Last year’s viral hard man Ronnie Pickering may be about to take on a challenge tougher than a bad cyclist – if the rumours are true that he’s a contestant on the upcoming series of Celebrity Big Brother.
For those of you who may have forgotten who Ronnie Pickering is (He’s Ronnie, fucking ,Pickering!) he was the rather angry man who was filmed in the middle of a foul-mouthed rant to a passing moped driver who went on to upload the video to YouTube.
The video was watched millions of times and soon the whole world knew who Ronnie Pickering was thanks to his catchphrase, “Do you know who I am? I’m Ronnie Pickering!”
Now the rumours are that the bosses over at Channel 5 are lining the 54-year-old up to appear in their summer series with a source telling the Daily Mirror ‘[they] think sparks would fly if Ronnie enters the house’.
Now the cynical among you’re probably questioning Pickering’s ‘celebrity’ status, but lets be honest I bet more of you have heard of him than last year’s contestant Jonathan Cheban.
Then again Ronnie himself doesn’t seem to think he’d be a good fit for the series – probably because he’s not desperate.
He told the Mirror:
What the fuck? I don’t know about going on there… [I] would have to think about that one.
Pickering also admitted that he can ‘see the funny side’ of his rant now but says, ‘I have always just kept myself to myself and I would like to go back to that now’.
He’s also sold the red Citreon he drove in the video on eBay, giving all the proceeds to the L6ve Life Foundation which was set up by motor neurone disease sufferer Lee Newton, which is probably a better thing to be known for than being Ronnie, Fucking, Pickering.
More of a concept than a journalist, Tom Percival was forged in the bowels of Salford University from which he emerged grasping a Masters in journalism.
Since then his rise has been described by himself as ‘meteoric’ rising to the esteemed rank of Social Editor at UNILAD as well as working at the BBC, Manchester Evening News, and ITV.
He credits his success to three core techniques, name repetition, personality mirroring, and never breaking off a handshake.