Seven celebrities are setting off on a journey of discovery for BBC Two’s Pilgrimage: The Road to the Scottish Isles.
Kicking off on BBC Two from Friday 8th April, the new series will see the Pilgrimage cast, which includes reality TV star Scarlett Moffatt, presenter Nick Hewer, actress Louisa Clein and more following the footsteps of Saint Columba (a crucial figure in early British Christianity) as they embark on spiritual journey of their own.
And it sounds like it was a tough journey for the line-up, with Clein revealing they went through some “extreme experiences”.
Speaking ahead of the launch, the Emmerdale star said: “You get thrown together with a bunch of personalities, a bunch of people you’ve never met and you’re going through extreme experiences together. We have some extreme experiences. And so to adapt and co-exist with these other people, that was a real learning curve for me.”
She continued: “We spent a night sleeping on the floor of a church. We spent a very memorable night in a bothy. I didn’t even know what a bothy was before this, but it’s a building that essentially is four walls and has a roof with no electricity, no water. Really nothing – no heating obviously. And I just remember sort of walking in and seeing this sort of concrete floor.
“We were carrying our sleeping bags and it was like, ‘OK, this is our night tonight’. It was in the most unbelievable surroundings. We were sort of cornered by huge cliffs on one side and just the ocean and seals as our company, so that that was extreme.”
Like Clein, comedian and writer Shazia Mirza also found the experience gruelling, saying: “There was a lot of extremities on this journey and not just the weather conditions.
“I think that those extreme moments are the moments that you learn something, and that you’re pushed to the edge. And actually, that’s the point of evolution for yourself.”
For Hewer, he found the physical side of things particularly difficult.
“The most physically trying thing was clambering up to a castle – my god that was difficult. But generally speaking, the whole thing was a pleasure to be asked to do it and to be able to do it!”
Pilgrimage: The Road to the Scottish Isles begins on Friday 8th April at 9pm on BBC Two and BBC iPlayer.
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