“I could have told you on day one that she was going to make it,” says TV interrogator Catherine ‘Erine’ Neill of how she knew instantly that former drug mule Michaella McCollum was going to be a serious contender on Channel 4’s hit show Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins.
“One, because she’s Northern Irish, but also because of what she’s already been through at such a young age: what we threw at her on the TV show and in those mock interrogations is nothing compared to what she’s been through in real life.
“So I was very proud of her and pleased for her. I know she’s been getting a wee bit of bad press, but I don’t really agree with that, because everybody deserves a second chance in life.”
Michaella McCollum was one of three winners on the latest series of Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins (Pete Dadds/Channel 4/PA)
Indeed, the 30-year-old Dungannon woman – who served two-and-a-half years in a Peruvian prison for cocaine smuggling between 2014 and 2016 – was one of just three contenders to pass muster in Monday night’s finale, alongside former professional footballer Troy Deeney (35) and singer Lucy Spraggan (32), having endured eight episodes of gruelling physical and mental challenges.
The three winners were whittled down from five finalists, the toughest of an original group of 14 celebrities who took on the show’s SAS training-styled challenges – including the climactic episode’s interrogation-based round, which found former British army woman O’Neill teaming up with SAS: Who Dares Wins’ mysterious Scottish-accented Umpire (who “cannot be identified for security reasons”), chief instructor Billy Billingham and directing staff Jason Fox, Rudy Reyes and Chris Oliver, to push the contestants to their psychological limits.
Lucy Spraggan, Troy Deeney and Michaella McCollum were the winners of this year’s Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins (Pete Dadds) 
A group shot of all the recruits from its reality spin-off series, Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins (Pete Dadds/Channel 4/PA)
Among those who failed to make the grade were the two unsuccessful finalists, drag artist and DJ, Bimini, and Love Island veteran Adam Collard, plus boxer Conor Benn, S Club 7 singer Hannah Spearitt, former model and alleged David Beckham lover Rebecca Loos, dancer Louie Spence and The Traitors winner Harry Clark.
“I’ve noticed with the show and females in general that women have physical strength to a certain point, but then the mind has to kick in,” comments Co Down-born Neill (48), who served 24 years in the military prior to bringing her experience to the entertainment realm on the Channel 4 hit and its American counterpart, Fox TV’s Special Forces: World’s Toughest Challenge.
“You’ll see with a lot of the girls in the show, they make it to the end because they just have that mental resilience. And Michaella definitely has that.”
Erine Neill and her dog, Rolo. PICTURE: COLM LENAGHAN
Neill, whose brother Marcus Hunter-Neill is better known as drag star Lady Portia Di’Monte, is also quick to praise McCollum’s fellow finalist, Bimini, who almost caught her out during one interrogation session with a bit of good old-fashioned flattery.
“I was interrogating Bim and the next thing he says to me, ‘Oh, I love your lashes’,” recalls the former Grenadier Guard, who joined the army straight out of school at 17 and went on to become a physical training instructor putting new recruits through their paces.
“Genuinely, I almost said, ‘oh, thanks very much, I did them myself’.
“Luckily, I managed to keep a straight face and then bollocked him for saying it, but secretly I was really chuffed that this drag queen had given me this lovely compliment.”
Bimini was a finalist on Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins
As for what led her to join the military at such a young age, the Co Down woman explains that it was partly a challenge to herself as well as following in her father and grandfather’s footsteps.
“I am the son my dad never had,” jokes Neill, who served in Afghanistan during her army career and trained troops in conduct under capture techniques.
“Both my brothers are gay, which is wonderful, but they are not military-oriented at all. And even though I am really girly, I love a wee fight.
Even though I am really girly, I love a wee fight.
— Erine Neill
“So, I always sort of knew that it was in my blood. When the opportunity arose to go to Palace Barracks and get signed up, there was no hesitation.
“It was quite strange, because nobody thought I could do it. And I think this is what actually drove me: being a five-foot-nothing 17-year-old at the time, I had girlfriends saying to me, ‘Oh, you’ll never make it. You’re too tiny. Your feet are too small’.
“I remember thinking, like, ‘what have my feet got to do with anything?’.”
Once enlisted, the Co Down woman admits she was so focused on just proving herself capable of being a soldier that she hadn’t thought much beyond making the grade.
Erine Neill is a former Grenadier Guard. PICTURE: COLM LENAGHAN
“I just wanted to get through basic training,” says Neill, who is married and shares her home with her beloved Chihuahuas, Poppy and Rolo.
“Then, all of a sudden, I was through basic training. I was like, ‘oh my god, I’m in the army now’.
“And then it took off: I was posted to the Grenadier Guards, and then it was promotion after promotion and overseas trips. And it was just utterly fantastic.
“The army grounds you. You make friends for life, you travel, you get a pension – it just sets you up. And you also just feel like you are doing your bit.
Erine Neill with her colleagues on SAS: Who Dares Wins
“You know, if I died tomorrow, I would die content that I have left my footprint.”
On the subject of how she transitioned from army life to television, it seems that one of those aforementioned ‘friends for life’ put in a good word.
“A very good friend of mine, Debs Mackenzie, who was the female interrogator before me on the show, was leaving,” explains Neill, a committed animal-lover who volunteers at The Barn Animal Rescue in Newtownards and works with the charity Animal Equality UK.
“She rang me up and said, ‘I’m hanging up with boots – I want to put your name forward’. I said, ‘OK, sure’, never for one second thinking that it would ever happen.
“Six weeks later, I was in New Zealand filming for Fox and Channel 4.”
Erine interrogating a subject on SAS: Who Dares Wins
Amusingly, it seems the American network takes quite a different approach from its UK counterpart in terms of how aggressive they want the directing staff and interrogators to be on-screen.
“With Fox, the brief was, ‘you can’t swear, you can’t really grab them, and you can’t really be too nasty’. I was like, ‘what?!’. I had no concept of how to simulate a captive environment without swearing and being aggressive.
“In the end, I kind of went ‘f*** it’ – I was effing and jeffing away and they ended up just bleeping me out.”
Erine with TV colleague Rudy Reyes
Having originally signed on to the shows back in 2023, Neill reveals that they are made on a year-by-year basis, with no long-term contracts – meaning she’s still not certain that we’ll see her back on our screens next year.
“They may not contact me again,” admits the Co Down woman.
“But from the feedback I’ve been getting, I think both Fox and Channel 4 seem happy with everything – so I’m certainly hoping they will.”
All episodes of the most recent series of Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins are available now via channel4.com.
Erine Neill and Rolo. PICTURE: COLM LENAGHAN