The Chase: why did Mr Motivator donate his £1,000 win on ITV's quiz show to Chorley Youth Zone

Inspire Youth Zone’s Ambassador, Mr Motivator aka Derrick Evans, appeared on last night's celebrity edition and scooped £1,000.

The 69-year-old who found fame in the 1990s for his appearances on GMTV with his high energy and colourful fitness sessions took on the Chaser with fellow celebs Laura Hamilton, Julia Goulding and Oz Clarke.

Speaking to host Bradley Walsh, he said he has been doing online fitness classes and was the busiest he had been since 1993.

In the question round he managed to win £4,000 for his team and, when faced with the Chaser, he jested: "What's it like having a body for radio? I have a body for television."

However this only spurred the Chaser to win against the trio as he said to the fitness guru: "You motivated me to make sure that my brain was better than yours".

Inspire Chorley Youth Zone joined forces with the king of lycra last year to help raise funds for the organisation, which will go towards supporting youngsters across the region who have struggled throughout the coronavirus pandemic.

He has held live Zoom fitness sessions and hosted a virtual fundraising campaign to ‘Get Chorley Moving’ inspiring children and adults alike to get active following the country’s third national lockdown, whilst helping Inspire to raise much needed funds so they can continue supporting thousands of local children and young people.

Speaking about his new appointment at the time, the MBE recipient for his services to health and fitness, added: “I’m over the moon to be named Inspire Youth Zone’s Celebrity Ambassador, it’s an amazing place which is transforming the lives of so many young people.

Inspire’s presence on Chapel Street makes Chorley the smallest town in the country to be served by a youth zone run by the charity On Side – but its popularity in the first year of operation in 2018 has seen it secure the largest relative membership of any of its sister facilities in the North West.

A spokesperson for Inspire said they were thrilled with the donation: ““We would like to say a huge thank you to TV fitness legend Mr Motivator for donating his £1,000 winnings from ITV’s The Chase to us at Inspire Youth Zone, Chorley.

“From fitness to fundraising, Mr M has a huge energy for supporting the community and we are over the moon he has decided to dedicate his support to help us be here for thousands of children and young people living in Chorley!

Using the dance studio at Inspire, Mr M brought his amazing Motivation Club to local Chorley schools, with a fantastic virtual exercise routine to motivate the young people during lockdown.

"As a charity we need to raise at least £1.2 million each year to continue delivering our 21st century youth work to over 5,000 local children and young people, so this donation will go to achieving this target.”