Rebecca Loos and Michaella McCollum were both thrust into the public eye through their notoriety. But have they been underestimated?
They got the chance to find out in the brutal, muddy, no-make-up, no-privacy battleground of Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins, when they confronted the ghosts of their pasts to prove just how formidable they really are.
The toughest series of the year so far was filmed in Wales last summer and sees them, along with 12 other contestants including dancer Louie Spence, boxer Connor Benn and Love Islanders Chloe Burrows and Tasha Ghouri, diving into icy waters, running with 15kg packs and having orders barked at them by ex-Special Forces officers.
For Rebecca, once famous for her alleged affair with David Beckham, the show proved a turning point.
For Michaella, who made headlines as one of the ‘Peru Two’ drug smugglers, it’s a tale of reinvention. For both it was a lesson in managing anxiety and pushing beyond their self-doubt.
Rebecca, who was branded the ‘sleazy senorita’ and accused of destroying a golden marriage, found herself in the eye of a media storm following her alleged affair with Beckham when she worked with him in Madrid in the early 2000s.
Rebecca Loos and Michaella McCollum were both thrust into the public eye through their notoriety. But have they been underestimated?
For Rebecca, once famous for her alleged affair with David Beckham the show proved a turning point
Now more than two decades later she’s back on British screens – older and wiser. ‘I wouldn’t say the media have been kind in how they’ve portrayed me,’ she says. ‘I’ve been accused of being a liar and a slut.’
Now 48, Rebecca lives in Norway with her husband and their two sons, but taking part in Celebrity SAS plunged her right back into the spotlight, as well as into the deep end of physical endurance.
‘You’re stripped down. No make-up. No distractions. Just yourself and your thoughts,’ she says.
Rebecca leaned on the breathing techniques she’s learned as a yoga teacher to cope, especially with the sleep deprivation that she describes as her greatest trial.
‘I hardly slept. And going through perimenopause was emotionally, mentally and hormonally very hard.’
But perhaps the most poignant aspect of her SAS journey is that it came on the heels of Beckham’s glossy Netflix documentary.
‘That took me completely by surprise,’ she says. ‘Let’s call it what it was: him trying to portray an image of perfection that was nothing like reality.
‘I look back at my 20s and it felt unjust that my life was hell and his career and his life just kept blossoming. That didn’t feel right. It still doesn’t.’
found herself in the eye of a media storm following her alleged affair with Beckham when she worked with him in Madrid in the early 2000s (David and Victoria pictured in June)
For Michaella, who made headlines as one of the ‘Peru Two’ drug smugglers, it’s a tale of reinvention. For both it was a lesson in managing anxiety and pushing beyond their self-doubt
Michaella, 32, was the poster girl for bad decisions when, in 2013, she was sentenced to six years for agreeing to be a drugs mule and trying to smuggle £1.5 million of cocaine out of Lima
She doesn’t deny her part in the scandal. ‘I think I’ve definitely taken most of the blame – rightly so. It was part of my life. He was older than me, he was my boss.’
‘But I’m not someone to be silenced when I’ve been wronged, and that documentary took absolutely no responsibility. When he said, “It was so horrible to see my wife suffer,” I thought, “Mate, think twice about the things you do.”’
Does she harbour any bitterness? ‘I just roll my sleeves up and get on with it because everything I’ve experienced has brought me to where I am today. And it’s made me a little bit stronger. Celebrity SAS showed me what I’m still capable of.’
Michaella, 32, was the ultimate poster girl for bad decisions when, in 2013, she was sentenced to six years for agreeing to be a drugs mule and trying to smuggle £1.5 million of cocaine out of Lima with another girl, Melissa Reid.
Today she’s a mother and author working in luxury real estate in the UK. But more than that – she’s a survivor.
‘At 19, I was naive, groomed, manipulated. But I know who I am now,’ she says. ‘I needed a shift in my life. I kept saying no to work, to relationships. I was stuck. And I thought, “If I say yes to this, maybe I can break the cycle.”’
When she was chosen she couldn’t swim and had just four weeks to learn. Then on day one on the show, she was thrown in the sea. ‘I started sinking. The boots dragged me down, it was terrifying.’
From there it only got tougher: running 2km up hills with 15kg on her back, sleeping two hours a night, physical exhaustion layered over trauma. ‘There were moments when I thought my legs wouldn’t work. But somehow you push through. You realise mental strength is everything.’
Michaella’s no stranger to adversity after her time in Peruvian prison Ancon 2. But it gave her the grit to cope with SAS.
‘The living conditions on the show were difficult but for me it was fine. Both regimes are hostile, both strip you bare, but this time I knew when it would end and that made all the difference.
‘Celebrity SAS helped me see what I’m made of. It taught me I can bond with other people. It made me change where I live, change my job and the people I’m surrounded by. It had such a massive effect on my life.’
Now 48, Rebecca lives in Norway with her husband and their two sons, but taking part in the show plunged her back into the spotlight, as well as into the deep end of physical endurance
‘I just roll my sleeves up and get on with it because everything I’ve experienced has brought me to where I am today. And it’s made me a little bit stronger,’ she said
Both women have shown that strength isn’t about push-ups. It’s about showing up – again and again – for yourself. ‘That’s a good metaphor for life – you’re going to get knocked down so many times but you’ve got to keep getting up,’ says Michaella.
Michaella spent almost three years in the notorious Ancon 2 jail. ‘One woman hung herself in front of me,’ she recalls.
‘That’s something that never leaves you. There were rats running around our room, maggots in the rice and cockroaches in the showers.
‘You had to use buckets to wash yourself, the toilets didn’t flush and there were no toilet seats. You had to learn to adapt. Then there was the constant screaming day and night.
‘You could be attacked at any moment. I’ve seen women set on fire. I’ve seen women stabbed. I’ve seen women overdose and die. You’re in a cell with 40 women, some of them have mental health issues, some are dangerous – you don’t sleep properly, ever.’
Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins will be available to stream or watch live every Sunday and Monday at 9pm on Channel 4, from August 3
