Emily Seebohm had never spent time away from her son, Sampson before she took on SAS: Australia v England. Being on the other side of the world, while he was in Australia, took its toll on the Olympic swimming champion.
“(Missing Sampson) was the hardest part for me,” Emily, 33, says of taking on the brutal SAS course in the Moroccan desert. “We entered the camp and had no phone and no idea what was going on.
“Sampson had gastro before I left, which made me feel even worse knowing the comfort for him had gone away.”
At first, the other celebrities provided a distraction from Emily’s thoughts of missing Sampson. But as the number of contestants dwindled, her mind shifted to her two-and-a-half son, whom she shares with her ex-fiancé, Married at First Sight contestant Ryan Gallagher.
Then she couldn’t hold back a flood of tears. “I cried on the toilet,” she says. “I cried when I was sleeping. I really struggled. It was a big grind for me, but I had to get through it.”
The three-time Olympic medal winner admits co-parenting a child can be “hard”. “It’s not where I saw myself, let’s just say that,” she says.
Her new partner, Brandon Caust “really enjoys spending time with Sampson”, she says.
Coming up on SAS, Emily is tested when she is forced to write a “death letter” to her son. “They deplete you physically, then emotionally,” she says of the show’s staff.
That said, she thoroughly enjoyed her experience on SAS, if no other reason than “getting the chance to beat the men”.
What’s next for the former I’m a Celebrity… Get me Out of Here! contestant? Emily says Dancing with the Stars would be “amazing”.
“I have no rhythm and I’d love to learn to dance,” she says.
SAS: Australia V England airs Wednesday, 7.30pm on Channel Seven and 7Plus.
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