There’s an old saying: when ships were made of wood, men were made of steel.

Watford adventurer Rishi Ravalia had always enjoyed pushing himself and trying new challenges.

The 29-year-old from Walverns Close had run marathons, trekked up a 6,000-metre mountain and hiked around South America.

But nothing could have prepared him for the 60-day survival challenge he endured for the new Channel 4 show, Mutiny.

In 1789, the crew of a navy ship overthrew their captain, William Bligh. Him and a few loyal men were thrown overboard into a boat and abandoned in the middle of the Pacific. They were expected to die, but instead managed to sail 4,000 miles to safety.

Based on this infamous mutiny, the premise of the Channel 4 show was to see whether ‘modern-day men’ could survive the same feat.

For 60 days, Rishi and eight other crew members sailed around the ocean in a seven-metre long, wooden boat, battling blistering 50-degree heat and unforgiving storms.

Surviving on three biscuits and one litre of water per day, Rishi – who had never been on a boat before - described the trip as the “most difficult and horrific” experience of his life.

Watford Observer:

The crew survived on three biscuits a day

“It was the most horrific experience I’ve ever endured. It was just awful – I’d say there was five per cent of the trip that I actually enjoyed,” he said.

“It was incredibly difficult socially, mentally and physically. From day one, you had to poo over the side of the boat around people you had only just met – it was so strange living in such close proximity with eight people you didn’t know.

“Physically, I lost around 18kg of weight and after four days of storms, we all developed trench foot and trench hand; our skin was just rotting away. It’s not an experience you can ever prepare for.

“And starving is horrendous; you start to go mad. I had a mad trip about a cheesecake. Because I was so hungry and couldn’t think about anything else, I started imagining making the cake, down to the very last, tiny detail – how I’d beat the biscuits, how I’d melt the butter and so on. And if I forgot a step, I’d start all over again. It was crazy.”

But despite the hardship, Rishi said the worst part of the trip was when the crew thought they might not be able to complete it.

After three days spent with a tribe in Vanuatu, the crew sailed non-stop across the Pacific for 15 days, and this was when they began to struggle.

Watford Observer:

Eight men lived on a seven-metre boat for 60 days

“The sun was just unbearable. It was 50-degree heat and we had no shelter. That was the hardest part – we were close to the end and we realised we might not be able to do this; we might not be able to complete it," he said.

“After everything we’d already been through, it just wasn’t worth thinking about.”

Despite being a whiskey ambassador in London, whose lifestyle involves A-list parties and luxurious five-star hotels, Rishi said it was "the three Fs" he missed the most – family, friends and food.

And while he is keen to continue exploring, Rishi has ruled out another 4,000-mile boat trip.

“I’m really keen to continue on my adventure now, but would I ever do the trip again? No, absolutey not,” he said.