Joe McElderry crowned The Jump Champion

4 February 2014

In the grand final of The Jump, it was every man for himself as the final four celebrities battled it out for one last time in the hope of being crowned The Jump Champion. All Sir Steve Redgrave, Marcus Brigstocke, Joe McElderry and Donal MacIntyre needed to do was compete in one final winter sporting discipline and ski jump as far as they could, but it wasn’t as straight forward as they had all hoped.

After a day of dramatic events on the Ski Cross course, Sir Steve Redgrave and Marcus Brigstocke were forced to pull out of The Jump competition just hours before the live final due to injury. 

After being cleared to compete in Ski Cross following his fall in training for the event last week, Sir Steve hit the course for his practice run.  Before his run Sir Steve said “If we get through this without anyone being injured, I’ll be very surprised.”

As he neared the bottom of the course he decided he didn’t want to take on the final jump where he had fallen previously, breaking a bone in his hand and bruising his ribs, and so turned to avoid it and fell.  After a few minutes Sir Steve got up and made his way to the end of the course.

However, the pain from his bruised ribs was too much and he made the decision to bow out of the competition.  Sir Steve said “I’m absolutely gutted. I love skiing, I love the show. I wanted to give it my all and unfortunately I gave it too much three days ago and that was it. It’s not the not winning, it’s the not completing it. I’m gutted.”

With Sir Steve out of the competition the first Ski Cross heat saw the three remaining men, comedian Marcus Brigstocke, X Factor winner Joe McElderry and investigative journalist Donal MacIntyre, going head to head down the tough course. Ski Cross is the most action packed and unpredictable winter sport, so there was no way of knowing what might happen in the race.

Joe was straight out ahead, with Marcus and Donal side by side the whole way down. But as Marcus neared the bottom and took on the final jump in the course at speed he completely wiped out and slid down to the finish line.  After receiving medical attention he was helped off the run but his knee was too badly injured for him to continue in the competition. Marcus said: “I’ve had the time of my life. My aim was to do everything and I’m dead proud. I came on the jump and never jumped!”

With just Joe and Donal left in the competition, the pressure was on to win the final Ski Cross heat. Joe was on fire and shot out of the starting gate with Donal hot on his heels desperately trying to catch up.  But Joe’s speed was to be his downfall as he took on a corner and dramatically wiped out.  

Donal stopped to make sure he was ok as the medics came over, he wanted to wait for Joe to recover but Joe made him carry on without him.  Donal really was the last man standing, winning the heat with Joe eventually making it down the run and congratulating Donal at the bottom.  Donal said “Ski Cross has just been carnage, it’s been a war zone.”

As the Ski Cross winner, Donal was able to decide if he would jump first or second.  Both jumped twice and the biggest jump would see one of them crowned The Jump Champion.

Having taken a huge fall during training on the biggest (K40) jump, Donal decided to go first and took on the middle (K24) jump. He set a series record last night with his 17.5m jump, however, his first jump in the final wasn’t quite as big and he landed 12m.

Joe decided to also take on the middle (K24) jump. He managed to beat Donal earlier in the competition to secure his place in the show so the pressure was on to beat him again.  Joe has been the one to beat since joining the competition and he wasn’t about to let himself down in the final jumping an impressive 15m.

For Joe’s last jump of the series the biggest (K40) jump was finally put to use.  Joe decided to go for it and take on the jump the competitors have nicknamed ‘Daddy Bear’ to win the competition. He was confident and landed perfectly at a distance of 17.5m. Joe said “I’m just glad I’m down on firm solid ground.”

For his second jump Donal once again chose the middle (K24) jump, hoping he could equal the series record and his personal best.  He had to beat Joe’s 17.5m jump to win it and after psyching himself up at the top, jumped 13.5m, but it wasn’t quite enough to claim the top prize and Joe was crowned The Jump Champion.

Joe said “I have had an absolute blast. We’ve had so much fun.” 

Jump distances

Donal Jump 1 (K24) – 12m

Joe Jump 1 (K24) – 15m

Donal Jump 2 (K24) – 13.5m

Joe Jump 2 (K40) – 17.5m