A Benidorm cast member has revealed he swapped his role of singing and acting on TV to secretly becoming an ASDA delivery driver throughout the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
But some eagle-eyed superfans still spotted who he was.
Asa Elliott – best-known for appearing as a bar singer in the ITV cult sitcom, which ran from 2007-2018 – was left without work when singing jobs on cruise ships were cancelled in as a result of lockdown restrictions being put in place last March, just two weeks after the birth of his first child, but fears over his income pushed him to apply for ‘normal’ jobs, and since July he’s been delivering shopping to Hull residents, all without publishing anything on social media.
The 39-year-old – originally from Denton in the Greater Manchester borough of Tameside – has work booked on a number of P&O cruises booked for June, but until then, he’s been perfectly content singing in his van and only mentioning his career when asked about it.
Although when he finally revealed the secret of his new career direction to his 21,000 Twitter followers last week, it didn’t come as a total surprise to some of his local fans.
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Some had recognised him at their doorstep, and even a few of his new colleagues recognised him in work.
“I didn’t tell anybody at first about the job I did or who I was, but there were a few Benidorm fans who worked in-store and they started to pull me to one side and we’d have a natter.” Asa explained.
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“When the customer gets a text message telling them who’s delivering it and it has my name on, it’s not a run-of-the-mill name so some fans have thought it might be me.
“I delivered to one lady and she just had this big smile on her face and she said she thought it was going to be me delivering it, but don’t worry as she wouldn’t tell anybody on the Benidorm forum. I’ve [also] had people who’ve found out and they’ve messaged me saying they’re starting to get Asda deliveries now in the hope that I deliver their shopping.
“I was like ‘oh my word’.”
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He continued: “I’ve had a good laugh and chat with everybody and told them some Benidorm stories. It’s great because you get to know the customers because you do the same rounds every week.
“I’ve got a Christmas album that I did and I gave out a few CDs to the regulars and they were chuffed with that.
“There was [even] a bloke in work who didn’t know I was a singer, and I was singing away normally and he said I should go on The Voice as I’m ‘pretty good’.
“I just thought, ‘if only you knew’.
“I didn’t put it out there at first, not because I didn’t want people to know, but more that I didn’t want anybody to think I was doing it for any other reason than supporting my family.”
Asa and his wife Natalie were sadly both out of work by March of last year.
While the government freelance support scheme and Natalie’s maternity pay from her sexual health job helped, it wasn’t enough to make ends meet, and so Asa decided to join Asda, saying: “We’d stretched ourselves as much as possible to get the best house we could, and I was thinking 2020 was going to be the year that I made big strides in my career.
“I envisaged being away for a couple of weeks every month and I’d take the family sometimes, but we ended up just sitting around the house.
“I’d cleared my diary to spend some time with my wife and the baby at first, but after that there was real panic stations about what I was going to do. It was really stressful. I had a cruise booked for May and there was a glimmer of hope that was going to happen, but when that got cancelled I had zero in the diary for the whole year.
“We needed the break from just sitting around the house and we needed the money [and] what we were earning at that time just about covered the mortgage and that was it.”
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Asa has appeared in 13 episodes of Benidorm, with the first coming in 2010’s Christmas Special before he became a regular character in series five and six, where he could often be seen singing on stage at Neptune’s Bar as drama unfolded around him.
He also performed in Benidorm Live’s theatre tour in 2018 and 2019, and was spotted to appear on the show while performing on the Benidorm circuit in real life.
“I’ve only been fully employed as an entertainer on and off for the past 15 years, so because I’ve had all kinds of jobs, I wasn’t scared to get my hands dirty.” Asa continued
There were a few people in the entertainment industry that started at the same time as well, [and] people who have had all sorts of jobs before [the pandemic].
“Everyone has a story to tell.”
His wife will return to work in February, so he’s proud to claim “the end is in sight” – but until he’s back on the cruise ships, he’ll continue to enjoy his delivery work at Asda.
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Former Manchester United star Patrice Evra is set to make his MMA debut very soon
Danny Jones
In another somewhat left-field turn of events in the sporting world, ex-Manchester United star Patrice Evra is set to swap his boots for gloves as he prepares to make his MMA debut.
The retired Man United player and French international ended his playing days back in 2019 after a short one-year spell at West Ham, and has mostly worked as a pundit in recent years.
Evra, 43, stunned his millions of followers online and even more football and fight fans alike by announcing he would be trying his hand at combat sports earlier this week.
Hopping on social media to confirm the news, it’s fair to say he’s already relishing the challenge.
The former left-back made 379 appearances for the Red Devils, winning 14 trophies, but this will be his first in the European division of the Professional Fighters League (PFL), the second-biggest promotion in MMA after the UFC.
As far as we know, Evra has little to no background in fighting of any discipline, even if he was used to the more physical side of the game as a defender.
Writing via X on Friday, 25 April, the 2008 Champions League and ’09 Club World Cup winner, said: “I’m officially training for my first fight with PFL Europe. They will pick my opponent… They asked who I wanna face. I said: Luis Suárez.
“I’ll pay out of pocket. He can even bite me.”
Suárez, still playing at 38, was not only found guilty of at least three instances of biting other players but was famously charged with racially abusing Patrice Evra back in 2011, with the two sharing a strong feud ever since.
Now, since the Uruguayan striker is still playing professional football over in the MLS, alongside the one and only Lionel Messi at Inter Miami, we wouldn’t hold our breaths.
Nevertheless, it seems as though he will be fighting someone on 23 May, once an opponent is selected in the coming weeks.
Evra has been training with Cameroonian-French mixed martial artist and friend, Cédric Doumbé, a former kickboxing specialist and now an established fighter in the welterweight class.
Joking aside, although there are a lot of controversial moves that are legal in MMA, biting isn’t one of them – not that it ever stopped the former Liverpool forward in the past.
Speaking in an official press conference, Evra said: “I’ve performed on the world’s biggest stages, won every major trophy in football, but PFL Europe Paris will be an incredibly special night for me.
“I’ve been training alongside the best in the world for years, and they’ll also tell you I’m ready for this. I’m going to put on a show at the Accor Arena on 23 May, so come watch the spectacle.”
As out of the blue as it may seem, he obviously isn’t the only former athlete to have swapped one sport for another after calling time in their first career.
In fact, he’s not even the first United player to change lanes.
Mix-up leaves tourists bound for Peak District on a day trip to… Rochdale
Daisy Jackson
Who needs rolling hills and country pubs when you could have *checks notes* roadworks and charity shops?
Well, that’s the situation two people ended up in recently after a mix-up rerouted their trip to the Peak District to Rochdale, of all places.
Thankfully seeing the funny side, Canadian TikTok creator Mackenzie shared a video of the day trip they got stuck with.
The pair of mates had been planning a trip to the honeypot town of Castleton in the Peak District, but accidentally ended up heading over to Castleton in Rochdale instead.
In the light-hearted clip, she says: “This is just a reminder to read the small print when you want to do a spontaneous trip. Because Margarita and I thought we were going to the Peaks, and this is where we are…” while panning to the sight of some roadworks.
She continued: “We thought we were going to see gorgeous green hills. Nope.
“Anyways, come with us on our Castleton Manchester, not Peak District adventure.”
They visited Springfield Park, went to a pub to eat onion rings (with a random giant dog staring at them), erm… went to a charity shop, and looked at some houses.
Okay so not quite the Peak District paradise they were picturing.
One person commented: “Absolutely howling. Come all the way from America to end up in Rochdale” (Mackenzie stressed in her reply that she lives in Manchester and also, is Canadian).
Another said: “It’s the Springfield park for me”
Someone else suggested: “Rochdale should rename all of its areas to encourage more tourists. Hahah”
Dying to know if these girls ever made it to Castleton, Derbyshire.