Comic joins The Island

Josie Long is to put her survival skills to the test in a TV show with Bear Grylls.

She will be taking part in a celebrity version of The Island as part of Channel 4’s Stand Up For Cancer campaign, which airs this October.

For two weeks the stars will be Dumped on a remote, uninhabited island with just the clothes on their back, basic tools, medical supplies and enough water to last them for 24 hours.

Also taking part are former JLS singer Aston Merrygold, Made in Chelsea’s Ollie Locke, comedian Dom Joly, The Hotel’s Mark Jenkins, rugby ace  Thom Evans, Channel 4’s Dr Dawn Harper,  selfie queen’ Karen Danczuk, Towie star Lydia Bright and former Blue Peter presenter Zoe Salmon.

Long loves outdoor pursuits, telling one interviewer: ‘I absolutely adore doing physical sports and anything to do with the water. It's such a thrill. My favourite thing is wild swimming – I feel so exhilarated and alive.’

But The Island, described as ‘the ultimate survival challenge’, will offer a far more extreme experience. In the third series, which ended its Channel 4 run last night, one man fell from cliffs and be airlifted to hospital, while a doctor, give himself stitches after slicing his leg open with a machete.

Survivalist Grylls does not accompany contestants on the remote island, but narrates their experiences.

•  Long today also today revealed that she has gone to police after receiving vile online abuse. However, officers said they were powerless to help after an anonymous twitter user sent her a picture of Fred and Rose West’s murder victims, with her face added, before deleting the account.

The comic tweeted: ‘Which is fine but it's also been 10  years of steady drip of sexualised/semi-violent messages/comments on regular basis and it affects you. (Not all from the same person) but it makes me think using online social media in the long time and happy carefree existence aren't possible. I'm not trying to claim victimhood, it's just weirdly cumulative.’

Published: 3 May 2016