Celebrity Island with Bear Grylls almost killed me, says comedian Mark Watson who lost two-and-a-half stone in two weeks
CELEBRITY Island with Bear Grylls star Mark Watson has revealed his dramatic weight loss after nearly “dying” because of the ordeal.
The comedian lost a whopping two-and-a-half stone in just two weeks on the Pacific island.
He collapsed on the Channel 4 show before asking to leave on the advice of health experts working on the programme.
Mark, 37, told the Sun’s Bizarre column it took him more than two weeks to recover from the ordeal.
He said: “I lost a huge amount of weight - about two and a half stone.
“I had terrible skin - I'd been bitten to pieces by insects. And I was just weary.
“I was walking around like an 80-year-old. You do come back in a pretty poor state.
“You reintroduce yourself in quite a small way which again not everyone could do because of people's cravings for food but several of them went into eating massive amounts.
“But the idea is you gently get back into eating fairly adventurous food in your system and after a couple of weeks you're back to normal.
“A week to start eating proper meals and then another week to feel like you're on top of your body.
“Getting back into your fitness again - I do a lot of running - took a long time to build up again - that was a few weeks after.”
Mark insists he has no regrets over quitting the show half way through.
He said he had given “absolutely everything” but was forced to leave after being sleep deprived took its toll and was told it was in his best interests to quit.
The Mock The Week star said: “It was an enormous relief to get away obviously - I'd spent all the energy and resources I had so I was pretty wrecked and it was a relief to be back and eat food and be in a bed.
“I thought at this point I didn't want to be leaving, I wanted to give it absolutely everything. By the time I left, the health and safety people were advising me that it was probably in my interest to go.
“I don't think I could've gone on any longer than I did. Watching it back, I'm glad I didn't stay any longer because I was definitely at the limits of my abilities.
“The impact of bites are beyond belief - there was absolutely no way of getting rid of them, and as a result of that you're really sleep deprived - the lack of sleep was driving me crazy.
“These things you can put up with in isolation but the cumulative effect of them ultimately does your head in.
“It becomes hard to find something to laugh about. There was hardly any conversation towards the end because we were trying to survive.
“There's a medical when you come off the island. They give you advice on what to eat and how to look after yourself which I think a lot of us disregarded because of sheer desperation to go back to eating junk food.”