Strictly's Montell Douglas: From The Olympics, To Gladiators, To The Ballroom...

33:22And that was the only time that I didn't. Because I never envisioned being there. The moment I achieved, the one thing that was on, and I would say it wasn't invisible. When we were younger, when we were in a psych meeting and all the team members are there, they write down what you want to achieve. And at the very last, at the bottom, I'd said, I want to run 11 flat at an Olympic Games. and that was probably late teens like in one of those little sessions we do but now i'm 22 just turned just graduated from university which already like i said was a really big deal for my family because no one's even been anywhere near that like for us it was just like i'm just got a degree like that's what other people get degrees not us so i already go and then going in there as a broom record holder and going in there as going to the olympic games it was it was the bucket list has already gone up like it's tear the page up it's done so i literally had nothing well it wasn't it was such a short turnaround to refocus and be like and also i think my coach did a great job and and allowed me to be best prepared and going because i remember having a beauty interview with phil jones i remember him having and standing there and doing a piece about me and saying you know the game's not how is and me just going really like casually like well yeah i feel i'm just gonna like say we're here we've got a job to do because i'm good at doing that and like but I'm going to enjoy the experience.

34:35I'm always going to do the best I can do. I'm never going to not go in and go. And I very rarely go, I should have done better there. Very rarely. Because I always make sure that as long as I do my best. I actually learned that from when I was 10. It was like my biggest lesson. Because I had my first race when I was at school. And I've told this story so many times. In terms of my first experience for myself. sports day I was racing the boys because I wasn't allowed to race the girls it was unfair literally that's what my teacher said can you imagine she was like my dad was like what's going on why is she racing he was like it's just not fair she beats she wins all the time just destroys they were like we just want to give people a chance also want to give me a challenge so I was like fair play and I'm 10 years old and I'm racing boys and so in school I'm running this race and I'm winning right into the tape and then I that dip for the race to the finish line and I come second in this race.

35:33And instead of being disappointed, as you might be, you know, as a 10 year old, you're upset, you've lost the race. I was so happy with what I had done because I was like, I did my best. I couldn't have done any better than that. Like I literally laid everything down and it honestly set me up forever, forever more because ever since then I've always just done my best. And if it's not good enough, then it's not good enough. But as long as I've done my best, I can walk away going, I did everything that I could, then maybe just go on the day. And until like, That's what happened in that moment when I broke the British record.

36:02I'm like, I'm going to do my best today. So you're going to have to bring your best because I'm bringing everything. And if you beat me, then it's fine. But doing my best meant that, finally, was that I then became the best ever, which was a shock to me because I was always afraid of my success, which was really weird. I was really afraid of my life. I didn't ever want to have attention. I didn't obviously want to be, I would just win races just so it wasn't too big of a gap because I didn't want people to be like, whoa, like be amazed. Really? You'd slow yourself down. Yeah, I'd always, what they say, run to my company.

36:33So depending on who was in the race, I would kind of do enough to just manage. What do you think that came from? Why were you slowing down? Honestly, it's the opposite of fear of failure. It was a fear of success. Because right before that, I was speaking to SportsCyc and she was basically helping me manage my timetabling, not like any performance stuff. It was the squatting and the distraction thing. so she was just like talking to me about scheduling and time management and how I can block things out for studies at the time and she said to me and she looked at me and said you know you've never said that you want to win and I was like really?

37:10I'm sure surely that's like given is that not a thing she's like no you've never said that you've never said to me once like I want to win like I want to do well and I was just like whoa this is and it was like a a weird epiphany feeling and I in myself I just saw a mirror and I was like you are afraid of your light. Like you're afraid that if you do do what best you can do, what that's going to look like. And then, because inside of me, I thought I could probably do something quite spectacular, but subconsciously. So I always didn't want people to see that I was overshining, which is really a bizarre feeling.

37:46And I think it's because I just wanted to, I just wanted to blend in. I wanted to get on with stuff. I didn't want too much attention. Then look at me, that we're all great. Everyone's great in their own way. Don't look at me. I'm not anything special. So I didn't want to overdo that all the time. And it just happened that the one time that, it was right before the British Record, was when she had said to me that, and she said, well, do you want to win? And I was just like, well, yeah. And that day was the first time I ever didn't run to my company. I just said, I'm gonna run as far. And I literally forgot every technique I ever looked at.

38:16My coach, whatever he says about doing all this driving. I just said to myself, run to the line as fast as you can. And I crossed the line and I beat people by like, seven tenths was massive i mean the gap was humongous and it was the first time everyone had run under 11 and i was like that was what i was afraid i was like that was what i was afraid of to do that and suddenly it was like whirlwind completely different yeah life like that's why i'm going to the games not thinking now go again and do something again i'm like i'm gonna enjoy this because my mom and dad are in the crowd they've never been on a plane before like they get to come to beijing and experience this new culture and watch me compete at olympic games there's some there's some really amazing lessons in that in terms of one of just like the result doesn't matter just do your best yeah right fundamentally that's a phenomenal mindset from the beginning and as long as you're putting 100 in you see where you go but actually you weren't putting 100 in you were holding yourself back because you're afraid of something a long time but then when you did look what happened yeah i think we all have those kind of self-limiting exactly that conversations in our head right where we're scared of it and it's probably one of the biggest things people can do is just like forget about what anyone else thinks it doesn't matter just do you do your best and you know wherever you are you know you can be overweight eating crisps every day but if you just make change and start eating baked crisps yeah it's great progress for you if you're doing your best again today yeah epic all right so then you watched cool runnings as a kid i did you did 100 i watched for running and then you were like Well, let me just emulate that and go to the Winter Olympics or what happened?

