The contestants for the 2022 Games | Meet the celebrities involved

Read on to find out more about the celebrity contestants involved in the games.

Olivia Atwood

Olivia Atwood

ITV

age: 31

Job: TV character

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Television personality Olivia Atwood rose to fame after appearing in the third series of Love Island on ITV2, reaching the final with then-boyfriend Chris Hughes.

Since leaving the villa in 2017, she has participated in The Crystal Maze, Tipping Point: Lucky Stars and has appeared in Celebs Go Dating, The Only Way is Essex, Olivia Meets Her March, Loose Women and The Real Housewives of Cheshire.

“When I was younger, I loved sports and was very athletic, but over the years I became far from it a lot,” she said of participating in the Games. “So when this show started, I thought, ‘When will I get a chance to exercise at this level with these great facilities and all these amazing athletes and coaches that train us? “I thought it was a very good opportunity to pass up.”

Phoenix Gulzar Brown

Phoenix Brown Games

Nikki Johnston / ITV

age: 23

Job: model and influencer

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Model and influencer Phoenix Gulzar-Brown is a sports fan and the daughter of Spice Girl star Mel B.

As a child, she started playing basketball but did not pursue a career in sports, but hopes to bring her skills to this year’s competition.

“I’m passionate about everything, the challenge, the whole competition. It’s something I’ve never done before. I love sports, so this is an area of ​​my business. I’ll be competitive in all events,” she said. “I’m a competitive person! Friendly competitiveness is healthy, so I’m really excited.”

Kevin Clifton

Kevin Clifton

ITV

age: 40

Job: Former Dance Professional Come Strictly

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Kevin Clifton is best known for competing in seven series of Strictly Come Dancing as a professional dancer and winning the show in 2018 with Stacey Dooley. He left the show in 2020 and began his career in musical theater, starring in Rock of Ages, Strictly Ballroom, and Jeff Wayne’s Musical Version of The War of the Worlds.

Outside of Strictly, he has appeared in House of Games, Loose Women, This Morning, All Star Musicals and All Star Mr & Mrs, and is set to play Cosmo in a touring production of Singin’ in the Rain.

“There are two main reasons why I participate in games. One is that everything in my life has been about performing, dancing, acting and singing, and I usually feel very comfortable, and then last year, I sang in the rain and I had never done tap dance before and had to learn tap dance from Yes, he said.

“The fact that things were going so well put me in the area of ​​thinking, ‘Well, if I focus my mind properly on something, maybe I can do something completely different. “Also, I’m 40 this year and I don’t want to feel like I’ve done everything I want to do, in terms of dancing and performing, and now I’m older so I’m going to slow down. I want to turn 40 and be in the best shape of my life.”

Max George

Max George

ITV

age: 33

Job: singer

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Twitter: @Max George

Max George is a singer and actor best known for being a member of The Wanted – the award-winning British boy band.

In 2009, he joined the band and went on to produce songs like All Time Low, Glad You Came, I Found You, and Walks Like Rihanna before the group’s hiatus in 2013. Outside of music, Max took on a acting role in the musical comedy Glee and appeared in Bear Grylls: Mission Survive, Pointless Celebrities, and the 2020 series of Strictly Come Dancing.

Speaking of the games, George said, “I thought obstacles would be my worst event but I’ve really enjoyed it so far. There are two really fast guys, but I just enjoy running and jumping and learning technique. Obstacles are very technical, it’s really nice to learn a new skill.”

Chelsea Grimes

Chelsea Grimes

ITV

age: 29

Job: Football player, singer and songwriter

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Chelsea Grimes is a presenter, singer, songwriter, and soccer player who currently plays for the Merseyrail Ladies.

She started playing football at the age of 10 and has played for Everton, Tottenham Hotspur, Fulham and Tranmere Rovers throughout her career. Outside of football, Grimes is a successful songwriter, writing songs for Dua Lipa, Blackpink, The Saturdays, Kesha and Olly Murs, and TV presenter, hosting coverage of the FIFA Women’s Cup, Eurovision 2021 and MOTDx.

“I’m into the games because I love a challenge. For me, that’s the biggest challenge, learning nine events, over six weeks, is going to be a challenge in itself,” she said. I am also very competitive, so I will win the gold medal! Being a soccer player, it has been in my DNA from an early age that you don’t lose, you don’t draw, you go and you win. And if you can’t win, don’t lose! So we’ll see what tactics I come up with.”

Josh Herdman

age: 35

Job: Harry Potter actor

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Josh Herdman is best known for playing Draco Malfoy’s assistant Gregory Joel in the Harry Potter film series, with the actor admitting he was “going off course” after his career success.

