The 31-year-old from Dungannon, Co Tyrone, who is known to viewers as one half of the “Peru Two” drug smuggling case, was visibly shaken during a psychological challenge on the Channel 4 reality show. In episode 2 of the series, McCollum faced a simulated interrogation which is designed to test the mental resilience of recruits under pressure.
“I didn’t like it,” McCollum said of the experience. “It was super long. I know it’s not real, but it felt very real… it’s quite difficult to get through that.”
The show is renowned for its unforgiving military-style regime, putting participants through extreme physical tasks, freezing water immersions, sleep deprivation, and confrontational exercises that mimic aspects of real-life special forces training. But for McCollum, it was the psychological intensity — not the physical hardship — that hit hardest.
McCollum was arrested in 2013 in Lima, Peru. The pair were caught attempting to smuggle more than £1.5 million worth of cocaine out of the country.
Initially sentenced to six years and eight months in prison, McCollum served just over two years in a Peruvian jail.
Upon her release, she returned to Northern Ireland and began speaking publicly about the circumstances that led to her arrest, the lessons she learned, and her desire to rebuild her life.
“I do think my time in prison changed me as a person,” McCollum said.
McCollum described her years in prison as “long” and “hard”.
“It was a maximum security prison, and I was in the middle of the desert.”
“Lots of people were on drugs, there was a lot of drugs. There was lots of abuse. The conditions were awful,” she added.
Whilst in prison, McCollum used the time to learn a new language and, “could learn a lot about herself.”
McCollum revealed that she came from a family of 10 children, with five strict older brothers, “I would sneak out of the house, I would hang out with people who weren’t good for me,” she said.
“That’s when the drugs started. I was heavily addicted to a variety of different drugs at 16: Methadone, ketamine GB, Subutex,” she added.
McCollum booked a one-way ticket to Ibiza, “I was only in Ibiza for six weeks, I was partying a lot.”
It was there McCollum met a man who asked her to pick up a package in Barcelona, “I was getting deeper and deeper into this trap.”
“They put me on a flight to Peru in South America. I knew it was wrong… I just felt so scared, what would they do to me? What would they do my family?” added McCollum.
After prison, when McCollum was due to return home to Northern Ireland, she recalled, “It was really hard. I knew I messed up, I was constantly reminded of that,” McCollum said.
For her, it was an opportunity to test herself against one of television’s toughest endurance challenges. “There’s a kind of mental strength you need to survive prison,” she e
Kate Harkin 
Leave a comment