Guy the survivor

NOT even four years of watching the American Survivor could prepare Guy Leech for his 25 days of island hell.

The three-time Coolangatta Gold Ironman champion is part of Seven's Celebrity Survivor and says leaving behind civilisation for a Vanuatu reality experience was tougher than any Ironman race.
"The organisers did a really good job of making it really, really hard. There was no difference to what you saw on the American Survivor and in some ways we probably had it slightly harder," he says.

"The fact that they take away the entire world from you – the camera guys won't talk to you, you don't have watches on, the only people you talk to are your fellow competitors – all that comes into just being stretched left, right and centre to really make you crack," he says.

"It wouldn't matter how many Ironman races you do you're never going to prepare yourself for something like that."

With only two changes of clothes and three pairs of underwear, the 42-year-old endured sleeping on a bed of coral in the rain, "half starving" and continuous mind games, as he battled to be the ultimate survivor.

While everyone struggled both physically and emotionally, Leech says some of the celebrities really surprised him.

"There was a lot of people out of those 12 that I walked away from that island having the utmost respect for," he says.

"They toughed it out, they took it on board and adapted along the way and held it together under crisis situations, at times, which they could have easily cracked under."

But not everyone was able to cope with the pressure, Leech says.

"There were some corker showdowns between some people that just got on each other's nerves.

While he says he enjoyed the experience, the Ironman confesses he won't be rushing back.