Jake
How reality TV shows gave me a life & a wife
So ex-footballer Jimmy Bullard, 39, Tory politician Edwina Currie, 71, and ’Allo ’Allo actress Vicki Michelle, 67, can expect an invite. “And Carl,” he says, though you would expect the bride’s dad to be there.
He says: “On Dancing on Ice I have made genuine mates. Kem Cetinay said he wouldn’t mind being an usher. I’ve already sorted that but he’ll be coming.
“Brooke Vincent and her boyfriend, and I’ll have a cheeky word with Cheryl Baker and see if The Fizz will perform.
“Torvill and Dean are coming, judge Jason Gardiner will definitely be there, Jordan and Ashley Banjo I’ll invite too.”
Moving on to The Jump, he says: “Spencer Matthews and Vogue Williams, are going to come, Gareth Thomas, Robbie Fowler mentioned it to.”
And from X Factor? He’s more vague here but mentions Ben Haenow, who won the 2014 show, as a good friend. It’s easy to see why Jake has so many real-life friends from his reality career. He’s a very sweet bloke.
“It’s nice I’ve kept in touch with people. You do these things together and it’s like a bit of a journey,” he says, without irony.
He laughs when I suggest the guest list is a Who’s Who of reality TV and says: “It is like a reality show. I might see if ITV wants to come and film the night do because it is a bit of a reality mix-up. It would be fun, wouldn’t it? “Danielle is so easy-going she’d be like, ‘Jake, you do what you want’. It’s worth mentioning. It can only get turned down – like the horse.” Arriving on a horse was one of Jake’s bright wedding ideas. But it was rejected by Danielle and her dad Carl. Jake says: “Carl said the horse wasn’t a great idea. It’d be sitting outside the place, which is true.” Before his passion for singing and song-writing led him to X Factor, Jake played football in the youth team at Scunthorpe United and then in Australia for two years.
His first attempt at X Factor ended at Judge’s Houses but in 2014 he got as far as week three under Mel B’s mentorship.
Then he went into the jungle and came second to soon-to-be dad-in-law Foggy.
Now he’s on a mission to be a winner in his latest reality outing. And I find myself genuinely, really, really wishing him well. Although I can’t help myself asking: “What reality show next?” “Masterchef,” he giggles. Dancing On Ice, ITV, 6pm, tomorrow.
For a generation raised on reality TV, Jake Quickenden is a poster boy. Can’t place him? Well, he’s the cheeky chap who was on X Factor in 2012 and then again in 2014, the year he also did I’m A Celebrity, before going on to brave The Jump in 2017.
At the moment he is ripping up the rink in Dancing on Ice, where he and his pro-partner Vanessa Bauer, 21, last week scored 33.5, the highest mark this series.
So is he a singer, is he a skier, is he a skater? Actually, Jake, 29, is the first to admit he is a reality TV-er, a career choice that even helped him find love.
He met fiancee Danielle Fogarty, 26. after becoming mates with her dad, World Superbike racer Carl Fogarty, 52, in the I’m a Celebrity jungle.
Jake reminds me he would never have been there if he hadn’t done X Factor, so “everything happens for a reason”.
With likeable honesty, he says: “I have built myself up a bit of a career from it, and I’ve come away with a beautiful fiancee. I pinch myself every day.”
While Danielle is the love of his life, Dancing On Ice has also stolen his heart as his favourite reality TV show to date.
He is even daring to hope that this time he might actually win.
He says: “Singing is my passion but finding ice-skating... I really wish I had found it earlier.”
I ask if he minds when people sneer about his reality career. He gets trolled by haters calling him a “nobody” but, ultimately, he feels he’s a winner.
He says: “I’m a normal guy from Scunthorpe who has had every job under the sun. I’ve worked in retail, I’ve been a bricklayer, I’ve worked in McDonald’s and then I’m offered these opportunities. I’d be stupid to turn them down.
“People always want to judge but I have a little snigger. We’ll see what happens. The dream would be to get a regular presenting job where I don’t have to worry about what’s coming next.
“But I’m just enjoying the ride. I just think life’s too short to take seriously.”
There’s a very genuine reason for that attitude, as Jake has seen more tragedy than most. He lost his father Paul and then his brother Oliver, 19, to the same form of bone cancer within six years of each other.
Jake struggled to handle his grief, becoming depressed and turning to alcohol.
He says: “I was drinking on my own to numb myself to the feelings. I should have opened up a lot sooner.” Now he is
Singing is my passion but I really wish that I’d found ice skating earlier
sad his dad and brother have not been able to witness his TV fame or meet his future wife. He says: “They would love Danielle. But I’m a firm believer they are with me every day. We have two massive pictures of my dad and brother and they’ll be there at the wedding. And we will do special drinks that they liked.” Jake will marry Danielle “at the back end of this year” and there will be so many reality TV stars on the guest list, he thinks maybe there should be cameras there too. He says: “I’ll definitely be inviting some of the I’m a Celeb lot.”