39:54Well, first of all, we were all in core running. Fantastic. Best film ever. Absolutely nothing like Bob Say. Got jinked. That's how I got jinked. So I was over in my career, sprinting top five, still making nationals, doing well, not getting selected as I hope to get selected. And they'd asked me for two years, they asked me the Bob Say GB team because one of the coaches was previously part of the athletics team. Right, so they knew you. So he knew me and everyone. And they were like, we want bigger, faster girls. And because of the way the sport is, you need heavier girls, you need fast girls and general athletes in general because it's a gravity sport.

40:35So the bigger, stronger, the faster you are, you start wherever you start is where you finish pretty much. And we were doing okay, but they need a bigger pool of people. when it's not an everyday meal, just pop down the road and go to a local Bob's Slate track. Have a go at Bob's Slate on the weekend. Yeah, so when they asked me at first, I was like, what is that? Obviously I know what that is, but I was like, we've got a team. Didn't even know we had a team at all. Said no, because I was still trying to chase my dream in track. Said no again for second year running. And then the third year was 2016.

41:07I was like, you know what? Said no, twice, because I'm trying to do this. But I don't have envisioned anything else. I only had like thinkers like that and I was like you know what I'm quick and I'm in the shape of my life still I'm still doing well and it's just just it's just not enough of where I need to be I think so why not just try it you never know went down to the local track had to do the trial test so you do tests push a bobsleigh sprint fast do some jumps and broke the bobsleigh testing record really? yeah and I don't think I didn't know that they had casually turn up just let fine break that No worries.

41:45The coach had gotten to me, oh, he was like, halfway through the test, he was just like, had this clipboard out, and was like, you're about to score over a thousand points? Because it's pointed by each thing. I had the same thing she did. I was like, what does that mean? I literally went, is that good? And he was like, yeah. I was like, no one has scored over a thousand points before. And I didn't even basically need to even do the third test. Had you ever done an obsolete before? No. So you've literally first run? My first run? No. My first Bob's Day run was in the World Cup as well, which is the highest competition you can do in Bob's Day, other than the World and European Championships.

42:23But it's the main circuit. That was my first one in Wintersberg, I went there. I hadn't even gone nothing. Like, literally had some slides to do. We've done sliding, we go sliding down. Did those. Hold on for dear life, of course, as you do. Were you staring? No, so I'm brake woman. So I am the engine and the brakes. Yeah. I make it go fast and I make it stop, essentially. And that's why you need fast, strong people, because you need where you start. If you start third in the pack on time, you're most likely going to go down third. Because you need to rely on a really good drive. And my first experience was, yeah, I had the deepest learning curve in that sport of all time.

43:01Wow. Because I had no idea what it was. And I've literally, it's almost like a roller coaster. Yeah. In Bath, we train. You should just push it down, jump in, and come back up. that's it my first time on ice was literally at my race like two days from my race slide going that down winterberg sliding in germany somewhere oh yeah yeah like you do have to be a bit of hinge to do that you do i'm gonna play if i want to try it out just make sure that you're loving you're just um yeah you've got to be able to go okay this is going to feel that it's going to be unreal because it was it was it's terrifying yeah there's nothing there's no sure about it it's probably like jumping out and playing like it's the same feeling because because also you're not out of control.

43:42And there's a lot of G-force that I've never experienced before. Five to six Gs on your back is not a joke. Like it feels like someone's lying on your back and you can't move. I had whiplash for a week doing that my first time. Yeah. Wow. Like horrific. But I went down and then I literally didn't get out of the sled, just sat there, where people do. And they were like, you can get out now. I'm like, get out, Molly, it's fine. And I was like, I don't know if I want to get out. Well, you're going to have to do it again because you've got to do two runs in the day. Of course. I was like, I don't know if I can do that again.

44:11I literally don't think I can do that again. And they were like, well, let's go to the top. We go, we're going to Camion, the big truck. We go back up to the top. And then you've got to go again. And I just prayed the whole way down, like close my eyes. Which apparently is a really weird thing. But I close my eyes when I go down the bobsleigh. Apparently people keep their eyes open. I'm like, dude, what are you looking at? It's just like, let me give you a little bit of a show. There was a square at the bottom where the brakes go. So all there is is a square with ice. So if you open your eyes, all it is is like ice, ice, ice.

