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Jumping Into Deep Water: Backlash over "The Jump"



Today, the BBC reported that Olympic bronze medal-winning gymnast, Beth Tweddle, is undertaking legal action for the life changing injuries she sustained when competing on a reality TV show inspired by winter sports.

  She is taking legal action against the production company, TwoFour, who created The Jump, Channel 4's now discontinued reality TV show which saw celebrities compete in a variety of winter sports.
Beth Tweddle
Olympian Beth Tweddle in promotion of The Jump in 2016 (Source: Channel 4)

  Tweddle took part in the show in 2016, where she hit a barrier in an event which caused her to require neck and spinal cord surgery. In an interview with BBC, she explained how she wants "to make sure that there is full accountability for people involved in creating shows like this ... to prevent others having to go through what [she] has for the past three years".

  It was reported by The Telegraph in 2017 that The Jump, which stopped in 2017 after leading to 34 celebrity contestants being injured throughout the four years it aired, will be returning to Channel 4 in 2019. Fortunately, there has been no sight of this reemergence however.

  This story once again shows the extent to which a production will go to with the exhibition of sports in order to entertain the public, as well as proving just how tough winter sports can be.

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