Indeed, given the risk of serious injury to those taking part, the only surprise is that her fellow active athletes on the show – double Olympic taekwondo champion Jade Jones, and multiple Olympic gymnastics medallist Louis Smith - have not earned similar sanction.

UK Sport left the decision to individual governing bodies and, although GB Taekwondo expressed “reservations” about Jones’ participation in a year when she will be expected to compete at the World Championships in June, she has been allowed to proceed, as has Smith, whose Federation, British Gymnastics, says it has "no comment" to make on the situation.

A comment made on Twitter by Sydney 2000 women's 400 metres bronze medallist Katharine Merry - "quite rightly sports aren't going to pay you in case you don't come back in one piece" - sums up a widely-held view succinctly.

Because the chances of coming back in one piece, certainly as judged by last year’s third series of the show are poor. 

Question to those responsible for this Channel 4  production: what has to happen before you stop the show? Does someone have to die, or will a paralysis be enough?

Looking at the publicity profiles of contestants from last year, all are smiling in lycra with little fake snowflakes dizzying around them. But of the 16 who eventually took part, only four emerged unscathed. Seven were unable to finish the programme because of injuries, some of them serious and some of them very serious.

Even the winner, former England rugby union winger Ben Cohen, drafted in as an injury replacement, lost two teeth and required 20 stitches in his mouth after a crash in practice, while third-placed Tom Parker, a member of boyband The Wanted, had earlier pulled tendons and ligaments in his hand while training as another on standby to come in as an injury replacement.

Among the other injured were former world and Olympic 100m champion Linford Christie, who pulled a hamstring, Heather Mills, former wife of Paul McCartney, who injured a knee and thumb, and former Girls Aloud singer Sarah Harding, who tore ligaments.

There were more serious concerns over Made In Chelsea star Mark-Francis Vandelli, who broke his ankle, while double Olympic swimming gold medallist Rebecca Adlington, who dislocated a shoulder, told host Davina McCall that the pain of the fall was "the worst thing that had ever happened" to her and "worse than childbirth".

Former Holby City actor Tina Hobley also left after dislocating her elbow and sustaining two fractures to her arm, plus injuring her knee.

"My injuries have had a huge impact on my life and on the family," she said six months after the show. "For much of the year I haven't been able to drive, dress, wash my hair or have a bath unaided."

Most seriously, former world gymnastics champion Beth Tweddle required surgery to fuse two vertebrae in her back, using a graft from her hip, following a fall during training caused by the fact that a crew member had not left the landing area.

"Unfortunately, [Beth's] not with us today because she's due to have routine surgery on her back after a fall in training," McCall announced to the viewers.

Four months after her routine surgery, Tweddle described how she still found it hard to talk about and said she was seeing a psychologist on a regular basis in order to come to terms with what had happened.

Channel 4, as you might expect, began an "urgent review of safety" after Tweddle’s injury incident. But how safe can this show - which should surely now be re-titled I'm A Celebrity, Get Me to A&E - be? 

Sir Bradley Wiggins was less than a week into his retirement this month when he announced that he would be taking part in this year’s version of The Jump. 

The 36-year-old 2012 Tour de France winner and five-time Olympic cycling champion said skiing was "a big passion", adding: "It was a mix of that and the other committed names this year that made me want to sign up.

"Major retiring Olympians such as Sir Steve Redgrave have also trod this path, I see this as a sporting challenge and want to go out there and win it.

"Just don't call me a celebrity."

Which prompts two thoughts.

Firstly, the five-times Olympic rowing champion had to make an emotional decision to pull out of the 2014 final after a series of training injuries including breaking a bone in his hand.

Secondly, as Sir Bradley takes on his latest and possibly unwisest challenge, it’s no good insisting he is a sportsman only. Once you step into the arena of Strictly Come Dancing/I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here/The Jump, a celebrity is what you become, first and foremost.

Who knows what it takes to establish yourself in Made In Chelsea or The Only Way Is Essex. But to establish yourself at the top of your sport requires you to be someone who responds well to challenges - Sir Bradley being a perfect example.

That drive within top sporting figures has often expressed itself in interesting and sometimes potentially hazardous activity. Jimmy Greaves, grievously left out of England’s winning World Cup team in 1966, made it to the 1970 World Cup finals in Mexico by taking part in the Daily Mirror’s World Cup rally which, to quote the esteemed organ itself covered 16,000 miles across 25 countries in just 24 days. 

A total of 240 pros and amateurs in 93 cars tackled raging rivers, dangerous deserts, steamy jungles and perilous 15,000 foot mountain tracks.

Greaves had not retired by then - he was still on West Ham United's books - and played for them for another full season. One wonders what the manager Ron Greenwood made of it or if he was even informed.

Switching back to the 21st Century, France’s world record holder and 2012 Olympic champion in the pole vault Renaud Lavillenie took part in the 2013 Le Mans 24 Hours motorcycle race, finishing 25th– and in one piece.

You can never take away that desire for a challenge from people like Lavillenie, Greaves, Tweddle and Wiggins. It’s in their blood. 

The problem with The Jump is that it arouses that desire, and abuses it.