Sir Bradley Wiggins hints he’ll bag acting role on EastEnders after going the extra mile on The Jump
SIR Bradley Wiggins has revealed his acting ambitions – and claims to have once been asked to star in EastEnders.
The 36-year-old Olympic legend announced a shock retirement from professional cycling last December.
But it seems cycling’s loss could be soap’s gain as the five time Olympic gold winning athlete discussed a surprise possible career change.
“I'd like an acting role. I got asked to be in EastEnders,” Sir Bradley said in an interview with the Daily Star.
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“A lot of things like that in the past I've turned down because I just didn't have time. But now I've got time on my hands I can do all those sorts of things,” he added.
Indeed the retired sportsman has wasted no time in saying yes to a number of projects since his retirement.
The dad-of-two is currently a star competitor on Channel 4’s winter sport reality show The Jump.
As the show launched on Sunday, he courted controversy by using a mild swear word within minutes of the live pre-watershed broadcast beginning to air.
The Channel 4 reality show returned on Sunday night with a new cast of celebrities ready to take on the winter sports in Austria.
After their introductions by host Davina McCall, she asked the gold medal Olympic cyclist why he had decided to take part in the programme.
As dead pan as ever, Sir Bradley replied: “Why not?” before adding he wanted to “p**s off” certain critics.
Davina quickly jumped in, saying: “We’re not allowed to say that word at this time of the evening, so I’ll apologise.”
As the rest of the celebrities, including Josie Gibson, Robbie Fowler and Lydia Bright giggled, Davina linked into the first head to head like a pro, which was between Louis Smith and Spencer Matthews.
Away from the slopes, Sir Bradley has also become the new face of affordable car brand, Skoda.
In advertisements that began airing last week, the Olympic legend is seen in a montage of cycling footage chronicling the athlete's achievements over the years.
"I think it's important to be yourself. Important to make your own choices," Bradley says of the Skoda campaign - which carries the strapline: Driven by Something Different.
"I certainly didn't have a lot of success in my younger years. And when I think what's happened in the last five years, really, it has all come pretty quick and in a short space of time considering I've been doing this for nearly 20 years before winning the Tour de France," he says in a video about his involvement with the car brand.
"With a partnership with Skoda; their involvement in cycling for a number of years now - things like the Tour of Britain and Tour de France - you just see how much sort of love for the sport there is, really," he explains.
"It's that history and passion that obviously I have a lot of love for with cycling anyway - being a mad cycling nut," he continues.
"I didn't do it for the recognition. And I didn't do it for a Knighthood - it's ultimately through the love of what you do, really. That urge to be better. The urge to be stronger. It's that what drives you forward daily," he somewhat humbly adds.
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