A HEREFORD man is to appear on the TV show he became hooked on when returning home from work.

Ricky Clarke, from Bodenham Road, will feature in a new series of the popular ITV daytime show Golden Balls, which is presented by comedian Jasper Carrott.

The 30-year-old, a democratic services officer with Herefordshire Council, says he applied to be a contestant after regularly watching the hit programme.

“I would get home after finishing work and put it on,” he said. “I ended up getting really into it and applied to go on after seeing them asking for contestants at the end of a show.”

Ricky passed the Bristol auditions and will today (Thursday) go before the cameras in London in a bid to scoop a handsome cash prize.

The show requires similar skills to poker, with contestants bluffing, lying or playing it straight in their bid to strike gold.

Previous winners have collected anything from £3 to more than £100,000.

“I’m really looking forward to it,” said Ricky, who has previously reached the final auditions of fellow gameshow Deal or No Deal.

“If I won a lot of money I think one of the things I’d do is visit my nephew in Thailand who I haven’t seen yet.”

The news has seen Ricky on the receiving end of some teasing from friends, who are keen to see how he fares in front of millions of viewers.

“I play Sunday League football for the Heart of Oak and the lads have been giving me some stick since they found out.

“I was once shamed on the football show Soccer AM for deciding to watch a recording of Trisha instead of playing for the team.”

Viewers will be able to see how Ricky fares when the new series of Golden Balls airs in the coming months.