We caught up with and singer-songwriter Una Healy to chat about her new Netflix reality series Celebrity Bear Hunt and to find out if there are any plans afoot for a reunion of The Saturdays.
Una Healy is in typically high spirits as we sit down to chat about her new Netflix reality show, Celebrity Bear Hunt.
It has a bit of a mad premise. A bunch of celebrities are dropped into the middle of a remote jungle in Costa Rica where they are hunted by a fearsome predator - TV's most famed adventurer and survivalist Bear Grylls. They are pitted against one another as they attempt to evade capture and progress in the competition. Having seen the first two episodes, the show over-delivers on its slightly bonkers concept. It's highly entertaining, with impressive production values, genuine thrills and spills and plenty of heart.
"The psychologist said to prepare yourself for when you're home, you might get mild PTSD from it, which I did. It took me a while to adjust when I came home just getting back to having a phone, being around talking to people, everything."
As well as Healy, who found fame in the girl group The Saturdays and has a busy solo music career, Spice Girl Mel B, Strictly Come Dancing judge Shirley Ballas, Ted Lasso actor Kola Bokinni and former Wimbledon champion Boris Becker are among the assorted cast members taking part.
When asked what motivated her to join the series, Healy said she wanted to "challenge" herself and "go for an opportunity that was a once-in-a-lifetime thing".
"It's something that I can tick off my bucket list, I've been there and done that and came back in one piece, because it was actually quite daunting, to be honest – the whole thing. We had to sign waivers and everything, we had to have all our jabs before going out, we were literally in the jungle.
"It's not like a film set – it's the actual reality off the jungle. We were all living together. To be put in those circumstances – nothing can prepare you for that."
For someone who is naturally talkative and easy to get along with, Healy had a hard time adjusting to the open-space living at the camp, where they had "no phones, no TVs, no watches" and were all sleeping "in one big room, in the middle of nowhere, beside shark infested waters".
"It took me a while to adjust to the living circumstances of being in there, mic'd-up, with cameras, with all these people who I'm still kind of star-struck by and also big personalities," she admitted. "[I] couldn't get a word in edgeways at the beginning, everyone was talking over each other and there wasn't really any groups formed so it was just like one big beehive.
"I didn't know where to fit in, or who to talk to, so it took me time. In real life, well at home, I'm a chatterbox. But I found myself really quiet for the first couple of days.
"I know it's really cliché to say it was 'a journey', but for me, it really was. I did go in there quiet, I did observe and I learned a lot. I was in my shell, but I came out of it and I built my confidence, actually."
She got along particularly well with some of her her fellow female contestants. "I chatted a lot to Mel B and it was nice because I felt like I had a lot in common with her", Healy said. "I formed really lovely friendships with a couple of the girls in there – Lottie [Moss] and Steph [McGovern]. I got on really well with everyone."
However, the Tipperary native confessed it wasn't all sunshine and flowers, saying the cast "all had our little mini arguments during the challenges because they were very intense".
"It's not like I'm A Celebrity [Get Me Out Of Here!] where it just seems like everyone's all so 'happy happy' all the time. It's because we're against each other and then when you're in the Bear Pit, you have to fend for yourself.
"You have to try and get out of there or escape Bear. You don't care about the other people, you think of yourself, so you have to be very selfish."
The Irish singer-songwriter said it was "really scary" and that "anything could go wrong, and it did go wrong."
"I don't think there's anyone that doesn't have a natural sense of fear of heights and [during the challenges] there is only little harness - anything could go wrong. You're up a few hundred feet on this rickety bridge, if you fell and the harness broke, you're gone.
"Then you’re hanging off the edge of cliffs, there was crocodile-infested waters and bugs and spiders... We did sign all these forms, we signed our lives away really, so I’m glad I’m still here to tell the tale."
Healy said she signed up for the show at the "very last minute" so she had little time to prepare. Luckily, she felt physically and mentally up to the challenge.
"The physical fitness really helped," she said. "I was just in a fortunate position that I love to keep fit, so I was in the gym all the time anyway."
Healy, who shares two children, Aoife and Tadhg, with her ex-husband Ben Foden, said that facing adversity in her life also set her up for success.
"With the mentally challenging stuff, I think life in general will prepare you for that", she shared. "Everyone goes through sh** in life - it's hard. I’m quite resilient, I think that stood to me too.
"I kept telling myself - 'You've been through things in life, had stuff thrown at you and you always found your way around it and moved on.'
"It’s all about moving forward - whatever happened yesterday - it’s a new day."
She was spurred on in the competition with thoughts of her two kids, who she "missed so much", cheering her on from home.
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"At the back of my head, the whole time, all I had was my children saying 'You can do it, do your best. We don't want you to come out early.' They motivated me and I just wanted to do them proud," she said with a smile.
Even so, Healy admitted that participating in the high-stakes show took its toll.
"Going into the Bear Pit, there were gunshots like that meant that Bear had entered – 'Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang'. And they were so loud, and there were tripwires, and they were so loud," she said.
"The psychologist said to prepare yourself for when you're home, you might get mild PTSD [Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder] from it, which I did. It took me a while to adjust when I came home just getting back to having a phone, being around talking to people, everything.
"But at night, when I was trying to sleep I was having nightmares of the bangs and the sounds and all of that, so that took me a while."
Despite the difficult times she has faced both off-screen and on, Healy is clearly thriving and enjoying the opportunities coming her way. I couldn't let her go without asking the burning question on everyone's lips. When are The Saturdays getting back together?
"That's one of the most asked questions and all the girls will be asked the same too, but we haven't got to that point yet," she said. "Everyone's so busy and they're all doing so well.
"I would love to one day. I went into the group doing my own thing, as a solo artist, and then I came out, had a solo album and I collaborated with a lot of different people.
"I work with Luke Thomas & The Swing Cats and my uncle Declan Nerney and Irish Women in Harmony, I have loads of gigs coming up, so I'm busy. I'm back writing, and getting some new songs together, so I hope to release them throughout the year as well. I’m fulfilled - music is my passion.
"The Saturdays were one group that I was in. Maybe to do a reunion one day would be great, but I can't answer for the other four. I can only answer for myself and if that opportunity came up, I would 100% do it."
Celebrity Bear Hunt launches on Netflix on 5 February.
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