Celebrities from Tom Daley to Dermot O’Leary and Alesha Dixon have danced, swam, ran, climbed and even roller skated to raise money for Comic Relief over the last 40 years

Over the last 40 years many celebrities have gone above and beyond to raise money for Comic Relief, often taking on strenuous and even bizarre challenges to earn donations from the public. Red Nose Day is back on Friday, and in the run up to the event on BBC One, Made in Chelsea star Jamie Laing has already raised more than £600,000 while attempting a 150 mile ultra marathon challenge this week.

He’s in great company, as celebrities including Mollie King, Gethin Jones, Tom Daley and Dermot O’Leary have all raised huge sums of money for the charity.

Last year Sara Davies, Vicky Pattison, Alex Scott and Laura Whitmore battled unforgiving conditions trekking across the Arctic Circle and raised more than £630,000.

Adding to the pot for 2024 was BBC Radio 1 presenter Mollie King, who travelled 500km by bike from London to Hull, raising more than £1.3 million as she went. That’s even more impressive when you realise she had never ridden a bike on the road before.

Gethin Jones, who is teaming with Helen Skelton this year for a 24 hour roller skateathon, did another fitness challenge in 2023, raising more than £900,000 while dancing for 24 hours. Olympic diver Tom Daley, meanwhile, raised more than £1 million for his Hell of a Homecoming challenge where he swam, cycled and ran a total of 290 miles from London to his home town of Plymouth.

Dermot O’Leary also raised £1 milion in 2017 for his 24 hour dance challenge, where he was joined by celebrities on the dance floor including Jamie Oliver and Sam Smith.

2011 was an especially impressive year, when Dermot teamed with Lorraine Kelly, Scott Mills, Kara Tointon, Olly Murs, Ronnie Ancona, Peter White, Nadia Sawalha and Craig David did a 100km trek in Kenya that raised £1.36 million, and Chris Moyles earned a place in the Guinness Book of Records for a 52 hour marathon show on Radio 1, that raised £2.8 million.

In 2013 Melanie C, Jack Dee, Chelsee Healey, Phillips Idowu, Greg James and Dara O’Briain raised £1.1 million rowing the Zambezi river. Back on dry land, Miranda Hart had a very Mad March that year and raised another £1.1 million.

This year, as well as Jamie Laing’s marathon challenge, racing driver and presenter Billy Monger has completed the Ironman World Championship, four years after he raised £3.2 million by walking, kayaking and cycling 140 miles across England.

Red Nose Day on Friday night is presented by Jonathan Ross, Alison Hammond, Davina McCall, Rylan Clark, Joel Dommett, Tom Allen, AJ Odudu and Alesha Dixon, who completed her own challenge in 2009, trekking up Kilimanjaro with Gary Barlow and friends in a hike that raised £3.5 million.

“It helped that this time I’m not up a mountain eating out of an astronaut food pouch, and I can actually wear some makeup,” she said of her 2025 presenting role.

Red Nose Day for Comic Relief is on BBC One and iPlayer from 7pm on Friday 21 March.

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