Paddy McGuinness has recalled how much he earned before becoming one of the nation's most recognisable celebrities.
The Top Gear host, 49, took a trip down memory lane earlier today as he showed his support for junior doctors working in the NHS of the first day of a four-day strike due to an ongoing row with the Government over wages, with some being paid as little as just £14 an hour.
Around 50,000 doctors staged pickets outside hospitals across England, with some telling how they are struggling to afford groceries and borrowing money to pay rent.
The BMA has asked for a 35% pay rise which they say would make up for 15 years of real-terms pay cuts as wages rise at a much slower rate than inflation.
Several patients came out in support of the junior doctors, despite many of them having surgeries and cancer check-ups delayed due to the strikes - with celebrities like Paddy taking to social media to back the striking doctors.
Taking to his Twitter this morning, the Phoenix Nights star shared a snap of a news report he was watching on the television covering the historic strike.
He told his 584,500 followers: "I’m shocked Junior Doctors are on a £14 hourly wage? I find that mind blowing, considering I wasn’t far behind that teaching Boxercise classes in the early noughties.
"Are you shocked by this? The Dr’s pay that is, not the Boxercise? #JuniorDoctorsStrike."
As one Twitter told Paddy not to "believe everything you see", the dad-of-three hit back and added: "I’m just going off what the Junior Doctors are saying? I trust them to cut me open with a scalpel so I’m going to trust them on this. #JuniorDoctorsStrike."
Many junior doctors thanked Paddy for his tweets, with one telling the star: "It’s SO good to see the most random celebrities coming out in support. I’m due to start on £14ph in July. I’m £90,000 in debt and been in education for seven years."
Paddy has come a long way since his days of teaching Boxercise classes in Bolton.
Before he coined the catchphrase "No likey, no lighty" as the host of ITV dating show Take Me Out, Paddy was already a household name to millions of comedy fans across the country thanks to childhood pal Peter Kay.
Starring alongside Peter, Paddy host first appeared on our screens back in 2001 as Bolton-born bouncer Paddy O'Shea in the much-loved comedy, Phoenix Nights.
The Channel 4 show quickly became a cult classic after just two series and Paddy's character was so popular, a spin-off revolving around the bouncer and his pal was released in 2004, Max and Paddy's Road to Nowhere.
Despite Phoenix Nights being hailed as one of the finest British comedies of all time, Paddy's estranged wife Christine McGuinness admitted last year she has never tuned into the much-loved series.
Writing underneath a viral meme on Instagram using a clip of her husband appearing in the iconic show, the mum-of-three confessed in June 2021 that after "14 years with Patrick" she still hadn't got round to watching him as his most famous comedy character.
"I should definitely watch this one day!" The Real Housewives of Cheshire star wrote, just one year before she and Paddy announced their separation to the world.
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