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<\/p>\nSURVIVOR is known as the toughest reality show on TV – but if anyone looks ready to face the challenge head on, it\u2019s contender Sabrina Pace-Humphrey.<\/p>\n
The grandmother-of-three already happens to be a super-fit ultra-marathon runner, having completed a 156-mile dart across the Sahara desert in a five-day sporting event.<\/p>\n
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And it was all kickstarted by her battle with postnatal depression in 2009, following the birth of her fourth child, which saw her overweight and suffering from alcoholism.<\/p>\n
Sabrina said: \u201cI had my first baby at 18 – and I've always suffered with anxiety and depression, but with every pregnancy there was my deeply dark moods, and I would experience it a bit. <\/p>\n
"But with my fourth, I was in a situation where I was the main breadwinner, I worked right up until I had her and went back to work two weeks later. <\/p>\n
"I didn't feel as though I could do anything right. I couldn't find joy in any part of my life, I didn't want it. I felt so incredibly dark.<\/p>\n
"I'm a recovering alcoholic – I didn't drink when I was pregnant but before and after, I was using alcohol as a means to cope with the stress of life and to numb myself not to deal with childhood trauma around my colour and the racism I experienced. <\/p>\n "It was the perfect storm. I was overweight, I was severely depressed, I had four children and so I took up running because my GP said to me, \u2018Try to do something for yourself\u2019.<\/p>\n "I went out, I was five stone overweight – I walk shuffled for 40 minutes and it was transforming, but all I could concentrate on was the act of running. <\/p>\n "I trained myself in 5Ks, 10Ks, half-marathons and then ultimately a marathon – and then in 2016 I did something about my addiction to alocohol. <\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n \u201cEarly in my recovery a show came on the telly about a crazy race in the Sahara Desert, Marathon Des Sables, and James Cracknell, the Olympian, he did it. <\/p>\n "He was being sick and hooked up to IVs and hallucinating and I was thinking, \u2018Why would anyone do that?\u2019<\/p>\n \u201cBut I did wonder if I could do it, something inside me wondered if I could and so that was it. I trained for 18 months in the UK.<\/p>\n "One of the race days, it was 55 miles, and I couldn't get my camp stove to light so I ran the distance on a couple of packs of mini cheddars.<\/p>\n "But I did it, I finished the whole race. It was an amazing moment."<\/p>\n Following her success, it was a later near-death experience, which Sabrina says saw \u201cfive white men run past as if she wasn\u2019t there, screaming for help\u201d during a running accident in the Alps, that pushed her to take her sport, and push her fitness and endurance, further than ever.<\/p>\n She set up her own organisation, Black Trail Runners, and wrote a book, Black Sheep: A Story of Rural Racism, Identity and Hope. <\/p>\n And now, the author is one of the 18 contestants marooned on a tropical island for the BBC\u2019s long-awaited reboot, hosted by Joel Dommett.<\/p>\n She added: "I was at a stage when I was thinking about 2023 and all the things I wanted to do and how I was going to do those, and then the email about Survivor came in. <\/p>\n "I watched episodes of the show, the Australian episodes, and when I watched it I thought, 'You know what? If I was ever going to say yes to an opportunity, this appeals to me'. <\/p>\n "I'm 45, I've got four children, three grandchildren, I'm very much in my life, I'm menopausal and all that stuff – so I watched and thought, 'Why not at least try and see what it's like?' <\/p>\n "I was under no illusion that I was going to be up against lots of different people. But I'm that kind of woman that is very much when you feel it in your gut, have a go, I'm going to have a go.<\/p>\n \u201cNo other shows really intrigued me before. But this was really an opportunity to say to people, especially women, if I\u2019m there, anyone can do something like this.<\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/www.thesun.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/tp-composite-Joel-Dommett.jpg\")
<\/picture>ISLE BE A SURVIVOR <\/span><\/p>\nI went absolutely feral filming Survivor & loved it, says Joel Dommett <\/h3>\n
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<\/picture>back in action<\/span><\/p>\nSurvivor start date revealed as BBC reboots show – and it's just DAYS away<\/h3>\n
Most read in TV<\/h2>\n
![](\"https:\/\/www.thesun.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/JW_CELEB_JUNGLE_COMP.jpg\")
<\/picture>JUNGLE SQUAD <\/span><\/p>\nFull confirmed I’m A Celebrity line up so far – plus all the rumoured stars<\/h3>\n
![](\"https:\/\/www.thesun.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/JB-SARAH-BEENY_COMP.jpg\")
<\/picture>SARAH’S STRUGGLE <\/span><\/p>\nMy marriage is hanging on by fingernails after cancer, says Sarah Beeny<\/h3>\n
![](\"https:\/\/www.thesun.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/crop-23809364.jpg\")
<\/picture>down the pan? <\/span><\/p>\nJames Martin reveals future of ITV’s Saturday Morning after shock f-word rant<\/h3>\n
![](\"https:\/\/www.thesun.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/itv-plc-reproduced-editorial-purposes-837335795-1.jpg\")
<\/picture>STREWTH <\/span><\/p>\nSoap legend in talks to join I’m A Celebrity after 28 years on show<\/h3>\n
Read More on The Sun<\/h2>\n
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