Bear Grylls: Mission Survive was tough for big softie Michelle Collins

Michelle made a splash on Corrie as landlady Stella

But the former EastEnders and Corrie star says she has no regrets over her emotional wobble on Bear Grylls: Mission Survive.

Michelle is one of the celebs being pushed to the very limit on ITV’s hit series.

“I found the water stuff really awful,” Michelle told The Sunday Post. “There were a couple of times I thought I was going to drown.

“The heights were so tough, too. I always said I would never cry on TV because that’s really stupid.

“But there was one mammoth climb and we were so exhausted and ecstatic at making it that we all cried.

“It’s just your body’s way of expressing relief.”

Bear Grylls: Mission Survive (ITV / betty)

Michelle was due to appear in the last series of the show but had to pull out. She says she saw being asked again as an indication it was something she was destined to do.

Now 53 and a big fan of Bear, she wanted to push herself and try something some “crazy people would pay big money to do”.

And she’s glad the public have the chance to see a different side to her.

“I’ve often been told I have a tough exterior but that’s really not how I see myself,” she confides.

“I think I’m a big softie deep down. I’m actually quite a shy person and you sometimes put up a bit of a front to protect yourself.

“And I’ve played a lot of tough roles. Even though I’ve done lots of other stuff, it always harks back to Cindy in EastEnders and people tar you with that brush.

“I do play strong, wilful roles and you’re seen in that way. So it was good to let down that exterior. And also not to worry all the time what people think about you.

“I didn’t take any make-up and didn’t look in a mirror the whole time. I didn’t wash my hair or shower and it was so liberating not being concerned with your appearance.”

Michelle made it a soap double when she signed on in Coronation Street as Rovers Return landlady Stella Price.

She insists, though, that she’s done so many other things she doesn’t view herself as a soap star.

She left Stella behind two years ago and says she just had to be around to spend more time with daughter Maia.

“She’s 19 now and started university last September,” explains Michelle. “But when I left Corrie I wanted to be there until she finished her A-Levels.

“It’s difficult when you’re a working single parent and when you’re an actor you have to spend a lot of time away.

“With Corrie I asked her if she wanted to come and go to school in Manchester, which she didn’t.

“So I spent three years travelling up and down on the train. I wasn’t very happy and Maia wasn’t either. We missed each other.

“It was important to me to spend those important couple of years with her.

“You have to sacrifice your life for your kids. That’s what it’s all about at the end of the day. I don’t see the point of working and working if you don’t see your kids.”

Maia’s university days freed up Michelle to do Mission Survive as well as theatre work and a Midsomer Murders. She is currently treading the boards again, in all-action dance style, in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.

The musical also stars Jason Manford and Martin Kemp. It’s currently in Belfast and will be in Edinburgh and Glasgow in October.

She’s loving the dancing and admits that having turned down Strictly in the past, Mission Survive may just have changed her mind.

“I’m not good at failure and I just thought, ‘what if I’m really bad at it?’” she adds.

“My biggest fear would be to be out in the first or second week. But I think having done Bear Grylls I’ve done the toughest show so maybe it wouldn’t be so bad after all. So, we’ll see. Never say never.”

Bear Grylls: Mission Survive, ITV, Thursday 9pm.

Former Strictly star Chelsee Healey on her upcoming adventure with Bear Grylls