Cheeky chappy
Our very own Jamie Vardy lookalike postman and Leicester City fan Lee Chapman is on new Channel 4 sketch show Lookalikes, which starts today, Wednesday 4 July.
Lifetime Foxes fan Lee also appeared on ITV’s This Morning programme to publicise the show alongside fellow celebrity lookalikes of Gordon Ramsey, David Brent and Ed Sheeran.
The day after Leicester City’s Premier League title was confirmed in May 2016, Lee’s life changed when he was pulled onto the team coach to celebrate with his heroes.
It happened just as he was finishing his round. ‘I was going as fast as I could because I needed to get to the stadium to do a TV interview,’ said Lee. ‘All of a sudden, the coach pulls up behind me and all the players and staff are banging on the windows, the door opens and Ranieri is dragging me on.
‘Ranieri and the other players pushed me to the back where Jamie Vardy was. They were all shouting and cheering. They obviously knew who I was. It was crazy.’
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The morning after the Foxes victory parade, ‘Chappy’ as Lee is known, appeared on breakfast TV and pictures of him with Jamie Vardy featured in various national newspapers.
Speaking about his recent TV appearance, Lee said: ‘Well it’s not every day you get an invite to appear on ITV’s This Morning with Phil Schofield and Holly Willoughby. Yet there I was on the phone with Andy Harmer, the agency owner of Lookalikes who said: “I need you in the ITV studio first thing in the morning with Gordon Ramsey, David Brent and Ed Sheeran to advertise the Lookalikes show we filmed 12 months ago!"
‘I scrambled to my phone and called my manager Kerry Ryland, who has been great at accommodating all the media-related work I do. At St Pancras station, I met Martin Jordan, the Gordon Ramsey lookalike, who like me in my England top was also already in character. I can’t tell you how many people were taking pictures of us in the station - it was mental!
‘Inside the ITV studio, Phil Schofield and Holly Willoughby were both such lovely people off camera especially Holly; she was beautiful and very polite too. During the live segment when Phil spoke to me, I jokingly told him that I was out of the World Cup as I was having a knee operation. This was partly true as I am actually having an operation on my knee on 4 July.
‘I would like to take the time to thank all my Royal Mail colleagues, friends and family for the support everyone has given me on this rollercoaster of a ride. Jamie Vardy has a few years up his sleeve yet so who knows what’s in store for me.’
You can follow Lee’s journey on YouTube, Twitter and Instagram.
