Spencer Matthews had his co-host podcaster Jamie Laing holding back tears after he described the morning of his first of 30 marathons in the Jordanian desert last month.
Former Made in Chelsea star Spencer, 36, embarked on – and successfully completed – a Guinness World Record, as he ran 30 marathons in 30 days in the blistering desert heat of temperatures up to 44C.
Reflecting on his incredible achievement in an episode of his podcast 6 Degrees from Jamie and Spencer, Spencer revealed how a challenging first marathon led him to pray to his late brother Michael Matthews, before something incredible happened in the sky.
Michael died in 1999 while setting his own world record as the youngest person, at the age of 22, to summit Mount Everest.
However hours later he vanished and still hasn’t been found. Spencer set out to recover his body from the peak in the 2023 documentary Finding Michael, but was unsuccessful.
Chatting to former E4 co-star Jamie Laing, Spencer looked emotional as he described the moment that felt like his brother reaching out to support him.
‘The first marathon was a bit rough, then I prayed to Mike the following morning,’ he began.
‘No big thing, but I got to the start line and the stars in Jordan are insane. I had a tiny 10 second moment on my own and just said, “Sit on my shoulder or something, help me out. Get me through each day in a nicer way than yesterday.”
‘And this shooting star went from one side of the sky to the other side of the sky. It developed this massive red tail, and just burnt through the sky. Both Jonny and I saw it and we were like, “Oh my god!”
‘It lit up the whole sky. I just thought to myself, that’s a nice sign isn’t it. It was about 10 minutes after I’d done my little thing to Mike. I saw that and I was like, that’s probably just a coincidence, but it’s cool. Then that day flew by.’
As Spencer told the miraculous story, Newly Weds podcaster Jamie fought back tears and asked: ‘Why is that making me emotional?
‘It felt to me like Mike literally burnt through the sky,’ Spencer reiterated.
‘I actually, I might go,’ said Jamie, covering his face with his arm trying not to cry.
As Spencer continued, Jamie added: ‘Oh my god, what’s going on,’ as he struggled to keep control of his emotions. ‘Holy smokes. I don’t know what’s happened to me.’
‘It was full on,’ remembered Spencer, adding: ‘I said a little prayer to Mike every morning after that. I did feel like he was kind of there with me. That day flew by as well, and I was like, I might just do that every morning.’
More than 20 years on from when Michael disappeared, Spencer retraced his steps up to Everest in the hope of retrieving his brother’s body and giving his family some sort of closure.
Despite not being able to find Michael in a bleak sea of other bodies on the frozen peak, Spencer told Metro.co.uk on the Disney+ film’s release the process had helped him more forward.
‘I felt like I hadn’t been that close to Mike in over 20 years,’ he said.
‘This has really helped me move through the pain of his loss. There’s no resentment there anymore; I’ve come to terms with his death completely.
‘Now when I look at photos of him in our house, I smile. It makes me happy to see him instead of feeling angry about it.’
He explained: ‘I want to give Mike a legacy and speak to anyone who experiences loss.’
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