Dancing With The Stars pro Laura Nolan admitted she considered insuring her legs before taking part in RTE’s Hell Week - as she feared an injury could end her career.
Fans are used to seeing the 26-year-old dressed in her glittery best and beautified to perfection on the dance floor, and Laura said her stint in RTE’s new gruelling series will showcase her in her most raw state yet.
And while she said she put her all into everything, she admitted she feared for her life and her dance future during hairy moments on the show.
Laura told the Irish Daily Mirror: “I knew it was going to be mental, but I didn’t know it was going to be that mental.
“And actually the part I really struggled with was the weight; the lifting heavy weight was the part for me where I was like 'I feel like I am actually going to die here'.
“I’m just not going to be able to lift my leg tomorrow morning.”
“Going into the show I was thinking to myself, maybe I should ensure my legs. My legs are my money makers, what is going to happen if I break my ankle? My career is done."
The Dubliner, who started dancing when she was a toddler, said while she was physically fit for the challenges, she struggled with the cold and heavy lifting.
“And I swear to god when I was talking in there I was deadly serious. I will never forget that cold, like the cold was one of the biggest things I struggled with.”
“I couldn’t stop myself from shaking and I couldn’t feel my toes. My two big toes were completely numb for hours and I was thinking 'oh my God, I’ve never experienced this before.'"
She added: “And I was thinking ‘hypothermia, imagine if I have to get my toes cut off, that’s the end of my dancing career. What am I going to do?’.
“So I was throwing myself into the challenges but at the back of my mind I was thinking ‘I can’t injure myself here.. I need to be able to dance'.
“But thankfully that didn’t happen,” she said, laughing.
As the course gets tougher as the week goes on, Laura said she had to dig deep to power through the torturous tasks at hand.
And bursting with pride over her time on the show, she reckons those closest to her and who would have watched her throughout her glitzy dance career will be shocked to see her in a different light as the weeks go on.
Opening up about how she used past hurdles and hardships to push through the obstacles, she went on: “I think I used that to my advantage, that I had been there, and have had a lot of downs, and was able to pull myself out of that to get the ups.”
“So I think people are going to be a little bit shocked to see what person I actually am.”
Laura is taking part alongside 18 other well known personalities from the world of sports and entertainment, but with a failure rate upwards of 90%, only the toughest candidates will survive.
With each celebrity recruit representing a charity of their choice the stakes are high, the longer they can last in 'Hell', the more money they will raise for their worthy cause.
But despite their competitive backgrounds, the dance champion said the group pulled together to get through the week - and created bonds that will last a lifetime.
“I definitely think we kept each other going. You are more competing against yourself. So when you are in there you are just trying to get through it. And we all helped each other.”
“We have really created a special bond.
“Something I can’t even explain. It’s almost like they are your soldiers, we have gone to war together, and they’ve seen you at you lowest, and helped pick you up, like I helped pick them up.”
“So there’s a level of respect and a bond that is created like no other. It is so strange you go into these things not knowing each other and then five days later you feel like you have friends for life and you can trust them with your life.”
The champion dancer is taking part in aid of Women’s Aid, a domestic violence service in Ireland she has availed of herself in the past.
“If I can inspire even one girl or one woman to conquer their dreams, then it was worth my while doing Hell Week,” she said.
Ultimate Hell Week: The Professionals airs Wednesdays at 9.35pm on RTE One
To donate text Recruit followed by their number to 50300
