The new series of Pilgrimage airs this way as seven famous faces of differing faiths  tackle a challenging 300km  trek across the Alps, inspired by the medieval route taken by followers of the famous hermit. 

Taking part are: agnostic Jay McGuiness, singer with boy band The Wanted; and comedy actor Helen Lederer, who has a a culturally Jewish father and a Protestant mother; practising Catholic Harry Clark, winner of the second series of The Traitors; stand-up comedian Daliso Chaponda, who grew up in a religious Christian family but is now veering towards the Baha’i faith; presenter Jeff Brazier, who went to Catholic schools but now defines himself as spiritual; retired Paralympian and practicing Christian Stef Reid and journalist Nelufar Hedayat, who refers to herself as a modern Muslim.

Here Chaponda talks about the experience. 

What were you expecting to experience on this pilgrimage?

I was looking forward to the conversations and the camaraderie. I love to discuss faith and philosophy and possibilities. I was not looking forward to the walking or cold weather though!

Any revelations about yourself or your faith?

My faith has been constant all my life, but it became a background thing and I no longer actively pursued it or struggled with questions of faith as I did in my 20s.

 This pilgrimage definitely reignited that fire. I also haven’t been a part of a faith community for the last five years and it’s just personal. 

Pilgrimage made me recall the value of having a small community of friends who you can discuss faith with.

Did you have to prepare for the Pilgrimage?

I should have prepared more! I knew I should have started walking and getting fit earlier (I procrastinated with that!) I knew I should ‘break in’ my walking boots (I didn’t). So I knew all the things I should do from reading online, and I did none of them. Except order walking poles. They helped a lot.

To be honest, I was unprepared but that was part of the fun.

What was the biggest challenge?

We all had complex interpersonal dynamics, and particularly when discussing faith, it can be difficult. You remember the old advice for dinner parties... ‘avoid religion and politics,’ well we were diving into discussing faith, while also trying to come together.

There are other reality shows which are about conflict. What I love about Pilgrimage is it’s more about bonding, finding common ground and self exploration, so the challenge was to navigate the chasms of difference and come together. Laughter helped a lot.

What was your highlight?

It’s difficult to pick one, but there was a conversation I had with Stef Reid about prophets, which was illuminating, even though we saw things very differently. It made me think and read loads and loads to reply to the final point.

What about the actual physical route – how would you describe it?

On the warm days it was beautiful and a delight. When it rained, it was hell and I uttered many epithets, which I’m sure the editors had to remove from the final cuts!

Did you find the experience emotional?

I’m not a very emotional person so the journey for me was one of reconsidering things that I’d stopped thinking about and accepted. Not sure if that makes sense, but the best way of saying it is probably there were some things I’d sort of ‘figured out’ and knew where I stand, that have been ‘unfigured out’ and I’m confused about again. Which is kind of beautiful at my age.

Were you surprised by any of your fellow pilgrims’ reactions to any situations?

I had no preconceptions as I knew none of them, but the relish they all took in walking barefoot in icy water made me realise I was travelling with mad people!

Were you surprised by any of YOUR reactions?

I loved every monastery and nunnery and chapel more than I imagined I would. I’m an ex-Christian but still clearly have a strong connection to places of worship.

I’m mostly Baha’i but I don’t know if I can call myself a Baha’i as I don’t practice, go to community events etc. I simply read the texts all the time, pray, and independently explore (which doesn’t feel like being a true part of a faith). This may be changing though because post Pilgrimage, I’m engaging a bit more with the community.

What helps you explain the world?

Humour and creativity

Is your faith/religion something you have previously felt comfortable discussing?

When I work in Africa yes. When I work in the UK, only with one or two peers, as more people are secular and in the comedy world, a lot are downright hostile towards faith.

Has the experience changed or increased your faith?

It has increased my faith, paradoxically, by instilling more doubt, which has led me to read more about faith, listen to more podcasts about faith, discuss it more, write about it more… and faith is active.

There was a night where I tried to explain core elements of the Baha’i faith to everyone (and I’m no expert) and that was difficult but then trying to answer some of their questions led me to have to search the writings of Abdu’l-Baha and Baha’u’llah and that led me down a metaphorical spiritual rabbit hole.

Since returning home from the Pilgrimage, have you felt or acted differently?

I’ve been talking about my faith on stage. IN SECULAR ENGLAND! I never would have thought I would. Since the Pilgrimage, I want to discuss my faith more in my art. I always have but I had hidden it in parables and scaffolding. I think I will be more overt from now on.

I’ve spent more time reading about faith, more time discussing it, and more time listening to podcasts about faith and watching YouTube clips.

Things I haven’t done in ten or so years have resurfaced. As I mentioned, I was more actively religious in my 20s and I think I’ve been given a second wind (maybe third or fourth as in the journey of life there have been other peaks and troughs).

I have one or two friends who are my ‘faith’ friends with whom I discuss faith. Since Pilgrimage, I have gently been bringing it up with my non-faith friends. Not in an evangelising manner, more in an expression of curiosity.

Did you learn anything new about your own faith/beliefs while you were away?

I didn’t know how defensive I was of them until I heard people challenge them.

You spent two weeks with a group of strangers. Did you learn anything new about yourself?

I made some close new friends who I will carry with me for life and that’s a gift.

Did it highlight any particular strengths/weaknesses?

I think I learned that I’m bad at hiking, I’m good at mediating and relieving tension, I’m bad at sleeping in a room with people snoring nearby and I’m good at asking questions to peel away people’s onion layers.

Did anything about this pilgrimage surprise you?

I was surprised and delighted by how much I enjoyed the passionate faith discussions.

What do you hope viewers will take away from watching you?

The beauty of the Ba’hai faith is to me, partly, in its acceptance of the complexity of human experience and understanding that not all paths to the truth are the same and different paths can be equally valid. 

I worry that I was not the perfect person to represent this ethos as it’s one I’m grappling with myself, but if in my clumsy verbal blundering around, I conveyed a measure of that and made people curious enough to look further, I’d be very pleased.

How did you feel when you reached the final moments of the Pilgrimage?

I was sad it was over. And this is from the pilgrim who grumbled most about the weather and the walking.

Any other moments you want to share?

Helen’s birthday party was beautiful. The long descent down a mountain with lots of falling boulder signs was most disturbing. And the kids (three adolescent minded pilgrims with a penchant for horsing around) were hilarious and kept us in good cheer.

Would you do it again?

I would. Somewhere hotter. Desert Pilgrimage, give me a call. Cold mountains, find someone else.

Summarise your experience on Pilgrimage….

Lots of once in a lifetime conversations, walking , more walking, illuminating moments of faith, more bloody walking, laughter, more walking, delicious meals, what more walking. Rain, snow, rain. More walking. Walking. My feet hurt. I’ll miss you all.

• Pilgrimage: The Road Through the Alps is on BBC Two at 9pm on Sunday  and on iPlayer