Rise and Fall: West Lothian delivery driver Sydney feels 'humbled' after reaching Channel 4 show's final

A 24-year-old single mum and delivery driver from West Lothian has spoken about making it to the final of Channel 4 reality competition Rise and Fall. Sydney May Nicholson, from Armadale, said she entered the competition as a ‘proud feminist’ and to ‘show single mums in a positive light’.

Made by the creators of The Traitors, Rise & Fall was hosted by Greg James and saw 16 contestants battling it out to climb the hierarchy from powerless ‘grafters’ to ‘rulers’. All players could either rise or fall during the course of the game – but only rulers were able to win the prize pot.

As a young mum, Sydney was keen to make her daughter proud by going on a show that highlighted power and leadership skills. She said: “Your life doesn't stop when you’re a mum, you can still go and have a career, have your personality, be yourself and it’s something that I can really root for. I knew it was going to be so good for my daughter to watch as it was a huge opportunity to make her proud.”

Throughout the competition Sydney experienced being both a ruler and a grafter, but said she ‘much preferred the basement to the penthouse as you could trust people down there’. Sydney spent the majority of the three weeks in the basement, enduring endless nights of minimal food, cold water and nothing but the four walls barricading them in.

She said: “it‘s so pure in the basement as you don’t have food, hot water, no phone and it really humbled everyone to realise that you don’t need anything in life. I don’t think anyone has come out of this show saying that they preferred the penthouse. I would choose the basement rather than an Ibiza holiday any day now.”

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Making friends was a walk in the park for Sydney as she entered the competition ‘as a naturally light person’ that enabled her to form many friendships. Whilst this was a strong, positive trait to have, she felt at a disadvantage due to the nature of the game. Sydney said: “It was a game of elimination, which made me struggle as I got along with everybody. I had so many alliances and not one enemy.”

From the get go, Sydney and contestant Jack Woods grew fond of each other as they sparked a relationship which has now been taken outside of the show. The couple have planned a romantic getaway together as they jet off to the Dominican Republic this summer.Overall, Sydney said she was ‘genuinely happy Eddy won’ and that she ‘learnt so much about herself in there.’ She said: “I went there almost heartless and wouldn’t get upset about things, but when you’re in that environment where you can’t avoid it, you do just have to trust people to be there for you. You don’t need to be loud to show leadership skills or be powerful.” Sydney is now back to work as a delivery driver but has entrepreneurial plans set up and said ‘the show was just a stepping stone to get there’.

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