Superman star Dean Cain ironically “terrified of flying” on The Jump

“Superman’s terrified of flying!” he laughed to RadioTimes.com after I insisted he must be taking to Channel 4’s winter sports-themed reality show like a duck to water. He wore the famous red and blue Lycra from 1993 to 1997 in the New Adventures of Superman after all.

“I am terrified of flying, To really fly through the air, no green screen…”

The nerve-shredding show is back for its third run and sees celebrities train up and compete in everything from skeleton to moguls via air jumps and ski jumps. But catching the air isn’t high on Superman’s list of things he enjoys it turns out.

“It’s terrifying the things we’re doing,” he admitted. “If you told me I was going to do things I’ve done in these two weeks since we’ve been here I literally would have said, ‘Nahhh, no!’ I jumped off the jump today, literally two days ago I swore I would never do it.”

It seems his fellow competitors aren’t seeing any fear from Mr Cain however. Fellow Jump star James ‘Arg’ Argent of TOWIE fame says he’d put his money on the actor to win and Girls Aloud’s Sarah Harding insists he’s more than competent at flying.

“You’ve got secret wings my friend,” she teased him.

“I wish!” Cain laughed.

Show bosses have tried to get Cain on board each year he revealed and, despite the fear, the actor says he’s glad to have made it work this time around.

“I was shooting the whole time, last year as well. This year we had a weird schedule change and I thought, I ski well enough to do that and it looks like fun. I knew there were tremendous challenges. It’s exciting to try those challenges.”

Putting the nerves to one side there was some fighting talk, too. Cain’s certainly in it to win it and while he couldn’t reveal just how far he’s been jumping, he had this to say:

“I’ll tell you this, none of the past champions will be able to touch us!”

The Jump starts Sunday at 7:30pm on Channel 4