Freeze The Fear With Wom Hof | Interview with Dianne Buswell

Dianne Buswell is an Australian professional dancer and YouTuber.  She is best known for her appearances on the British television show Strictly Come Dancing.

Had you ever encountered Wim Hof before doing the show?

Yes, I was actually already a fan of Wim. I had watched virtually all of his YouTube videos, whether it was just him or a collaboration he had done with somebody.  I find him fascinating – so when I heard about the show it was actually a no-brainer for me: I thought ‘This is my chance, I can finally try his techniques for real’ and I didn’t hesitate.

As a professional dancer from Australia, how did you cope with the cold environment?

As a dancer I feel like I have a strong mindset already, but this experience built on that. Being from Australia didn’t help at all – I had never experienced cold like it.  When I was growing up, going to a cold place wasn’t really an option because it was so far away from us.  I’ve only seen snow in the last few years; this was so, so different from anything I’m used to.

How did Wim gain your confidence in doing all these challenges? 

Wim has an aura about him which is unique and he teaches you techniques which help you along the way, but he doesn’t put any pressure on you, just his presence is so calming and reassuring. He told us over and over again: ‘You’re so much stronger than you believe,’ and that really resonated with me and helped me a lot.

What surprised you most about doing these challenges with Wim and did you learn anything about yourself throughout the process?

I learnt that I’m definitely not as afraid as I thought I was.  It taught me that maybe the sense of fear was something locked in my head, from when I was a little girl.  I’m really afraid of heights and when I was doing the breathing exercises with Wim, memories would pop up in my head of my mum being so protective of us when we were kids: ‘Don’t do that – you’ll hurt yourself’ or ‘Don’t climb that tiny little flight of stairs, you might fall off’ those sorts of things came up for me.  But then you begin to realise that’s not a real fear.  So, when I was doing the challenges I felt a lot braver than I ever thought I could be.  Wim brings all of that out of you through his breathing techniques.

Which of the celebs in the group did you bond with the most? 

They’re all honestly the best people I’ve ever met.  We have a WhatsApp group and we talk to each other every day.  At least one of us will say how much we miss each other because we really do!  I loved all of them.  I would make Alfie a cup of coffee every morning without fail – he was like my big brother whilst Gabby was like my big sister; Owain and I instantly clicked; Stephen was so chilled whilst Patrice was just hilarious. In fact I’ve never laughed so much in my life. Tamzin is also one of the funniest people I’ve ever met and Chelcee is amazing – she makes me feel so uncool.  I think every person had a role, but if I were to pick just one it would be Owain – we’re like best friends. They’re an incredible group of people and I was so lucky to meet them all.

Which parts of the experience would you take forward in your everyday life? 

I will definitely keep practising the breathing technique as well as taking cold showers. On the flight home from London to Australia I couldn’t sleep and then we had an overlay somewhere en route and I felt awful.  But I thought to myself: ‘I’ve just done this amazing Wim Hof experience and I’m going to try the breathing.’  So I lay there listening to the Wim Hof app and I instantly felt full of energy, as if I’d had a full 8 hours of sleep, it was insane!  I even got [my partner] Joe to do it and he was like ‘Wow!  It actually really does work!’  I’m going to use the breathing technique to steady my nerves for Strictly!

Have you got any funny anecdotes from filming? 

We all had to sleep in a giant tent.  One night, none of us could get to sleep and  I suddenly thought I heard a snake.  In fact it was just the hose hissing!  We were in two sections, the southern and northern quarter, we called them – so Tamzin, Patrice, Owain and I were in our little section. We were a bit naughty because we really wanted some sweets, so we asked Patrice to run outside and get us lollies from somewhere.The lights were out, everyone was fast asleep but it didn’t end well and we got told off for trying to leave camp. But they did end up bringing us a load of lollies and we sat up like 12 year old girls at a sleepover chatting away.  It was an amazing experience – not just the Wim Hof techniques but the relationships we formed with one another.