I just love grappling with American meals
STAR of BBC Scotland’s Scot Squad and Two Doors Down, as well as a wrestler on ITV’s revival of World Of Sport, Graeme Stevely, aka Grado, has made a name for himself on two fronts. He’s currently starring as one of the ugly stepsisters in The Magical Ad
I’Min America and Canada several times a year with the wrestling.
What I love most about America is the food. The portion sizes are huge.
Macaroni cheese is my life and the best I’ve ever had was in New York.
There are always places opening in Britain that say they are Americanstyle but they’re never as good as the real thing.
There’s a female wrestler called Gail Kim who I’m friendly with and she’s married to an English chef called Robert Irvine. He’s not that wellknown over here but he’s huge in the States.
He has a place in Vegas called Robert Irvine’s Public House and Gail said the next time I was over they would book me in. Me and my girlfriend, Kerry, were in Vegas last year and when I turned up for the booking we were treated like royalty and taken to a private dining area. We got some major scoff – chicken wings, cottage pie, all different types of sushi.
I’m getting excited again just thinking about it.
Last March, I got a tidy coupon up so I booked a four-day trip to New York for Kerry and I.
I love walking around Times Square and going to see one of the big shows, like The Lion King.
On our last day we were walking through Central Park, starting to get the blues about coming home, when we received a text from the airline saying our flights were cancelled due to an impending storm, so we were put up for free for an extra couple of days. We sat in and watched movies and ate food for two days – it was magic.
I’ve always loved travelling. My first time on a plane was when I was four or five when I went to Tenerife with my mum and dad. I always looked forward to going to the airport, getting the new football strip for my holiday. We would go to places like Magaluf and Benidorm.
But we’d always go to Blackpool every year, too. My dad loves the rollercoasters and the two of us still go every year when I’m down there wrestling.
I’m doing World Of Sport Wrestling at the Tower early next year and he’ll come down with me.
He loves sitting at that big new Wetherspoons next to the Pleasure Beach.