A teenager from Merthyr Tydfil was hilariously surprised with a big thank you from BBC's The One Show because of the hard work he does for his community. Daniel Lewis from Treharris got so sick of fly-tipping in the area that he decided he'd take on the mammoth task of removing it himself.
On his first litter pick in April 2021, he previously told WalesOnline how, aged 16, he removed 80 bags of waste alone. By August, the local hero had removed 18 tonnes of rubbish from a notorious fly-tipping spot and rallied up a team of volunteers to carry out regular litter-picks.
Each week on The One Show, a member of public is chosen to receive a 'big thank you' for their hard work in their local communities. And today, Thursday, June 9, the 17-year-old nature lover was announced to have won by hosts Alex Jones and Roman Kemp.
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The episode saw Daniel gobsmacked as Springwatch host Michaela Strachan delivered the news to him through a prank as he litter-picked with his dad. The premise of the prank was that Michaela and her team pretended they had been there to film local wildlife overnight with little luck.
Michaela had brought with her fake animals, including a badger, a red squirrel and pigeon. She asked a perplexed Daniel - who recognised her straight away - to hide behind a pile of rubble and logs, holding up the animals to pretend they were real for the cameras.
Giggling, Daniel said: "Since when has there been red squirrels in Merthyr?" He was clearly finding the whole set-up very funny, but unconvincing. To keep up to date with the latest news from across Merthyr subscribe to our newsletters here.
Sensing the teen had smelt a rat, Michaela revealed the real reason she was there, handing him a message with the news in an envelope. She said, laughing: "You must have thought we were mad, we're not here to film fake animals. I'm here for The One Show to say one big thank you to you for the incredible work that you do...You are a remarkable young man and it's not just me and our crew who think so, there's a lot of other people as well that would like to congratulate and thank you for what you've done."
Shocked, Daniel said: "I didn't expect this." Along with Michaela and the crew, Daniel heads down to nearby Gelligaer community centre where he is greeted by a group of local well wishers and a big TV. On the screen, we see a series of thankful messages praising Daniel for his hard work including from The One Show host Jermaine Jenas, local councillor Lisa Mytton and Member of the Senedd for Merthyr Tydfil and Rhymney, Dawn Bowden.
A final message came from Welsh Springwatch host Iolo Williams, who said: "Hello there Dan, I know you're doing a fantastic job. You're like a one man army down there boy, keep up the excellent work. We could do with more people like you in this world." Over a rumble of applause from those standing around him, a teary-eyed Dan said: "I'm over the moon."
