Entertainment

Mount Kilimanjaro climb for Comic Relief – Have they reached the top?

Dan Walker, Shirley Ballas and Ed Balls are among the celebrities making the 19,000ft ascent for charity.
Dan Walker, Shirley Ballas and Ed Balls are among the celebrities making the 19,000ft ascent for charity. Dan Walker, Shirley Ballas and Ed Balls are among the celebrities making the 19,000ft ascent for charity.

Comic Relief bosses do not know whether a group of celebrity climbers has reached the top of Mount Kilimanjaro because they have been unable to make contact.

TV presenter Dan Walker, Strictly Come Dancing judge Shirley Ballas and former shadow chancellor Ed Balls are among the stars trying to conquer Africa’s highest mountain.

The 19,000ft (5,791m) ascent is being documented for a special programme to air on BBC One.

The celebrities were said to be on the final stretch and expected to reach the summit in the early hours of Friday morning UK time.

Love Island’s Dani Dyer, Little Mix singers Jade Thirlwall and Leigh-Anne Pinnock, presenters Alexander Armstrong and Anita Rani, and NFL star turned BBC pundit Osi Umenyiora have also been taking part.

Their climb comes as Labour MP David Lammy accused Strictly Come Dancing star Stacey Dooley of perpetuating “tired and unhelpful stereotypes” after she travelled to Uganda for a documentary ahead of Red Nose Day.

The politician said “the world does not need any more white saviours” after Dooley posted a snap from the trip with a child on Instagram.

Dooley hit back, saying: “Is the issue with me being white? (Genuine question) … because if that’s the case, you could always go over there and try raise awareness? Comic relief have raised over one billion pounds since they started. I saw projects that were saving lives with the money. Kids lives.”

– Kilimanjaro: The Return is taking place 10 years after the original climb led by Take That star Gary Barlow, which raised £1.5 million for Comic Relief.