What do and have in common? Well, it would seem they’ve crossed paths over a packet of crisps – to be exact.
, a 51-year-old Welsh opera singer, rose to fame playing the twirly moustached character on the price comparison company’s series of TV adverts back in 2009, however he recently revealed he had a star-studded past before stepping into the iconic role.
Unravelling his bizarre connection to the former professional footballer, it appeared both stars had a knack for selling products on the box, collaborating on a jingle that would ring throughout thousands of households.
In the midst of his sporting career, Gary, 62, dabbled in brand deals and fronted a plethora of Walkers crisps adverts that featured none other than Wynne, pre-Gio.
Ahead of his appearance on , the opera singer let the, well, crisp out of the bag on his partnership with Mr Lineker.
He exclusively told Metro.co.uk: ‘I was the principal at the Royal Opera House and I was the voice of Gary Lineker in a Walkers crisp advert and a mate of mine had written the music for it.’
The musician-turned-broadcaster carried on to share how working with Walkers led him to a life-changing opportunity with Go Compare.
Wynne explained that his friend pleaded with him, saying: “Oh, look, will you just come along and just do the voice?”, so I said, “I don’t really wanna do it”.
‘He said, “Well, look, you’ll have to audition anyway”. So I went to the addition and what I didn’t realise was they’d been given a brief – which was try and find somebody Welsh.
‘They thought it would be brilliant if the singer was the same person in the advert and if he was slightly fat, that would be fantastic.
‘I walked in and I was like the dream person that they didn’t think existed. So I started singing and I was throwing my hands around to get a bit more expression and they were like, “You should be in the ad”.
‘I said, “No, I don’t wanna be in the ad, I’m a principal at the Royal Opera House. I’m a very serious singer.”
‘Eventually – the owner was Welsh – she persuaded me that it would be great. I joined and here I am 15 years later, 160 adverts later, doing MasterChef.
‘So if I hadn’t done the advert, there’s no way I’d be doing MasterChef because it’s what brought me to the public’s attention. I’ll never say anything bad about the advert because the advert has given me everything I have in life.’
Despite his admiration for the fictional character that offered him a brand new destiny, Wynne admitted it hadn’t always been plain sailing when the clip first hit screens in August 2009.
He revealed: ‘When I first started doing the advert, people didn’t really like it. They’d go, “Oh, if I ever meet that guy, I’m gonna strangle him, or I’m gonna take his voice away.”’
However the budding cook reassured everyone that relations improved, allowing him transform into the icon generations know and love today: ‘When they do meet you, it’s almost like a cult thing.
‘I’m still on TV but the people driving have grown up with me so there’s like 25 year olds who can only ever remember a time when the Go Compare man existed.
‘To them there’s nostalgia, it’s like having your dad in the room. My son is 19. I’ve been doing the adverts since he was four. He doesn’t remember a time when I wasn’t the Go Compare man.’
Wynne joined the likes of and as they cooked-off in the famous kitchen during week three of the celebrity heats.
continues tonight on BBC One and BBC iPlayer at 9pm.
