Shark! Infested Celebrity Waters: Meet Helen George
Jetting off to the Bahamas, the actor is taking part in ITV's brand new Shark! Infested Celebrity Waters - and it'll be far from an easy ride. Bimini, the island where the show is filmed, is home to around seven to 10 different types of sharks - including bull sharks, great hammerhead sharks, tiger sharks, and Caribbean reef sharks. Rather them than us...
Here's everything to know about Helen George - including who she's dating, her health battle, and the deep-rooted fear that inspired her to get up close and personal with some real life sharks.
Helen is a British actor best known for starring in shows including Call The Midwife, as well as her stage career in musicals such as The King and I. The Birmingham-born star studied at the Royal Academy of music, and was previously a backing singer for Elton John!
Born on 19th June 1984, she's currently 41 years old (and an enthusiastic, quick-witted Gemini)...
Since the debut of BBC's Call The Midwife in 2012, Helen has won over fans with her portrayal of Trixie Aylward (formerly Trixie Franklin.) Over the years, viewers have followed Trixie through her struggles with alcohol addition, before recently marrying Matthew Aylward (played by Olly Rix) and stepping into the role of stepmum.
Helen stars in the BBC show as Nurse Trixie ©BBC
Helen was previously married to actor Oliver Boot, with the couple together from 2012 to 2015. Their split came just weeks before the Call The Midwife star appeared on 2015's Strictly. Partnered up with professional dancer Aljaž Škorjanec, Helen finished sixth in the 13th series of the dancing show.
Helen first met her co-star Jack on the set of Call The Midwife in 2015, with Jack playing the role of Reverend Tom Hereward. While Trixie and Tom certainly had an up-and-down onscreen romance, it was said Helen and Jack fell head over heels in love with each other while filming the 2016 Christmas Special in 2016.
The couple welcomed daughter Wren in 2017, before the birth of their seconds daughter, Lark, in 2021.
However, Helen and Jack revealed that they were calling it quits on their seven year relationship in 2023. A shared statement read, 'Some months ago, we separated. Our beautiful girls remain the focus, and [we] respectfully ask for privacy for this next chapter.'
Helen with Jack in 2017 ©Getty
Earlier this year, reports surfaced that Helen had found love with divorced dad of two Dan Innes. The businessman is 11 years her senior, with the couple reportedly meeting on celebrity dating app Raya. It's thought the pair are still together.
Opening up Dan's reaction to her stepping into shark-infested waters, Helen shared, 'I hadn't even told Dan how scared of the water I was, and he was like, "But you got in the sea on holiday in Cornwall with me? I didn't know you were so scared."
Sharing water with some sharks is enough to strike fear in anyone. But for Helen, there's another reason why the ITV show is a big step out of her comfort zone.
The star suffers from aquaphobia - an intense and irrational fear of water that was triggered following a traumatic experience at a swimming party when she was a child.
Opening up about her phobia, Helen shared, 'I was terrified of putting my head underwater. I have a real deep-rooted fear. I used to love the water when I was really young, but I went to a swimming party when I was six. They put those weird Nineties foam mats down. They're massive yoga mats, really.
'I just remember this moment of being stuck underneath one and not being able to get out. There was that fear of being trapped.'
Revealing that it was this fear that encouraged her to sign up for the show, Helen explained, 'My kids know that I am scared of the water, and my seven-year-old is more confident in the water than I am, and I realised I've got to do something about that as it's not safe.'
During both her pregnancies, Helen faced health battled. The star suffered from intrahepatic cholestasis (ICP), a condition that causes severe itching and led to the premature birth of both her babies.
Sharing her ordeal on Instagram during her second pregnancy, Helen later recalled, 'I tried everything - creams, baths, all of it - and nothing would work. I would scratch all day and all night, normally on my hands, shoulders, feet - but that quickly increased to bloody everywhere.'
Revealing that she was put onto medication at around 30 weeks, Helen said, 'I have to say this pregnancy was so uncomfortable and painful. I thought the second would be easier, but it really wasn't. Spreading the world about this sometimes fatal condition is really important to me.'
And spread the word Helen did! The condition was later featured on an episode of Call The Midwife.
Joining Helen for a dip in the sea is comedian Sir Lenny Henry, Amandaland's Lucy Punch, Countdown's Rachel Riley, TV presenter Ade Adeptian, McFly's Dougie Poynter, and stand up comedian Ross Noble.
Shark! Celebrity Infested Waters will air on ITV1 and ITVX from Monday 14th July at 9pm. The show will air at the same time every Monday for the next five weeks, also available to stream. Happy watching!
Charlotte Roberts is a news and entertainment writer at Grazia UK. She spends her days covering everything celebrity, culture, and entertainment. []{href='https://graziadaily.co.uk/author/charlotte-roberts/#/' }
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