Alex Brooker has recalled the moment he could have faced an awkward interaction with legendary actor and director Russell Crowe, which turned into a night of madness
Alex Brooker “got nothing” after pitching a Gladiators sequel to Russell Crowe. During series five of The Last Leg, Alex, 41, pitched the idea of a new Gladiators film, titled Gladiators II: Son of Maximus, to Crowe, who starred in the 2000 smash movie.
However, despite pitching the idea of a follow-up film, Gladiator II was released in 2024, starring Crowe alongside Paul Mescal and Pedro Pascal, produced by Ridley Scott, and Alex didn’t recieve a penny for it.
“I feel like Ridley Scott’s idea was very different,” Alex laughed as he spoke to the Mirror. He said: “In my idea, Russell Crowe was due to appear as the ghost of himself. I wasn’t a son he didn’t know; I was also the son who had died. I think I was a ghost myself.
“I think it was more Halloween, but what an amazing moment.” Alex revealed that when the idea was pitched to Crowe, the actor said he would “decide at the time” whether to go along with it live on air. “I had to go live on television, and there was every chance he’d have gone, ‘Nah, I’m all right’,” Alex commented, adding: “Imagine that on live telly, I’ve been absolutely custard pied – that’s what I had going through my mind, I’m so glad he went along with it.”
However, Alex went on to say that Russell was “lovely” and after the first time he appeared on Last Leg, he was invited on a “night out” with Russell. “We all had a night out, we went and met him, we had the best time,” he said, adding: “I fell asleep, we had a big drink, I fell asleep.
“It was me, Adam [Hills], Johnny Vegas, Jimmy Carr, such an eclectic mix of people that Russell had gathered together.” But it also turned into a family event for Alex, revealing: “My cousins from Croydon had been to the show, I was like ‘I’ve got them with me,’ he was like ‘Bring them along’, all of a sudden, we were with Russell Crowe, he’s lovely, a great bloke.”
This year, Alex will return to Soccer Aid for UNICEF for the fifth time, a call he will never take for granted. Alex “never imagined” he would ever recieve the call, having previously watched the match on ITV over the years.
“If you’d have asked me before I started at the Paralympics in 2012 ‘What are the shows you’d love to do?’, Soccer Aid would be right at the very top of it,” he said. Watching as a fan, he says the match each year “is the best”. “I love it, I’ve got to know so many people through Soccer Aid,” he said.
Alex explained that his Soccer Aid journey has seen him become part of a “little kind of family,” having befriended other famous people taking part, the professional footballers and people who work behind the scenes each year.” “You meet these people you watch as a fan,” he said of the professional players taking part.
He added: “You get to know them and you follow each other on social media. I got announced on Bake Off, and Leonardo Bonucci liked the photo. It’s those little things, I still get giddy with all the footballers we get to play alongside. When Wayne Rooney followed me on Instagram, that was mint, it’s surreal.”
Alex admits he’s been “lucky” to meet people from across various parts of the industry, from film, comedy and entertainment, but he says he will “never lose” the excitement of meeting footballers. “I could’ve been doing the job for ages, and it’s like you’re a kid in the stand again,” he said while smiling.
One thing Alex will always remember is receiving a text from David Seaman. As a child, Alex would wait outside the Arsenal players’ hotel while he received treatment at Great Ormond Street Hospital. “I was in a wheelchair, and I remember David coming over and signing my autograph book,” he recalled.
Aged 15, Alex underwent life-changing treatment at the hospital for limb impairments, having been born with issues affecting his hands and arms, as well as a twisted right leg, which led to the amputation of his right foot at just 13-months-old. Alex has praised the hospital, stating that the treatment he received enabled him to walk.
Walking out onto the Soccer Aid pitch each year is still nerve-racking, but each year it “gets harder” for Alex, who is turning 42 just days before the event. “I’ve started training already,” he said. He went on to add that “this is the year” he will be able to reflect and say he was in the “best shape”.
So far, Alex has dropped half a stone thanks to his exercise routine. In previous years, he says he’s left training “too late” and often has to “smash it” for a month prior to the event. “I’ve decided I’ll try and get a bit fitter. I’ll try and play a bit of football before I go,” he said of the intense Soccer Aid training camp.
During the earlier years of Alex taking part, he says he was “desperate to impress people” or to “prove something” due to his disabilities, which he had mentally battled in his head. “I wanted to prove something so much, that’s the voice inside my head, no one is saying that,” he said.
Instead, Alex has been welcomed every year by his teammates and the crowds. “No one’s thinking ‘oh God, we’ve got to carry this guy,’ I realised a few years ago that’s just in my head,” he commented. Alex says he’s had this voice his “entire life”, over “silly things” but now, he’s in a “good place”.
He said: “I was so obsessed with how I did, but it’s far, far bigger, this event, than the negative voice in my head, because it’s for such an incredible cause. I think that’s the main thing. I say it every time, it’s a privilege to be a part of. 20 years of Soccer Aid, I watched the first one, I watched Maradona, and I’m here 20 years later.
“That absolutely will never get lost on me, but what an incredible thing to do. Even being back at London Stadium, I walked around doing a photoshoot, and I was saying, I remember being down the tunnel before I was about to go on Channel 4 for the first time. I’d never been on telly to interview David Cameron, who was the Prime Minister at the time, about to go live, if you said to me then, to be here now, it’s crazy – I’m really lucky.”
Alex says he came into his career “later” before starting at Channel 4, but he will always “appreciate” the opportunities offered to him. “I’m so excited to be back, I can’t wait to see everyone at the training camp,” he gushed, adding that it’s a “great group of people” who take part.
“Everyone knows it is for something that’s such a brilliant cause,” Alex said. This year, Soccer Aid tickets cost as little as £10 for children, and Alex admits the pricing is “affordable” amid the ongoing cost of living crisis, while Premier League match tickets continue to soar. “This is an event that raises money to help children,” he said.
Alex added: “You don’t want to price families out of bringing their children, which would be the complete opposite of what you want to do. We went to Old Trafford last year, you see the kids outside and see how excited they are to going to watch a game, it’s amazing.”
Soccer Aid for UNICEF takes place on Sunday 31st May at the London Stadium. Adult tickets start from £20 and juniors from £10: socceraid.org.uk/tickets
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