All About Hollie Arnold MBE
Hollie Arnold MBE holds an impressive set of accolades including Paralympic, World, Commonwealth and European Gold medals in the F46 javelin event. Can she add Queen of the Castle to her collection?
"You just have to give it all a go," she says. "I’m so excited!"
The 26-year-old hopes her stint will inspire viewers to follow their dreams. "I don’t want it to be about my disability," she explains. "Yes I have a missing arm and I’m in the Paralympics but I want to show people nothing stops me and it shouldn’t stop anyone else."
Hollie reckons she is the underdog among her fellow Campmates, but she’s ready to show people what she’s achieved and give every Trial her best shot - even though life in Camp will be very different from her normal routine. "I can’t train for this! I just hope I can use my independence and the pressures I go through with athletics in the Camp and the Trials," she reasons.
A diet of rice and beans will also be worlds away from what she’s used to. "As an athlete, you have to intake a lot more calories as you have to fuel yourself for training and so it’s going to be really hard to limit calories," she says, adding: "I’m probably going to be hangry Hollie but I’ll do my best to get myself and my teammates fed!"
Describing herself as a "peace maker", Hollie says she’ll probably end up singing around Camp and is happy to help as much as possible, with the knowledge that her parents and boyfriend will be behind her all the way. "I’m definitely an emotional person and will probably cry," she says, adding: "My friends know me as girly girly, so they’ll know I’m completely out of my comfort zone!"