Christine McGuinness: Blackpool born star signs up for intense BBC show

The 35-year-old mum of three has already made a name for herself on British TV, having first appeared on The Real Housewives of Cheshire between 2018-2020 before being a contestant on Strictly: The Real Full Monty in 2021 and Channel 4’s The Games in 2022.

Christine, who has autism alongside her three children, also received NTA nominations for her 2022 documentary with her now ex-husband, ‘Paddy and Christine McGuinness: Our Family and Autism’, and her 2023 documentrary ‘Christine McGuinness: Unmasking My Autism’.

Whilst she awaits the results of the 2023 NTA Awards, the Sun has now revealed Christine has signed up for a rather unusual BBC show.

What is the new show?

Airing on BBC Two, ‘Pilgrimage’ sees celebrities from different faiths trekking together as a group on an historical pilgrimage, with interfaith dialogue encouraged throughout.

Staring in 2018, there have been five series so far, each centred around a different religious pilgrimmage, and 36 celebrities have already taken part.

What has been said about Christine’s involvement?

A source told the Sun: “Since stepping into the spotlight, Christine has bravely let fans into her personal life, from learning she is autistic at the age of 33 and parenting her three autistic children, through to the breakdown of her marriage to Paddy McGuinness.

“Pilgrimage comes at the perfect time for her, as she’s starting to shrug off heartbreak and explore the potential of finding new love.

“Traditionally, pilgrimages were taken to explore personal growth towards a place of spiritual awakening and the BBC Two programme has shown to profoundly affect its cast.

“Not only could the experience prove to be incredibly positive for Christine’s own development, bosses hope her journey will add real heart to the programme.

“Any revelations about Paddy or her current love life would of course go down a treat, too.”

Who else has signed up in the past?

Previous participants include actor Neil Morrissey (humanism, atheist), entertainer Les Dennis (Anglican), ballroom dancer Brendan Cole (atheist), Olympian Greg Rutherford (lapsed Jehovah's Witness), presenter Adrian Chiles (Catholic convert), politician Edwina Currie (lapsed Orthodox Jew), Olympian Fatima Whitbread (Christian), reality star Scarlett Moffatt (Christian) and actress Rita Simons (Jewish).

In last years series, Boyzone singer Shane Lynch (born-again Pentecostal Christian) quit partway through, triggered by his fear of candles, whilst former Geordie Shore star Vicky Pattison (Agnostic) considered turning to God.

At the time, the mum of one said: “I’ve always wanted to think that there was something bigger than me but I just didn’t know what it was.

“I still don’t know, but I have a real desire to find out.

“I think it showed me I’d really love to have faith.”