Presenter Jonnie Irwin says that he was dropped from A Place in the Sun after being diagnosed with cancer.
The heartbroken star said in an interview with The Sun that he was paid for the remainder of the series he was working on, but that his contract was not renewed.
Jonnie, 49, told the paper that stopping filming the popular travel show ‘broke my heart and affected my mental health’.
The much-loved TV personality and father-of-three now faces a terminal diagnosis after his cancer spread from his lungs to his brain.
He said: “As soon as people find out you’ve got cancer they write you off. Yes, I have stage four and it’s terminal — but not yet, so let me live my life while I can.
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Jonnie Irwin. Credit: Channel 4
“As soon as I told A Place In The Sun about my diagnosis they paid me for the rest of the season but didn’t renew my contract. They knew I wanted to carry on.
“That hurt. That broke my heart. I feel hugely let down. I can’t even watch the show now.”
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He added that having the wage and the purpose of the job taken away left him ‘really low’.
Jonnie claimed that he’s been ‘pushed to the side in favour of someone healthier’.
He said: “Even though I look thinner and I’m without hair, Escape to the Country and A Place In The Sun Ltd, which runs the show’s exhibitions, have employed me and I’ve been so impressed by them.
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“But I didn’t get that support from A Place In The Sun. I told them I wanted to work. When I said I can get you doctor notes and assurances from my oncologist that I am fit to work, I was told, verbatim, ‘Oh, you really don’t want to go down that route, do you?’
Jonnie Irwin on a shoot. Credit: Instagram, @jonnieirwintv
“They said, ‘We don’t think we can get the insurance’, not ‘We can’t get the insurance’ but, ‘We don’t think…’ That broke my heart and affected my mental health.”
Channel 4 and Freeform told the outlet in a statement: “No stone was left unturned in trying to enable Jonnie to continue his international filming with us during Covid but the production company were unable to secure adequate insurance cover for him.
“We, of course, understand how frustrating this must be for him at this incredibly difficult time.”
Jonnie first suspected something wasn’t right with his health while filming on location for A Place In The Sun in 2020, and noticed his vision had gone blurry.
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He was initially given just six months to live, but treatment has extended that since.
His illness was initially kept out of the public eye, but Jonnie chose to speak out earlier this month.
He said to Hello magazine: “One day, this is going to catch up with me. But I’m doing everything I can to hold that day off for as long as possible. I owe that to Jess and our boys.
“Some people in my position have bucket lists, but I just want us to do as much as we can as a family.”
Featured image: The Sun
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Two Greater Manchester-based Paralympians pick up MBEs following Paris 2024 heroics
Danny Jones
A pair of Paralympians born just down the road and honed two discipline-leading national performance centres here in Manchester have officially been awarded MBEs.
The Northerners doing the country proud – sounds about right.
First off, if the name Poppy Maskill doesn’t ring a bell, the promising Paralympic was Team GB’s best-performing para-athlete at Paris 2024 this past summer, contributing a total of five medals towards the nation’s joint-third-highest tally.
After her heroics at the Games, the teenager who turns 20 this weekend (Saturday, 29 March) was the recipient of an early and very prestigious birthday present, becoming one of the youngest individuals to be made a Member of the Order of the British Empire in history.
She was named on the New Year’s Honours list back in December but finally collected her latest medal in person this week following a ceremony at Windsor Castle, being honoured by King Charles III personally.
Hailing from Middlewich just less than an hour away from our city centre, Maskill might be a Cheshire girl by birth, but this young sporting gem is being polished right here at the state-of-the-art Manchester Aquatics Centre (MAC).
The youngster became the first Paralympian to pick up gold back in August after not only winning the 100m butterfly but smashing the world record in the process, too.
Competing in the S14 class – a category for athletes with intellectual impairments – she finished the heat with in just 1:03, surpassing the previous best by more than half a minute. But her impressive performance didn’t stop there.
MAC regular Maskill went on to win two more golds in the S14 100m backstroke and 4 x100m S14 freestyle relay, as well as a pair of silver medals in the 200m freestyle and 200m individual medley S14. Just incredible.
Poppy Maskill wasn’t the only Greater Manchester-based para-athlete who was recognised this month, though, as Stockport‘s very own two-time Paralympic champion Sophie Unwin was also presented with the accolade for her services to sport.
Named a member of the Order along with her co-pilot Jenny Holl, Unwin’s Paris 2024 medal haul included a double of golds in the women’s B 3000m individual pursuit and the road race tandem B, not to mention a silver in the road time trial and a bronze in the 1000m time trial at Paris 2024.
Following in the footsteps of fellow MBE and Stopfordian cycling legend, Dame Sarah Storey, who won her 19th gold medal to become Britain’s greatest Paralympian of all time – having made the most of MAC and the National Cycling Centre over in East Manchester during her career – the borough did us proud.
30-year-old Unwin has kicked on just as strong in the new year as well, notching a narrow victory to set an unofficial (unfortunately) world record of 4:36.737 in the women’s tandem at the 2025 Lloyds National Track Championships here in Manchester.
Lady Gaga announces MASSIVE gig at Co-op Live this year
Thomas Melia
American pop icon Lady Gaga is returning to the UK and is making a special stop in Manchester to celebrate her latest album, MAYHEM.
‘Mother Monster’ is returning to our lovely city for one night only ahead of her ‘The MAYHEM Ball Tour’, which is reaching the UK in October.
Gaga last visited Manchester over a decade ago when she brought ‘artRAVE: The Artpop Ball’ to AO Arena back in 2014.
The past few months have been mega for the 14-time Grammy-winning artist who has seen her Bruno Mars link-up ‘Die With A Smile’ catapult her career to new audiences and even further heights.
This single alone holds the record for the longest-running daily #1 hit on Spotify’s global chart, dethroning ‘Dance Monkey’ by Tones and I, which spent 121 days atop the chart.
Whether you’re showing up and showing out for classics such as ‘Poker Face’ and ‘Bad Romance’, or rocking up to hear new favourites like ‘Rain On Me’ and ‘Garden Of Eden’, this night will be a spectacle, that’s for sure.
This unmatched performer has chosen none other than Co-op Live as the destination for her newest tour, and we’re sure the arena will be packed with 23,500 of Gaga’s devoted ‘Little Monsters’.
Lady Gaga’s newest album, MAYHEM, is an ode to her discography and legacy as an artist with tracks like drawing from almost 20 year career: ‘Disease’, ‘Perfect Celebrity’, ‘Don’t Call Tonight’ and more.
Her latest single, ‘Abracadabra’, is already becoming a modern-day pop phenomenon too, as she evokes her familiar but ever-enigmatic pop star persona – we just wish we could magic ourselves some of those precious tickets.
The US performer took to social media to express her excitement, stating: “This show is designed to be the kind of theatrical and electrifying experience that brings MAYHEM to life exactly how I envision it.”
Gaga’s UK tour run is limited with a three-show residency at The O2 in London confirmed and this one-off Manchester gig announced so far.
With Gaga’s last visit being over 10 years ago, anyone looking to get their hands on any tickets will have to act fast.
She sure knows how to raise a roof, and when you have a single titled ‘Applause’ all about her adoration of playing to live crowds, we have no doubt this will be a night the die-hard fans will never forget.
Lady Gaga is bringing her ‘MAYHEM Ball Tour’ to Co-op Live on 7 October, with pre-sale tickets available from Monday 31 March onwards with general admission tickets going up from Thursday, 3 April at 12pm.
Daisy Jackson -
24th November 2022 
