Name: Jonathan Etiene

Age: 35

Weight lost: 13.8kg

Team name: Blackjacks Position: Central midfielder

Isaw Man v Fat on the news while on furlough from work. I thought, ‘I like football – why not get involved?’

I started off on the green team. I’m now captain of the Blackjacks. That comes with a bit of responsibility: checking in on everyone and keeping them motivated on the weekends, making sure we’ve got the correct numbers for Tuesday. I played Sunday league up until I broke my leg in 2008. I’ve got a metal plate in there now.

I’ve always been a big guy. When I started here, I was 137kg. I’m now 114kg, which is the lowest I’ve ever been in my adult life. I had to get a new wardrobe. I’m a diabetic as well. I was taking insulin four times a day – now I’m off it.

Man v Fat is here to talk to you about what you do outside football. It helps me with diet, trying to be more active. People always post in the WhatsApp groups, it’s really motivational. [Coach] Bob helps me a lot. I can talk to him about anything.

Before this, I had friends but outside of work they weren’t really friends. Now I link up with some of these guys outside of football, go to the gym or for the odd drink. We also play 11-a-side on Sundays.

My team are like a family unit. I’ve got a son who’s turning 16 this year. At the back end of Covid, he was suffering with mental health issues and attempted suicide. I told these guys and everyone was supportive, sent me messages. They really had my back. Some of the other guys in the team suffer with mental health issues: they spoke to my son and got him to open up to me. We’ve got an even better relationship now: he feels that he can talk to me. If it wasn’t for the guys, I wouldn’t have that.