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Spencer Matthews has shared his ‘regrets’ over his past TV work after rising to fame on Made In Chelsea at just 19, and admits his parents had ‘disappointment’ over his behaviour.
Spencer Matthews has revealed he has ‘regrets’ over some of his TV career after rising to fame for his lothario reputation on Made In Chelsea. “It’s no secret that I’m not immensely proud of some of the television work that I’ve done. But, it’s been a while since I’ve been that guy from reality TV, I think,” Spencer tells Mirror.
Having clearly come a long way since his reality days, the former TV personality, 36, reached a world-first last year when he ran 30 sand marathons in 30 days in Jordan, achieving a Guinness World Record for the achievement. And Spencer admits that his commitment to fitness has changed his relationship with family and with himself. “There were certainly times in my life where I was pretty far from where I wanted to be and there was a bit of disappointment behind my parents’ eyes from time to time.
“But, completing the 30 marathons in the desert changed that and a lot in my life,” said the dad-of-three, who is married to model Vogue Williams. He continued, “Quite a lot of self-loathing that I carried around with me, and quite a lot of shame, just evaporated after the marathons. It’s a very different way of feeling.”
Despite appearing unapologetically boisterous on the small screen, Spencer – who gave up alcohol in 2018 – has battled his own demons when it comes to accepting himself. “You know, I wasn’t particularly happy with who I was for a long time, which became better with my years of teetotalism. But, when I started moving into the more fitness-based stuff and succeeded in those marathons, I felt like there wasn’t much that could stop me. Outside of having children and getting married, it felt like the most meaningful achievements in my life, so far.”
Continuing that he’s finally being ‘taken seriously’, Spencer now feels like he’s proved himself in the sports industry, as he continues, “I think it’s difficult to argue the 30 marathons in 30 days, you know, people can’t really take that away from me.”
Someone else who couldn’t be more proud of the star is his wife, Vogue, who he married in 2018 after meeting the year before on reality show The Jump. “Vogue is very on board with what I’m doing and very supportive. I’m very lucky to have a wife like her,” he says of the Irish model. Between running through deserts and gracing the TV screen, the couple also share three children; Theodore, Gigi and Otto. Clearly a doting dad, Spencer beams when he talks about his brood, as he explains, “I think we’re at a place at the moment that is truly beautiful, the kids are at a certain age when they’re fully pals. They can kind of go and do their own thing a bit. We go out for dinner and will grab pizza together and we feel like a proper little family unit. Instead of Vogue and I looking after three kids, it’s beginning to feel like more of a family group and it’s really nice. We’re in a lovely, lovely space.”
Aside from family, Spencer is pouring all of his focus into the launch of his own new podcast, Untapped. The new venture sees Spencer, along with his co-host Jake Quickenden, welcome extraordinary sporting guests to the weekly show to explore human potential.
Spencer struck up the podcast idea following his time in Jordan, admitting the unplugged nature of the trip allowed him to reassess the work he does. “During my marathons, some of those days were harder than others, shall we say. You’re really with your thoughts, a lot of the time there wasn’t any phone reception and there’s no Wi Fi or anything. So, you’ve got the ability to reflect on what you’re up to and who you are and all kinds of deep stuff. I just looked at some of the work that I was doing and fancied creating content in this space, in the space that I’m kind of in and care about and just I had quite a lot on my plate, so I was keen to focus on less.”
“I used to look at certain boundaries as barriers and think, ‘I can never do that.’ I hear that everyday, people saying, ‘I could never run a marathon’ but it’s just not true. And that’s what the show’s about, it’s about making people understand that actually they can. I’m not suggesting people have to go to Jordan and run 30 marathons, but, you know, you can make steps to do more.”
Spencer says Untapped is about more than chatting with guests, as he strives to create unbreakable bonds out of the new project. “Untapped is not just a podcast. It’s a community. I’m taking several hundred people to run their first half marathon on Sunday just around my local area. I want to travel around to create content superstars as well, not only in sport, but in wellness. I want to go to Kenya and meet Eliud Kipchoge. I’s not just, ‘Oh, I’m going to sit down with somebody for an hour and have a conversation, and here it is, you can listen to it’, it’s an experience with these people kind of in their world, as well as our experiences and our takeaways from it.”
Untapped, Spencer Matthews’ new weekly podcast launched yesterday on all platforms. Produced by the team at High Performance and co-hosted by Jake Quickenden.
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