ITV Loose Women: Dame Kelly Holmes shares near-death experience during her time on Bear Grylls TV show

Although she may appear fearless, Dame Kelly Holmes, who has won gold at the Olympics, spoke on Loose Women about her near-death experience while appearing on Bear Grylls: Mission Survive in 2015. Kelly explained she was scared of cold water and how she nearly drowned while on the Bear Grylls show.

Kelly described how a cameraman and another member of the crew had to jump in after her when she found herself struggling in the water. The 52-year-old explained she was instructed to swim across a lake, after abseiling down a waterfall, and in her fear tried to swim as quickly as possible.

She said: "So I just went, tried, went on my side, went on my back, legs went under, I was underneath the water, I managed to get my head up going 'I'm drowning!' The cameraman jumped in, they had to rescue me!"

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Dame Kelly on Loose Women (ITV)

Kelly also explained she thinks her fear comes from when she was younger dreaming of falling off a cliff into cold water. She said: "Cold water, I am just so fearful of it."

Fellow Loose Women host Denise Welch also admitted she was scared of water and shared a video of her facing her fear and jumping into water while on a juice retreat. In the background you can hear This Morning presenter Alison Hammond cheering Denise on as she faced her fear.

Fairly new to the Loose Women panel, Kelly joined the line-up in 2022 and has been a regular presenter on the show ever since. You can keep up to date with the latest TV and showbiz news by signing up to the newsletter here. Loose Women airs every week day at 12.30pm on ITV1.

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