John Partridge says his stint on ‘Celebrity Big Brother’ "nearly killed" him.
The ‘EastEnders’ star – who plays Christian Clarke in the BBC Soap – was a contestant in this year’s series of the reality show, and faced negative comments from the public after he was seen telling his fellow housemates to gang up against Tiffany Pollard, in order to try and make her quit the show.
Now, the 45-year-old actor has said there was "no way" he would have accepted an offer to take part in 2017’s All Star vs New Blood series – which sees previous contestants battle it out against house newbies – as he found the house "brutal" the first time round.
He said: "There’s no way I would have done the new series, no way.
"It nearly killed me – taking part in the show earlier this year was brutal."
And John – who went into the house in order to raise money for his 80-year-old mum Bridget who suffers with Alzheimer’s and Dementia – also admitted he was tempted to "walk out" on a number of occasions.
He added: "There were so many times I wanted to walk out the door but if you do that then you don’t get paid.
"The care for [Bridget’s] illnesses is expensive and I don’t come from money.
"I knew I needed to make that cheque.
"There were definitely nights where I would lie there and think – I can’t do this."
But despite not always enjoying his time in the house, John says he made "good friends" with contestants Kristina Rihanoff and Scotty T.
He told The Sun newspaper: "It was brutal. It is not for the faint-hearted.
"But that being said – I did make some good friends in there.
"I’ve seen Kristina Rihanoff a lot of times.
"Scotty T I’ve seen him a lot. We’re really good mates and hung out a lot. I’ve been in Newcastle quite a bit as well and it’s been a nice to spend time with him.
"I did make some really good friends in there and friends I’ve carried on to see. It wasn’t all bad but psychologically it was really rough. It was really hard."
John Partridge: Celebrity Big Brother ‘nearly killed’ me!
