Superfit mum-of-two Ellen Vitting - who was one of only three recruits to pass RTE’s Ultimate Hell Week - said it all came down to ‘mind over matter’ to make it to the end.
But the avid runner and adventure racer from Co. Kerry says the treacherous course isn’t for everyone as she imparted the lessons she learned whilst completing the challenge.
“To me, it was a great experience, a once in a lifetime experience, where you are dealing with like minded people.
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“I feel grateful to have had the opportunity to do it, and I know it looks awful, but I am in a position where I am lucky enough to be healthy and fit and have the right mental space to put myself in that position.
“I don’t regret it for a second.
“I look back on it with fondness,” she went on, before adding with a laugh, “well that would be a bit of an exaggeration, I wouldn’t do it again”.
Of the 28 recruits who started the course, Ellen was one of only three candidates that made it to the end and passed.
Throughout the week-long course, the recruits were required to pass numerous rigorous physical and mental tests from surviving on two to three hours of sleep a night to overcoming cold-water events, height tests and claustrophobic challenges as well as various trials of strength, stamina and determination.
Financial planning and analysis manager with Liberty Insurance by day, busy mum by night, and a keen runner in her spare time, Ellen says she took on the gruelling challenge for one reason only - because she wanted to.
With no pressure to feel the need to prove to herself or anyone else, she added: “One thing I knew going in[to Hell Week] was I knew I really wanted to do it.
“I wasn’t there to prove anything to anyone else or myself, it was just something I wanted to do and once I put my mind to something I am a very stubborn person and I expected to at some level enjoy it being i do love a challenge and a bit of hardship.
“So it wasn’t a total shock that it was so hard.”
She added: “I love training, it is what I love to do in my freetime. It is not a chore for me, it is not something I've forced myself to do. My favourite thing to do at the weekend is like go up into the mountains for four or five hours and run around with my friends.”
With a failure rate upwards of 90%, only the toughest candidates can survive Hell Week.
Asked if she would recommend any of her friends and training buddies to follow her lead in taking on the challenge, she insists: “I think it totally depends on the person. It is definitely not everyone’s cup of tea.
“I have a few friends that would suit and I have said it to them, but I don’t think it is something you should do unless you really want to do it. You have to be really invested in it and really want to and be willing to put yourself through it because there is nothing easy about it.”
Lifting the lid on the reality of the environment behind the one hour snippet viewers watch at home each week, she went on: “You expect it to be physically hard, and you can train for that. And all the recruits that came in were super fit and ready to work hard. But it is the mental bit you can’t prepare for so well.
“Being cold, being under pressure, sleep deprived and hungry, that’s the bit that kind of catches the majority out.”
“There are no breaks, you can’t talk or engage with production crew, you don’t even notice them there to be honest, and you are just there, it is 100% real. There is nothing off camera that you don’t see on camera, there’s no special treatment for anyone, you are constantly in that same pressured environment.”
Ellen, who lived in Trim for ten years before recently moving back to her native Kerry after the series was filmed last year, says she has been overwhelmed by the support she has received since the show.
She has also enjoyed watching the show back and reliving the memories - good and bad - with her husband Neil and children Aaron, ten, and Zara, four.
“They have watched it all and were laughing at the funny bits and have their favourite moments.
“It was really surreal watching it back and I think you are under so much pressure when you are in there that there are pieces that I don’t even remember.
“You are so tired and sleep deprived it is kind of nice now to look back and see the bigger picture and the other recruits, because you kind of have tunnel vision when you are in there.”
Looking back on her main takeaway of the experience, she said: “It definitely has shown me that the body is capable of way more than you think. When you think it can’t take anymore, there’s so much more still to give.
"It is mind over matter really.
"So I think it definitely has kind of emphasised that, if you don’t give up, anything is achievable. You just have to keep going, even when things are awful.”
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