Adrian Chiles opens up to Piers Morgan about ‘drinking 50 pints’ a week

Adrian Chiles has opened up about how, at the height of his drinking, he was able to put away about '50 pints of beer' in a week.

The TV presenter first addressed his unhealthy history with alcohol back in 2018 with the BBC documentary Drinkers Like Me, where he was shocked to learn he had done damage to his liver by drinking well over the recommended weekly allowance.

Now he's managed to cut down on his alcohol intake, Chiles has been reflecting on how he managed to drink so much for so long, without realising that there was an underlying problem.

While speaking on Piers Morgan Uncensored, Adrian explained how he could quite easily drink 100 units of alcohol - that's 10 bottles of wine or 50 pints of beer - in just one week.

Morgan told Chiles that his team had poured over the TV presenter's new book The Good Drinker and calculated that, in an average week, he had been putting away 100 units of alcohol.

According to the NHS, people are advised not to drink more than 14 units of alcohol a week.

That's what prompted Morgan to ask the former Daybreak presenter: "How are you still standing, let alone being one of the top television personalities in the country?"

Adrian explained that, at the time, he really didn't think he had a problem, but was able to put away dangerous levels of alcohol every week, simply because he 'never got drunk'.

He said: "I wasn't out particularly late, it was just constantly topping up. It wasn't outwardly affecting my health."

It was only when Chiles started filming for his documentary that he went to get a liver scan, and was surprised to find out he had damaged it.

"And I just thought 'hang on, can I address this or do I have to just stop drinking?' so I thought, 'well, let me see if I can try and drink less,'" he recalled.

Chiles learned that, if he could line up all the drinks he'd had in his life, 'it'd be about four miles long'.

He said: "That's a lot of poison to put through your body. The real tragedy for me is, how many of those drinks are really wanted or needed or enjoyed? And it's much less than half. Most of the time I was just drinking for the sake of drinking."

When he realised he had a problem, Chiles managed to clamp down on his alcohol habits, but says he can still enjoy a casual drink without going overboard.

Explaining how he manages to stay disciplined, he said: "I just did a lot of thinking about it. The more people I've talked to about it - the more experts in the field - the more I realised... it's important we take alcohol off its undeserved pedestal in our lives."

If you want to discuss any issues relating to alcohol in confidence, contact Drinkline on 0300 123 1110, 9am–8pm weekdays and 11am–4pm weekends for advice and support