The Circle champion Paddy Smyth has said he wants to “bedazzle” his crutches as part of his plan for his £70,000 winnings.
He was named the players’ winner on the Channel 4 social media-themed reality show during Friday’s finale, while Tim Wilson was named the viewers’ champion and won £30,000.
Smyth told Zoe Ball’s Radio 2 Breakfast Show that the homecoming celebrations “have not stopped”, adding: “I am tired, but I’m over the moon.
“It’s been a party, to say the least.”
Revealing his plans for his winnings, the Irish TV personality and disability campaigner, who has cerebral palsy, a condition that affects movement and co-ordination, said: “It’s been a blur but I’m definitely going bedazzle my crutches, then I’m going to give my mum some money, then I’m going to decide what I’m going to do.”
He said he was “as shocked as anyone else” that he won the players’ vote to take the overall series.
“I’ll be shocked forever. It’s such an incredible moment and I love the people within The Circle and the people I did it with. It was such a journey and a once-in-a-lifetime experience.
“I’ve never laid myself bare like that before so it was amazing to be so adopted by everybody.”
Wilson, an academic and former politician, said that he would like to do more work in television now he has had a taste of it.
He said: “I would do anything, I just loved being in the TV family. I felt so warm, so supported. I’d love to do anything.”
Wilson said to be voted the champion by viewers was “extraordinarily humbling”, adding: “Every single time we came to one of those ratings, every time I thought I was going to be 7th or 8th, and it was much the same with winning, I just never anticipated anything like that.
“And I’m so humbled and touched, I just think how I have responsibilities, I’ve got to say thank you.”
Wilson said he would like to do a TV show with his fellow The Circle star Woody Cook – Ball’s son with Norman “Fatboy Slim” Cook.
However, Cook told his mother on the radio programme: “I’m sort of enjoying being a teenager, I’m enjoying my gap year. I’ve got uni to look forward to and everything like that, so unless something really cool comes up, something with Tim, then I think I’m just going to go back to being a teenager.”
The finale saw Cook reveal his famous parentage to his fellow players, and contestant James Doran expose the facade of his alter-ego “Sammie”, a single mother character he had fooled his co-stars with.
Cook came last in the final ratings, with Wilson and Doran in joint-third, and Georgina Elliott taking second place.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here