I had a cat fight with Ferne McCann and thought my eye sockets were broken on SAS: Who Dares Wins, says Maisie Smith

SHE rowed with Walford’s worst in EastEnders and waltzed her way into the nation’s hearts on Strictly Come Dancing.

Now actress Maisie Smith has taken on her most gruelling challenge ever with a turn on Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins, which she reckons has turned her into Wonder Woman.

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The 21-year-old former child star is tested to her limits in the new series, which starts on Channel 4 at 9pm this Sunday, and says she has come out of it as “a completely different person.”

That is likely to have spurred on her flourishing romance with The Wanted singer Max George, 33, who The Sun revealed she was dating earlier this month.

In an exclusive interview, Maise says: “Strictly and SAS are two completely different shows. I came out of both of them feeling incredible.

“They changed me in different ways. Strictly very much helped me with any worries, like appearance issues. I’ve always been quite insecure of my body.

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“I grew up feeling very self-conscious of my appearance. I would wear trousers because I was too afraid to wear dresses.

“The moment I did Strictly, it made me feel like I felt beautiful all the time. The way it made me feel when I was dancing, it made me feel so pretty inside and out.

“SAS, it really boosted my confidence of not thinking I was good enough or strong enough.

New woman

“I came out of SAS like a completely different person, like a whole new woman. They’re the two best things I’ve ever done.

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“Strictly made me feel beautiful, SAS made me feel like Wonder Woman. What a combination!”

Maisie’s new-found confidence clearly proved attractive to her new love interest Max and she admits her fellow contestant Ferne McCann, 32, was trying to get the low-down on her relationship while they were filming in Jordan.

Speaking about the former Towie star, Maisie explains: “No matter how tired we all were, or we would be absolutely battered and past the point of exhaustion and she’d be asking about holidays and families.

“She was like, ‘So, tell me about your relationship.’ That’s what I loved about her, is that no matter what was happening, she was always happy. That was nice.”

Max, 33, split from his girlfriend Stacey Giggs for a second time earlier this year before getting together with Maisie.

They had grown close while appearing on a Strictly live tour and have recently jetted off on romantic holidays to Crete and Portugal together.

But after news of the relationship came to light, Stacey branded Max a “lying dog” to friends and accused him of cheating on her with Maisie.

She told the friend: “To see them on holiday and dating publicly so quickly after I dumped him and kicked him out is like a dagger to the heart.

“After everything I’ve done for him, I cannot believe he would be so rude and disrespectful. He’s a lying dog. I feel betrayed.

“I’m very shocked he could be so cruel and I don’t recognise the person he’s become. I think Max has become obsessed with fame.”

But Stacey isn’t the only one with a fiery side, as Maisie’s temperament earned her a nickname while shooting SAS.

She confesses: “They called me Tiny Temper and I loved that. I was like the little strong one.

“I think they gave me that nickname because I was showing a bit of grit and anger in the tasks.”

That was no more apparent than one scene in which she had to scrap with Ferne.

Maisie recalls: “They went, ‘Go,’ and I wasn’t expecting her to just go crazy. But she literally just went, ‘Agh,’ and just screamed. I think she shut her eyes, screamed and just went crazy.

“I thought, ‘OK. I need to step up my game’. I was going for a solid minute with just screaming and punching, like a proper cat fight.

Black eye

“I got a couple of good punches in. It wasn’t like a normal boxing ring. It was nonstop.

“I think neither of us wanted to do it. We just closed our eyes, pictured someone we hated and absolutely went crazy on each other!

“After I’d done it, one of the DS (Directing Staff) was like, ‘Well done. You actually smashed it, Tiny Temper’. That was it. After that, the name was stuck.”

The show is known for horrifying tasks and one involved jumping out of a helicopter, which resulted in Maisie being rushed away for medical attention.

She says: “I literally got black eyes from where I fell in the water on my face. For the whole show I had two black eyes.

“Literally when I came out of the show my thighs were still dark purple for two weeks, they were still dark purple just from falling onto water from a height.

“I hit it so hard that the medic had to check I hadn’t broken my eye sockets.

“I was absolutely battered, but luckily nothing was broken. I was fine.”

Maisie was first thrust into the spotlight aged seven when she was cast in EastEnders as Tiffany Butcher, a role which she played on and off until she bowed out in March.

But while her turns on Strictly and SAS have strengthened the actress, her years on Albert Square left her riddled with insecurities.

She explains: “I’ve had a lot of pressure on my shoulders from quite a young age, I think.

“Growing up in the limelight, it does put certain pressures on how to think a certain way and act a certain way.

“I think it was quite an overwhelming part of life, I always had to be quite careful about how I came across and things that maybe normal kids wouldn’t have to worry about.

“I’ve always spent my life second guessing myself just in case I wasn’t doing the right thing.

“I always worried that I didn’t want to jeopardise anything because I love my job, I love acting. It’s a tough industry to get into and even to get out of.

“I think in the back of my mind I was always just worried that I didn’t want to do anything that could harm my chances, and I think that was quite an overwhelming feeling to always want to say the right thing to the right person.

'It was brutal'

“I think it definitely made me question if I was good enough. I think that sort of feeling made me quite isolated in many ways.

“I’d kind of keep to myself because I was so nervous.”

It was only when it came to talking to the Directing Staff on SAS that she started to realise she is more powerful than she thought.

“The DS said how strong I am and how fearless I am,” she says.
“They were like, ‘You don’t give yourself enough credit’.

“It was quite nice to hear someone like that tell you that I’m strong, because these are the strongest people in the world, mentally and physically.

“To sit there and say that I’m strong, that was a nice feeling.”

Now she is hoping that her performance on the relentlessly exhausting series will help show other women that they are stronger than they think.

She reflects: “I have nothing to prove but I kind of went in hoping that I would inspire young, small women that we’re just as strong as anyone else, as any of the big, strong men.

“It felt quite empowering that I was the youngest one there. I came out of it feeling more strong than I’ve ever felt. I felt like I definitely did what I came there to do to inspire other young girls.

“Looking back, I can’t relive the pain and the exhaustion that I felt. I only remember just feeling so empowered and strong.

“It was brutal and it was pain I’d never felt and exhaustion, dehydration, all of that. But it was also the moment I felt the best in myself.

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“It just completely changed my outlook on everything.”

• Series four of Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins begins on Sunday at 9pm on Channel 4.