44:38There's nothing to see. And I just close my eyes the whole time because why am I opening my eyeballs for nothing? So I'm just like holding on like this. Holding on to dear life. To dear life till I hear break. And I literally put my head up and then you have to pull hard because you're going about 70 miles an hour and you just gotta go, go. You gotta be like, people get really hurt doing that. And I went down and we had like the best result that my driver had had in like seven years. How did you do? We got Europe gold. Europe gold. In our first series. and we had like in our first season we got European Cup gold and just had the best results that they'd ever had before which was phenomenal and that was a year out from my first Winter Olympics yeah that's cool that's mad and then okay so now you're a bobslayer and you've got the Olympics in a year yeah is there anything you did as a bobslayer to eat, train oh yeah what's a bobslayer nutrition routine this is what it got really juicy because it was a lot like what was it 2017 season yeah and i was i when i sprinted to give it to make it really clear i was 67 kilos at the lipid games and i'm 5 10 yeah so power to weight ratio needs to be high because you're putting yourself down the track yeah this is when my like nerdy scientist brain comes in i'm always like what do you need you need to be do you need to be heavier and stronger because gravity sports because whatever weight i don't have on my body i have to put it in the sled because me and you as a team plus the sled has to be a combined weight of 332 kilos yeah if we're not we have to make that with weight and obviously if you're pushing something heavier you'll push it slower than if it's on your body got it so the idea is to get it's bigger eat eat and i can eat i was like yes and i was trying to honestly this is when my i think my relationship with actually with food changed massively oh massively first season of bob's day we were driving through Europe as you do, stopping off at McDonald's.

46:34Now I don't really eat fast food like that. Like I don't pop off to drive through McDonald's. Never. I was like, guys, we're athletes. I would never go when I was in track, pop off and go and have McDonald's. It's just like a teenager when you just kind of like do whatever you want. But as a serious athlete and I'm in late twenties, I'm actually 31 now. Like at the time I'm like, I'm not doing that. Like you can't just go and have McDonald's and eat it. And they were like, oh, you know, she'll see it this way. And I'm like, really, we're eating McDonald's. And in Europe, like in Germany, they've got chicken wings and McDonald's, which was like game changer for me.

47:02So I'm like, I don't want the burger. I give you chicken wings. So I was like, I've been chicken wings. But we're eating like fast food on the go because people are just eating. And then I obviously learned why that was because you just need to eat food. So I was really trying to do it really well, eat healthily. I was eating, I came in about 70, 71 kilos at the time. I was a bit heavier because later in my life. But I need to be heavier because we have sort of got wear one of the lightest crews in the world, which means we're pushing the heavier sled, which means that it doesn't matter how fast I am, no matter how fast we are, it's very difficult to contemple people.

47:33Some of the girls are 80 plus kilos. It's very difficult to have that weight differential on a sled. Did they give you a target, a weight target? They just said more. Honestly, they've just said more because it is, it's like trying to eat more. And my body's super adaptable, which is good. So it can go either way very quickly if I just tune it in. It tunes in quickly, which I also didn't know because I never really changed the way I ate until bobsleigh. Because it needs to. And I just started eating and eating. And at this point I started having tubs of ice cream. I was eating Ben and Jerry's like, does that the tub, sitting like tubs?

48:09Like seriously, because at one point I was like, this is so difficult to do clean guys. Like having lots of veg. Cause also I was lifting, well I had to stop running as much. Because obviously running helps me burn. So I just stay lean. And doesn't matter how much you're doing, I was training three days training, running three days gym. It's not enough. I had to cut out a running session to stop myself from doing too much work and burn. and have more gym so I could bulk up more. More weightlifting. And add a side creep in 74, 75, 76, 77. And like within, it took a couple of years, but like to get to the point.

48:41But I came into my last NBA games at 80 kilos. 80, wow, that's a big swing. So I had to add on 10 kilos for bobsleigh, essentially. But was it the ice cream or the weight training? So. There's a difference in weight gain, right? There is. And the good thing about it is that it got to a point where it was weight training because I went and got Dexascan. I went and got the full, not even just skin folds, I went in and got like, I went in and my body fat percentage, because I'm putting on stuff here, but I don't know where this, what's happening here. And the reports literally, there was just like, you, the balance between your body fat and your muscle is optimum right now.

49:15Like you couldn't, you've definitely added on two and a half to three kilos of muscle, pure muscle straight away. Because that, and that's not just you bulking and having eaten stuff. It literally is, because I could see my muscle mass. and it was going up, which was great, because then it made me feel better that I was like, do you know what? The training alongside allowed me to then still be functional, because then I can't just be heaven for the sake of it. So you're not saying if you want to be an Olympian and eat McDonald's and ice cream, you can go to Bob's Lake. You'll be fine. You'll be fine.

49:43No, not everyone will be fine. It's more about functionality and how you work with your body. And that's another thing that I learned. My body can take high fat diet. It actually thrives. At one point, even healthy fats, but higher fats, So avocados, certain oils that you have in your food. Some people, it's not as great for them. But for me, it worked. And before, I didn't really know that until I was getting all... Like, I was reaching out to lots of different scientists and, like, just finding out different things in my body because I wouldn't... And it was the first time I had to think about my body, especially my body weight in that way.