He subsequently took up martial arts and cage fighting while continuing to act in Alex Rider, White House Farm, Marcella, Robin Hood, and the upcoming series The Man Who Fell to Earth.

“I love the challenge and I am really competitive,” Herdman said upon signing up for the Games. “I always want to learn new things and be taught by the best coaches and teachers. It’s going to be a great life experience, learning new things, being challenged and competitive, so it ticks all the boxes for me.”

Kristen McGuinness

Kristen McGuinness

ITV

age: 34

Job: Author, Model and Autism Ambassador

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Kristen McGuinness is a model and beauty queen best known for being a cast member on The Real Housewives of Cheshire from 2018 until 2020.

You’ve appeared on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? and All Star Mr & Mrs with husband Paddy McGuinness, as well as shows like Loose Women and Hey Tracey! and Steph’s Packed Lunch and The Real Full Monty. Outside of television, she is working to raise awareness of autism, after she was diagnosed with autism last year.

“I’m into games for my three kids, and they’re my biggest inspiration. They go into it with anything in life and they really inspire me. I’ve always been a bit scared, especially with sports,” she said. “When I was in school I would never introduce myself to the netball team or anything else. I was that girl in school who never got involved. But my kids just do that. So, because of them, they inspired me to push me outside my comfort zone and do something different some thing.”

Lucrezia Millarini

Lucrezia Millarini

ITV

age: 46

Job: News Reader

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Lucrezia Millarini is a news anchor for ITV News and a former journalist on Dancing on Ice and Celebrity Mastermind.

Millarini initially trained as a lawyer before moving to local radio and joining ITV News London as an entertainment reporter in 2010. Since then she has hosted ITV Lunchtimes News, ITV Week News and ITV News at Ten.

“My strengths are running, swimming and definitely diving,” she says of training in games. “I am looking forward to getting back into the pool ready to take the 10m dive platform. Fear is not an option. It is as much about mental strength as it is physical strength. I have determination on my side.”

Colson Smith

Colson Smith

ITV

age: 23

Job: Coronation Street representative

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Colson Smith is an actor best known for playing Craig Tinker on Coronation Street who discovered his passion for fitness two years ago when he started running during lockdown.

He joined the soap in 2011 and was nominated for Best Young Actor at the 2015 Inside Soap Awards.

When participating in the Games, Smith said, “It is an aspect of the challenge that attracted me about the Games and to prove to myself that I can do it. I have learned in recent years that there are no restrictions on what I can and cannot do. This opportunity came about and it seemed like the perfect next step. On my fitness journey.”

Wes Nelson

Wes Nelson

ITV

age: 24

Job: Musical artist and TV personality

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Wes Nelson rose to fame after appearing in the fourth series of Love Island on ITV2, in which the 24-year-old reached number four on the show with reality star Megan Barton Hanson.

After the show, he competed on Dancing on Ice and finished second before appearing on 8 out of 10 Cats, The Crystal Maze, The X Factor: Celebrity and Celebrity SAS: Who des Wins. He has now branched out into music, entering the UK charts with the singles See Nobody, Nice to Meet Ya and Drive.

Coming from a family of Olympic athletes, Nelson said he signed up for the Games to fall in love with the sport again. “I haven’t done any kind of training, gym or running for four years now. I never would have imagined saying that four years ago or living a life without a sport. I wanted to fall in love with it all over again and go back in it and get that drive and passion again other”.

Rebecca Sarker

Rebecca Sarker

ITV

age: 46

Job: Emmerdale Actor

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Rebecca Sarker is an actress best known for playing Manpreet Sharma on Emmerdale in addition to her roles in Coronation Street, Doctors, Holby City, EastEnders, and Casualty.

Outside of soap, Sarker has appeared in Twenty Twelve, Dark Heart, John Carter, and Rosemary & Thyme.

“I feel like this is a once in a lifetime opportunity for me,” she said of the games. “I was very honored and surprised to be asked to participate and probably my children will never forgive me if I don’t participate. It is an opportunity to learn new skills and new disciplines, increase my fitness and challenge myself.”

Ryan Thomas

Ryan Thomas

ITV

age: 37

Job: Actor and presenter

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Actor Ryan Thomas is best known for playing Jason Grimshaw on ITV Coronation Street and Raphael Humphreys on Neighbors.

He quit acting in March 2021, but continued to appear on Celebrity Big Brother, This Morning, Celebrity Island with Bear Grylls and Absolutely India: Macs in Mumbai.

On why he got involved in the games, Thomas said: “I think this is a great opportunity to give myself motivation, focus, stay mentally and physically fit, meet new people and learn new skills. My comfort zone and that is why we are all here I guess.”

Games begin on Monday, May 9th at 9pm on ITV. Check out more of our entertainment coverage or visit our TV guide to see what’s on tonight.

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