Al Porter takes on Hell and Back after woman called his bluff to 'do more good'

Irish Daily Mirror

20-05-2025

Comedian Al Porter took on a hellish challenge after a random woman called his bluff when he said he wanted to do more to help people.
The Dubliner, 32, told his over 12k Instagram followers that while he's gigging at night, he has time during the day to help others. And one of his followers, Lisa Hand, had the perfect challenge for him.
Her grandson Miles has Cystic Fibrosis, so she organised a team for Hell And Back to raise money for Cystic Fibrosis Ireland. Unfortunately, she got injured and couldn't participate in the race, so she asked Al if he could gather his own team to raise some much-needed funds.
The comedian jumped at the opportunity and convinced his boyfriend and two friends to take on the crazy challenge with him. Hell And Back at Dawn was held at Kilruddery Estate, Co Wicklow, last Saturday, and consists of a hellish 7km run with army-style obstacles.
Al told the Irish Mirror: 'I immediately regretted my decision, because I started telling people in my life and they were all panicking, they were saying people train for this. They were like, 'No you won't be okay. A helicopter is going to have to come and rescue you.'"
However, the comedian didn't want to go back on his word. After gigging in Cork on Friday night, he drove back to Dublin, had a sausage sandwich and travelled to Wicklow to start the challenge with no sleep.
He continued: 'It was a sunny morning, so we were roasting, but, if it had been raining it would have been way worse. You're jumping over hurdles and ditches, you're on your hands and knees crawling under nets that are really close to the ground in the mud.
'You're climbing over rock walls, across rock walls, swinging on ropes from one side of a thing to another, over water, at one point, trudging through water.' Despite doing no training, the team made it through the hellish course in two hours.
Al said if he wasn't raising money for such a good cause, he would've thrown in the towel. The comedian was especially keen to race for Cystic Fibrosis Ireland after Julian Benson died last month aged 54.
The Dancing With The Stars judge had CF and spent his life advocating and raising money to help those living with the disease. Al said: 'I knew Julian because everybody who was in showbiz knew him, he was Mr Showbiz.
'He'd invited me to things before, like his charity balls and things like that. My mom loved him, and I think he's great and had a great personality. So there was just something about the fact that when this woman was asking me [to raise funds for] CF and with Julian just passed, that was in my head.
'I'd been having so many conversations with my mam where we were agreeing that he was a really inspiring person and that he really defied the odds to be such a positive, happy and encouraging person…so there was just something that almost it was meant to be.'
Al has raised €2,300 for Cystic Fibrosis Ireland, and people can continue to donate on his GoFundMe page.