Mel Giedroyc discovered she doesn't have quite the head for heights that she imagined in a new show about vertigo sufferers.
The Bake Off host is presenting Vertigo Road Trip, which screens in on Wednesday, May 7 on BBC1 at 9pm and sees psychologist Dr Jennifer Wild help five sufferers of extreme vertigo to try to confront their fears on a number of challenges.
The programme culminates with the group ascending the tallest building in the world, the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, and Mel admits that even she found it rather daunting.
"I am not going to lie, I was absolutely bricking it up there," she laughs. "If I was paid quite a large sum of money I would not go up that building again. I really didn’t like it because you are almost one kilometre up. It was an amazing thing for the group to say, 'I have gone up the highest building in the world,' because when we first met them, some of them couldn't even go up three flights of stairs, but it was pretty nasty up there. They tell you, 'It's absolutely stable', but it was quite a windy day and it was shaking around, so it was scary, if I am honest."
Mel had never considered whether she had a fear of heights, but doing the programme did give her pause for thought.
"I have never really analysed whether I was afraid of heights or not," she says. "I have climbed Helvellyn, I am OK in lifts, I have gone up the Eiffel Tower and the Empire State Building, but when you are put in a situation with a group of people who are really struggling with it, you think, 'Have they got a point?' and your mind starts to play tricks with you."
For the full interview, buy TV & Satellite Week, which is on sale now.
