SAS Who Dares Wins single mum Paige reveals secret family heartache after dad’s suicide
SAS Who Dares Wins recruit Paige Zima has dedicated herself to campaigning for mental health charities after her dad's tragic suicide.
The 26-year-old mum-of-two from Durham found her dad dead in 2018.
She signed up to the tough Channel 4 show to be broken down after questioning whether she had handled her grief properly.
The forensic science student said: "I had been faced with multiple mental challenges throughout my life and nothing seemed to 'break me'.
"I began to realise I was cut from a different cloth, my mindset, my resilience and sheer determination to push forward no matter what; this interested me and I wanted to explore it more.
"I questioned whether I was just masking all that hurt and pushing it aside. Wondering if I never truly dealt with all that grief because I am so accepting of what life throws at me."
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Super fit Paige was well prepared ahead of her trip to Jordan.
Ahead of the show she did 45 minute incline sprints wearing a 15kg weighted vest and 10 mile runs with 5-10kg on her back.
She said: "Every morning I would put on my 15kg vest and 7 two-litre water bottles in a rucksack, and walk the kids to school a mile out from my home and back.
"I would use water bottles as they would slosh making it harder to move with. I would then head to the Slag-Heaps, and go up and down the heap steps for an hour."
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It was the mental side of things that Paige found toughest, but by the end she gained a better grasp of emotions and was able to use them as fuel.
She said: "I wanted to be broken down to the absolute core to reveal this something inside of me that wouldn’t allow me to make excuses or give up.
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"I wanted to be challenged in all aspects of my life to be able to learn and utilise these every day after. As well as meeting and connecting with like-minded individuals that would also help me learn and develop in life. I made a promise to myself to never lead a mediocre life but to truly live.
"This experience was about undertaking something phenomenal that I once wished I could do."
