Louise Hazel is "still reeling" from losing to Joey Essex on ‘The Jump’.
The 29-year-old heptathlete finished second to the former ‘The Only Way is Essex’ star on the TV series – which sees celebrities try to master several winter sports – after his "insane" 17.5-metre ski jump which she is still struggling to come to terms with.
Speaking exclusively to BANG Showbiz, she joked: "I was 100 per cent out of my comfort zone on the show but I still can’t comprehend how I came second to Joey Essex?
"I’m the competitive one, the Olympian, there was myself, Mike Tindall, as you’d expect, and Joey Essex in the final.
"I still can’t comprehend how we let him beat us and we’re still both reeling from it now.
"You’ve got to hand it to him though, he jumped the biggest on the day.
"I was gob smacked. I stood at the bottom of the piste literally open-mouthed. I was like, ‘What did I just witness?’ It was insane but it was brilliant at the same time.
"It just goes to show you don’t have to have years of experience with skiing like you do with athletics."
The athlete – who competed for Great Britain at the London 2012 Olympic Games and won a gold medal in the heptathlon at the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi – also admitted she thought some of the male competitors in the show should’ve mustered up the courage to take on the biggest ski jump.
She added: "I’m disappointed that none of the guys went off the big jump. This is ‘The Jump’, it’s not called ‘The Plop’.
"We have to go for the big one and although I did come second in the show I can honestly say I’ve got no regrets.
"I know that Mike went off the big one in training and Joey hadn’t actually done the big one at all. I felt I left Austria having achieved something even though it wasn’t like the gold medal."
Following ‘The Jump’, Louise is currently supporting Fairtrade Fortnight, which runs until Sunday (08.03.15).
This year, The Fairtrade Foundation is calling on the British public to choose products on their shopping list that change lives.
Take the quick personality test at www.fairtrade.org.uk/fortnight, say what matters most to you and see how Fairtrade is changing lives in those areas.
Louise Hazel ‘reeling’ from The Jump defeat