50:15Like, we have weight in literally every competition. You have to weigh in because if you're over the limit, it's qualified. Oh, really? You can't be able to buy even grams and stuff. you have a limit which is why you have everyone and you're always weighing so i was tracking my weight the first time really ever because in track i was always able to stay lean enough to be functional and to be strong enough to be able to lift i mean at 66 kilos i could bench 92 kilos so it's fine i can squat 170 kilos my power to weight was high enough sitting on like really long-limbed it was fine but food chain was the biggest food change i had when i went to bobsleigh because that 10 kilos was really, I never thought about having to add mass before, like going, oh, I need to put on weight.

50:57Why would you need to do that? Especially in athletics, it wouldn't work. I would have been so much slower if I went back into 100 metres to do that. So it was really difficult to manage the two because you can't do both at a high level alongside, which is what I found out quite quickly. Well, yeah, totally different sport requires totally different build and body competition and diet and training. Wow, that's crazy. I asked the question not thinking there would be much difference but there was a huge massive and i looked really different i've got a side-by-side shot of like me at the 08 games and then me at the 2020 at 2018 games so this was um was that 10 years yeah yeah yeah 10 years 10 years my god it's like forever i was like 10 year span those that 10 years was 10 kilos and what i looked like in my race suit at the games as opposed to my leotard when i ran the sprinting and how lean i was and how i still looked lean for my size but you could see where a certain position that had added on and that where my weight training and also my food intake and obviously protein went sky.

51:56I had to have protein shakes, dinner, like first thing and at night, because you need to get more weight. Yeah. Gain season. Because otherwise, like actual trying to eat, mastication, trying to eat, it was so hard. It was really, and it was the first time I had any relationship I said, a change relationship with food, because suddenly it wasn't something that was like helping me. I was just like, why are you not gaining? I'd go on the way and I'm like, no, I'm still only 72 kilos. And I was like, I need to be at least 75 and build. And it took a long time, but it helped me be really patient around like new goals.

52:29Because it's not just about how fast you're running or how strong you are. It was actually, my goal was my one point was just my weight. It was like, get to this, yeah, get to this weight. 77 is good for you. Because then you'll be about 80 kilos. Get to that weight and then you've achieved something. And then I was able to still stay fast, which was also very hard to do. Wow, that's crazy. I had no idea. and get on in the Olympics then? Not the greatest. I mean, so many variables also you learn. Ice. Blame the sled. Blame the sled. Terrible sled. I said it was broken at one point. Oh, that was horrendous.

52:59The runners you use, the temperate, all that kind of stuff. And we were in the shape of our lives, which was unfortunate because we left the Games. And at the after party, even the other girls go and say, we thought we got the medal. Everyone was scared. Really? Yeah, because we did so well in training. I mean, we were like top five, top three in training, and we don't do well in training. Usually we're not good in training And that's when we do well If that makes sense So we were like Gosh we're flying here But not going too much Just like okay It's a living game You still have to have Four consistent runs Yeah But unfortunately I think bad runner choice To me in the end It was It boiled down to A bad runner choice A combination of And the runners sorry Are like the ice skates At the bottom of our Yeah And you have different ones And you know They're actually £15 ,000 these things They're not cheap And we have to sand them Down to certain grades We spend like hours and hours doing this for prep so you have to pick the right ones for certain things and with a combination that didn't just didn't work for the day and it just meant that said was running slow that's brutal like it all around because we came off the first day and he now we worked the coach i mean what is going on like and it and he was just that though i'm just really sorry because it looks like that it's just i'm like we need to answer we need to know because i need to know when i go back out there tomorrow again so what could be what we're doing we have to keep everything the same but what and it's hard to make up you can't make up time when you couldn't at that point change it and go we need different stuff once you pick that there's like control everything you couldn't do anything it's a bit like f1 to me where it's like you know you've got phenomenal drivers and then oh sorry today the car's not doing whatever it needs to do so you're and you're 14.

54:35literally literally it's but we always got i had to call it formula one on ice that's literally what it is we are we have mechanics we do stuff our sled work we do all that stuff. So we're picking, there's three combinations, the push, the drive and the equipment. Those are your three variables. You can have great push, great drive, poor equipment, messes up. Great sled, the best sled in the world, awful drive, great push, same thing happens. You need the best three things to come together in one moment. And that's what makes it what it is. That's so annoying. Does it not make, that would frustrate me so much I'd want to go back and do it again.

55:05Listen, I ran fast in a straight line on my own and now we're in a team sport with all these variables it's completely different but it is very frustrating and it's it's but they're also learning curve and how to work how to work in a team how that we've all got a role to play how that it's not it's not one fault it's all of us because we're all a team we can't have those things because we need to we have to get back out there at one point if my driver was really like concerned about wanting it was her not at the games another world champs going because second guessing her driving and i'm the one to go right No, we're not going to do that.

55:39This is what we're doing. You're a phenomenal driver. You won best in the world. And I have to bring you back to this point because not only has got my life in your hands, this is a performance, we've got a job to do together, but I need you on game because I'm in the back there holding on for the line. And making sure that she was okay with her driving. We had that relationship because we were together for so many years. But it turned out that I said it was broken. The axe was broken in a crash. So she had no control of this sled at World Championships. And we didn't know that until it went in for a service after World Championships.

