As Victoria Pendleton prepares to walk the tightrope in a hair-raising new reality show, she reveals why it's what her late brother would have wanted: I'm doing this for the twin I lost

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The last few months have been pretty devastating for Victoria Pendleton, but she’s trying to focus on the positives. 

In June her twin brother Alex died of a brain tumour. ‘It’s put everything into perspective,’ says the two-time Olympic cycling champion, whose 43rd birthday last month was her first without her twin. 

‘Going through that experience, I don’t think anything will ever feel that bad. But it’s taught me that life is precious, so I want to live everything to its fullest.’

And that’s the reason she signed up to take part in Channel 4’s Don’t Look Down, a hair-raising reality series in aid of Stand Up To Cancer that started filming barely two months after Alex’s death. 

‘Before this I was avoiding any projects that might take me away from home so I could be there for my family at the drop of a hat,’ she says. 

The last few months have been pretty devastating for Victoria Pendleton, but she’s trying to focus on the positives. Pictured, Victoria and her twin brother Alex

But when the call came for Don’t Look Down she felt ready. ‘I know that Alex would have wanted me to carry on. He was my biggest supporter, the first person I called to say, “You’ll never guess what I’m doing…” He would have been super-excited for me to do this, and because it’s for Stand Up To Cancer it was a no-brainer.’

Victoria and nine other celebrities, including host and team leader Paddy McGuinness, Coronation Street legend Beverley Callard, ex-footballer Anton Ferdinand (Rio’s brother), TV adventurer Charley Boorman and Pussycat Doll Kimberly Wyatt, learn to walk the tightrope for the show.

She’s just completed her training in the Alps when we speak, and the team is still to undertake a high-wire walk 300ft above one of London’s most iconic landmarks. 

You’d think Victoria, who’s also a nine-time world cycling champion, would have an advantage thanks to her athleticism and sporting mindset, as well as being a self-confessed adrenaline junkie. 

‘I’m not particularly scared of heights so I wasn’t going to be terrified, but I’ve got horrible balance. I’m OK on two wheels, but I’m clumsy. I bump into door frames and trip over stairs so I knew this would be a challenge.’

Unsurprisingly, everyone was initially hopeless at tightrope walking.

‘On the first day we were all horrific,’ recalls Victoria. ‘We were all looking at each other and saying, “This is actually impossible, and they’re making it into a TV series?” But then one by one we started to get to grips with it. Charley Boorman was a natural, but I was one of the last to get it. Everything about my sporting experience is to do with tension and strength and control, whereas when you walk the wire it’s about relaxation and breathing and very smooth, meditative walking. As soon as you try to force it, it goes all wobbly and wrong. The trainer told us it wasn’t the rope shaking, it was us shaking the rope.’

In June her twin brother Alex died of a brain tumour. ‘It’s put everything into perspective,’ says the two-time Olympic cycling champion, whose 43rd birthday last month was her first without her twin. Pictured, Victoria as a child with her twin brother

Happily the group all bonded. As the contestants least afraid of heights, Victoria and Kimberly became team cheerleaders. Beverley was the ‘mum of the group’, and Paddy was a ‘brilliant’ team leader. ‘I’d follow him into battle 100 per cent,’ Victoria says.

They shared their experiences of cancer, too. ‘There was a real understanding,’ says Victoria. ‘Charley lost his sister to cancer and he talked to me about how he overcame it. Anton was really supportive. He gave me good advice about how he coped with grief after he lost his mum in 2017.’

The team still has to tackle the London high-wire walk. ‘It’s going to be somewhere that hasn’t been done before,’ says Victoria. ‘We’ll be harnessed up, but for me it doesn’t matter whether I’m 2ft, 20ft or 100ft up, it takes exactly the same skill. There’s no chance I’m not going to take that first step on the wire.’

Meanwhile she has returned home to Wareham, Dorset, where she lives with her partner Louis Tinsley, an ex-SAS soldier who now has his own clothing range.

Like other top athletes, she’s had to reinvent herself after retiring aged 32, following the London 2012 Olympics. And it hasn’t been easy. She’s spoken of falling into a suicidal depression in 2018 after having to abort a charity attempt on Mount Everest with Ben Fogle while going through a divorce from ex-husband Scott Gardner.

She says her all-action lifestyle is her key to healing. ‘Being active and pushing myself is always going to be a kind of therapy for me, because it’s like I’m reminding myself I’m still capable, that I still have life to live.’

Which is poignant in light of her brother’s death. ‘I want to make the most of life. Doing things like Don’t Look Down makes sense to me. I’m going to leave the fear behind because there are a lot worse things in life.’

Don’t Look Down for SUTC starts Tuesday, 9.30pm, Channel 4.