Meet The Jump 2015 contestants as they hit the slopes in their skiing gear

Sixteen celebrities are about to battle it out on the ski slopes of Austria for the unrivalled prize of… a cowbell.

Yes, Channel 4’s injury-prone show The Jump has actually got itself a second series and more celebrities are hard at work training. They face all manner of winter sport disciplines, including bobsleigh, skeleton and, of course, the dreaded ski jump. The two lowest scorers of each day’s challenge face the live jump and must land the furthest distance to stay in.

Before it all kicks off, the contestants are showing off some rather funky snow gear and reveal why they really signed up (a free ski trip seems to have been a rather obvious driver). From Joey Essex, who is pretty sure he’ll be a pro by the end of it to Gogglebox’s Dom Parker who is looking forward to the exercise… sort of, meet this year’s group:

Joey Essex

Age: 24

Famous, why? Former regular on reality show The Only Way Is Essex

Why take part? “The reason I said yes to it was because I’ve never been snowboarding and skiing, and for the last two or three years I’ve heard a lot of people talking about. Some of my mates have done it, and people say it’s so good. I like ice skating, but you can do that in Essex. You can’t go down a properly massive hill unless you go to Austria or somewhere. So I think I’m going to get taught all of these skills by professionals, and it’ll give me a massive lesson, and I’ll basically be a pro by the end of it. I learn quite quickly at things, and I’m quite a risk-taker, I like a bit of adrenaline, and I like competition.”

Louie Spence

Age: 45

Famous, why? Dancer and TV personality. Former judge on Dancing on Ice

Why take part? “I’ve never done anything like this, because of dancing. There’s such a fear of injuring yourself that you just don’t do stuff like skiing. I think I’ve reached an age now where I’m not a dancer any more, as such – I still do a bit – and it just looks really exciting.”

Stacey Solomon

Age: 25

Famous, why? X Factor contestant and TV personality

Why take part? “Just the thought of going to an amazing ski resort, learning properly how to do all these activities, it just looked like loads of fun, to be honest with you. Like a really fun holiday.”

Jon-Allan Butterworth

Age: 28

Famous, why? British Paralympic cycling silver medalist

Why take part? “I didn’t take much persuading. It’s all about the events for me. Doing something like the skeleton, or the bobsleigh, is unique. You can’t just book yourself a session on holiday. And I do like skiing and snowboarding, I’ve done them in the past. And this is an opportunity to get taught by some amazing instructors.”

Phil Tufnell

Age: 48

Famous, why? Former England cricketer and TV personality

Why take part? “I want to learn how to ski nicely. I’ve been a couple of times and got to a pretty basic level. I thought, what a great opportunity to learn how to ski a bit. And also I quite like things that are a bit of a challenge – you now, the luge, the ski jump. When am I ever going to get the chance to do that again? What a great idea! Plus a little bit of après ski. Lovely!”

JB Gill

Age: 28

Famous, why? Former member of JLS

Why take part? “Some might say that I’m a bit of a thrill-seeker. I don’t think I’m actively that way inclined, but I do enjoy outdoor pursuits of the hair-raising exciting kind. I’m a scuba diver, I’ve done sky diving before, I went skiing for the first time in March and I loved it. So when my manager got in touch and said ‘They’re doing casting for The Jump, would you be interested?’ I was really interested.”

Louise Thompson

Age: 24

Famous, why? Regular cast member on reality TV show Made In Chelsea

Why take part? “I was a very keen skier as a child. I’ve been so busy the last three or four years I haven’t actually had a proper chance to get any skiing in. so this is my dream experience – six weeks of skiing and being in the snow. I love all snowbound activities. And the freezing cold, and the cool outfits – for me, it’s just perfect.”

Jodie Kidd

Age: 36

Famous, why? Model and TV presenter

Why take part? “Who gets, in their lifetime, to be taught how to do these amazing disciplines that we’ve all seen on TV, by Olympians and the best ski trainers? It is bonkers, but who gets to have Amy Williams teach them how to do skeleton? Who gets some of the best bobsleigh trainers to teach you how to do bobsleigh? I’m 36 and I’m being taught snowboarding by the coolest, best teachers in the world. How lucky to be able to go away and spend a month learning these amazing new things, with a really wonderful bunch of people. What an experience.”

