[James]

Jonny's back in the house – as a gasman

FORMER Big Brother star Jonny Regan has a new job – as a gasman.
But female fans of the 33-year-old heartthrob won't be able to ring up and have him come round to service their boiler.

For the ex-County Durham firefighter's new role sees him back on TV in a series of six adverts for British Gas.

"It is a part where people will think I'm working for British Gas, not realising I'm just pretending," he joked.

After becoming runner-up in Big Brother 3 in 2002 – behind Kate Lawler but beating Jade Goody – Jonny became an overnight sensation.

The previously unknown lad from Trimdon Grange, who went to Bede College in Peterlee, was followed by the national media wherever he went.
He attended fancy showbiz parties, appeared on stage with Atomic Kitten, visited sick children in hospital, and his wedding to Joanne Llewellyn appeared in a glossy celebrity magazine.

But after growing tired of the intense scrutiny attached to becoming an instant star, Jonny turned his back on the glitzy lifestyle to indulge his first love of acting, which was something he hid from TV chiefs before landing a place in the Big Brother house.

He said: "I went to drama school as a kid and was acting before I went on Big Brother, but I kept that quiet.

"I went in there for the experience and a laugh, not for the reasons they all do it now – to get on TV and become a presenter."

In recent years Jonny has shunned offers of a reunion with Big Brother housemates, and acts under the name Jonathon Regan to avoid links with his reality TV past.

His acting skills won him a six-month national tour in the musical Boogie Nights, as well as parts in The Bill, Byker Grove, the Billy Elliott film, and his own daredevil show on Sky.

"I do bits and bobs when the work comes up. You have to go through auditions, the same as you would for a drama or a musical.

"I think there were about 200 lads at the British Gas audition and they picked four of us."

Despite his TV and stage career, Jonny's main job is a computer project manager for Siemens.

He is based in the North East but the post involves regular visits to the base in Switzerland, and Jonny said he is "very lucky" to have considerate bosses.

"We have an understanding that if a long-term acting job comes along, I leave my job, do the acting then come back to Siemens when the contract is over."

He added: "If people ask what I do, I always say I'm a computer programmer who does a bit of acting."

11 September 2006

http://www.sunderland-echo.co.uk/Vie...icleID=1760479