A Baptist minister is making headlines for his participation on ITV's game show Lingo.
Nigel Bayley and his mum Diana, won £3,300 each after beating multiple couples on the word game.
Speaking to Premier, Pastor Nigel said it was his mum’s idea to go on the show.
“It was all my mum's fault, to be honest,” he said.
“She was a big fan of the show and watched it a lot and just contacted me one day and said, ‘It's the only show I've ever seen that I feel I could do and fancy applying to see if we could go on it’.”
After a few emails exchanged with ITV producers, the mother and son were asked to send a video together explaining why they wanted to participate.
“[We] sent that off on the Saturday thinking that might be the end of it. And then on the Monday morning, we got a phone call from them saying ‘we really liked your video, can we do a phone conversation with you both’ and then do an audition. That was kind of where it all started.”
The episode, which was recorded a few months ago, aired on Monday. The duo gambled to double their £3,300 and won the £6,600 in their last round.
During the episode, presenter Adil Ray asked Pastor Nigel about his "very important role" as a vicar.
He responded: "Very important yes. It is a real privilege to be there with people in their most momentous moments in life.
"And we have a great church, full of lovely people who are really supportive and encouraging."
Asked whether he would encourage other church leaders to go on game shows, Pastor Nigel told Premier: “Definitely! Because I think people have a certain opinion of vicars, and particularly TV dramas, and those kinds of things. They’re always a certain type of person.
“And one of the things I love anyway, is breaking people's expectations of what a vicar should be…We're just normal people who happen to be called to a particular type of leadership, church leadership.
So, I think it's a really good opportunity to just show that we're normal, and we're like everybody else and we love Jesus.”
Pastor Nigel is hoping to use the money on a special holiday with his wife to celebrate their 30th wedding anniversary.
You can listen to the full interview here: