Helen Flanagan recalls tense TV experience she couldnt escape from

Helen Flanagan has admitted she found one reality TV show so intense she felt like there was "no escape".

The former Coronation Street star has appeared on a string of hit shows over the years, from I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here! to Celebs Go Dating, but says nothing quite compared to the experience of filming Ex on the Beach. Speaking exclusively to the Daily Star in collaboration with Paddy Power, Helen revealed the MTV series was far more full-on than viewers might imagine because contestants are immersed in the drama around the clock.

She explained: "Celebs Go Dating and Ex on the Beach are completely different experiences. On Celebs Go Dating you can come in and out, so you get little breaks, whereas on Ex on the Beach you're fully in it the whole time."

Having already tackled the Australian jungle on I'm A Celebrity, Helen thought she was prepared for life in a confined environment.

Instead, she found Ex on the Beach brought a completely different kind of pressure.

She admitted: "I've done I'm A Celebrity before, so I'm used to being in confined environments, but Ex on the Beach felt very intense because you can't escape it."

While the younger cast members embraced the party lifestyle, Helen joked she often felt more like the group's mum than one of the contestants.

"I also felt ancient in there," she laughed. "Honestly, I felt like everybody's mum."

Rather than partying into the early hours, the actress preferred a much more relaxed routine.

She added: "I was always drinking tea, having baths and using the pool to do swimming lengths while everyone else was partying."

Despite feeling slightly out of place, Helen insists she loved getting to know her fellow castmates and quickly formed close friendships during filming.

"But I got on well with everyone, especially the girls," she said.

"I'm a girl's girl, so I found it easy to make friendships there."

Helen recently appeared on Celebs Go Dating, where she opened up about finding love again, but says the two dating shows couldn't have been more different.

For Helen, the chance to step away from the cameras between dates made Celebs Go Dating a far less intense experience than the constant drama of Ex on the Beach.

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