Neighbours legend Alan Fletcher swipes at ‘gruelling’ soap spin-off ‘designed to make stars cry’
NEIGHBOURS legend Alan Fletcher has slammed reality shows and vowed to avoid tawdry celebrity versions when the soap ends next month.
The actor, 65, is looking for new roles after playing Doctor Karl Kennedy on the Australian soap since 1994.
But a “testing and gruelling” stint on Soapstar Superstar back in 2007 left him determined never to sign up to anything like Strictly Come Dancing or I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here!
Speaking about coming sixth on Soapstar Superstar, he said: “That was an interesting experience."
"It was quite testing and gruelling, and it gave me a taste of what reality TV can be like."
"It wasn't necessarily the most enjoyable experience I had in my life. It made me a bit wary. These things are designed to make people cry.”
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Alan, who has shaved his head after staring to suffer from alopecia areata earlier this year, says the shows take “enormous fortitude."
He said: “I respect the people who do those shows because you've got to have enormous fortitude to do them, but I just don't know that I've got the wherewithal to keep myself going through that sort of show."
"I find it too hard. I need to focus on on fictitious roles, and playing music and I'll leave the reality TV for people who are pretty good at it.”
Alan wouldn’t even consider Strictly Come Dancing, despite his close friend Jason Donovan making the finals previously.
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He said: “I haven't been approached but I can tell you something, I have two left feet."
"One year I was doing panto and I was watching Strictly and there was an old actor on the show who was dreadful, couldn't dance to save his life."
"And the judges kept saying, ‘we've got to get rid of him,’ but the audience kept voting him back for the comedy and it drove the judges nuts. I reckon I'd be that guy.”
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Instead, he’s hoping his new bald look will help him get more acting roles.
He joked: “I will probably be able to pick up a lot of roles from it because suddenly I look like Patrick Stewart.”
