When they cry on screen, celebrities usually let a single tear roll wistfully down their cheek, not even smudging their immaculate make-up.
Not so for Michaela Strachan, who had a bout of "ugly crying" in front of the cameras recently. This, however, is entirely understandable when you realise the heartache the wildlife presenter has faced in the past year. She not only lost her best friend Lucy to cancer but also suffered the death of her sister-in-law to the same disease. And her partner's best friend had a heart attack and a friend's son died at just 35.
Filming at a church for the new series The Pilgrimage, where celebrities walk 135 miles through Wales, it all became too much for the Springwatch host. "I was carrying a heavy load of sadness," Michaela says. "But I feel as though I've processed a lot of the hurt and that I'm better for it.
"The vicar was lovely, he asked us to collect a pebble from the beach and write on it something we were trying to let go of or someone we were saying goodbye to. Obviously, that is very triggering if you've gone through a year of loss. I started to sob. It was what I call 'ugly crying'. It's not something I felt completely comfortable doing in public and especially not on camera!"
While the experience at St Hywyn's church in Aberdaron, West Wales, brought her grief bubbling to the surface, she also felt a weight lift from her shoulders. The trek made her appreciate life and after recently turning 58 she says that rather than worrying about ageing, she is grateful for every wrinkle after surviving breast cancer herself.
She says of the shock news after going for a routine mammogram 10 years ago: "Suddenly my world was turned upside down. I just remember hearing the word 'cancer' which was completely out of the blue. I could hardly breathe. I'm to my extremely fortunate 10 years later to sometimes forget I had breast cancer."
In the BBC Two show, Michaela rambles along the North Wales Pilgrim's Way with former reality star Spencer Matthews, journalist and TV presenter Sonali Shah, comedian Eshaan Akbar, Amanda Lovett from The Traitors, actor Tom Rosenthal and ex-model Christine McGuinness. Their two-week adventure takes them to stopovers including a caravan, a climbers' hut, a forest eco-retreat and Buddhist meditation centre.
The Pilgrimage was emotional and tough but I definitely feel lighter," Michaela adds. "It's really important to connect with the outdoors while disconnecting from things that aren't important. Everyone should do a of pilgrimage at some stage their life. The Pilgrimage isn't the first time Michaela, who lives in South Africa with partner Nick Chevallier, has taken the time to deal with her emotions. After breast cancer, she tried trauma-release therapy.
She says: "It teaches you to get rid of one trauma so it doesn't add on to the next trauma. We all go through traumas in life but if you don't deal with the trauma then the traumas just stack up one on top of the other. Then a small trauma triggers a big trauma - so I'm a great believer in dealing with stuff."
Michaela first burst onto our TVs aged 20 as a children's presenter doing silly sketches for the Wide Awake Club and starring on The Hitman and Her. Then came what she calls "falling into wildlife television" on The Really Wild Show alongside Chris Packham, which she joined in 1993. She is still lighting up our screens on nature favourite Springwatch, again with Chris, and barely seems to have changed, despite insisting she'll never have cosmetic Botox treatment.
She does wear make-up when appearing on camera though, despite one unfortunate incident years ago. Filming for the BBC's Orangutan Diary documentary, some curious young apes stole her make-up bag from her backpack, chewed it and smeared it all over their faces. Michaela was not happy at doing the remaining 10 days of filming make-up free, but says looking younger is not something she frets about.
"We all want to make the best of what we've got. Why do older women want to look like 20-year-olds? I don't want to look like a 20-year-old any more. I've been through breast cancer." and a mastectomy. I'm proud of all my lines because they tell my story of struggle and resilience. I've had to get used to having scars and freaky-looking boobs. Why can't we celebrate our wrinkles?"
Pilgrimage: The Road Through North Wales is available on BBC iPlayer.