I am very proud says Blackpool's Christine McGuinness as she wins Celebrity Hunted
Blackpool born celebrity Christine McGuinness made history over the weekend, becoming the first female celebrity to win Hunted UK.
36-year-old Christine has for the past two months starred on our screens as part of the latest series of Channel 4’s Celebrity Hunted.
The former model turned TV personality was partnered up with Blue member Duncan James as they went on the run from Hunters HQ for 12 weeks.
In Sunday night’s show, viewers tuned in to see Christine and Duncan win the programme having evaded capture until the very end - unlike the other five other celebrity pairings: Strictly professionals Kai Widdrington and Giovanni Pernice; soap stars Danielle Harold and Kimberly Hart-Simpson; podcasters David Whitely and Zeze Millz; news anchors Lucrezia Millarini and Simon McCoy; and Loose Women star Denise Welch along with her husband Lincoln Townley.
Having successfully completed the show, Christine has shared her pride at winning Celebrity Hunted not only for herself but also for her mum - the appearance fees of all the celebrities taking part are donated to Stand up to Cancer with Christine’s mum still undergoing treatment for breast cancer.
Taking to her Instargram story yesterday, Chrisine told her 732k followers: “Wow... what a journey! Winning this for @suzcuk means the world to me. As many of you know, cancer has touched my family, my mum is my world and this experience was overwhelming in so many ways. I'm beyond grateful for all the love and support thank you from the bottom of my heart.
“The biggest thank you to @mrduncanjames for holding my hand every step of the way, for your patience, our laughter and for making this experience so special. I wouldn't have wanted to do it with anyone else!
“And to make HERstory [queen emjoi] being THE FIRST WOMAN ever to win this show [various eomjis] I am very proud [heart emoji] #StandUp ToCancer #Grateful”
Mum of three Christine, who was diagnosed with autism in 2021, then reshared various other posts to her story of other people wishing her congratulations on her success.
Well wishes included the official Blue account; Blue member Antony Costa; fellow fugitive Denise Welch; a real Hunter from the show called Nichola Tidd; and even Duncan’s mum!
In a follow up post ,Christine shared an image of herself and Duncan on the show with overlay text that read: “I am very very overwhelmed with the response, thank you l am genuinely appreciate the love and support, always”.
Since winning the show, Christine - who was married to comedian Paddy McGuinness for 11 years before their split in 2022- also shared how the programme has made her realise she can often doubt herself and she needs someone who will help boost her self confidence.
Speaking about Celebrity Hunted, Christine told The Daily Mirror: "The best thing from it was realising that actually I can do more than I think I can.
“If I'm with the right person and someone understanding and caring, I'm a lot more capable than I think. I doubt myself, I preempt a lot, and I probably put myself down more than I should. I realised that on the run that sometimes I'm just too hard on myself.
She then added: "It just really gave me that power to keep thinking, ‘It's never too late to get a new job, to get a new hobby, to make new friends, to start a new relationship.’ I realised all that whilst I was out there because I wasn't mummy for a while. It gave me time to actually think, ‘OK, what do I want to do?’ It was amazing!"