I'm A Celebrity's Frankie Dettori says he learned to speak English by watching EastEnders.
The 52-year-old jockey told campmates about his move to the UK which included watching lots of goings on in Albert Square, where Danielle Harold used to work. Fred Sirieix asked Frankie: “So you were born in Milan, when did you come to the UK?”
Frankie replied: “At 14.” Fred asked: “By yourself?” Frankie said: “Yeah. I said, ‘Dad, I’m going to be a jockey.’ He said, ‘Right, if you’re going to be a jockey, I want you to take it serious, so I’m going to send you for six months in England, six months in France.
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"I stayed in a bed and breakfast. It was hard. I was homesick, cry every night. About three months [I cried]. Looking over at Danielle he added: "I learned the phrase, ‘What is this?’. Then I watched TV. Your thing [Danielle], EastEnders…” Danielle replied: “Do you know how many people say to me, ‘I learned English watching EastEnders’. It’s probably the worst place to learn!”
Speaking previously on a 2021 podcast Frankie also said he learned English from the soap. He added: "I was spending my life watching EastEnders. Then I shared a room with a Cockney guy and he used to teach me apples and pairs and sky rocket – I had no idea what he was saying.” Frankie is one of the greatest jockeys in history but he met his match with fellow legend Lester Piggott – who once grabbed his balls and squeezed as hard as he could mid-race.
Dettori once joked he had been taunting the veteran when he made a comeback at the age of 55, writing in his book: “I’m in his face telling him he should be in a museum, advising him to get the slippers out because there’s no way he’ll be able to keep up with us young bucks."
However, Piggott had other ideas: “As we come into the bend at the halfway point I glance to my left and see him behind me. He reaches over, grabs my balls and squeezes as hard as he can.
"The pain’s extraordinary. I feel my eyes watering behind my goggles. He says: ‘That’ll teach you to be cocky, you little sh*t’.”After the race, Dettori added: “We’re riding at Glorious Goodwood. There’s a big field, 20 runners or so. After the race, back in the weighing room, we watch a replay. I gather everyone round. ‘Lads’, I say, ‘watch out for where Lester grabs my balls. It’s coming up round about now.”
"There’s a blind spot in the coverage of about 10 seconds where the cameras switch and the action’s too far away to be caught by either of them. He knows exactly where the cameras are, of course. I look across at him. Not a trace of a smirk passes his lips." These days, Dettori is the veteran of the sport, and he abandoned his retirement plans in October to continue racing stateside. “I’ve still got the fire inside me that I want to do it a little bit more,” the 52-year-old told BBC Breakfast.
I'm A Celebrity.. Get Me Out of Here! airs on ITV1 and ITVX nightly at 9pm
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