They're tough, but just not tough enough

But a few weeks later, she, along with her parents and younger sister, found themselves on an army assault course in freezing temperatures, battling it out for a place in the finals of Britain's Toughest Family.

Sitting in the living room of their home in Spennymoor, the Durkins don't look particularly tough. In fact, they're more into performing arts than feats of physical bravery.

"All my friends couldn't believe it when I told them what we were doing," says 14-year-old Natalie. "Everyone kept saying 'you're not hard' but it wasn't about being hard in that way. It's about mental toughness as well."

The show, which will be broadcast from Wednesday, puts ten families through five adventures to test their team spirit and stamina. "We're going to create heroes out of ordinary people," says presenter, former SAS hardman Chris Ryan.

Nicola, Natalie, dad Peter, a brewery technician, and mum, school secretary Denise, were invited to a selection weekend at Warcop, where they were put through their paces on an army induction trial. Denise, who'd always wanted to go on the Krypton Factor, was looking forward to the weekend until she realised just how gruelling it was going to be.

It was the first bad weather of last year, so bad that some families didn't even make it. When Natalie shows me the photos from the weekend, every one of them shows the family huddled up in big coats and woolly hats.

"It was freezing," she says, shivering at the memory.

The family are all quite fit. Denise and the girls dance regularly while Peter runs and plays football. But nothing prepared them for the challenge ahead, which included a five-mile run with a weighted backpack, a swim in a freezing lake and a gruelling regime of press-ups and sit-ups.

Natalie's shoes didn't fit properly and her toenails turned black. She had to have them pierced to release the pressure before carrying on. At one point, Denise was so exhausted, she found herself stuck half way up a rope ladder, but with encouragement from the others, she made it to the top.

Peter says: "At first, I didn't want to do it but once we got there, I had a brilliant time. Some of the families were taking it really seriously but we just treated it as a laugh, and I think that made all the difference."

The Durkins' certainly impressed Chris Ryan and they were chosen, along with nine other families from across the country, to go through to the next round. Their challenge was to spend a week crewing a tall ship. The family had sailed before - Peter's brother owns a boat - but this was completely different. "It's an experience you just can't miss," says Denise, but not all of it was good.

They sailed out of Portstmouth on the Prince William in November. Everyone on board suffered from sleep deprivation from their watches, many faced debilitating seasickness and some had to deal with terrifying vertigo as they worked on the rigging, 100ft above deck.

Nicola had no such worries and volunteered to climb the mast in a force eight gale. "That probably was the worst part of it for me," recalls Denise. "I remember sitting in the mess waiting for her to come down. It was nerve wracking but when she came down, she just couldn't stop smiling. She loved it."

Denise fell off the mast once. Fortunately, she was attached to the rigging with a harness, but still found herself hanging helpless above the deck for a few minutes. And at one stage, everyone had to rope themselves onto the deck to prevent themselves from being swept overboard.

But despite the dangers and the physical hardship, the Durkins loved the experience. Natalie was too young to be allowed to go aloft but contributed in other ways, polishing the brass and keeping tabs on the meteorological conditions. Peter loved being the helm and was there during the storm. It's obviously something that's stayed with him as he treats me to a re-enactment in the living room.

So what was it like living with the cameras? According to Denise, "not too bad, not that intrusive". They were too busy concentrating on their tasks to notice them - although they were aware that some families tended to follow the camera crew around.

The Durkins made some good friends but they also learned a few things about each other.

Denise says: "As a family you plod along and we didn't know how we'd react in a close situation like that. We thought we'd probably just fight but we didn't. We had to share such close quarters and work together and we got on brilliantly. We performed well as a team."

Peter adds: "Even on the selection weekend, I was surprised. Nicola and I are both very competitive but Denise and Natalie aren't. I didn't even think they'd finish the run, but they did. I was really impressed."

Chris Ryan - who, according to Nicola is a "really nice man" - was looking for teamwork, determination and a family who pushed themselves beyond the limits. The Durkins felt they did all that but sadly, they were among the five families to be eliminated.

It was close; they were forced into a tiebreak, ironically against the family to whom they'd become closest. It all rested on an abseiling race, down one of London's tallest buildings, between Denise and another one of the mums, and they were devastated when they went out.

"Our emotions were all over the shop," says Denise. "We'd had an amazing time but we didn't want to go out. We'd put so much into it."

Although they were disappointed, they went out in style, sailing up the Thames and under Tower Bridge, with hundreds of onlookers lining the riverbanks. Photographs of the occasion hang in the hallway.

"Any regrets?" I ask.

"Only that we didn't get through," replies Peter. "But we've forgotten that now. We're thinking about next year."

l Pushed to the Limit: Britain's Toughest Family, BBC1, Wednesday, 8pm