56:05And they showed us a picture of it. and I went, I told you it wasn't you. So she said it was just not responsive the way it was. And we're talking about margins, like, she does that in a sled. And that's the turn. It's tiny, tiny movements. There's smooth movements, and you're going at high speed. So they don't even separate. I think bronze medal and the guys was not separated. They had double bronze. That's over four runs. They were four miles of track over two days. They couldn't separate them. Crazy. Crazy sport. It's crazy. But you lived with the cool run in the three. I love it. Yeah, I love it.

56:36I'm in real life cool run-ins. Real life cool run-ins. I love it. Okay, let's move forward. You are now known as Fire, the gladiator. Have you got a little fire move? Yeah. I like it. What's it like being a gladiator? It is, it's a dream come true, honestly, first of all. I'm grateful every day. And mainly, honestly, because it's like the kids and the families. The best thing someone said to me was, in our first series, was like, thank you for bringing me and my family back together on a Saturday night. And to me, that was everything. Because we don't have a lot of that anymore. I grew up with it.

57:13I'm sure you grew up with it. Whereas we go there to watch it. Like it was a Saturday night. I loved it. There was no fast forward or replay. You miss it. It's gone. It's happening at that time. Whereas now there's so much else going on. Your time is kind of on you. Whereas bringing people back together, they actually come together to watch it together at a certain time. That's really nice. With a different generation. And for me, it's that. It's having that positive role model. in a different way for now generation, which there isn't a lot of that out there. And do they make you train a certain way, eat a certain way?

57:44Is there any kind of nutrition targets around it? Or is it more just you're already an athlete, you're going to crush it? So because we're all athletes and phenomenal in whatever it is that everyone does. And a lot of experience, because it's a certain level that everyone's at, we've got experience and stuff. And when we don't have experience, we lean on each other. I learned that for bodybuilders in terms of like body mass or percentage and how you look because also it's an aesthetic thing aesthetically I never cared about what I looked like because it was always function and performance I've never gone oh my abs I'm just sprinter most sprinters have abs because we do high intensity work and then rest for like three weeks so that's the part of what we do and have high protein whereas now it's very different and they don't have those parameters it's just learning how to do several different things like training training to be good is wild because you have if you do everything.

58:32Like, it's very difficult to be functional at lots of different things and things that you've never done before. Like, you might not have ever climbed. You might not and don't move laterally. I haven't done that before. I had to learn how to tackle, like train with a rugby girl. Sure, it helps me with my rugby tackling because you need to learn to do that. And just loads of different things that we have to contend with being a glad. So that's what I've enjoyed the most about it is actually training differently. Especially as I've gotten older. You know, I've done certain things, the same things over and over.

59:02But having the nuance of like something new to work towards has been a dream for me because it's kept my motivation to be able to, I'm training for this purpose and that means I have to learn how to move better. I have to climb. I'm doing Pilates because I want to be more mobile and I have to be able to move a certain way. I'm doing natural stuff. Like I don't just run in a straight line. I'm doing a lot of agility. But you need that for the travelator. Is it not the one way? No, I don't travelator. Oh, you don't do that? Some contenders. I'm a glad. Oh, sorry. I didn't know you were above the travelator.

59:30I thought you'd smash that. But I do do like a fast sprinting game. I do a fast sprinting event in Glads. And so I do have to sprint, which also, again, I love. I have to bring that back. I have to bring that back into my training. So I do. And I have to run often because when you're tuned at that, your body, that it's high risk. What do they feed you? Come on, you're on set for a whole day filming. I mean, you're probably going to get chum for this. Honestly, I live off sugar. I like, and also I've got a massive speed too. and the reason why is because obviously it's tv we're in a sports entertainment show but we're doing something at very high extreme level of like in terms of athletic prowess it's very varied and it's long days yeah so we're going in 7 8 a.m we don't finish till for 12 hours so it's a long day and you're in and out of events so maybe you've got a couple events that day you You might start the first event maybe one, half one, two, and then you've got a dip and then you've got obviously food, break, you might have a dip, then you've got another event, maybe it's 7pm at night.

1:00:33I mean, I've had stuff where it's literally 7, 8, and I'm about to do my second event because they're long filming days. So that is, can be quite, yeah, it's really hard to manage. It's very hard. So it's a bit like when I went to bobsleigh. I had to throw out like a lot of the preconceived notions that I had and almost like snobby behaviors that I have in terms of like, I'm not doing that, I'm not going to live off Harry Potter, I'm not going to sit off my face with sweets or having, even having energy drinks, stuff like that, because some of us have a lot of coffee and stuff. I'm not going to do that.

1:01:01But you need some us in the time of battle when you're having a dip, like, right, you need to go on. You're about to do something that's incredibly intense. Like I'm about to stand on the podium three minutes in the air and knock your block off, basically. That's my job to do right now. And also, I've been here since 8am, and now it's 5pm. I'm tired. You need a sugar rush. I'm tired. I haven't... The food balancing, like having lunch, you know, having curry in the middle of things, not ideal stuff. But sometimes whatever is, you know, canteen chefs made, because obviously there's a massive crew, like it's a beautiful, humongous crew that we work with, but everyone's got to eat.

