Go Back To Where You Came From star reveals terrifying moment she nearly died on Channel 4 show

Exclusive:

Channel 4's Go Back To Where You Came From star Jess Hallett has revealed the moment she thought she was going to die during her journey with the show.

Jess, from Llanelli in Carmarthenshire, Wales joined Nathan Rimmington and Mathilda Mallinson to travel from Mogadishu in Somalia back to the UK – to replicate a migrant's journey. The trio were flanked with 24/7 specialist security consultants and wore body armour as soon as they stepped off the plane.

Despite having what Jess called the "best security in the world" there were some incredibly dangerous moments throughout their journey. The threat of terrorism in the capital city, Mogadishu, is incredibly high, as terrorist group Al Shabaab – and other terrorist groups who oppose the government in Somalia – carry out frequent attacks across the country and in the city.

But, the group's near-death experience happened later in their journey as they travelled through the desert in Dadaab, Kenya and visited a refugee camp there. The four camps in the dry desert have seen more than 300,000 refugees and asylum seekers have flee the civil war in Somalia. In an exclusive interview with the Mirror, Jess reveals that she thought she was going to die – but felt "at peace" during the moment.

She revealed: "We thought we got chased by Al Shabaab, we were flying through the Kenyan desert.

"Whether it was them or not, you know, we was under the assumption it could have been. That moment was probably – I know this is going to sound a bit psycho – but that was the only moment in my life that I felt peace. I genuinely thought that I was going to die. There was no sound in my head, there was no screaming – everyone in the vehicle was in the same situation.

"And I don't know, I can't explain it. I didn't think of anything other than my training, looking in the bushes, making sure there is no one there. And I got back and we were like, 'what just went... what just happened?' It was a very surreal feeling like, you know, that near death feeling, but yet complete peace at the same time."

She added: "That was probably the most peaceful I felt in my life."

Security consultant Dane, 72, who was with the group when the pursuit took place, revealed the threat of kidnap was very real at that point. He explained to the Mirror: "When we were in the big refugee camp – and we know Al Shabaab go there for rest and recuperation and also they do a lot of recruiting in these camps as well as causing intimidation and everything else.

"The one day we went there – we only went there a couple of times – and we changed the timings. They know whereabouts you stay because they have people what we call 'dickers' that as we left our base, there's people on phones. And there's a white pick-up truck that followed us out the village.

"And when we got to the camp where we the crew and cast were going through their investigations and talking – we noticed a couple of guys scoping around us and the camp on motorbikes and scooters – making phone calls," he said. "And it got to the point where we've been there most of the day and I just decided it was just too much – that we needed to get out. And, as we did it, there was about four or five bikes that were doing a perimeter circuit as well as a pickup truck that we'd seen that morning. It may have been nothing at all but, from my experience there was definitely something going on."

He added: "It doesn't take them long to lift people, they can go straight in, they're armed, they can get people they need and off they go, they just disappear."

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