TV couple Colin McAllister and Justin Ryan reveal they ‘nearly froze to death’ after becoming stranded in their Range Rover during a freak storm

Colin McAllister and Justin Ryan ‘nearly froze to death’ in their Range Rover on Friday the 13th.

The TV couple – who have been married since 2008 – had attended a Christmas party at the start of the weekend, but took to social media in the hours that followed to reveal they were stranded on the way back when their sat-nav broke down.

A joint post on Facebook read: ‘How was your Friday the 13th? Let’s just say ours wasn’t great…

“Okay, stop: so you know we hate thirst traps. And we hate sympathy traps. You’ll never see us with our shit in our underwear.

‘Of course we have dramas (just like other people) but we keep our affairs quiet. Normal….

“So read this message, be assured that it is here for one reason, and one reason only: to profile – and show gratitude – to an army of people who (last night) came to our aid in difficult circumstances.

‘So what happened? Well, we almost froze to death. Literal.’

The TV couple – married since 2008 – had gone to a Christmas party at the start of the weekend, but were stranded on the way back

The former I’m a Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here! participants lost all signal and ‘slid into a ditch’ without any option to call for help.

The post continued: ‘After attending a Christmas party at Nomi (in Harcourt) with our Kabin friends Amanda and Geoff, we headed out into the night to drive back to Haliburton.

“It was 10:30 p.m. The weather when we left Nomi was completely fine, otherwise we wouldn’t have left.

‘But then a storm came out of nowhere. We lost phone signal around 10:45 PM… and then our GPS went dead, into the bargain. We were completely lost and there was no way back.

‘A moment later we slid into a ditch from which there was no escape. Since there was no phone signal, we were held hostage. We couldn’t call for help and the temperature in our truck dropped.”

The interior designers tried several times to activate the SOS emergency button on their vehicle but failed and despite becoming ‘like ice poles’ they were careful about heating themselves with the engine.

The message continued: “FYI we have an emergency SOS button in the truck but it just won’t activate. For several hours. At that moment we were like poles of ice and started to feel dizzy.

‘We turned the engine on and off from time to time – to try to keep warm – but we were afraid we would poison ourselves with carbon monoxide even though we had cleaned the exhaust fumes. Normally we are very practical. And not sensitive to drama. But OMG, this was really scary.”

Eventually the SOS button was activated and they called for help before falling asleep, only to be woken early Saturday morning by volunteer firefighters and a police officer.

The message added: ‘In the end, our vehicle’s SOS button was finally activated and we were able to convey our grief. But then we fell asleep, our truck was now almost completely covered in snow. At 5:30 am we were woken up by real angels.

They explained, “Out of nowhere a storm came up. We lost phone signal around 10:45 PM… and then our GPS went dead, into the bargain. We were completely lost and couldn’t get back

The interior designers tried and failed to activate the emergency SOS button on their vehicle several times, becoming ‘like ice piles’ as temperatures continued to drop

The pair were keen to reiterate that they had not told the story for their own good, and expressed their ‘extreme gratitude’ to those who had saved them.

The former I’m a Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here! participants lost all signal and ‘slid into a ditch’ without any option to call for help

Eventually the SOS button was activated and they signaled for help before falling asleep, only to be woken by volunteer firefighters and a police officer in the early hours of Saturday morning.

‘Three volunteer firefighters, two paramedics and an incredibly helpful officer called Josh were – thankfully – alerted by Range Rover and dispatched to dig us out.

‘After being checked by the ambulance staff, Josh brought us home safely. At seven o’clock the shitshow was over. We were safe.’

But the couple were keen to reiterate that they had not told the story for their own good, and wanted to express their “extreme gratitude” to those who saved them.

The post concluded: ‘So, as we said at the top of this long post, this isn’t a sympathy trap – we’re doing well. Absolutely.

‘This is not about us: it is a message designed to show our EXTREME gratitude to those involved in our rescue. The three volunteer firefighters. Both paramedics. And Josh, our incredibly helpful agent, who made sure we got home safely.”

Colin and Justin have been a couple since 1986 and first rose to fame when they presented Million Pound Property Experiment for the BBC in 2003.

Throughout the 2000s they presented a number of other property programmes, including How Not to Decorate for Channel 5 and Colin and Justin’s Home Show for the now defunct UKTV Style.

They braved the jungle in 2009 when Gino D’Acampo emerged as the series winner, and later presented a number of programs in Australia in Canada.

They returned to Channel 5 in late 2022, where they fronted Colin and Justin’s Hotel Hell.