A former Gogglebox star has ditched his hometown to moved hundreds of miles away after a tragic family tragedy. Chris Ashby-Steed appeared on the Channel 4 show in 2013 alongside his ex-partner Stephen Webb. However, the pair split and after leaving the programme he was swiftly replaced in 2018 by Stephen's now-husband Daniel Lustig.
Since then, however, Chris has tied the knot with partner Tony and the pair are now documenting their life on Instagram - which includes showing fans around their new home after recently relocating 270 miles from Brighton to Newcastle Emlyn, in rural west Wales.
According to WalesOnline, their Instgaram feed is full of home renovation snaps and the couple are enjoying doing up their new home. But despite ditching the bright lights of brighten, the couple's spark hasn't simmered as they announced their their presence in Wales by saying that "the gays have arrived".
Bit it would be fair to say the couple were in need of a fresh start after a heartbreaking time in 2018, just six months after Chris and Tony's marriage.
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Tony's mum, to whom he was very close, sadly suffered a stroke and moved in with them during her rehabilitation. While very determined, it didn't take the couple quickly realise the house was no longer suitable so they needed to either move or build an extension.
So they decided to remortgage and build an extension for her. But on the second day of building Tony's mum fell into the ditch which had been dug for the foundations and was injured. After a hospital stay she was admitted to a care home to recover but fell again a number of times.
It emerged she had a double bleed on her brain which was impacting her personality. "She was changing, she was becoming mean and that wasn't my mum," said Tony. He spent the next four-and-half months in hospital and three times he was told to go in and say his goodbyes. Incredibly, she pulled through but needed the use of a wheelchair.
"We didn't know if she was going to be able to walk again and thankfully we made sure everything was wheelchair accessible and had a wet room and that kind of thing, and she came home and as well as working full time and being a husband and a daddy to the dogs I had to nurse mum full time as well," said Tony.
Chris said: "Our lives have been put on hold for three years, but also just little things but they were all sacrifices that we made. We sacrificed a lot in that three years."
Two years on, in late 2020, Tony's mum got a chest infection and had to go back to hospital. After leaving hospital she caught Covid and was readmitted. At the start of 2021, Tony was told there was nothing that could be done and she was given palliative care.
"Thankfully, it wasn't like the previous summer and I was allowed to go in," he said. "So for mum's last three days I spent all day every day at the bedside and with all my PPE, holding her hand, and talking to her talking any old rubbish, remembering lots of things and making sure I wasn't saying anything that indicated that she was dying."
On one occasion, despite the medication, she took him by his neck and pulled him close and looked at him, a memory Tony treasures. She died shortly afterwards. But even then there was no respite as he caught Covid himself.
To try protect Chris' mum, Tony spent the time apart from his husband in his mum's old room. That wasn't easy because it showed him the way she had been living her life, stuck in one room. But one blessing to come from it is the strength it gave their relationship.
"We call ourselves either 'hinge and bracket' or 'George and Mildred' because we we are like an old married couple. We do banter a lot. We've got these cushions and mine says 'He's never wrong' and his says 'I'm never wrong' and that's right. This man is my best friend and, I tell you something, we'd only been married for six months and without a second thought he said 'of course your mum has to move in'," Tony said.
It wasn't long after that Chris suggested they think of their next move. "It was just one thing after another and I just felt like I was a trapped bird, I needed to get out," Chris says. "I'm 45 and he's 52 and I just felt it was at a point in our lives we needed a new challenge."
And so, it was time to pack up their belongings and memories - both good and bad - and despite having no ties or links to Wales, they have ended up living in Newcastle Emlyn. Tony works for Legal and General and spoke to them about a transfer, and they said yes, to Cardiff.
Now, what was a family home is now being painstakingly restored by the couple, who moved in three-and-a-half months ago. And they have big plans. Chris' hairdressing salon will be located at the property and they will let their four designated guest rooms out through AirBnB and have set aside one of the reception rooms as a guest lounge.
Chris said: "It was scary moving here. I did have my doubts about it and I thought 'I can't do it' but I thought to myself 'Twenty years ago I lived in Buckinghamshire and if I hadn't left and moved to Brighton, not knowing anyone I would never have met all these amazing people'. So I had to put myself in that situation again, and by leaving somewhere else I realised I was going to meet so many other wonderful people."
