'It was 8 hours of torture': Celebrity SAS winner Gabby Allen on reality of filming that intense finale

After eight episodes of gruelling challenges, intense interrogations and emotional break-throughs, tonight's finale episode of Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Win saw Gabby Allen, Dani Dyer and Emily Seebohm all pass selection and win the show.

The three female finalists survived eight hours of noise torture, a strip search and interrogation, and water torture before finally being told they had passed the arduous SAS selection process, the second time in the show's decade long history there's been female only winners.

"I'm just so proud of us," Gabby Allen exclusively told Cosmopolitan UK of her win with Dani and Emily. "Women are so resilient with everything that we do. We go through so much, so I think we already have it built into us to just keep pushing that bit further."

The women won the show, after their two remaining fellow competitors Mack Horton and Ben Cohen quit during the noise torture portion of the final episode. "The men did really well, but the problem with the noise torture is that you just don't know when it's going to end. We did it for eight hours," Gabby revealed.

The noise torture featured a variety of sounds - some heard on the show such as the incessant baby cries - and others we didn't get to hear, including bizarre animal noises and the scrapping of a metal chair against a metal floor. Eeek, it's enough to make anyone quit. But not Gabby.

During an exclusive chat with Cosmopolitan UK Gabby candidly opens up about her experience on the show, the driving force that kept her motivated during those difficult moments and the things we didn't get to see on screen.

Cosmopolitan: Congratulations on your win! Are you surprised it was an all female lineup of winners?

Gabby: No! Women are so resilient with everything that we do. We go through so much, you know and so I think we already have that kind of built into us to just keep pushing that bit further.

What did you do immediately after your win?

When it finished, I was just in awe of us making it to the end and in awe of myself that I got that far, but I was in a state of shock because I couldn't believe what we'd just been through. We hadn't slept for over a day. It was 36 hours, the whole task altogether. So by the time I actually went to sleep, it'd probably been two full days.

The interrogators messaged me afterwards saying, "You did so well," and it took me a good week or so to actually open those messages, because to remove myself out of that reality back into normal life was quite different. You're still on edge, you're still expecting to be called out at any moment. You think that you would sleep really well when you come out, but actually, your cortisol levels are still through the roof. So it took me a while to readjust. But now in hindsight, honestly, it's the best experience I've ever done.

Were you surprised the men (Mack Horton and Ben Cohen) left during the noise torture stage?

The problem with the noise torture is that you just don't know when it's going to end. We did it for eight hours and in the actual Special Forces, they do it for 36 hours. I don't even know what the worst [sound] was for me. You go into a meditative state because you just get used to it, but it's the stress positions that actually end up being the hardest part about it.

For me, the lying-on-the-back position, because I have scoliosis (so I've got rods in my back), for so long was hard and you just don't know when it's going to end. So I think that probably just took its toll on the guys.

During the noise torture segment you opened up about your dad. Why was that important for you to share with the audience?

I have spoken about my dad here and there. On Love Island my brother came on and we had a conversation about my family being proud of me. But I'm not very vocal on social media about a lot of private things. And I would love to do more of it, but sometimes I struggle to do that because losing my dad and the aftermath of what happened, it also impacted my brother and my mum, so there’s a certain level of respect that I would always want to have around that. So going into Celebrity SAS, it was my opportunity to give a bit of a backstory.

It was a huge part of my life and it’s really shaped who I am as a person. It’s interesting because when you go into those mirror rooms with the DS, you don't actually know what’s going to come out of your mouth. I didn't go in there and think, "I'm going to tell them this, I'm going to do that." You only see such a small snippet of it, but it enabled me to make sense of it in my head as well as to what does drive me and what motivates me and why I am the way that I am.

Following the noise torture, you then had interrogation, and during this they said to you, "Love Island girls all look the same". How did that sit with you?

I mean, it's not something we haven't heard before, and I get it. People say that people who go on Love Island, we're all the same kettle of fish, but I think the whole reason for me going on the show was to showcase a side of me that people haven't seen. I'm proud of being from Love Island. It's given me amazing opportunities, including the platform to even go on SAS anyway. However, the whole reason for doing the show was to prove that I have more about me than just being essentially a Love Island girl.

What surprised you the most about the entire process?

How immersive it was. From the word "go," there's no slacking, you don't have a cup of tea in between tasks. I thought we might do an abseil and when you get to the bottom they bully you for a little bit and then you’d have a break. Normally when you’re filming shows, you do have breaks to have your dinner and things like that.

My cortisol levels were through the roof the whole time because you're constantly on edge as you never know when you're going to get called out. You always want to prove yourself. It just gave me the utmost respect for the Special Forces because that's how they live their life 365 days a year. We only did it for eight days.

Other competitors have spoken out about the physical impact it still had on them months after filming ended, did you have a similar experience?

I went to Ibiza a week later and I was very overstimulated. I was like, "everything's so loud again," but in a completely different way. It was a good release of energy though. Now, the main thing I've taken from it is I push myself so much harder with everything that I do. Especially with training, if I want to give up, even my friends will say, "You just did SAS. You can do this!"

The show is very intense and full of challenges. Were there any fun moments that we didn't get to see?

In the camp we were always laughing. We had Cole and Jack in there who were just hilarious, absolute idiots. Graham Swann is hilarious, Ben really had some funny moments. Obviously there's 14 people that they have to show and they want to show hardship and the struggle we go through. But there’s certain moments where I was like, "Oh my God, I smashed that one!" and they didn't show it.

Some of the tasks were really difficult. There was one where we had to carry all the ammo up and basically free climb up a mountain. And that was so challenging, because it was teamwork as well. But I loved it! I got in the car afterwards and I was like, "Wow, I can't believe we've just done that." But I wish that I could get all the raw footage of me you know rock climbing, because that would be sick to watch back.

Celebrity SAS is available on catchup on Channel 4 now