Mrs Brown’s Boys star Danny O’Carroll reveals heartbreaking reason he’s taking part in The Chase Christmas special
MRS Brown’s Boys star Danny O’Carroll has revealed the heartbreaking reason he’s taking part in The Chase Christmas special.
The 39-year-old actor plays Buster Brady in the hit BBC One comedy alongside his dad, show creator Brendan O’Carroll.
But this Christmas Day, Danny will join Coronation Street’s Sair Khan, singer Charlotte Church and This Morning’s Dr Zoe Williams in a bid to win as much money as possible for their chosen charities on The Chase.
Danny will be playing for Pieta House in his native Ireland, which provides professional one-to-one therapeutic service to people who are in suicidal distress, those who engage in self-harm, and those bereaved by suicide.
Speaking exclusively to The Sun Online, Danny revealed how he has a personal connection to the charity after losing friends to suicide.
He said: “I’ve lost a few friends to suicide, it’s a horrible, horrible thing to have to deal with so I just want to help as many people out there as possible.
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“And definitely after the last few years, people can be doing with this charity.
“It’s good that there’s a lot more talking about men’s mental health but there’s not as much action I find, from what I’ve seen myself.”
He continued: “A lot of people can talk about being depressed but they’ll never act on it, or you’ll get someone telling you ‘Oh he was depressed’ but he didn’t tell you when he was.
“I just think it’s a great charity, and especially where I live, there are so many suicides of young people, it’s usually young kids that you hear about and I hate to hear it.”
While Danny hopes to win big on The Chase with the help of his fellow celebrities, he isn’t too hopeful about his individual performance against a Chaser.
He said: “I’m very, very nervous. I don’t have a strength in anything.
“If I was to put myself on a scale of one to five I would put myself at a two or a three in everything. If I get a question right I’ll be delighted.
“I think I’ll feel a bit more comfortable when I get to the multiple choice, I can chance my arm on that one!”
The Chase Christmas Special airs on Christmas Day at 5pm on ITV1.