Joey Essex wins Channel 4's The Jump

(Image credit: Todd Anthony)

Reality star Joey Essex has been crowned champion of the celebrity series The Jump.

In only his second jump in Channel 4's winter sports competition, the star of The Only Way Is Essex managed a distance of 17.5m to beat ex-England rugby captain Mike Tindall and Commonwealth Games gold medal-winning heptathlete Louise Hazel for the title.

After his victory, Joey said: "I just went for it. When It comes (to it) and I put my mind to it - I just do it man."

Mike - who was watched by wife Zara Philips in the crowd at Jump Mountain in Kuhtai, Austria, said of Joey's victory: "When he has to do it, he does it."

Both Mike and Louise cleared 17m in the deciding ski jumps. She hit a speed of 70mph down the slope and later joked 'that's faster than my car'.

Patrick McLennan is a London-based journalist and documentary maker who has worked as a writer, sub-editor, digital editor and TV producer in the UK and New Zealand. His CV includes spells as a news producer at the BBC and TVNZ, as well as web editor for Time Inc UK. He has produced TV news and entertainment features on personalities as diverse as Nick Cave, Tom Hardy, Clive James, Jodie Marsh and Kevin Bacon and he co-produced and directed The Ponds, which has screened in UK cinemas, BBC Four and is currently available on Netflix.

An entertainment writer with a diverse taste in TV and film, he lists Seinfeld, The Sopranos, The Chase, The Thick of It and Detectorists among his favourite shows, but steers well clear of most sci-fi.