Amanda Holden’s Monday morning was unlike others because she, um, ascended the outside of Blackpool Tower.
Yes, the Britain’s Got Talent judge, 52, braved her anxieties for charity as she took on the daunting challenge for Heart Radio’s Make Some Noise.
The renowned UK landmark stands 518 feet and 9 inches tall and can be seen from as far away as Wales and the Lake District on a clear day.
So, if you ever observed a little person clinging to life and wondered who it was, you now know.
Amanda described it as the’scariest thing [she’s] ever done in her life,’ yet she still set a personal record by reaching a higher position on the tower than any other person – ever.
Not only that, but more people have walked on the moon than Amanda was doing today.
Amanda and co-presenter Ashley Roberts tackled the first of five epic feats in five hours for the fundraising as part of Heart Breakfast’s Race Against Time.
Amanda’s goal was to climb all the way to the top, where she would finish by ascending a flagpole and pushing a red buzzer, which would stop the time.
As Amanda screamed her way up the last stretch in horrific wind, fellow presenter Jamie Theakston maintained in touch with her and provided live words of support.
Amazingly, Amanda finished the entire course in under 58 minutes – way to go, Amanda!
Meanwhile, bystanders gathered at the bottom, watching in terror, with Jamie observing that Amanda had produced a ‘quite a spectacle’ as police had to calm the gathering below.
‘You can hear the fear in her voice,’ Jamie said as Amanda repeatedly said ‘Oh my God’ while climbing.
‘Oh my God, I don’t like it,’ she said, shaking.
After eventually pushing the bell, the musical theatre diva broke out shrieks of excitement, yelling ‘I love you’ to her husband and two children from the top.
‘Honestly, if you were thinking of having a posh sandwich today from M&S or Ocado, please don’t, please give it to Global’s Make Some Noise,’ she said.
‘I’m so glad I wore my brown pants today!’, Amanda joked.
When asked by Jamie how she was feeling, Amanda replied: ‘It is honestly terrifying, my knees are shaking. I feel quite faint.
‘It is one of the most horrific things I’ve ever done in my life.’
‘I’m just considering, how the hell do we get down?’, she quipped, begging for a helicopter to come to her rescue.
Jamie checked in with Amanda around 20 minutes after her arduous climb, and she disclosed that just one other person had ever gotten it as high up as she did, making her motivated to go that little bit further so the buzzer was level with her breast.
‘I’m only at 412 feet now but I feel like I’m on solid ground,’ she told her co-host later. ‘I’m not joking, Jamie, it was so, so scary. You’re lucky I wasn’t swearing at the top of that tower.’
On what the most petrifying part was, the BGT star said: ‘The worst bit is when you’re actually at the very, very top and everyone is encouraging you to lean out, so you have no hands on anything and you’re just harnessed in.
@thisisheart we just caught @AmandaHolden at the tippy top of our tower 😍 pic.twitter.com/jv1UTi2xmg
— The Three Mouseketeers UK (@3mkclub) October 2, 2023
‘I thought that was the worst bit, but then you’re coming down and you have to look down to see where you’re gonna put your feet, and you’re literally putting your feet on the iron Victorian scrolls that are just there for decoration. Coming down felt almost worse than going up.’
Amanda admitted she was ‘almost sobbing’ at the top before asking what anybody would ask after mounting Blackpool Tower at 9 a.m. on a Monday.
‘Is it too early for gin?’
Well done, Amanda!
