After attempting to smuggle 12kg of cocaine, Michaelaella McCollum claimed that life in jail made her stronger. She was arrested and imprisoned in Peru.
Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins star Michaella McCollum has admitted that her time spent in prison left her “desensitised”. She was previously jailed for her part in a £1million cocaine-smuggling operation, which saw her spend three years in a Peruvian prison.
Michaella, 31, claims that being forced to strip by prison guards meant she had no issues was she was told to shed her clothes for the gruelling endurance show. Viewers will see her ordered to change into a boilersuit on the final episode of the series before contestants are put through 14 hours of mental and physical torture designed to align with what real SAS soldiers have to endure before they are selected.
Michaella, 31, said: “Interrogation on SAS felt very similar to the experience and things that I had to do in Peru. It began with this guy who was like, ‘Strip all your clothes off’. Being forced to strip as a woman, that’s so humiliating.
“But I realized that I was so sensitive to being told by a guard to remove your clothes because I had endured that in Peru so many times. I didn’t react when it occurred in SAS, then. I suppose I was programmed for a long time because that’s what you do.
Speaking to The Sun, Michaella added that even though she was on her period at the time, it didn’t make her think twice.
She continued, “It was my time of the month, but I did it without thinking,” in response to the video.
You can’t show emotion while you’re in prison, just because it’s bad. You have to try to remain composed and not react, scream, or challenge yourself all the time.
She came to the conclusion that she should take inspiration from the advice to “just sit and listen, don’t react.”
When Melissa Reid and Michaella, both 19, were detained in 2013 at Jorge Chavez International Airport in Lima, trying to smuggle 12 kg of cocaine, they were 19 years old.
After being photographed by customs officers in the busy airport, the pair were photographed as the Peru Two. They initially tried to make a claim that an armed gang had coerced them into doing something, but they eventually admitted guilt.
Michaella described how she had been high while using drugs at an Ibiza party and received a “trip” for £5, 000. She has acknowledged that this was her life’s “worst choice.” In the Ancon 2 prison, she and Melissa received sentences of six and eight months.
They were released in 2016 having served three years of the sentence and Michaella wrote a book about her experience as well as appearing in a BBC. She took on a degree in business management in order to rebuild her life and now lives in Spain with her seven-year-old twin boys Rafael and Rio.
Source: Mirror
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