A REALITY TV star has donated his locks to a Hereford-based charity which provides free real wigs to children who have lost their own hair.

The Little Princess Trust – which has given away nearly 5,000 free real-hair wigs since its inception in 2006 to boys and girls suffering with cancer and other illnesses – receives thousands of hair donations every year.

These donations can be used to make some of the real hair wigs given away – and now Mario Falcone has added his hair to the pot.

Mario, who stars in The Only Way is Essex (TOWIE), heard about the charity's Real Life Rapunzel competition which aimed to search for the longest hair donation and felt compelled to show his support.

He had the chop last week and said: "It feels amazing to be able to support the Little Princess Trust. If anyone out there is thinking about cutting more than 17cm off their hair, then please consider donating it to this brilliant charity."

Monica Glass, charity manager at Little Princess Trust, said: "We are hugely grateful to Mario for donating his hair to the Little Princess Trust and for helping to raise awareness of our charity. We have the most amazing supporters and it’s great to count Mario as one of them now."

Mario’s generosity doesn’t end with his ponytail donation. Accompanied by his sister, Giovanna Fletcher – married to Tom from McFly – he has also offered to choose the overall winner of the competition from the five finalists at a special event in London on April 29.

Anyone who is inspired by Mario and who would like to support the charity should visit littleprincesses.org.uk.

Those wishing to enter the Real Life Rapunzel competition are directed to littleprincesses.org.uk/competitions/ to find out more.