Ashley Roberts

Age: 33

Famous, why? Former member of girl band The Pussycat Dolls and TV personality

Why take part? When they originally asked me, I said: ‘No. I’m not into winter sports, I’m not into that snow stuff, I’m a desert girl, I like the sunshine.’ Then they came back and asked again and I took a second. I’m a pretty adventurous person – I’ve been sky diving, I’ve swum with sharks, I’ve had trapeze lessons, I’ve hiked to Machu Picchu. And I thought, ‘This could be an adventure that opens up my eyes to something I’ve never done before.’ So I said yes.

Lady Victoria Hervey

Age: 38

Famous, why? Model and socialite

Why take part? I’ve skied my whole life; it’s something that I’m pretty confident doing. I think, with any of these sorts of shows, why not do it? It’s something I know I’m good at. I would never have signed on for something like this if I couldn’t ski.

Mike Tindall

Age: 36

Famous, why? Former England rugby team captain

Why take part? “I watched it last year and loved it and pretty much said then that it would be one of the only TV shows I’d do. And the other reason is, I love skiing. I haven’t been able to ski for so long, with rugby getting in the way. Since I stopped playing internationally I’ve been three times in the last two years and loved it. So I loved the idea of being able to go out and get better at skiing. Getting that sort of high-end tutorage while we’re out there will be amazing. Plus, there’s an element of competition, which I don’t get that often anymore.”

Steve O

Age: 40

Famous, why? Stunt performer in TV show Jackass

Why take part? “I’m not bull******** you here, this is absolutely true: I recently made a conscious decision to take time out to do some skiing this winter, and perhaps even learn how to snowboard. And it seems like at some point in the next couple of days the phone rang, and a voice said, ‘How would you like to get paid to go on a skiing vacation to Austria?’ And I was like ‘Yeah!’ And, if you want the Lord’s honest truth, my first thought was ‘Man, is that the greatest career move?’ Y’know? In America it’s a little bit frowned upon to do reality contest shows like this. I thought maybe this isn’t the kind of thing that’s going to make me look that great, career-wise, but I said it anyone wants to criticise me for going on an all-expenses-paid ski vacation to Austria to do lots of stuff, then let them say whatever they want. I don’t care.”

Heather Mills

Age: 47

Famous, why? For being a philanthropist, campaigner and activist

Why take part? “I got asked last year, but I was training for the Paralympics, so there was no way I could do something that would risk injury. And then, why I heard it involved a ski jump, I thought ‘Absolutely no way – that’s insane’. I thought it would be like 100m jumps, and I didn’t even know if my leg would stay in the air that long. When you jump in the air, the weight of the prosthetic is that much heavier than your own leg, so if you stay in the air for too long you start to turn. I have a friend, he was a World Champion in able bodied ski jumping, and he had a crash, lost his leg, and went into disabled ski racing, and he said the difference between skiing before the accident and after it is day and night.”

Louise Hazel

Age: 29

Famous, why? Gold medal winning heptathlete at the 2010 Commonwealth Games

Why take part? I’m a heptathlete aren’t I? Jack of all trades, master of none! I thought I might as well add another one to the mix. I thought the challenge of trying out another sport was really appealing. I thought it would be amazing to see how I far in unfamiliar territory.

Chloe Madeley

Age: 27

Famous, why? Daughter of former This Morning hosts Richard and Judy. A fitness expert and trainer

Why take part? “I’ve been out of TV for a while – I went off it a bit, to be honest. I was getting offered a lot of reality shows, and I didn’t really want to go down that route. But this is the best reality show you could possibly be offered. You are essentially being paid to come to Austria, learn how to bobsleigh, learn how to skeleton, learn how to ski, learn how to snowboard. And I’m really physically active and a massive adrenaline junkie, so for me it’s a dream come true to do this. It’s incredible.”

Dom Parker

Age: 49

Famous, why? A Gogglebox star, one half of sofa dwelling duo ‘The Posh Couple’ aka Steph and Dom

Why take part? “Quite simply, six-and-a-half weeks of skiing out in Austria. Superb! My sister lives out there, about an hour-and-a-half from Innsbruck, and I try and go out there every Easter to ski. So someone said ‘Do you want to go skiing for six weeks?’ Too bloody right! ‘And have Channel 4 pay for it?’ Even better still. And to get a bit fit, because I’m not very fit. So I’m looking forward to a bit of that. Not too much, though…”

Meet The Jump 2015 contestants as they hit the slopes in their skiing gear

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