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Fireman faces hefty bill from pals after TV win

1/ 5/2008

A PRESTWICH firefighter who scooped £100,000 on a new TV show will soon be footing a hefty holiday bill thanks to his colleagues.

Chris Rainford promised his 12 pals on Red Watch a treat if he became the first winner of new show Beat The Star.

Lucky for his colleagues he did and the whole watch will soon be jetting off to Spain to spend their boss’ winnings.

Broughton Red Watch commander Chris, 43, took on cricket legend Darren Gough in a series of physical and mental tests during the show.

Having beaten thousands of applicants to get on to the series, he was stunned to win the big prize.

Chris said: "I promised the lads before I went - I said if I won £50,000, I’d take them to Anglesey and if I won £100,000 I’d take them to Spain.

"So I’m flying all 12 of the watch out to Majorca later in the year.

"They’re well made up. The boys are looking forward to going abroad now and spending ITV’s money."

Hosted by Vernon Kay, the show was recorded in Germany earlier this month and screened last weekend.

Chris said: "It was an amazing experience.

"All I could think was, ‘Just don’t make a complete fool of yourself’. I was allowed to ring the wife Pam and tell her the result.

"She basically just wouldn’t stop screaming down the phone - £100,000 is a lot of money to us.

"Now we can sort holidays for the kids for years to come."

He added: "I don’t know about life-changing, but it’s certainly life-enhancing."

Twins Joseph and Chloe, nine, were very excited by their dad’s big win - and eager to see him triumph on television

Chris admitted it took a while for his big win to sink in.

He added: "When we were actually playing the game, I didn’t think about the money at all.

"It was only a couple of days after, I thought ‘Oh, I’ve made £100,000. That’s quite a lot of money’."

Chris is current National Fire Service Sports Personality of the Year and European Fire Service Triathlon champion.

The TV challenges included a driving game, cage football and a test of his climbing and salami-slicing skills.