Kola Bokinni jokes Celebrity Race Across the World turned him into 'massive diva'

Dan Seddon
Updated
Kola Bokinni on Loose Women. (ITV/Shutterstock)
Kola Bokinni on Loose Women. (ITV/Shutterstock) (Ken McKay/ITV/Shutterstock)

Cheeky Kola Bokinni joked Celebrity Race Across the World made him a diva. "It turned me into a massive diva," he said. "Only joking."

Loose Women welcomed Bokinni onto Thursday's panel to discuss his appearance on the reality TV series. Known for his turn as AFC Richmond's team captain Isaac McAdoo in the Apple TV+ sports comedy Ted Lasso, which may well be coming back for a fourth season, the 32-year-old actor joined Kaye Adams, Denise Welch, Kelle Bryan and Sunetra Sarker for a CRATW debrief, having recently competed on the reality show with his cousin Mary Ellen.

Throughout his guest appearance, Bokinni reflected on how the experience changed him as a person; why it was Mary Ellen that accompanied him on his worldwide trek and that infamous passport blunder.

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Bus-riding with his cousin Mary Ellen on the reality series. (Studio Lambert) ((Studio Lambert/BBC))

Bryan asked him had Celebrity Race Across the World changed him and Bokinni hilariously responded with a dead pan look on his face, saying: "It turned me into a massive diva." Quickly, he followed it up with: "I'm joking." The whole Loose Women panel erupted into laughter.

He did say the BBC show made him realise "you really need Google Maps", much to the amusement of the Loose Women.

"It really brought me back to earth and to spend that lovely time with my cousin, to reconnect, because she moved to Ireland and you know, we were really close before that so we're closer than ever now," he added.

Apparently, the challenge of a non-scripted television job brought about a certain level of anxiety too, as Bokinni admitted: "I didn't know whether [viewers would] like me or not, I was more nervous about that."

On collaring Mary Ellen for the ride, he recalled ringing her up because she's the only member of the family that can deal with him for more than five minutes. "D'ya wanna go somewhere in the world?" was his opening line. "I don't know where... but for about five or six weeks, and yeah, I don't know what I'm gonna do and it's a show... I've never watched it." The rest is history.

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The Ted Lasso actor has opened up about his dad's death. (Studio Lambert) ((Studio Lambert/BBC))

Over on the globetrotting show itself, Bokinni and Mary Ellen were just seen grafting on an Argentinian horse farm in the hope of building their budget. The latter told the cameras that these last few years haven't been kind to her relative, but she wanted him to "really process" the loss of his dad.

"Being here makes you feel, I am not the main character of life," said Bokinni. "Life goes on whether you're here or not, and there's something beautiful about that.

"Last year wasn't the best year for me, I lost my dad. It was a long road. He had dementia for three years and it took everything from him. It was extremely stressful, going to set and then coming back to look after my dad. I think out of all our family members, I was the last one that he remembered. And then, nothing. Heartbreaking."

Echoing the feelings of many people who've lived through someone else's dementia journey, he went to suggest there's a grieving period whilst they're still alive. "What I actually felt when he passed was, selfishly, a little bit of relief because I didn't have to see him the way he was in his final days.

"I like to believe he's at peace now. He's not alone, he's not in the dark any more, because that's what the disease does to you. It puts you in the dark."

Loose Women airs weekdays at 12.30pm on ITV1.

This article originally appeared on Yahoo TV UK at https://uk.news.yahoo.com/kola-bokinni-celebrity-race-across-the-world-diva-151459828.html

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