London, UK, July 14, 2012 – Olympics favourite Mo Farah says there is just one thing harder than winning gold – and that’s winning on TV’s The Cube.
The British 5,000m world champ became the first person to win the £250,000 top prize on the fiendish three-year-old game show in an episode to screen on Saturday.
He admitted to TV Biz: “Competing on The Cube was so nerve-racking.
“It is harder than running in a race, for sure. When you have a race, you can train and you know you have done all the training.
“You know what kind of shape you are in and you work out and plan the race and how you want to do it.
“But with The Cube, you have no idea what is coming up next. You don’t know what will happen. It is harder.”
The ITV1 series, hosted by Phillip Schofield, sees contestants trying to complete a series of challenges alone inside a Perspex cube.
In the past, the concentration needed for the tasks, combined with the pressure, have got the better of hopefuls every single time.
Relieved Phillip said: “It had got to the stage where I started to wonder whether anyone would ever beat it.
“Then along comes Mo. You do need someone who has nerves of steel.”
Mo took part in the Olympic-themed special, filmed early this year, in the hope of landing some cash for his charity, the Mo Farah Foundation.
But he never dreamed he would take the £250,000 jackpot.
He said: “It was brilliant and I never ever thought I would win.
“I don’t normally do TV shows like this — but this came at a time when I could fit it in.”
Mo’s challenges on the show included having to press a button as soon as a blue square travelling around the floor of the Cube hit red, and manoeuvring a ring along a pole without touching it.
He said this ring challenge was the most difficult of the seven tasks he had to complete.
The star revealed: “The hardest game for me was the not touching the metal with the ring. I kept shaking!”
He added: “My advice to anyone going on the show is to try to be patient and keep calm. When I first went in, I was so nervous. Then I just told myself to deal with it.”
Mo plans to use part of the prize money to help fund an auction ball he is holding on September 1 at London’s plush Grosvenor House Hotel.
Meanwhile, he is hoping his triumph on The Cube will be the start of a streak that will see him fulfil his dream of Olympic gold.
However, when his athletics career does finally come to an end, his time on The Cube has given him an idea for the future.
He joked: “I would like to present The Cube! Tell Phillip if he ever leaves, I’d like to have a go!”
He added: “Phillip is brilliant. He is so calm — a fantastic person.”
Mo’s episode of The Cube airs on Saturday at 7pm on ITV1. For more information about his charity, go online to mofarah foundation.org.uk.
The Mo Farah Foundation was set up to relieve suffering in Somalia, where the athlete lived before moving to Britain as an eight-year-old.
The country is enduring the worst drought to hit the Horn of Africa in more than 60 years.
Mo and his wife Tania were spurred into action when they saw Somali children starving to death.
The situation is so desperate that millions of Somalis have set out to walk hundreds of miles across the desert in the hope of reaching refugee camps for aid – but many do not make it.
By the end of this year the foundation hopes to have built 50 wells and to have given a month’s supply of food to at least 20,000 people and medical support to 40,000.
The charity also aims to improve water sources for farms by building eight canals, and to provide livestock and tools.
Source: The Sun