'I'm appearing on my eighth reality TV show'

"The reason I started applying for TV shows was down to my dad - he was inspiring me all of the time."

Tomasz Wisniewski's father was his idol, a lover of all things entertainment, he was a professional dancer from Poland and told his son to "live life to the fullest".

Before Tomasz took up his current role as a firefighter in Nottingham, he appeared on several reality TV shows.

He decided to step away because he "did not want this anymore", in part due to the death of his parents while living in the UK.

But after 10 years away, he has temporarily swapped the heat of his day job for the scorching temperatures of the Malaysian rainforest in Channel 4's Tempting Fortune.

Born in Wadowice, Poland, Tomasz came over to the UK aged 20 in 2005 and "didn't speak a word of English".

He came to Nottingham with his father, who he worked alongside in Turkey as a performer in hotels.

The plan was to stay for three months but that soon changed.

He said he always wanted to live in the UK due to his "love of the Spice Girls" as a child.

"I fell in love with the UK when I got here and I decided to stay - it's the best thing that ever happened in my life.

"This country has given me so many amazing opportunities, I am so grateful to everyone here."

After working various jobs, he learned the language and "immersed himself" in the culture - including the country's love of reality TV.

Tomasz, now 40, said he "doesn't take himself too seriously" and applied for a variety of shows.

His larger-than-life personality and hairstyle caught the eye of producers.

His resumé includes Channel 4's Come Dine With Me, Total Wipeout, to which Tomazs eagerly points out he won, as well as a stint on BBC shows So You Think You Can Dance and Snog, Marry Avoid?

His first appearance was on So You Think You Can Dance? and it became quite clear he was "not talented" and was the show's "joke".

"It's funny looking back now... I honestly thought I could actually dance," he said.

"The reason I actually started applying for TV shows was down to my dad - he was inspiring me all of the time.

"He told me I would work in the entertainment industry and I would have so much to offer to other people - he told me to live life to the fullest.

"Do what you enjoy in life, I just threw myself into everything because life is too short to be boring. You don't know what is behind the next door."

Tomazs said this outlook on life came from his father and mother passing away from cancer before they both reached the age of 60.

He described them as his "best friends".

"If I have 10 years left of being crazy then I will take it," he added.

Tomazs spent five years in London working in the Hippodrome Casino in Leicester Square but felt he "needed something more from life" and left TV behind him.

That career switch took him away from the glitz and the glamour of casino high-rollers to HMP Pentonville in north London.

He worked as a prison officer before he moved back to Nottingham to care for his father after he had been diagnosed with cancer.

With his caring duties, he transferred to HMP Nottingham in 2017.

"I loved it there, it was an incredible job. I felt I could really help people," he said.

He then joined Nottinghamshire Fire and Rescue Service as a firefighter in 2019.

On his decade-long break from TV, he said: "Losing my parents was a massive factor in my life at that point.

"I needed to focus on something else, it was a breakdown for me, I needed to withdraw from this happy world."

Tomasz, who is still with the fire service in a job he "absolutely loves", was contacted by a friend in London to apply for the reality TV show.

Tempting Fortune consists of 12 strangers spending three weeks in "paradise".

They will arrive with basic survival gear and in order to win the prize they will have to resist the temptation to spend any of the prize money.

"I was quite happy not to do anything like that again and I wouldn't have applied but my best friend said the show was made for me," he said.

After making it through several auditions, Tomasz touched down in the Malaysian jungle alongside his fellow contestants.

He described the show as a "holiday" to start with but that quickly changed.

"The pressure does get intense and when there's big personalities. I include myself in that, it really ramps up."

"It was brutal, it was extreme but it was such good fun. I couldn't get the fire going which was ironic with me being a firefighter."

The first episode of the new series of Tempting Fortune was broadcast at 21:00 GMT on Sunday.

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