Nick Pickard raised millions of pounds for charities before joining I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here!, his Hollyoaks co-star has revealed.
The soap legend, who has played Tony Hutchinson for 28 years since the Channel 4 serial drama first aired in 1995, is currently battling to become King of the Jungle. He has so far survived two eliminations with fans voting to keep him in camp.
However, some viewers may not know that Nick fundraising football matches and even washes the kits and puts on a spread before each game. His co-star Ashley Taylor-Dawson, who plays Darren Osbourne, has opened up about what fans wouldn’t have seen on camera.
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Speaking to The Sun, Ashley said: “He gets in contact with the charities, we’ve raised millions, and that’s all down to Nick and all the hard work he does, the organising, he goes beyond organising the games. He’ll get everyone to meet at his house, he’ll put on a full spread for us all. He cleans all the kits puts them in bags, labels them, he does that all off his own back. When people say he is Hollyoaks, he really is.”
Before heading to the Australian jungle to take part in the gruelling ITV reality show, Nick confirmed Hollyoaks’ future after the Channel 4 soap was moved online earlier this year. The show, which had been on the main channel since its inception in 1995, was brought onto sister E4 to keep him younger audiences engaged – with additional content being released online.
He revealed that actors that are on the show are employed on an annual basis, saying: “It’s all about if the money’s still coming in and we’ve been told that we definitely go on until at least the 30th anniversary so that’s as far as I know. I’m only contracted year to year anyway.
“So I’ve always taken each year as it comes and like every there’s a few of us in the cast and every time we get a contract we go out and have a little drink and say it’s another year in the sunshine.” Nick underwent a major lifestyle overhaul before joining camp.
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“I have not had a drink for five weeks,” the TV star revealed before heading to Oz. “I was doing the stop October drinking challenge anyway and I have stuck to it since. It is going to be hard on the food front though. I will be the person saying: ‘Have you finished?’ When we eat, I will hoover any of the leftovers up! Mind you, I don’t think anyone will be leaving anything I am determined to embrace everything about this show and I don’t want to come out and people moan about ‘that Pickard’.”
I’m a Celebrity.. Get Me Out of Here! airs on ITV1 and ITVX nightly at 9pm
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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk