Property show presenter Jonnie Irwin has claimed he was axed from A Place in the Sun after he told them his terminal cancer diagnosis. He has claimed in an interview that his contract was not renewed and he was "paid off" mid-series. The 49-year-old said his heart was "broken" by the decision.
Earlier this month, he revealed that his lung cancer had spread to his brain and he didn't know how long he had to live. Irwin revealed the first warning sign of his illness came while he was filming A Place In The Sun in August 2020 in Italy, when his vision became blurry while driving. “Within a week of flying back from filming, I was being given six months to live,” he said.
Speaking to The Sun, Jonnie claimed that after he revealed his diagnosis to bosses he was axed from the show. Breaking down in tears, he claimed: "As soon as people find out you’ve got cancer they write you off. Yes, I have stage four and it’s terminal — but not yet, so let me live my life while I can. As soon as I told A Place In The Sun about my diagnosis they paid me for the rest of the season but didn’t renew my contract. They knew I wanted to carry on. That hurt. That broke my heart. I feel hugely let down. I can’t even watch the show now.” You can get more story updates straight to your inbox by subscribing to our newsletters here.
Channel 4 and Freeform told The Sun in a statement that the production company was unable to secure adequate insurance cover for Jonnie, despite extensive efforts, but understood his frustration.
Jonnie continued to work through his chemotherapy treatment and filmed BBC's Escape To The Country while working on other projects. Explaining why he decided to keep his diagnosis quiet for two years, he admitted it was because he was worried about losing any more work Referring to himself as a "family man", he said he needed to keep a roof over the heads of his children - three-year-old son Rex and two-year-old twins Cormac and Rafa - and his wife.
Saying that work was "really important" to him, he explained that it stopped him from thinking about the cancer. “Even though I look thinner and I’m without hair, Escape to the Country and A Place In The Sun Ltd, which runs the show’s exhibitions, have employed me and I’ve been so impressed by them," he continued.
"But I didn’t get that support from A Place In The Sun. I told them I wanted to work. When I said I can get you doctor notes and assurances from my oncologist that I am fit to work, I was told, verbatim, ‘Oh, you really don’t want to go down that route, do you?’ They said, ‘We don’t think we can get the insurance’, not ‘We can’t get the insurance’, but, ‘We don’t think . . . ’ That broke my heart and affected my mental health."
He went on to claim that "within weeks" someone else was doing his job and he felt that he "earned a bit more from them after 18 years".
Channel 4 and Freeform told The Sun in a statement: "No stone was left unturned in trying to enable Jonnie to continue his international filming with us during Covid, but the production company were unable to secure adequate insurance cover for him. We, of course, understand how frustrating this must be for him at this incredibly difficult time."
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