The Jump's JB Gill on the fear of injury and how Heather Mills taught him to be competitive

Gill was up against Jon-Allan Butterworth, with the duo coming so close that they caused each other to fall – but it was Jon-Allan who leapt up the quickest, winning by 35.86 seconds to JB’s 45.15.

But JB has no hard feelings towards the Paralympic cyclist, he tells RadioTimes.com.

"I've only been snowboarding three to four days and he's been on snowboarding holidays so the likelihood was that I was going to lose that draw."

Although he missed out on a place in Monday night's final, Gill says he was chuffed with his performance which had been improved by extra training from fellow competitor and experienced skiier Heather Mills. "She was really helpful with me, learning how to carve, race and how to be competitive. I really appreciate it, she didn't have to do that – it is a competition at the end of the day."

So with all that tireless skill-learning, is The Jump a more gruelling reality show than the X Factor, which launched JB Gill's pop star career? "In terms of emotional energy, X Factor is harder, in terms of physical energy this is by far harder.

"Because literally every time you go out there, you could be injured. Broken collar bones, broken arms...you face that reality every time."

It's that awareness of danger that Gill says caused his second jump to be shorter than it might have been. "Having experienced those falls I didn't want to particularly push myself to the point where I'd fall again. But for me it was more about conquering the form issue rather than jumping as far as possible."

The Jump final kicks off at 8 pm tonight (Monday 9th February) on Channel 4. Here's all you need to know before it begins...