Pete Wicks said he is “haunted” after being medically withdrawn from Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins and was “truly gutted” after he knocked himself unconscious and broke his ribs during the show.
The Only Way Is Essex star was seen floating face down in the sea in a scene which aired on Sunday, after jumping from a helicopter in a gruelling challenge. Rescue swimmers raced to help the 33-year-old and flipped him over in the water as concerned recruits were heard saying from the shoreline: “Someone’s struggling.”
After swimming to shore, Pete told a medic: “I winded myself and passed out, all my ribs are quite painful and my head is banging.”
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He later said: “I had no worries about that challenge, which is the weirdest thing. My strongest thing is probably swimming.
“I genuinely thought this would be the challenge for me to show what I f****** got and I got it wrong, I got it very wrong. I think my leg got a little bit caught in the bag and I went straight down onto the bag, knocked myself out and broke my ribs.”
Pete said he felt “dazed and confused” from the shocking accident and was left struggling to move his upper body. He added: “I didn’t really know exactly what was going on and even moving my arms was quite painful, just because the pressure that was on my ribs and everything.”
Following his accident, Pete was medically withdrawn by the Channel 4 show’s chief medical officer because he needed to have a chest x-ray. The show’s chief instructor Rudy Reyes – who took over from Ant Middleton – told the reality star: “The issue is you have some damage and the course is going to get much harder physically, and it’s too risky for your health.”
Wiping his eyes, Pete said: “I didn’t want to come out like this. I don’t f****** quit anything, that’s what it feels like.”
The TOWIE heartthrob was the second recruit to leave the show after Love Island winner Amber Gill quit the failing to complete a physical challenge on the beach. On leaving the course, a “gutted” Pete said: “This is a bit of a thing for me, it’s like I’ve always wanted to do this show and the worst thing for me was to be taken out because that’s something I can’t control.
“But, being completely honest, they’re 100% right because I wouldn’t have been able to carry on with my broken ribs. To have been out so early, I was absolutely gutted because I feel like I failed.
“It’s something that will f****** haunt me because I just don’t fail things. I don’t say I’m going to do something and don’t do it, so I was genuinely hurt, gutted, disappointed and angry at myself.”
Wicks added he has “unfinished business” and would do the show again tomorrow if they gave him the chance. He said: “It is genuinely going to haunt me.
"I think there are so many things that happen on that show that would have benefited me as a person. Everyone who’s been on it said they came out a changed person.
"I think that’s the thing that I’m most sad about – that I didn’t get an opportunity for that too – I really felt like I was beginning, after just a few days, to understand a little bit more about myself and why I am the way I am.”
The episode also saw recruits freefall from a 50ft cliff, with fellow Towie alumni Ferne McCann breaking down in tears after struggling during the challenge.
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