Happy Mondays singer Shaun Ryder is no stranger to reality TV, but as a reformed hoarder, he couldn’t resist the chance to appear alongside bandmate Bez on a special episode of Storage Hunters UK, which airs at 8pm on December 29 on Dave. Shaun tells us about it.
What made you want to do Celebrity Storage Hunters?
“It’s just a good show isn’t it. It’s funny. So when I got asked if I wanted to do it, and with Bez as well, how could I turn that down? We had a great time. There was Bob Mortimer, just before he went in for his heart triple by-pass or whatever, there was the guy who was in Coronation Street and East Is East, and the footballer who was in the jungle last year. It was brilliant.”
Are you a big collector of tat?
“Shit, I mean it’s what your garage is for really isn’t it? You don’t keep your car in your garage, you keep all your crap, just accumulate all your shit. But not anymore, my missus put a stop to that. When we moved once we had like Technic Stereos in the rooms in the gaff and I come in and like, where have they all gone? And she’d taken them to the tip, about three Technic stereos that were all working fantastic. So she put a stop to all my hoarding.”
You’ve been on heaps of reality TV shows. Which are your favourites?
“I love them all, I can sort of nip in and out of that. I’m on tour at the moment so I get to pick bits of TV that I like. Come Dine With Me, I love that, Big Star Little Star, just done that with one of me girls, so I can just sort of choose the stuff that I like doing.”
Did appearing on Ghosthunting With The Happy Mondays convince you about and existence of an afterlife?
“Not really. It certainly convinced Bez but I was the one lobbing the pound coins everywhere so other people would think there were ghosts there.”
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Did you manage to track down any UFO’s in your show Shaun Ryder On UFOs?
“Yes we did, absolutely. We actually missed one, while I was doing an interview with somebody there was one flying around behind us. Somebody wrote into the History Channel, pointed it out, we slowed down the film and we saw this thing behind us just flying about!”
For someone who was individually picked out in the Channel 4 guidelines to never be on any of their shows again after you swore so much on TFI Friday, you’ve done pretty well on the box.
“It has took me fucking almost 20 years to get away from that. I was banned from Channel 4 for about 18 years. It’s the transition from being a boy to a man really.”
Have you got any plans for more of a TV career?
“Yes absolutely! The one that we’re trying to record now I’m not really allowed to say anything. I’m gonna try and involve Alan McGee in it, cause he makes good television.”
Shaun’s episode of Storage Hunters UK airs at 8pm on December 29 on Dave
More: Why Happy Mondays are the greatest thing to happen to reality TV