Nick Knowles: If ladies want a neanderthal, I’m their man
– TV’S NICK KNOWLES ON HIS CURIOUS SEX APPEAL
NICK Knowles has become something of a daytime TV heartthrob thanks to DIY SOS.
But the BBC presenter does not think that I’m A Celebrity viewers will give him a second glance.
Nick, 56, says he only looks good on the home improvement show due to clever editing, and jungle life will show him in a different light.
Speaking in a hotel on Australia’s Gold Coast, he says: “Honestly, it is kind of hilarious. You film any bloke for 10 days and edit it into 60 minutes, you can make them look really lovely and sexy.
“It’s like if you cut out all the irritating bits, like reading the papers and not hearing anything that’s going on or forgetting to put the bins out. All the things that go with being a bloke in a relationship.”
But Nick believes his unpolished appearance is part of his appeal, saying:
“I think possibly some of the interest is the fact that I look like a bag of spanners on
TV. I’m not primed like most TV presenters.
“I think for anyone who likes the boy next door, I’m not it. But if your kind of idea of a man is a slightly heavy brown neanderthal, then I might well fit the bill. I don’t think at 56 I’m going to be lighting the touch paper of anybody’s imagination.”
Nick has been linked to a string of women in the past. He split from ex-wife Jessica Rose Moor in 2015, with whom he shares son Eric, three, and finished with marketing executive Rebecca Kearns earlier this year, after eight months together.
But he has no plans for a jungle romance. He says: “I’m not on the lookout for love. I’m looking forward to it as an adventure and as an opportunity to spend some time with people that I wouldn’t necessarily find myself with.
“But I don’t think these intense situations on television programmes is a place to be finding long-term romance. I’m happy being single.” Nick, who earns up to £349,000 a year with the BBC, says he is going into the jungle partly for the cash. He adds: “Honestly, it’s a pretty healthy fee.
“I’ve got four kids. It would be kind of rude to walk away from it.”
Nick is not the only contestant swearing off romance. The Vamps star James McVey plans to propose to his girlfriend in “the next six months”.
The guitarist, 24, says he has no trust issues with model Kirstie Brittain.
The pair briefly split in 2014, after a photo on social media appeared to show her kissing another man.
James said: “I thought something more was happening than she did. We weren’t even officially together.
“We’ve been really happy for four years. We’re really, really solid.”
■ I’m A Celebrity paramedic Bob McCarron says that new host Holly Willoughby, 37, is terrified of snakes and spiders in the camp.
He said: “Holly’s more scared than all the celebrities put together. When they do the trials, I think they need a camera on Holly because she’ll be squirming.”
I’m A Celebrity starts on Sunday night on ITV.
I look like a bag of spanners on TV, not primed like most presenters NICK KNOWLES THINKS HIS NATURAL LOOKS CAN APPEAL
AT least there will be some relief from Brexit when I’m A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here! starts this weekend.
The jungle will be a politician-free zone. Apart from the snakes, maggots, cockroaches and creepy crawlies.