Spice Girl Mel B has joined Gogglebox to pay tribute to her “big, strong, beautiful” dad, who “loved telly and loved to laugh”.
The singer wears her trademark leopard print on the sofa as she tunes into the week’s top programmes with pal Ruby Wax for a special edition airing tomorrow for Channel 4’s Stand Up To Cancer.
Mel lost her father Martin Brown to the disease in 2017, five years after his diagnosis and Mel says she “misses him every day”.
She and her sister Danielle were at his side when he passed away at St. Gemma’s hospice in Yorkshire.
Mel, 47, says: “Cancer touches so many peoples’ lives. My big, strong, beautiful dad was just 63 when he died after a long battle with multiple myeloma cancer.
“I miss him every single day. He loved to watch telly and he loved to laugh, so I’m doing this for him and for everyone else out there who has lost someone to cancer.”
Ruby, 69, lost her “best friend and mentor” Alan Rickman to pancreatic cancer in 2016, and said last year: “I think of him every day.”
The pair - and their dogs including Mel’s pet Yorkshire Terrier Cookie - join fellow guests including Gordon Ramsay and his daughter Tilly and Olympic gold medallist Tom Daley and his husband Dustin Lance Black to give their verdicts on broadcasts of Rishi Sunak being appointed Prime Minister this week.
They will also pass comments on Netflix series The Watcher and BBC music competition I Can See Your Voice, as well as Only Connect.
The celebrities will join Gogglebox households including Jenny and Lee, Pete and Sophie, Marcus and Mica, and the Siddiquis.
They will also watch emotional films about cancer titled Dylan James’ story and Emily’s Story, in a bid to raise money as part of Channel 4 and Cancer Research UK’s Stand Up To Cancer campaign on Friday.
Spice Girl Mel C has previously appeared on Celebrity Gogglebox with her brother Paul, and Geri Horner appeared with singers Boy George and Marilyn.
Stand Up to Cancer has raised more than £93 million in the UK to date, funding 64 clinical trials and projects involving more than 13,000 cancer patients.
Gogglebox: Celebrity Special for SU2C airs tomorrow on Channel 4 at 9pm.
