Jennifer Ellison suffered severe injuries jumping from helicopter for 'Celebrity SAS'

Jennifer Ellison has revealed she was admitted to hospital with a lung infection after suffering multiple injuries on Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins.

The former Brookside star is among the celebrity contestants on the latest series of the Channel 4 military training and survival show and has detailed how jumping from a helicopter caused bleeding from her lungs and spleen.

Ellison, 39, told The Daily Star: "After I jumped from a helicopter, I hit my ribs and then I could feel a pain in my side.

Read more: Calum Best says he almost died during Celebrity SAS stunt with Ferne McCann

“When I got back to the UK it was getting worse, so I went to A&E.

“They told me, ‘You’ve got broken ribs, blood in your lung and a bleeding spleen’. The infection in my lung was really nasty.”

The soap star and mother-of-three – who won Gordon Ramsay's cooking reality show Hell's Kitchen in 2004 – admitted it took a "very long time" to recover from the injuries, that left her "laid flat" in bed and struggling to breathe.

Ellison – who has three sons aged 12, nine and seven with boxer husband Rob Tickle – said one of her greatest fears was leaving her family to film the show on location in Jordan.

She said: "I'm afraid of being away from the kids. I'm afraid to sleep away from my husband, so that even in itself was a massive thing for me."

The former soap star and West End performer, who rose to fame playing Emily Shadwick in Brookside, described Celebrity SAS as "inhumane".

She said: “There were times when I worried about dying. I was thinking ‘What they’re doing to us cannot be legal’."

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But Ellison – who appeared in Lifetime reality show Dance Moms in 2014 – said that despite experiencing "the worst pain imaginable" on the show "the reward was life-changing" and she would recommend taking on the challenge to other celebrities.

Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins airs on Sunday at 9pm on Channel 4.

Watch: Kerry Katona on taking part in Celebrity SAS