The DJ had a health scare in the scorching desert doing a Sport Relief challenge – and says the experience changed him. He talks about the dark side of celebrity and the pure joy of radio
Eight hours into a 35-mile cycle across the Namib desert, Namibia, for Sport Relief in February, Nick Grimshaw developed severe heat exhaustion. A medical team put him into a car to shield him from the 44C (111F) temperature, and explained what was happening: he was at risk of organ failure. Grimshaw’s body started “vibrating”, as he puts it, and he began to panic. He needed a sedative injection to calm him down. The next morning, he had recovered, but sat out that day’s challenge.
“I’m gonna be one of those annoying people who does a trek and is like: ‘I was changed in Africa,’” says the 35-year-old Radio 1 DJ. “When I got back to
London, I wrote everything down – exactly how I was feeling – so I didn’t forget it. Because it felt really good, and I just want to feel like that for ever.”