Our Supporters
03 May 2019Who bares wins: Celebrities return to give it the Full Monty
A brand new line-up of celebrities will be baring all on ITV this bank holiday weekend to help raise awareness of male cancers. The show features Alexander Armstrong and Ashley Banjo joining forces again to recruit and train the stars to take to the stage in the iconic Full Monty strip. The teasers suggest a Navy theme to the routine, but will they be ship-shape or all at sea?
• Find out more about prostate cancer.
• Sign up to March for Men.
• Donate to support our work.
ITV’s The All New Monty features nine celebrities including Crimewatch presenter Rav Wilding, snooker player Willie Thorne, former Emmerdale actor Kelvin Fletcher and comedian (and King of the Jungle) Joe Pasquale who all have close personal connections to prostate cancer – the most common cancer in men.
In the show, they share their stories and explain why they want to help people understand the impact that prostate cancer has on men and their families.
"My dad's got prostate cancer and I want to raise as much awareness as possible and if it means taking off my clothes, then that's what’s got to be done," says Rav, who has previously supported our work and hosted our Liverpool carol concert in December last year. Joe Pasquale also talked about his father, who died of prostate cancer after they had finished filming the show.
"I saw everyone take their clothes off and thought 'gee wizz'."
The viewers of previous versions of the Full Monty have helped to raise donations and awareness for prostate cancer, which kills one man in UK every 45 minutes. Now in its third year, ITV's Full Monty has gone from strength to strength and has previously included our celebrity ambassadors Wayne Sleep and Danny John-Jules.
Willie Thorne tells how watching The Real Full Monty two years ago resulted in his own diagnosis of prostate cancer, which he is still being treated for. "I watched the first programme and saw everybody take their clothes off and I thought gee wizz I better have a little check-up. I had a routine blood test and had to go in again. I know what cancer does because I lost my brother six years ago and now I'm thinking am I going to go through the same thing?"
Our supporters are helping to fund research into more accurate tests for prostate cancer, as the disease is only curable if it's caught early. However, there are often no signs or symptoms until the cancer starts to spread and current tests can miss some cases.
In the show, Ashley and Alexander meet with a group of men who share their own stories of being diagnosed and treated for prostate and testicular cancer.
It really is powerful seeing those men and just summarising the reason why we’re doing this.
But you don’t need to get your kit off to help stop prostate cancer being a killer. We’re just asking you to sign up to walk 2.5 km, 5 km or 10 km in our March for Men events – find one near you or organise your own.
The All New Monty: Who Bares Wins
ITV, Monday 6 May 9-10.30pm
