“Love Island, I’m dolled up to the nines every day,” she laughed. “And then SAS… I don’t even brush my hair.”

Pete Dadds/Channel 4

Less vibes, more vulnerability

“Obviously, we can share things on social media, but it’s always a curated version of what you want to put out there. Whereas on SAS, you don’t have any control over that,” Gabby explained. “It’s just very raw.”

Considering many of us wake up after a night out with wicked hangxiety and the lingering fear we’ve gone on Instagram Live or posted something embarrassing, this is a terrifying thought. Not only are you doing gruelling workouts and interrogations that can reduce you to tears… but you’re being filmed the entire time and broadcast to the nation. And you… signed up for this?

“When you do any of these shows, you give them full creative control to use whatever,” Gabby said. “But I can’t really remember the mirror room. Watching it back, I was dreading it, thinking, ‘Oh, bl**dy, what did I even say?’ I do remember having the panic attack, but that’s about it. I was scared about how it would come across, but I think they did a good job.”

In that mirror room, Gabby opened up about growing up with scoliosis and not knowing if she’d ever be able to walk properly. She also spoke about her father’s passing and how she strives to live in a way that would make him proud. I lost my own father in 2018 and my stepfather in 2024 to the same type of brain cancer as Gabby’s dad, so I know exactly what she means: that constant fear of not doing enough, not living enough to honour the life that was lost.

It’s easy to dismiss reality TV or influencers, but we often forget that this influence can be a positive one, and sometimes, that reality mirrors our own. Case in point: the countless viewers who reached out to Gabby after that mirror-room scene.