1:01:35And so it's batch stuff of like, we'll all have, like you get choices for the day, veg, like a vegetarian option and then two have options. And it's a range of food and it's very difficult. I mean, a lot of us, to be honest, and I've said it before, just like when I'm Strictly, you can lose weight because there's not enough time for filming for you to add to train and eat and to maintain. So a lot of the time, some of us can lose a lot of weight in that space. And you notice because the costumes get a little bit back. And I'm like, I need a tighter costume, please. All right. Well, you mentioned Strictly then.

1:02:08So what was it like transferring from that very varied, intense training to training again, dancing all day is not easy. No, we've done it. But it's very different. No, it is... What was that like? Wild experience. Yeah. In the most beautiful way, but completely different. So dancing is very aerobic, especially when you're doing it for eight hours a day. I'm doing 50 hours, I think 60 hours a week dance. Wow. Continuously, because I dance Monday through Saturday. That's intense. Because you've got Monday through Thursday training, you've got rehearsals on Friday, you've got the show on Saturday, which is another 15 hour, whatever day is, 12 hour day.

1:02:46And then you have one day off and then you'll go straight back in. So that's, and I did that for 11 weeks. So no day, no breaks. That's 11 weeks. So in 11 weeks, I had 11 days or 10 days off in that time. So within the first four weeks, you know, I lost, I think about seven kilos. I went straight down. I haven't been under 70 kilos since I was younger at Olympic games and straight down under I understand the kilos. Wow. And again, with food and managing food, mainly through training, because we were all looked after when we were there. Food was great. Training, when you're doing that intensive workout all day, it was probably the most disciplined I've been for a while, because I'm coming in, I made sure I had breakfast because I can't, taking new information.

1:03:31I'm learning new dance every week. So I'm more than having to forget last week's, going to next week's, having a new channeling. Mental as well, it's difficult. Yeah, like extremely, both ends as bad as each other. Like as intense as each other, mentally and physically you're going at it because Monday you're coming in, it's like brain freeze. Okay, you need the fuel for that. We were having good breaks, so we had lots and lots of breaks. And it's made sure that we were like having, like, I was probably drinking more water and hydrating more than I ever have because I was sweating so much. And you're constantly on your feet all day.

1:04:04The amount of steps I was doing, one day, like 3 ,000 one day, it was just incredible because you do a quick step that's running mate you're just running around at one point i was like dude we are sprinting around this studio and it was like yeah it's the quick step like and you just you just constant steps all week so you're burning a lot of i was burning a lot more calories than i've ever been before because it was hours and hours of of duds every day every day five six days a week yeah okay so i have to ask who does the better food Strictly Gladiator Or the Olympics I'm going to go Straight back to my roots And go and see The Olympic Games I'm not going to Not going to get in trouble With both of the teams Them competing in each other Y 'all can find it out Watch yourselves I'm not going to be involved No And I say that Because at Olympics Olympics Food experience Especially in summer games Yeah Winter games are slightly different Because it's a smaller environment But summer games The food It's one of the best things That you'd experience But Wait Where were you?

1:05:04Which Olympics So I went to Beijing, China. So you were Beijing. 2008. And then Pyeongchang, which is Korea, in 2018. And then back to Beijing in 2022. Because Paris got a terrible rep for the food. So I was not expecting you to say the Olympics is the best food. That's what I mean. But every Olympics is different. So Beijing is one of the best Olympics for sure. I mean, we walked in and there's literally a McDonald's inside the canteen. That's not good food. No. But let's put my mum, 22 years old. Okay. So you're like, McDonald's, yes. And also, it's all the fact that it's free. Like, it's just free.

1:05:37So people go in and they get like five burgers. And also there's very different sorts of people there. It's not just track and field athletes that probably eat one of the best, I think, in terms of spending on what you've got to do, depends on their event. But there's food from all over the world in there. So it's literally food of the world. Every corner of this room, and the canter is massive, like humongous, let's face. Took you ages to be in there. You could be in there hours and hours and then just eat it. And it's 24-7. Yeah. So when I am, you're starving. So that's, you go to the canteen and get food.

1:06:05And it's just every type of food, Indian, Chinese, Doctrine and Asian food, vegetarian option. But you couldn't imagine - And branded, like post food branded? No, just like canteen food. That was the only branded thing that's sponsored by you. Everywhere else was just food galore. So you could go in and have five different types of food in the day. Like there's something for everyone, which you can't complain because then that's the best way you can prepare for what you want to do. whereas we're limited to kind of like it's not batch they really did especially my games don't know about the our games but it was really good wow okay i didn't expect that that's really interesting all right so we've got to move on the next section the good the bad and the healthy i want to get into one thing you're doing good right now a bad thing and a real health hack that you live by okay quick fight oh quick fight right i know bad show off go on start with bad What are you doing that's terrible?

1:07:01What's the bad thing? No, the bad thing is my water intake. That's what I'm trying to... You're not seeing it every time. I'm like this, I'm just saying this. See how you've finished? Do you see how mine's almost gone? Yeah, mine's gone. I need more. Bad is I still haven't mastered the art of hydration. Yeah. I don't know how much... I mean, if I have any of it a day, if I have, which I probably don't, honestly, that's like, wow, I've had so much water today. That's really bad. Yeah, it's really bad. I mean, a normal person should probably drink that too. I know. I've heard this, yeah, three to four.

