Lauren Steadman broke down in tears over Joey Essex’s apparent lack of effort on ‘Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins’.
The British Paralympic athlete admitted she struggled working with the 29-year-old reality star on the Channel 4 endurance show, particularly when former soldier Ant Middleton paired them up for a challenge which saw them carrying a large log for miles across some rough terrain.
She told the Daily Mirror newspaper: "There was one moment I cried. I felt that Joey hadn’t pulled his half of what we were trying to do in the task.
"I had to put a really heavy log on my right shoulder, which doesn’t have much muscle anyway because I only have one arm, so it was tough.
"I got a bruised bone and it got to the point that I was just, like, I feel like I’m doing this myself. That made me break down – it was pure frustration."
The 27-year-old star compared her relationship with Joey to "bickering" siblings, and she was furious when Ant threatened to boot them both off the show when they came last in the challenge.
She added: "It is like a knife in the heart when it’s actually only half your responsibility and it’s half someone else’s.
"In my mind we were in this together but you have to realise that as a whole team, however many it is, you’re only as strong as your weakest link.
"We were like big brother, little sister bickering. That just sums up our whole time together. We really did wind each other up."
However, Lauren learned to make their unlikely partnership work, and she found out "what motivates him".
She said: "I tried to find what makes him tick, what motivates him. It turns out shouting ‘Marbs!’ at him works."
Lauren Steadman broke down over Joey Essex on SAS: Who Dares Wins
