The Chase's Bradley Walsh admits 'they sadly let me go' from job for heartbreaking reason
Bradley Walsh said 'they sadly let me go' as he opened up about a major setback earlier in his career.
The 65-year-old is known to many now as the popular host of ITV quiz show The Chase. Before that he appeared on a host of TV shows, including a two-year spell as Danny Baldwin on Coronation Street.
But Bradley's career could have taken a very different turn early on. Aged just 18, in 1979, he signed a professional contract with football team Brentford.
His time as a professional footballer saw him going on loan at Barnet as well as having spells with Tring Town, Boreham Wood and Chalfont St Peter. Although, at 22, he was forced to give up his playing career after suffering an ankle fracture.
On the Guess Who's Coming to Dinner? podcast in 2024, Bradley opened up about the moment he signed for Brentford as well as being let go by the club. He explained: 'I was playing locally for my mum's hospital team, she worked in a hospital, and I was playing in a match, I'd played for the county and things like that, and I'd been a Watford junior, and then, unbeknownst to me, I'd been watched for about a month.
(Image: BBC)
'I'd had a good month and it was the groundsman who was the chief scout at Brentford and he came and watched me and he gave me the opportunity to play on a Monday evening against Southend United and I scored the winning goal.
'That was it, and I signed on for two years. I played about 50 games and I scored two goals.'
Bradley says he '100 percent' would have had a 'full football career' if he could. He believed he was 'on the brink' of making it through to the first team before he started suffering with injuries.
He added: 'Sadly, I suffered a quite bad injury, I was always recovering from an injury, and that's one of the reasons they let me go in the end. I was just too injury prone.'
(Image: sean wilton)
After his football career came to an end, Bradley became a bluecoat at Pontins before working as a stand-up comic. It was then he was recruited by what was Anglia Television.
His first venture into presenting game shows was with Wheel of Fortune in 1997. In 2020, Bradley fronted a Christmas edition of Blankety Blank.
The programme was a hit, watched by 5.26 million people, prompting the BBC to commission a full series. The show sees a panel of six celebrities attempting to help a contestant fill in the blanks and win prizes.
This week's famous faces are Sue Perkins, Iain Stirling, Dermot O'Leary, Naga Munchetty, Ellie Simmonds and Layton Williams. Blankety Blank will air tonight (June 21) at 8pm on BBC One.
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