Yahoo News 'TOWIE' star Pete Wicks doesn't watch reality shows and has never watched himself on TV
TOWIE's Pete Wicks has confessed he never watches himself on TV and that the only programmes he watches are about serial killers and animals.
"I've never watched myself on TV. Never," The TOWIE star tells Kate Thornton on the latest White Wine Question Time podcast.
"What's one thing I know? I'm a d***head babe. I don't need to watch that back again. So I've never watched myself on TV. And I don't watch reality TV. I watch serial killer programmes and animal programmes!
"Because I love animals. And I hate people. So it works out quite well! So I think because of that, I take myself away."
He added: "Work is work. As much as it's reality TV, it's constructed reality, which means that I'm still authentically me and genuinely me, and I deal with everything the way that I would, whether that be right or wrong.
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"On one week you're a hero, one week you're a zero, whatever it may be, but I do that as me. It's not your typical everyday, is it? And I think you have to take that [with] a pinch of salt a little bit.
"So I still have a bit of a bit of a private life and a bit of 'me' time. I don't film in my house, I don't film with family because you have to keep something to yourself as well.
"Otherwise, I think you can get lost in this world of being in the public eye and reality TV and all that sort of stuff. And I think that's when it becomes quite dangerous."
Thornton asked Wicks about speaking out about men's mental health and the impact of fast fame in the past.
He replied: "It's a hard thing to talk about because when you are in the public eye, a lot of people assume — audiences or fans or whatever else — that if you put yourself in the public eye, you should be allowed to be ridiculed and judged non-stop, and it's okay for people to do that because you put yourself in that position.
"And that's utter b*******s. That doesn't mean just because people might know who you are, that you should be open to people telling you exactly what they think of you.
"Someone working at an estate agents, everyone that they work with wouldn't ordinarily walk up to them every day and go: 'Well, I think you're a bit of a d**k mate', and you go: 'That's sweet, I do work here so I've opened myself up to that.'
"No, it's not okay to do that. And I think, because I was a little bit older when I got into this, I'm quite thick-skinned, I always dealt with it quite well because I've been around the block a little bit.
"I think it is very hard for people. I think a lot of that is down to the fact they get caught up in what other people want them to be rather than who they are. And I think it's a journey that you have to go down. You have to find a way to work out who you are to be able to deal with all that sort of stuff.
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"I think people need spend a lot more time working on themselves before worrying about what other people think. But that is individual to each person. I don't think there's a right or wrong answer to that. There's no set way of going: this is what you should do to be able to deal with that sort of stuff.
"Because we're all very different. That's what makes us all so unique and beautiful. There's 7 billion people in the world and we're all completely different, what works for one doesn't work for another. So it's really hard because there isn't a specific way to deal with that."
He also spoke about being happy saying 'no' to things he does not want to do, and how he believes that has helped him to proceed in his career because he has stayed true to himself.
He said: "With reality TV, generally people look at a short lifespan, a short career, because the authenticity isn't there. You can come into this and do well and be authentic. And I think that shines through, audiences relate to that.
"People can relate to you because you are just a normal person. A lot of people in reality TV are just normal people. We're no different to anyone else. And I think a lot of reality people get lost in that, they think they're going to Hollywood. They become the version of what they think they should be, and actually stop being themselves. Actually, if you are yourselves, you'd probably have a longer career.
"And I think the problem is, it doesn't matter how much welfare or help is offered to people, you can't help someone who doesn't want to be helped and doesn't realise they need help.
"And I think that's the hardest thing is that there is no right or wrong way to deal with things. It just comes down to individuals. But that's not just a reality TV thing, or public eye thing, I think that's people.
"Whether you work in an office or wherever it may be, everyone in an office has got a character. You've got the funny one, you've got the party girl, the party boy, whatever. And when people get that kind of reputation [that's] what's dangerous.
"Because when people have a bit of reputation, they tend to live to that reputation. They start introducing themselves as that reputation, they start being that reputation."
WATCH: Pete Wicks says his bad reputation is often a case of mistaken identity