1:07:30It's just a lot of fluid. I struggle, honestly, I really struggle. That's my bad, and I know it's bad, because you need that, your body's made up of water, so my poor muscles, they live in dehydration. Poor muscles. My good would be, I did have a good. Are these just things I'm doing, habits I'm doing? Food, whatever, yeah, habits, whatever. My good would be, I don't have much good I could have a good What about healthy? What's like a health hack that you swear by When you're training? A health hack when I'm training I would say a health hack Well One thing that definitely changed For me was air fryer I'm not going to lie I'm not going to lie Because I wasn't even on board that until recently I was like Everyone's going, you need this.

1:08:24I'm like, what is it really a thing? Game changer. Really? Yeah, it's really lazy cooking. Yeah, I hate it. But what it allows me to do is also not have, I don't care about how much oil I use in food, because obviously growing up as well, heritage, I think we use a lot of oil in our food. It's just how we cook food. So that's my habit. I don't know what is enough. And I know that I definitely use less with my hair fry. it depends on the fat you use and how you're cooking yeah i only use olive oil which i don't know if that's totally good for you no that is totally good for you olive oil is the best oil extra virgin it's the only oil that i use it's the only thing nutritionists and doctors will probably agree on when they talk about oil is that extra virgin oil is the best hands down something good so you're doing my good but well i've only only ever had that i don't have anything else that I have to be for it.

1:09:16That's my definite health. It's not a hack, but it definitely changed the way I prepare food. Because before it was very much, well I didn't know the air fry, I didn't use that. It wasn't a thing. I was like, how do we do this? But now I can have my healthy, all my meats and stuff, even a lot of fish. I ate a lot, mostly fish. I was just going to eat once. I just like fish. I'd always put fish on the menu for anything else. But I can just do it and then it helps with the prep. Fishing with lifestyle I've been so busy that I'm not over a stove constantly. I can kind of like throw. And I'll be like, jacking potato in there, throw the thing in there.

1:09:49I could just go and try and do some more stuff and probably pack my day with more things, for sure. Fish is fantastic, though. I mean, I don't know how true it is, but Dr. Rhonda Patrick said recently that not eating enough fish or getting enough omega-3 intake is the equivalent of smoking in terms of shortening your lifestyle. which is really scary to think and I haven't actually looked into all the science of how they measured that but that's what she was claiming she was making and I've definitely bought some fish oil after that podcast I said she was I'd probably eat fish maybe like once a week but I'm like oh really yeah I had it last night I'd say about two times prawns and shrimp and shrimp and calamari made myself like with pasta very good alright quickfire round okay favourite guilty pleasure takeaway meat burgers and chips because I never really have it and chips, five guys is the one yeah, five guys okay, fair enough I think I've actually in fairness to five guys it's not a pleasure you're going to say it's good for us no, listen, it's not I don't believe it's good for you what I always say is a burger actually could be a healthy food, right, it's just meat and veg or salad and then in a bun, right, but it's they've kind of bastardised it and then you probably have it with a pint of Coke and like French fries, which aren't good.

1:11:11So that's the thing. But I saw someone do, you know, the classic McDonald's test of putting the McDonald's burger out, leaving it for like a month and it doesn't decompose. But they did it with Five Guys and Five Guys actually gets moldy. Yeah, immediately. Which is awesome. Which is great. It's more real than McDonald's. And which is so much better as well. So yeah. It did actually mean. Go Five Guys over McDonald's any day of the week. Awesome. Okay. Favourite on the go snack? I'm with popcorn fiend. Popcorn? You all have it at all. I have, yeah, I have a lot of popcorn. I'm not a huge snacker.

1:11:44It's probably good. But I don't, yeah, I'm not a huge snacker, but I do. I don't feel like popcorn would fill you up if you need to. No, high volume. It's not, like a snack snack. Well, if you're like hungry, you're out and about, like. No, if I was hungry and out and about, I'd probably have like ham and cheese toastie. Ham and cheese toastie. I've got one in my bag right now. Have you? Yeah, it's like go-to. Yeah, because if I'm hungry, if I'm hungry and I want a snack, I probably want food, because I thought I'd get hungry. And if I had a pop chip, it would probably be my go-to. Like, I wouldn't have pop or crisp.

1:12:15Yeah, I don't drink pretty drinks. Okay. If you could eat one meal for the rest of your life, what would it be? It would be fried chicken wings. It'd be fried chicken wings with three percent fries. Yeah. I'd have ketchup, though, because I can't have chips without ketchup. and possibly I'd go broccoli Broccoli? Yeah, that's like my favourite meal Soup, death, fries, broccoli, chicken wings Are they hot with scotch bonnet or have you gone mild chicken wings? No, they're just like roasted chicken wings seasoned up by roasted chicken wings If they're barbecue we can throw in barbecue that's great but I don't need to have it in there I can just have it seasoned up Yeah, that would be my go-to thing I think Nice Very good What's one food you can't stand?

