Thorpe Park Fright Night: 7 Things We Learned When We Visited After Dark

Let’s not beat around the bush, guys, we are all bloomin’ jealous of just how well America celebrate Halloween, with those guys across the pond pulling out all the stops with terrifying haunted houses, epic fancy dress, and nights so scary that you might just end up wetting yourself.

Which is why we ruddy love Thorpe Park so much for bringing a taster of epic Halloweens to us lot across the pond, with their notorious Fright Nights becoming just as big a part of our yearly routine as Christmas and The X Factor.

So obviously you can understand why we jumped at the chance to go to Fright Night after dark alongside a whole heap of celebrities, and would you believe it? We even learned a thing or two along the way.

So without further ado, here are the seven things that we learned when we went to the Staines-based theme park - ENJOY!

1. Queues Go Faster When You’re With Nikki Grahame

Ah yes, we all hate waiting in line for our turn to get on a ride or into a maze, but we actually discovered that if you are queuing alongside the one and only Nikki Grahame then things go much, much faster.

Famed for her hilarious rants, the former Big Brother star joined us as we waited to go into Thorpe Park’s newest addition to Fright Night: The Big Top, a carnival-themed horror maze that was rated 5/5 on the scare factor.

However, it seems that after living with the likes of Helen Wood on Big Brother in the past, you’re going to need to do more than have a few creepy clowns jump out at her to give Nik a scare, with the star telling us: “The mazes don’t scare me.

“I don’t go on the rides because they freak me out but the mazes, I could walk around them by myself if they would let me.”

Rather you than us, Nikki, rather you than us.

2. THINGS JUMPING OUT AT YOU IN THE DARK WILL MAKE YOU CRY*

*Maybe.

Okay, so Nikki might be incredibly brave but we most certainly are not, with the new maze being just one of the many horrifying features that left us grabbing onto the person nearest to us and screeching for dear life.

But in a good way, do you know what we mean? Like, we were absolutely terrified, but at the end of the night we desperately wanted to go back for more…

3. Stevi Ritchie Hates Rollercoasters

We caught up with X Factor turned Celebrity Big Brother star, Stevi Ritchie, when we spotted him waiting for his friends outside Thorpe Park’s newest rollercoaster, Swarm, with the nervous crooner telling us that he was too chicken to get on the ride himself.

While we had him, we figured that we may as well have a bit of a chat with the star, with Stevi reassuring us that even though his fiancee, Chloe Jasmine Whichello, wasn’t with him, they were still very much together - and he even showed us his shiny new engagement ring to prove it.

Opening up about his plans for the future, Stevi also told us that the lovebirds were planning to move into a new lovenest very soon, eyeing up properties in the Surrey area.

Very posh.

4. The Saw Ride Is Even More Terrifying In The Dark

Years ago, Thorpe park teamed up with Lionsgate and launched the official ‘Saw Ride’, a fear-inducing rollercoaster that includes a 90 degree drop, and a descent into some spinning blades.

In short, it’s no spinning teacups.

However, if you thought the Saw Ride was scary when you braved it in the day, the Fright Night experience is a whole new level, with the drop being especially terrifying in the dark of the October night.

We still don’t think that our heart is beating at a regular rate after that…

5. Aisleyne Horgan-Wallace LOVES Rides

To be fair, Aisleyne is the one who had the guts to stand up to Farrah Abraham on Celebrity Big Brother’s Bit On The Side earlier this year, and although we all know how that turned out we can’t be surprised that Aisleyne is braver than your average celeb.

Totally cool with throwing herself into the full Thorpe Park experience, each time we spotted Aisleyne she was queuing for another ride - ending the night with one final go on Swarm before going to grab some food.

Sounds like our kinda girl, to be honest - and at least she had the foresight to eat AFTER she had been chucked upside down a few dozen times.

6. Jake Sims Has A Favourite Maze

We all loved him in Stereo Kicks when he proved to be the only one who stood out in the eight-piece boyband thanks to his edgy look and adorable sister, and when we spotted Jake wandering around the park we just had to grab him for a chat.

Gearing up for the release of his solo album, Jake gave us some tips as we continued around the park - telling us that Cabin In The Woods is by far the scariest horror maze experience of them all.

Unfortunately, we were too chicken to put it to the test - but judging by the screams that were coming from inside of the maze, Jake definitely wasn’t lying.

7. Horror Actors Are Brill At Keeping A Straight Face

The actors hired by Thorpe Park are undeniably the scariest part of Fright Night, but their ability to keep a straight face deserves all of the awards.

A special shoutout to the character-actors who hang around the ‘Containment’ maze, with these guys doing a particularly stellar job at scaring the living daylights out of us as they approached - and they didn’t even flinch when people would jump out of their skin and scream out loud.

If that’s not an Oscar-worthy performance then we don’t know what is, to be honest.

Thorpe Park Fright Night runs on the 9, 10, 11, 12, 17, 18, 19, 24 October – 1 November, with the Fright Night attractions opening at 4pm until 10pm.

For more information visit: https://www.thorpepark.com