Spencer Matthews’ secret horrors behind working 30 desert marathons
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Spencer Matthews has just completed 30 marathons in 30 days through the Jordanian desert.
The reality star, 36, rose to fame on Made In Chelsea having had a privileged upbringing thanks to his father David – a multi-millionaire hotelier with a net worth of £2 billion.
Spencer’s charity trek through Jordan was a ‘humbling experience’ and worlds away from his life of luxury with no access to running water, toilets or electrical power, while food was limited to chicken or pitta breads.
Here, he tells MailOnline, the harsh reality of surviving in the Jordanian desert while taking on his mammoth challenge…
‘I washed in dirty water once every few days, there were no toilets, we slept on the ground and I survived off pitta bread’: Spencer Matthews has relived the horrors of running 30 marathons in the desert in an interview with MailOnline
‘We had no access to regular food and very rarely would we have cold drinking water. When it’s 44 degrees and you’re so thirsty, tepid, warm water doesn’t quite cut it. I’m not complaining about the food either because ultimately somehow, I didn’t get ill
Spencer completed 30 marathons in 30 days through the Jordanian desert on Tuesday
The whole experience was one of the greatest experiences of my life. If you could try and find comfort in pain, it’s quite a powerful place to be.
People may look at this and think, “wow 30 desert marathons in 30 consecutive days” but actually we were laughing on Tuesday night because we are now in a hotel.
Ultimately, my body held up much better than I ever anticipated. I took the preparation for this particular challenge very seriously.
This was a very dangerous challenge, it was unprecedented and it has never been done before.
I am not complaining at all about the living situation but it was a challenge within a challenge.
There was no running water and no toilets of any kind. There was no comfort. We were sleeping on the ground and sleeping rough.
We had no access to regular food and very rarely would we have cold drinking water. When it’s 44 degrees and you’re so thirsty, tepid, warm water doesn’t quite cut it. I’m not complaining about the food either because ultimately somehow, I didn’t get ill.
Doing an ultramarathon event over the course of 30 days and not getting ill is incredibly rare. I am thankful for that. I ate hummus, rice, chicken and pitta bread, and that was about it for 30 days.
It’s an experiment but for, someone like me, it was humbling. It has made me more aware of the things we take for granted like the ability to go to the toilet whenever you feel like it and wash your hands and to be able to exist in a clean way.
The reality star, 36, rose to fame on Made In Chelsea having had a privileged upbringing thanks to his father David – a multi-millionaire hotelier with a net worth of $2.6 billion
There was no stable electrical power source. It’s all these things you take for granted. My phone would run out of battery and that was that for two days
I went days without showering and by showering, I mean we would find a hose somewhere or a tap and we would lie down on the concrete floor and shower ourselves in warm water that was probably full of rubbish and I shaved my head.
At the time you felt so clean and alive and fresh again. You walk past a tap in the UK and don’t think much of it but for us, it was a saving grace.
There was no stable electrical power source. It’s all these things you take for granted. My phone would run out of battery and that was that for two days.
I hoped to be near a town at some point to charge it back up. That was the reality.
Spencer’s epic desert challenge saw him run over 42.2km or 26.2 miles, every single day
The broadcaster admits after completing the mammoth journey, which saw him cover 786 miles in temperatures as high as 38 degrees, he has made himself proud
A sense of pride and fulfilment hasn’t always come easily to Spencer, who battled with alcohol addiction for years following his rise to fame on E4 reality series Made In Chelsea
It is impossible to run nearly 1,300 kilometres without niggles, aches and pains. I was surprised by the human body and my ability to recover.
When I would go out on a long run before and hurt my knee, you just give yourself a few days to recover but that wasn’t an option here.
I had niggles in ligaments, joints, both knees, tendons, I had a tendon endoscopy in my right foot, both my Achilles tendons felt like they had snapped at one point, obviously they didn’t but that’s how it felt.
I took a really bad fall on the last day, it was lucky it came on the last day. I was running quite quickly through really rough terrain.
I tripped so hard that I didn’t realise until I had rolled down this rocky edge. I was lucky I didn’t hurt myself.
I was running relatively fast when it happened and there was a sudden impact so I was lucky not to have broken my ankle or something and I was able to carry on.
I haven’t given any thought to the next challenge while completing this because every day was certainly a threat.
Crossing the finish line has closed the chapter on this challenge but has opened a completely new part of my life.
I know it sounds dramatic, but I am pretty good at this and it’s something that I love.
I’m not sure I’ll be planning too many 30-day records again because our children are quite young and spending a month away from them is difficult.
I need to publicly thank Vogue again for holding the fort and looking after our children while I was away chasing this dream.
Spencer has been raising money for Global’s Make Some Noise charity, which supports other charities including the Childhood Tumour Trust, Suicide&Co, and education charities ATF and Playskill.
- To donate go to https://spencer-matthewschallenge.raiselysite.com
