TV funnyman Rob Beckett believes England are still the ‘underdogs’ in the World Cup – but could well end up ‘sneaking’ victory.
“I think England can get to the final, but I do think France are the favourites”, he tells the Mirror. “But it’s been a brilliant tournament so far, I’m loving it.”
Beckett, 40, was in New York for England’s triumphant defeat against Mexico to reach the Quarter Finals, watching the action with Gary Lineker and pitching in on the latter’s The Rest Is Football podcast.
“Yeah, that was good fun”, he tells the Mirror. “The Mexico game was just unbelievable, such a crazy game in every way.”.
“But I have struggled to watch all the matches because they’re on so late. I tend to watch them in the morning before the kids go to school. And I think that’s fair enough – I reckon a lot of people just pretend they’ve watched them live!”
The comedian, who shares two daughters with wife Lou, a former secondary school history teacher, says, “After the Mexico game my two were like, Dad, we’re against Norway next you know – and we’re really worried, because Haaland is so good!’ Safe to say, my girls are fully invested.”
Unlike previous years, the Mottingham-born star – affectionately known as the ‘Mouth of the South’ – has been behaving himself so far when it comes to wild celebrations.
With a megaphone in hand and dressed head-to-toe in England gear, Beckett famously went viral for his drunken antics as he partied after England’s historic 2-0 win over Germany at Euro 2020.
It ended with him eating KFC beside a bin on a London street at 1am – a chaotic, 12-hour bender that he documented on his Instagram stories and fans maintained he should win a BAFTA for.
“Yes, I have had my dalliances with being worse for wear on social media during England games,” laughs Beckett. “I’ve got form. But that was a whole five years ago and I still to this day have people just shouting, “Chicken.” at me…”
Beckett, who’s set to appear in the next series of Celebrity Traitors this autumn, alongside a starry cast which includes pal Romesh Ranganathan, says he loves footie’s ‘magical’ ability to bring an entire country together – but thinks England stars don’t deserve the bad rep they sometimes get.
“I think everyone just sort of assumes that they’re not real, not connected to the real world. But I’ve met a lot of them now. They’re just normal people, doing extraordinary things.
“I mean, look at Harry Kane – he’s just such a genuinely nice, very focused person. Jack Grealish is another really good lad. I’m a bit older than them a’l now, so it kind of feels like they’re your younger brothers,”
He adds, “They’re extremely talented, but they’re also just normal blokes – and everything they do is totally under the microscope.
“They earn fortunes of money, which again comes with its own problems. If people know you’re on £200k a week, suddenly people want a piece of you. You know?.
“So, it’s an amazing lifestyle, but I reckon it’s harder than you think. It’s like anybody in the public eye – there’s always a trade-off, somewhere.”
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