1:13:04I can't stand? Yeah A food, anything Anything I don't like aubergine What's wrong with aubergine? I can't stand I don't get it It's not nice It will throw me in any If there's even a hint of it in there I don't understand why that's in anything I wish I liked it But I've tried it so many times I've gone Awful Everything about it is awful Even though I could Oh it's awful I mean I get it I would never buy it I would never eat it I would never choose it ever. If you cook it quite plainly, it's quite a truly plain vegetable. But what about like properly made? Nah. Do you know what also, the texture.

1:13:40Texture? Yeah, it's funny. It's like hard and soft. Hard and soft. I don't like, I'm funny with textures, the food. That's the thing with me. Yeah, I'm more funny with textures than I am with what it is. Like I love a poached egg. Yeah. But I have to, sometimes I want to request it, and I'm not going to look at it wrong. But I'll go, look, I don't want it well done, because I want it runny, but I don't want the white to be floating around in my sourdough. You're particular about your poached egg? Yeah, I'm really particular to the point where now it's annoying when I order it because it's never going to be right because they're always overdoing it because they can't balance it.

1:14:13Can you cook a poached egg right? No, I won't. I've never tried. So you send it back, you send it back like how dare you send me that poached egg? You can't even do it yourself. I've never tried actually. I know it's really easy like put it in there. I've never tried. It's actually not easy. Is it not? Yeah, people go through it, it's easy, just put the egg in the water. The thing that is hard with eggs is like they're different sizes so you could be like right three minutes poached egg that's going to do it but then if you get a slightly bigger egg it's not going to work it might be 320 and like to actually measure that is like legit hard you can do it you can mess up boiled eggs right like six minutes boiled egg you do 10.

1:14:54No 10 from cold water in cold water and then 10 oh cold start in cold 10 I just put 10 on and it's usually fine and I like it hard boiled but that is hard boiled yeah I didn't I wouldn't go like you don't want a soft boiled egg I do like a soft boiled egg but most of the time I'm eating like the eggs just straight to hand this is like your protein yeah I'm just having like 2 or 3 eggs in the morning with my porridge and stuff so I'm not what it's at least to be runny and stuff because I've just got eggs if I had it separately or I had like toast with it so like you know this soldier's thing when you're a kid I would then prefer it to be runny you want the runny I mean a runny yolk is better for you is it?

1:15:31you've got more of the nutrients protected from the heat you lose some when you heat it up so if you're boiling an egg for ages because you're like I don't care oh yeah okay well now you've changed my whole thing I'm going to start having more runny eggs yeah I would go runny all the time I literally am obsessed with it I think it's one of the healthiest things all the choline in there has made it to your brain so so healthy I mean I just make sure my two kids are just alright whatever Even if they don't eat shit, I'm like, Eat the egg. Get the egg yolk in you and then you're fine. I knew there was a reason why I'm obsessed with eggs.

1:16:01Yeah. One of the healthiest, cheapest foods in the supermarket. Like, if we class some random berry from the Amazon rainforest as a superfood, it's bullshit. Eggs are a superfood. Like, literally. You're like, no, eggs for the egg. 100 % eggs all day over any kind of berry. I mean, berries are amazing, don't get me wrong, but I don't think you need to waste your time with goji berries or acai or whatever. No, I just go straight blackberry and blueberries, to be honest. Do you know what? It's blackberry season right now, so I've got some in my garden where I'm just going to pick them fresh. Unpopular opinion.

1:16:34Raspberries? Love them. Yeah, but why do they mould after 3.5 seconds? I'm sorry, but I buy them. I get them. They're mouldy. I put them from the shop in my car. I put them in the fridge the next morning. I'm like, why is there mould there? Now you can tell me they're eating all my other raspberries and I can't eat them. I've stopped buying them. because they die instantly. Yeah, I mean, they are like the avocado of the fruit world, aren't they? They're fucking pain in the ass. So I've just stopped. I'm over it. I was like, I love you, but get out of the fridge. Frozen? I'm also funny with frozen.

1:17:07But, you know, yeah, I don't know. See the texture thing again. Yeah, but also because I used to put them in a... I used to have them non-stop making protein shakes. So I'd blend it up, protein powder, milk, whatever, the hell I have it, make it. But then it would create a film. What? Yeah In my shake And that was Oh Throw me So since then I don't have frozen I might have to go back But I don't have frozen Berries anymore See I love frozen berries In a protein shake Because it makes it cold And I love a cold protein shake Exactly So I have no ice in it To make that Because I don't like the whole Maybe I'll go back and try it But you want to check the film Because now you've got to see it I've never Is it one of those things Once you see it You can't go back Yeah That's why I can go back Because I can't do it I'm going to have to check it You might ruin frozen berries for me Don't do that I don't think people notice that there's a film but they're like half the price of fresh true so and they're more nutritious because they've been frozen at peak ripeness and like so many benefits to frozen berries don't ruin us I'll go back I'll try please please alright Montel that's been amazing I've loved that conversation there's been so much to go through we could have probably gone for hours but I'll get told off so thank you for coming in it's been a pleasure oh thanks for having me Good luck on the next series.

1:18:21Bloody hell. Bye.

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