Leslie Grantham has rejected numerous reality TV offers because he doesn’t want to "humiliate" himself – again.
The 69-year-old actor – who exposed himself on a webcam to an undercover reporter in 2004 – has been approached countless amount of times to join various reality programmes but he’s snubbed every offer – regardless of the price – because he thinks the experience will be too degrading.
Leslie, who is best known for starring as ‘Dirty’ Den Watts in ‘EastEnders’, said: "It’s not reality TV, it’s humiliation TV. Why would I want to humiliate myself more than I already have?"
Despite his online sex scandal 12 years ago, Leslie insisted the incident has not had a detrimental impact on his acting career.
Asked if he has subsequently been offered fewer on-screen roles since the incident, Leslie told the Daily Mirror newspaper: "Not that I noticed, but then again I was probably in such a mindset that I wouldn’t have noticed even if I’d been run down by a lorry.
"It suddenly dawns on you that you’ve made a terrible mistake."
Leslie explained that he also turns down a lot of job offers in order to pursue things he is passionate about – like writing novels.
He said: "I’m usually offered the same types of roles, and I can do gangsters standing on my head. I’m not a gangster. I’m at retiring age. In any other business, you retire at 65. I’ve got to the point where I don’t want to work 52 weeks a year."
Leslie has mainly been involved in theatre and pantomime work in recent years, but says he is still best remembered for his role as bad boy Den in ‘EastEnders’.
He said: "I still get recognised for ‘EastEnders’. People say, ‘Hello, Den, when are you going to get back in and sort that lot out?’ I say, ‘I’ve been killed twice’, and they say, ‘That doesn’t matter. You’re rubbish but you’re better rubbish than they are’."
Leslie Grantham: Reality TV is humiliating
