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Sophie Radcliffe has scaled mountains, completed the Iron Man twice and has even cycled from London to Paris is just 24 hours - but has just claimed victory over arguably her toughest opponent yet: the BBC.
The adventurer had applied to be part of the upcoming show World’s Toughest Army on BBC2 but had her application rejected almost immediately because she was a woman.
She told i100.co.uk: “The email to my application came back literally four or five minutes after I’d applied.” It read: “Unfortunately, the application is only open to men currently as it is in keeping with the selection criteria of the special forces we will be featuring in the series.”
Sophie was flabbergasted by the response. She told us: “I tried to get my head around it. I’d read the application a number of times - it was explicit that no-one could apply with a military background and the criteria for selection would be on location, age, mental resilience and things like that - but there was zero mention of sex or gender.”
It was almost like they didn’t expect women to apply - like it was assumed that they wouldn’t.
- Sophie Radcliffe
The 29-year-old made her feelings clear in her reply, writing that it was “a real disappointment in the modern age to have such an antiquated approach to physical endurance and fitness".
Sophie heard nothing in reply but later posted the email exchange online. It was quickly was picked up across the web and made national headlines. It made enough of an impact that she received a call “out of the blue” from the BBC.
They said they had changed their mind and were going to accept women - and I was like ‘ok’ because they were so casual about it.
I said to them ‘that’s great but why?’ and they said it was a TV programme, so they wanted women to apply.
- Sophie Radcliffe
Sophie said they were extremely casual about the entire thing, as if it wasn't a problem.
Getting the BBC to change their mind was “a bit of a shock,” Sophie told us. “They didn’t explain any further why it had been men-only - it’s something I’d like to ask them more about.”
A BBC spokesperson told i100.co.uk at the time of the initial rejection that the "series applies the same selection criteria as the British Army’s SAS, but that does not necessarily rule out an all-female follow up series".
Sophie was subsequently invited to interview for the show, which she says she would love to take part in.
Despite getting the television giant to change their mind, she says: “I think something like this can always happen but I’m really pleased I spoke out. Often [when something like this happens] we all think ‘Oh, it’s just me’ - but this has all given me the confidence that things change.
"Lots of people contacted me, especially women, just to say ‘thank you so much for standing up for this’ and sharing their own stories of when they’ve kept out of things or rejected for being a woman. So sometimes it does work - we should fight for change.”
Read more at Sophie’s blog: ChallengeSophie.com
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