Nick Knowles was overcome with emotion on Friday after it was confirmed how much this year’s DIY SOS Children In Need special has raised.
The 58-year-old, who fronted the BBC One show, couldn’t believe his ears when Gethin Jones told him the total during an appearance on Morning Live.
“The total for DIY SOS Children in Need this year is £844,044 Nick,” Gethin said, before Nick replied: “That can’t be right.”
“It’s the highest total yet,” Gethin continued, before adding: “Mate, you deserve it, you drive that show.
“I know what you’re like when you see the people around you to get them going, all the builders that get involved, you should be really proud of that Nick.”
Nick Knowles become tearful during an appearance on Morning Live on Friday (Image: BBC)
With his voice breaking, Nick replied: “Just how amazing are people? You know everyone’s worried about their work, their mortgage, their finances.”
“Because when you walked into the studio earlier on you said, ‘oh I think I’ll be down this year because of everything that’s been going on’,” Gethin then revealed.
“Yeah, that’s twice the amount,” the father-of-four then said.
The DIY SOS host couldn’t believe how much money had been raised with the Children in Need special (Image: BBC)
“I was told by my boss that we were going to hear about lunchtime.
“It is a big deal to us, because not only have we built the building but the money raised goes towards helping so many.”
The DIY SOS special, which aired on Thursday night, featured the transformation of a Swansea surf school.
The inspiring, fully-inclusive surf school based in Caswell Bay helps children with even the most severe disabilities to experience the joy of being in open water on a surfboard.
Surfability first came to the attention of Nick when he met founder Ben Clifford at last year’s Pride of Britain Awards.
The episode saw the team transform a Swansea surf school for disabled children (Image: Wales Online)
During Thursday’s night’s episode, cruel trolls took to social media to make comments about Nick’s appearance.
Gethin mentioned the nasty comments and asked if it annoys him that people can still manage to be so nasty considering he’s on a show that has such an important cause.
Nick replied: “No because the thing is I put on a lot of weight during the first lockdown.
“I couldn’t do any training, I was doing a lot of writing, a lot of banana bread and I grew a big beard and stayed in and I wrote a lot.
“So when I came to do the shoot I thought ‘I’ll tidy myself up’ and then actually no because so many people, not everybody, did the Joe Wicks thing, not everyone spends half their life in the gym.
The inspiring, fully-inclusive surf school is based in Caswell Bay in Swansea (Image: Wales Online)
“Some people put on a lot of weight and I thought do you know what, first start of the show, let’s start with that straight away.”
He continued: “So the opening scene was me in a wetsuit, literally if I had laid down on the beach the green piece would have dragged me back into the water.
“But like let’s embrace it! There was a combination of what an amazing job and also who ate all the pies? Well, I did. You do whatever you have to do to get through lockdown.”
Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
