Former star of Made In Chelsea, Spencer Matthews, has sparked a debate around the existence of Jesus on the upcoming series of BBC's Pilgrimage: The Road Through North Wales.
The series follows seven celebrities from diverse faith backgrounds as they undertake a 220km route celebrating early Celtic Christian saints.
The reality TV personality and host of the Big Fish podcast confessed to questioning biblical miracles and figures, commenting that they could potentially be "made up".
During a question and answer session for the forthcoming series, Matthews openly addressed his scepticism.
He expressed confusion between Old and New Testament narratives, indicating that stories such as parting seas and transforming water into wine seemed fantastical to him.
Consequently, he wondered whether the characters in these stories could also be fictitious.
In one episode of the programme, Matthews asked fellow pilgrim and comedian Eshaan Akbar: “Jesus Christ definitely existed? I thought he could have been made up… that’s not disputed, no?”
He also queried whether Prophet Mohammed was Allah, to which Akbar clarified: “He’s a prophet of God.”
Matthews also shared about his late brother Michael in the question and answer session.
Michael tragically disappeared in blinding snow after becoming the youngest Briton to summit Mount Everest in May 1999.
Matthews had previously explored his brother's death in the documentary Finding Michael.
The TV star recounted how opening up about this traumatic experience helped him feel "accepted" by his fellow pilgrims on the show.
He revealed that he was able to release the resentment he had been holding against those he felt could have helped his brother more.
This emotional sharing seemed to mark a turning point for Matthews, making him more receptive to the spiritual experiences encountered during the pilgrimage.
He said: “I think that’s when things kind of turned for me. I began to be a bit more open to the spiritual experiences that we shared as a group, and it was quite a meaningful time”.
The series will be available on BBC Two and BBC iPlayer from 29th March.