Paddy McGuiness has made a surprise exit from Don’t Look Down for Stand Up To Cancer due to a family matter.
The former Take Me Out presenter co-parents his three children – Penelope, Leo and Felicity – with his ex-wife Christine McGuinness, after the couple parted ways after 11 years of marriage in 2022.
The 50-year-old was taking part in terrifying challenges, most of which were suspended hundreds of feet above the ground, in order to raise money for the charity with nine other celebrities.
Paddy explained his departure to his co-stars and said: “Unfortunately today I’ve got to go home and I might not be back for at least a week. Co-parenting… We’ve no one at all to help us with the kids.”
He said that their three children, who all have autism, “need me or Christine there or people who are in our support network”.
“I’ll have a hell of a lot of catching up to do when I get back,” he said.
“I’m gutted because the guys will be 10 metres up in the air and it will feel like starting again but there’s just nothing I can do about it.”
Paddy isn’t the only star who has been forced to leave the high-adrenaline Channel 4 show, after former Coronation Street actor Beverley Callard had to pull out on medical grounds.
The soap legend told her teammates: “I’m going to try not to cry… At some point, I damaged my kidney and I’ve seen a doctor and I can’t wear a harness, I can’t do any sport at the moment and I’ve got to go.”
She added: “I am broken-hearted, I was loving it. I don’t want to go, I so badly don’t want to go…”
Paddy and Beverley joined Olympic champion Victoria Pendleton, Kimberly Wyatt, Anton Ferdinand, David Ginola, Charley Boorman, GK Barry, Fats Timbo and Chris Hughes on the show.
The next episode of Don’t Look Down for SU2C airs on Thursday 2 November at 9pm