Pete Wicks was overcome with emotion after quitting the Channel 4 show (Image: Getty)
Pete Wicks has been forced to quit for a second time for a devastating reason.
Previously, the 36-year-old reality star, best known for his role in The Only Way is Essex, left the Channel 4 series due to a serious rib injury sustained during a challenge.
Back in 2022, Wicks was knocked unconscious during a challenge that involved jumping from a helicopter, resulting in broken ribs.
However, after giving the demanding series another attempt, the TV star was visibly emotional as he confessed, “I’ve lost the fight, I’ve got nothing left; my head is not in it.”
After nearly losing his mother, Pete was flooded with emotion as he poured his heart into a letter to her. The experience became overwhelming, prompting him to leave the show, though he stated he had no “regrets” about his decision.
:
Pete admits the ‘real’ reason he quit the show (Image: Channel 4)
Speaking to The Sun, he said: “I decided that night that I was in too deep. I hadn’t prepared for the reading out of the letters. I said things that I think I shouldn’t have said because I wasn’t saying it to the right person. I thought, ‘I need to go and say what I’ve said in this letter to my mum’.”
Pete added: “For them, it’s life and death. But it’s a TV show, and I’d reached my limit on a TV show. I’ve got absolutely no regrets about it.”
The star is also competing in alongside his dance partner, Jowita Przystał. He admitted that the dance competition has been the most challenging show he has ever participated in.
The TOWIE star is also a contestant on Strictly (Image: Getty)
Speaking on Loose Women, he revealed: “It’s the toughest by far, I did Celebrity SAS twice and this is harder, it’s more intense and it’s so far out of my comfort zone.”
Pete grew up in Harlow, Essex before joining the cast of The Only Way is Essex. He lived with his mum Tracy, who had to raise him on her own after divorcing his dad when he was just 11. In his book Never Enough, Pete opens up about how that trauma pushed him to look out for his mum.
He said: “I didn’t say it, but I believed it was my fault. I had been with Mum before it happened. I had agreed to go upstairs. I had stayed upstairs even though I could hear her wailing.
“If it was anyone’s fault, it was mine. Looking back, I know that my responsibility was probably overwhelming in that moment. I was the child, and I needed to be looked after. Instead, I had to look after my parent and suppress all the fear, panic, loneliness and self-blame that was beginning to grow inside me.”