My boozy high-jinks almost put me in a spin

0NE night on Jersey in 2004, a grand piano in Phil Tufnell's hotel trundled along a corridor and plunged down a flight of stairs.

- Simon Hemelryk

It made a noise so loud it could possibly have been heard on neighbouring Channel Islands.

Phil had been filming the short-lived It's a Knockout-style ITV gameshow, Simply the Best. There had already been a lot of high jinks after each show, with people from the production sliding down bannisters and running around the hotel in their underpants.

And the ex-England cricketer and recently crowned winner of I'm a Celebrity - which has just returned for its 23rd series - had certainly enjoyed the bonhomie too.

But the piano incident was rather more serious and Phil spent the rest of his time in Jersey hiding from the hotel management who had, for some reason, identified him as a prime suspect.

"I don't entirely remember what happened with the piano, but I don't think it was anything to do with me," he claims now, his customary chuckle in his voice. "Nothing was ever proved. I think maybe the brakes came off the piano by mistake and there was a slight tilt in the corridor."

 

This wasn't the first time Phil had found himself in an odd situation while away from home, and it definitely wasn't the last. In his new book, The Tourist, he describes a life of frequent trips abroad, from 11 years on the road with England to the South African wilderness in I'm a Celebrity. It's been marked by fun, occasional chaos and frequent alcohol consumption.