A nursery boss in North Yorkshire showed real steel when she appeared on a TV game show.

Sarah Steel, managing director of The Old Station Nursery at RAF Linton-on-Ouse, near York, starred in the new ITV1 series of The Krypton Factor, one of Britain’s toughest television shows, last night.

Putting her mental and physical abilities to the test, 39-year-old Sarah battled it out against three male contestants, eventually coming in third place.

Sarah, mum-of-two and a former Army officer, has a hectic daily schedule as managing director of 13 nurseries across England, but said she thrives from a challenge and applied for the show as soon as she heard it was making a comeback.

Sarah said: “The Krypton Factor is being sponsored by business software company Sage who we use and I received an email from them saying that the show was looking for contestants.

“I remember the programme from my childhood when it was on the first time around and thought is sounded quite fun so filled in the application form and thought nothing more of it. I was really surprised when they phoned me up for an audition.”

Hosted by Ben Shephard and filmed at the end of 2008, the programme showed Sarah and her three rivals undertaking a series of demanding rounds testing mental agility, observation, physical ability, intelligence and general knowledge capabilities. “I was surprised just how nervous I was working out the maths puzzles in front of a live audience,” said Sarah.

“When you’re watching at home they can seem obvious, but it’s quite different when you’re in a studio.”

Along with the studio-based individual and group questions, TV clips and puzzle rounds, the gruelling assault course starting with a 40-foot tree climb pushes each contestant’s nerves and fitness to the limit.

It is rougher and more demanding than in previous series and is designed to test both physical and psychological strength of contestants as they race in pairs against the clock.

Sarah, who runs regularly and competes in triathlons, said: “The assault course was extremely tough, especially as it was so cold and windy when filming in the North Yorkshire woods where the show is based.

“We had to wait three hours before we started the tree climb as it was so windy and when we were up the tree it was really moving around.

“I have to say I was relieved when it was all over. I felt I’d done well and was pleased with how I had performed.”

Sarah took over managing her 80-place nursery at RAF Linton-on-Ouse a year ago.