Alexandra Hunter was among 10 volunteers on the BBC's two-part special called How Mad Are You?

Five of the participants were labelled as 'normal' while the others had, at some stage in their lives, been diagnosed as mentally ill. Over five days the group were put through a series of challenges while three leading experts attempted to spot which volunteers had been diagnosed with a mental health condition.

Mrs Hunter said: "What they were trying to do was stop people who have had a mental illness from feeling like they were stigmatised for the rest of their lives.

"I was anorexic when I was 14 and it went on for about 10 years. I was in and out of psychiatric hospitals. I'm 36 now and I have three children and haven't been ill for a long time."

The Berkhamsted resident's eating problems began when she was 14-years-old and at 16, while a sixth form student at John F Kennedy School in Hemel Hempstead, she weighed just six stone.

"I first went into hospital when I was 16. I was there for about four months where I was basically putting on weight. I came out and lost weight again and had to go back in. It was a vicious circle," she said.

"It is a very serious illness and it can kill you but there is hope but only if you get help. You can't do it on your own but you also need to want to do it yourself."

Now Mrs Hunter, who has recently completed a book about her condition, is married to Stuart and they have two sons aged 10 and six and a daughter aged four.

Her book, Perfection, has been published at www.chipmunkapublishing.co.uk and is due to be released as a paperback in the New Year.