Who is Gareth Thomas? The Jump 2017 contestant profile

Twitter: @gareththomas14

Famous, why? Legendary Welsh rugby player

Bio: Nicknamed “Alfie,” Gareth Thomas earned over 100 caps for Wales's rugby union side before his retirement in 2011, and was until recently the most capped player for his country.

Thomas played variously as a fullback, wing or centre in both rugby union and rugby league, and suffered various injuries throughout his career that will stand him in good stead for his time on The Jump’s famously accident-prone slopes.

In 2009 he publicly announced he was gay, making him the first openly gay professional rugby union player, and has spent the last few years working with filmmakers on a movie about his life story, which at various times has had Mickey Rourke and Tom Hardy attached to play him. While these versions fell through, Thomas has said that he’s working on a new film with a different writer.

Thomas also has some talent show pedigree, having previously been on Celebrity Big Brother and on ITV’s Dancing on Ice, where he performed well until dropping out due to problems with nausea and motion sickness.

Fingers crossed THIS attempt at wintry sports domination goes a little bit better for him…