Fatima Whitbread was subbed an instant legend by viewers of Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins as she stormed the first day of the gruelling experience, before sharing painful secrets from her past with the no nonsense instructors.
The hit Channel 4 show, which has been putting famous faces through the ringer for a number of years now, with Olympic legend Fatima on the line-up for the new series, alongside the likes of EastEnders and Strictly star Maisie Smith, TOWIE favourite Pete Wicks and Love Island winner Amber Gill.
At the age of 60, Fatima is the oldest of this year's celeb recruits by some stretch but was the most calm and collected when they were given a baptism of fire to their Who Dares Wins experience when they were locked in a gas chamber before having to find an alternative exit. While many of her younger counterparts were left massively distressed by their ordeal, Fatima somehow managed to keep composure and erven answered that she was 'a soldier in the SAS' when she was asked for her occupation by the instructor.
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Fatima's strength impressed Rudy Eyes, Mark Billingham and Jason Fox and as they hauled her in for an interview, Mark Billingham told her she was 'an inspiration' to him, adding: "You've done f**king well!"
And it was during a candid chat with Nark and Jason that Fatima opened up on her childhood trauma. She told the duo: "I was abandoned as a baby and some would say left to die in a flat in London and a neighbour heard that baby crying for a couple of days and didn't see anyone coming or going so she reported it and the police came along, banged the door down and rescued the baby and it got taken to hospital, where I stayed for six months."
As Mark shuffled in his seat and looked moved by what Fatima was telling him, she added that she spent the first 14 years of her life in a children's home with no visitors before, as she puts it, being "fortunate to find the love of the Whitbread family at 14," after taking up sport and meeting her adopted mum, javelin coach Margaret and spending a week's summer holiday with the family.
Viewers were quick to react to Fatima's secret and her bravery on the show, with one taking to Twitter to write: "what a woman Fatima is. Absolute inspiration," with another writing: "You're a legend Fatima."
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