When Georgia Harrison was stripped of her black hood, she found herself on a mountain in New Zealand staring into the piercing eyes of a trained killer. But instead of quaking in her new military-style boots, she simply smiled. It’s not what former special forces soldier Mark “Billy” Billingham expected from this pint-sized beauty, but that’s why Georgia signed up for TV’s toughest show, Channel 4’s Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins. She had one mission: to shake off her victim status.
Just four months before she set out on the gruelling course, Georgia had seen her ex-boyfriend, fellow reality star Stephen Bear, jailed for 21 months, ending three years of hell. The pair began dating after meeting on reality show The Challenge in 2019. But Georgia’s world came crashing down in 2020 when he secretly filmed them having sex on his home CCTV system and sold the footage online. An intimate moment with someone she thought she could trust spread across the internet like wildfire.
“It went so horribly viral that my mailman probably saw it,” says Georgia. “I felt like I had let myself and my family down – I should have seen this coming. How could I have been so stupid?” The humiliation left her paralysed with anxiety. “I barely left the house,” she confesses. “When I did, I found it hard not to panic. I just wanted to be with my closest friends.”
Georgia Harrison’s world came crashing down in 2020 when Stephen Bear secretly recorded them having sex on his home CCTV system.
But instead of accepting the shame and telling herself she was guilty for trusting Bear, Georgia made the brave decision to press charges and give up her anonymity to shed light on what many victims suffer. And she won. Bear was found guilty, jailed and ordered to pay her damages of more than £200,000.
Not only that, Georgia really showed its mettle when it campaigned to have the law changed. Before winning in court, prosecutors in these cases had to prove there was an intent to cause distress, something that was incredibly difficult for a victim to prove. Now, sharing intimate images without consent, whatever the motive, is a criminal act.
Today she wants to put it all behind her and taking part in Celebrity SAS was a step forward. “People say that taking part in SAS can turn trauma into power,” says Georgia, who shot to fame a decade ago in The Only Way Is Essex. “It can be a powerful experience to confront what you’ve experienced in the past.
“I started to feel like I was more than just that situation. I was tired of being seen as a victim. We can’t control what will happen in our path, but if we draw on mental strength we can overcome a lot of things,” she says. “I want to inspire people to realise that, especially young women.”
Georgia joins an eclectic mix of famous faces, including journalist Rachel Johnson, actor John Barrowman and former England rugby captain Chris Robshaw. Under the watchful eye of the directing team – former SBS operators Jason Fox and Chris Oliver, ex-Reco Marine Rudy Reyes and Mark Billingham – the celebrities are put through a series of challenges. Georgia was determined not to be disappointed.
Georgia joins an eclectic mix of famous faces, including journalist Rachel Johnson Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins
“These men risked their lives and did unspeakable things for our country. The more you respect them, the more you’ll want to do the course as best as you can and impress them.”
And that’s what she did in a brutal boxing match against Boris Johnson’s sister. Georgia had heard Rachel, 59, boast that she wasn’t worried about fighting because she was the first girl in an all-boys school, but despite her small frame, Georgia landed plenty of head-shaking punches before being declared the winner.
“I felt proud of myself,” she says. “She had been really proud of the fight, so I thought, ‘Look, she’s willing to get punched in the face!’ Rachel thinks I broke her nose, but she also made comments saying that her nose was already broken. So I’m not sure. I’m not going to let her take advantage of her!”
But it’s not all success, and Georgia did not do well in one of the most iconic events, in which celebrities fall backwards from a high platform into the water. “We had to swim to the pontoon first because if you touched the water directly at that temperature, you could have a heart attack.
Georgia with Ashley Cain and her ex Stephen Bear on the TV show The Challenge: War Of The Worlds
“I messed up. Then I had to stand there for another 30 minutes, feeling increasingly cold, watching everyone go through what I had just epically failed.”
Georgia has been sworn to secrecy about how she fares on the rest of the journey, but it’s safe to say that taking part in Celebrity SAS has shed her victim status and she’s taking that fighting spirit into her next challenge.
Not content with changing the law once, she has done it again, taking on internet giants and even banks that profit from the abuse of revenge porn victims. Her mission is being filmed for a new ITV documentary.
“There’s another loophole,” she explains. “Even if you win the case, your images don’t become illegal, technically. A lot of these big companies can still host them on their platforms. I’m campaigning for that to change. I’ve been in and out of parliament all year, but I’m pretty sure it will.”
If the last few years have shown anything, it’s that Georgia is not a woman to be trifled with. And now that she’s got some SAS courage, too, she’ll be unstoppable.
- Celebrity SAS: Who dares to win? Sunday, 9:00 p.m., Channel 4
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