Premier League referee and Tranmere Rovers fan Mike Dean is an early favourite to be included in this year's 'I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here!' line-up.
It was reported on Monday that the 53-year-old, who has refereed 553 top flight games since his debut in 2000, is set to retire at the end of the 2021/22 campaign and take up a full-time VAR role.
According to The Telegraph, the Wirral-born official is currently in talks with the Professional Game Match Officials (PGMOL) to become a permanent fixture at Stockley Park.
Dean may be ready to call time on his career on the pitch, but he could soon enhance his reputation off it with an appearance on one of Britain's most beloved reality shows.
That's right. Ladbrokes have installed the experienced official as a 2/1 shot to appear on the next series of I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here, which will return to Australia later this year.
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Dean, who has admitted in the past that he enjoys being a showman, would be perfoming Bucktucker Trials and other challenges if he was to step in the jungle – a prospect that would certainly entertain the masses.
"With Mike Dean seemingly set to call it a day on the refereeing front, we wouldn't be surprised in the slightest to see I'm A Celebrity chiefs snap up the one man in football fans love to hate," said Ladbrokes spokesman Alex Apati.
"And were he to head Down Under later this year, you can expect to see records broken for number of Bushtucker Trials voted for, in an epic act of supporter revenge."
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Contestants are also allowed to bring one luxury item with them to the jungle, with most opting to bring in a pillow or something comforting... so does that mean Dean will bring a red card with him to Australia?
We will have to wait and see. All we know is, this has the potential to be incredible viewing.
Back in 2020, we all got to know a different side to Dean when he appeared as a guest on Peter Crouch's podcast.
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He opened up about being a referee in the top flight, killing chickens and being a "showman" of the game.
And when asked if he sings "the referee's a w***er" at games, he responded: "I have a few times, yeah. When I'm watching it, I'm watching it as a supporter.
"My daughter is worse than me. I'm a massive fan yeah... massive. I just lost it to be fair, completely lost it.
"When I go and watch them away from home I won't sit in the main stand away from them, I'll go in with the speccys (spectators) and watch it there."
Dean also spoke about his famous stepovers during games. "I do come across like a showman,'' he said. "If the ball comes towards me I will let it go through my legs. I love a step-over.
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"I love what I do and the way I referee. It kind of comes out I enjoy what I do. I've had this the past 10 years.''
The ref also opened up about his former job at a chicken factory, where he killed "140,000-odd chickens a day" on average.
"I basically had to go in at six o'clock, do my shift until two o'clock, get my bag, drive to Carlisle, Hartlepool, Scunthorpe or wherever, referee, get back in at three o'clock in the morning and go straight back into work at six o'clock," he explains.
"That's how it was for four or five years."
Topics: Mike Dean, Premier League
Jack Kenmare