Gogglebox star Marcus explains why his famous son has never appeared on the show
Former Gogglebox star Marcus Luther almost had his famous son on the show alongside him.
For five years Marcus and wife Mica Ven appeared on one of Britain's favourite shows where people watched them watch TV, often with him splayed out across their sofa.
However, last year they announced that it was 'time to put down the remote and see what else God has in store for us', calling time on their stint on the show.
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While fans were sorry to see them leave it's certainly not the last we've seen of them on our screens, though there could have been other members of the family on the sofa.
Marcus' oldest son, the boxer Shiloh Defreitas, almost made it onto Gogglebox alongside his dad but ultimately it wasn't to be.
Shiloh is Marcus' son from a previous relationship, while Mica has daughters Sachelle and Shuggy, and together the couple have son Yash.
Marcus told LADbible that they 'had him in there for one' preamble of the show which is 'basically just talking about normal life'.
"He sat on the sofa with us and he did that with us, but it wasn't a success so we left him to it, sent him back to the boxing gym instead," Marcus explained.
As much as you or I, dear reader, might think we'd love to spend our time watching telly while being on telly it's not for everyone and it doesn't seem to have hampered Shiloh much.
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Nicknamed 'Sugar Shy', he's a boxer who won gold for Team England at the Commonwealth Youth Games in 2017 and has since enjoyed great success after going professional.
It was dad Marcus who first got him into the sport, though the Gogglebox star admitted that he's finding it a little more difficult in the ring himself these days.
"I do a lot of sparring pretty much with the young people, but it's more of me getting battered now, I'm too slow," Marcus told LADbible of his more recent forays into the ring.
"I can see what's happening. And I can't move out of the way quickly enough anymore for some b****y reason, might have something to do with age."
Immensely proud of Shiloh's exploits in the boxing ring, Marcus said that it was part of his inspiration for taking part in Channel 4's new show Banged Up.
The show sees EastEnders star Sid Owen, former Tory MP Neil Parish, actor and comedian Tom Rosenthal, singer HRVY, Mail on Sunday columnist Peter Hitchens and of course Marcus go into decommissioned prison HMP Shrewsbury alongside former convicts to experience what life is like behind bars.
"I run a boxing club and I lose a lot of my young people to crime," Marcus told LADbible of his reasons for going on Banged Up.
"They all end up going back and I thought to myself 'if the system is designed for you to not go back to prison what's happening'.
"That was one of my reasons for going in, to actually see what prison was like. I wanted to see if it was a walk in the park, it actually wasn't a walk in the park.
"It was actually quite a bit of a nightmare. I wouldn't want to go back to prison again.
"It just made me see what the system's doing right and what the system in my opinion is doing wrong."
However, being behind bars did mean that Marcus unfortunately missed out on watching his younger son Yash winning in the ring.
He said: "My son was boxing in the Three Nations at the same time I went to prison, I missed his fight and that was so sad because I've never missed any, I've been with them since they were little.
"I wasn't able to be there for it, that's the reality of prison, you miss everything that's on the outside, anything that means something to you."
Banged Up begins on Channel 4 tonight (31 October) at 9:15pm with episodes to follow weekly.
Topics: TV and Film, Channel 4, Celebrity, Gogglebox, Sport, Boxing
Joe Harker