03 March 2024 , 07:00
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She’s a self-made multimillionaire with a glittering TV career, so it’s no wonder that for Sara Davies MBE “failure is not an option”.
The crafting queen, 39, has earned an astonishing £37 million fortune by harnessing her pioneering spirit, determination and good old-fashioned grit to forge a business career. Now Dragons’ Den star Sara hopes that same mindset will carry her along on her toughest mission yet – a 50km trek for Comic Relief across the Arctic Circle, alongside fellow Geordie Vicky Pattison, DJ Laura Whitmore and England Lioness Alex Scott.
Sara Davies embarked on a gruelling trek across the Arctic Circle (Sam Riley/Comic Relief)“I’m a firm believer that actually getting through anything is just mind over matter,” says Sara, confidently. “You’ve just got to do it.” She is speaking shortly after finishing her first and last skiing lesson at The Snow Centre in London.
“You’ll be pleased to know we’ve had two hours’ training and they’re about to pack us off to the Arctic Circle to fend for ourselves,” laughs Sara.“I’ve never been skiing before. I got really excited, but the problem is they were teaching us to ski downhill. We’re going uphill!”
Their progress across snow-covered tundra and hidden frozen lakes will be filmed for a documentary called Snow Going Back: Comic Relief Vs The Arctic. The show will air on Friday 15 March, as Sir Lenny Henry hosts his final Red Nose Day.
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Snow Going Back: Comic Relief vs The Arctic with Vicky Pattison, Sara Davies, Alex Scott and Laura Whitmore (BBC/Comic Relief/Sam Riley)As well as a hostile landscape, the foursome will face ferocious winds, and endure temperatures as low as -20˚C. They will tackle terrain on which the British Special Forces train and will have to pitch their own tents and eat dried rations.
“We’re going to be living on reindeer, I’m sure of it,” grimaces Sara. She is planning her own special kind of training at home, in her frosty pond, to prepare for the start of the challenge, when the four voyagers will jump into icy water.
“When we get there they have a hole in the ice and we have to jump into the Arctic to acclimatise,” explains Sara.
“I’ve got a pond in my back garden, so I thought I might try it this weekend. You’re laughing, but I’m not joking. I do like cold water swimming. In February last year I was on the Strictly tour and I took the Strictly lot to Tynemouth beach. Nadiya Bychkova was in a teeny- weeny bikini in the North Sea. It was four degrees!”
An Arctic trek is not for the faint-hearted, but Sara signed up after she and her sons Oliver, 10, and Charlie, seven, watched Oti Mabuse, Emma Willis and Rylan Clark trek through the Cairngorms National Park in Scotland for last year’s Comic Relief.
“My eldest said, ‘Mummy, why didn’t you do it?’ And I had no answer for him,” says Sara. “So this year I decided I wanted to do my bit, but I didn’t know they would pack me off to the Arctic at minus 20!”
Trekking through the snow is a huge challenge, but spending a week away from her children and her husband Simon will be an emotional wrench, especially as there’s no FaceTime or WhatsApp in the Arctic.
To make sure they don’t notice her absence too much – or fret that she’ll be eaten by a polar bear –‑ Sara is sending the kids for a holiday in the sun with their grandparents.
“I’m packing the kids off to Spain with their gran and grandad for a holiday,” says Sara. “They’re going to the sun while I’m going to the snow. I think it’s better to take them out of our normal environment, otherwise they’d just worry. My eldest gets really anxious and will do nothing but worry about me, but if I take his mind off it he’ll be alright.”
Sara’s husband Simon, however, seems less than worried about his wife’s ability to survive in one of the most hostile environments on the planet.
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“He hasn’t given me any words of encouragement!” hoots Sara. “He just smiled and said, ‘Oh, that will be really fun. You have a good time with the lasses!’ At one point he said, ‘It’ll be a nice holiday for you.’ That’s exactly what he said!”
But it seems Sara isn’t the sentimental type either, and has warned Vicky, Alex and Laura that she won’t be mothering them on the show.
“If you’re one of those people and you’re struggling and you need someone to tell you it’s going to be alright, it’s not me,” says Sara. “I’m more of a tough love kind of person, I’m like, ‘Howay man, pick yourself up and get on with it! It’s not going to kill you, is it? People have had worse than this! Get up and get on!’ Failure is not an option!”
For Sara, the mission is too important to fail. She hopes they will raise millions for Comic Relief, which supports thousands of charities in the UK and around the world. Last year more than £31 million was donated.
As well as raising money, Sara is also hoping to inspire women and girls who will be watching on their screens as an all-female line-up take on a Comic Relief challenge for the first time.
“You want people at home to be watching and think, ‘Look what they’ve just done, I could do that,’” says Sara. “We’re not superhuman, we’re not athletes. It’s women inspiring women, that’s what we’re setting out to do here.”
She says it will be an honour to help Sir Lenny, 65, say farewell as the face of Red Nose Day. He started presenting the show in 1985 and after 39 years reckons it’s “time to give someone else a go”.
Sara enthuses, “What a man! The impact he’s had. Wouldn’t you like to think that was your legacy you were leaving behind? I’m so chuffed we’ve got to do this in his last year.”
Snow Going Back: Comic Relief Vs The Arctic airs on BBC One on Friday 15 March.