Fitness fan Ruby relishes challenge of Bear Grylls' Treasure Island

Ruby Torry was the youngest contestant signed up for Treasure Island with Bear Grylls, which hits screens on Sunday.

The waitress supervisor and fitness fanatic from Thorpe Hesley said she had been pushed to her limits both physically and mentally in the hit Channel 4 show.

Ruby (21, below) admitted she had been thrown in at the deep end as she had never even been camping before.

Speaking on why she decided to sign up, Ruby said: “For me, I’m at peak physical fitness and I thought, something like this is never going to come around again. 

“You can’t pay for an experience like this. 

“When I saw the applications open, I went for it, but never in a million years did I think I’d get asked to do it. I was so made up.”

In the show previously called The Island, 12 “ordinary” Brits are left marooned on a remote tropical island for 35 days. 

There’s a twist this time round as there is money at stake and it’s everyone for themselves as they try and hunt down the £100,000 cash prize. 

If they leave early, they get nothing.

Ruby said she had been concerned about the issue of finding water on the island as contestants in previous series said the water “looked like Coke” but certainly didn’t taste like it. 

Ruby said she had been “star struck” on meeting Bear, adding: “He wanted us to just go and have the experience.

“He gave us a few tips, but if we asked him things, he didn’t give anything away.”

She also said the lack of food and the living situation was “horrible” and that the worst part was coping with sand flies. 

“You’re told about the sand flies, but you don’t know how bad it’s going to be,” added Ruby. 

“It feels like your skin is crawling. I would wake up in the night and my skin would feel like it was on fire because I just wanted to scratch everything.”

Tune in to Channel 4 at 9pm on Sunday to find out how Ruby got on.