Sam Thompson has been mercilessly teased by Pete Wicks for being a “single man with cats” though he insists Albus and Cedric are living better than he is, with their own drinking fountain and cat trees in almost every room.
The I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here! winner, 33, confessed he treats the pair “like my sons” and calls them “my best mates”. He often shares pictures of them online, including when they were kittens perched on his shoulder, and recently carried flame Ragdoll Albus in a cat sling for his first ever trip to the park.
Wicks seized on Abbey Clancy’s recent remark to husband Peter Crouch on their The Therapy Crouch podcast that single men with cats give her the “ick” to rib his co-host. “It is odd. I do see where they are coming from,” he said on Staying Relevant. Thompson shot back: “No you don’t, you f***ing love my cat!” before insisting Albus and Cedric were never “single man’s cats” in the first place.
The former Made in Chelsea star has now joined forces with pet brand Purina ONE on a campaign about feline hydration. Research for the brand found 78 per cent of owners worry their pets do not drink enough water. Its new product Hydralife is designed as a gravy style addition to make topping up hydration easier.
The West Londoner said he fell into this demographic and added that having a fountain at home gives him peace of mind, telling The Standard: “Cats prefer running water to bowls, so I got them a fountain.”
And despite describing his “furbabies” as “fussy”, he says Hydralife has gone down a storm. “Every time they are licking it I have a visual representation of their hydration topping up. It is a really nice thing to see as a cat owner,” Thompson enthused.
Thompson has now teamed up with pet brand Purina ONE to highlight the issue of cat hydration, after research found 78 per cent of owners worry their pets don’t drink enough water. Its new product Hydralife is designed as a gravy-style addition to make topping up hydration easier.
“Every time they’re licking it I have a visual representation of their hydration topping up,” he said. “It’s a really nice thing to see as a cat owner.”
Away from his pampered pets, Thompson is preparing for one of the biggest nights of his career with a Staying Relevant live show at London’s O2 Arena on September 19, where he will take to the stage with Wicks in front of an audience of 20,000.
“We’re so proud of ourselves for getting there,” he said. “It’s wild and we can’t believe it’s happening.”
He has also teased “some really good surprises” for the night.
The event will pave the way for the release of a Staying Relevant book on October 9.
“When we were looking back at all the things we’ve done, we found ourselves just cracking up,” Thompson said. “We really have done some things.”
He will also front ITV’s new hidden-camera format Celebrity Sabotage, airing on Saturday nights this autumn on ITV1 and ITVX. The six-part series sees Thompson team up with Joel Dommett, Judi Love and GK Barry to secretly derail fake reality shows in order to help contestants win cash.
“I haven’t really spoken about it yet but it is honestly the thing I am most excited about after the O2 this year,” he said. “Some people do get quite stressed and upset but it is worth it because the worse things go, the more money they win. By the end, when we reveal ourselves, the reactions are so lovely — sometimes people even cry.”
Then at Christmas he will be seen going up against fitness coach Joe Wicks in a new celebrity edition of the BBC’s Gladiators.
Thompson admitted his old torn calf muscle — picked up during his gruelling Match Ball Mission for Soccer Aid in June, when he cycled and ran a marathon a day for five days to deliver the ball from London to Manchester — came back to haunt him during the contest.
Competing under the self-styled name “El Coceroache”, he laughed: “Cockroaches can survive anything.”
For more information about Purina One Hyrdalife, visit purina.co.uk/brands/purina-one
