Labour has selected a former Gogglebox star to challenge the deputy prime minster at the next general election.
Josh Tapper, who appeared on the show between 2013 and 2018 alongside his father Jonathan, mother Nikki and sister Amy, will run against Oliver Dowden in his Hertfordshire seat of Hertsmere – and attempt to overturn a majority of 21,313.
“The work to unseat the deputy prime minister starts now!” commented Tapper, posting on X (formerly Twitter).
“I am thrilled and honoured to have been selected as Labour’s parliamentary candidate for Hertsmere.
“Thank you so much to local members for your support – I won’t let you down.”
Tapper was aged 15 when he first started filming Gogglebox. After leaving the programme, he said that: “It was like we were living two different lives. And it was exciting for me and [sister] Amy because we were at school at the time.”
“It was all very surreal. You’d go to an award ceremony and then, the day after, we’d be back at school.”
Since leaving the show, Tapper claims to have worked for the civil service and volunteered for cancer care charities and food banks, as well as being a trustee for a homelessness charity.
He previously stood as a Labour candidate in the 2022 local council elections, missing out on representing Edgwarebury, north London, by 43 votes.
He is not the first Gogglebox participant to have been selected as a prospective parliamentary candidate. Former star Andy Michael, who died in 2021, ran for Ukip in the 2015 general election.
It meant him having to leave the Channel 4 programme, with the broadcaster commenting that: “Sadly any Gogglebox cast member who becomes a candidate for a political party will have to step down from their involvement in Gogglebox.”
Michael was not sucessful in his bid to become the MP for the Hastings and Rye seat and later returned to the Channel 4 show.
