

The mum-of-three continued to pep herself for the next big jump, saying: “You are so safe. You are calm. You can do this. You can do this. Wait for the wind to tie down and jump.”

Helen made it to the final ball in no time and counted to 30 before making the final leap. However, like her campmates Fatima and John, she also missed the star.

The I’m A Celebrity Instagram account shared a clip of Helen’s first trial to Instagram, and fans believe the Newton’s Cradle task was much harder than what the other two teams had to do.

One ITV viewer commented: “That was such a hard trial compared to what the others had. Well done to Helen I thought she’d bottle it. Well done all 3 of them. 👏”

Another added: “This was by far the hardest challenge!”

Whilst a third I’m A Celeb fan wrote: “So proud of Helen, so glad she tried it. That was the hardest trial out of all of them. ❤️”

Carol Voderman, Jordan Banjo and Amir Khan had to bungee jump, remember a five-digit code which was written on the side of the cliff 50 metres below them, and retrieve their star once they were safely back on the cliff edge.

Whilst Janice Dickinson, Shaun Ryder and Paul Burrell had to stick their hands in pots filled with snakes, frogs and creepy crawlies to each retrieve three keys to unlock their stars.