Helen Skelton admits she ate a guinea pig for lunch - and chose the cutest one

25 January 2024 , 12:39

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Despite her shock, Helen admits tucking into the delicacy

Helen Skelton has revealed the moment she picked a "cute" guinea pig for her lunch.

The former Blue Peter presenter has travelled across the globe for her job and has immersed herself in cultures in some of the most remote communities on Earth. But she's revealed one incident will be taken to the grave with her.

Helen, 40, has never shied away from her work commitments which have previously included kayaking along the Amazon, becoming the first person to reach the South Pole using a bicycle, being the second woman to cross the finish line of the Namibian ultra marathon and also tight rope walking.

But her most striking moment is one that she still struggles to get her head around. Speaking on a podcast, Helen recalled the moment she "picked" her lunch while on a charity trip for work back in 2011.

Helen Skelton has opened up about travelling for work (Getty Images)

Helen admits that she would never challenge another culture (@helenskelton)

"So I went to Peru and did a lot of filming with some wonderful charities who were educating children who worked on rubbish dumps, who basically went out every day, scavenging for bits, take them back, clean them, sell them," she told the Spooning with Mark Wogan podcast. Helen went on to add: "And so the charity were trying to get them into schools and they were showing us their wonderful work and as part of showing us what happened they took us out for lunch."

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Helen went on to reveal that she was taken to "the middle of nowhere" and was shown a "big garden" filled with hutches with guinea pigs. But when she said "Oh that's cute," she had no idea what was in store for her. "I was enthusiastic because they were proud and I was being respectful," she commented.

"I thought they were just showing me their guinea pigs, I didn't realise that I was picking my lunch!" Helen exclaimed before going on to say her chosen guinea pig was "spatchcocked and deep fried". The former Strictly star stated that she has filmed in "loads of random places" which had different cultures. "I can't say that's wrong, that's their world," she commented.

Helen went on to say that the guinea pig was served to her with coleslaw as a side, with its claws still intact. "It was a delicacy, they were really proud," she added before saying that her translator was "looking" at her, implying that it was important for her to eat the lunch which had been prepared for her.

But despite tucking in, Helen admits that being an animal lover, she will take that moment to her grave with her.

Daniel Bird