Strictly’s Pete Wicks is covered in body art and he used his first one, which he kept a secret from his mum, for a very amusing reason - but it now holds a much more significant meaning that he hopes can help others.
Reality star Pete Wicks hasn’t been shy about showing off his many tattoos in his various outfits on Strictly Come Dancing. His eye-popping George of the Jungle costume for Movie Week, which saw him don a very skimpy Tarzan outfit, revealed a large number of the inkings on his arms, legs and chest.
The body art certainly ties in with his dark and swarthy image as Pirate Pete who shot to fame on TOWIE when he joined the ITVBe reality series in 2015, quickly becoming known for his moody demeanour and popularity with the ladies. But the 36 year old’s journey with tatts started many years before that and for a rather unique reason.
Speaking in a TOWIE interview, The Story of Pete Wicks in 2021, the star revealed why he decided to have his first ever inking and who he kept it a secret from. "My family didn’t really have tattoos, it weren’t like a thing," he said. "I didn’t tell my mum and I went and got a tattoo so that I could get into nightclubs."
He went on to describe where on his body he chose to have it and how he flashed it at door staff at the entrance to clubs. "I had it on the inside of my forearm purely so that when I used to queue up to get inside... I used to sort of scratch my head like that, so the bouncers could see the tattoo."
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INSTAGRAM)Pete also admitted that he probably didn’t need to try and add any years onto himself but he did it anyway: "I mean I was one of them kids that had like a beard at 12 anyway so I always looked quite old. When I was 17 I looked about 30. But yeah I had a tattoo purely so that I could get into nightclubs and it would make me look a bit older." When it comes to what he chose to adorn his forearm, Pete mocked his profound teenage self while smirking and disclosed: "I was a deep, deep person so I had ‘never enough’ because nothing’s ever enough - I still believe that."
Although he saw the humour in his choice back in the day, he has gone on to use the words in later life to help explain some of the personal struggles he’s faced over the years. In September this year he released a book entitled Never Enough: My Words Unfiltered which has become a Sunday Times bestseller.
In it he shares his fears on how he thought he would "never be enough", his heartbreak over his beloved Nan’s death and how he’s dealt with his mental health battles. During an onstage chat with fellow reality star and one of his closest friends Vicki Pattison, he revealed how he hopes to be able to help others with his candid confessions.
"I'd just like people to go away knowing that they are enough. To be able to explain how you really feel is difficult and I think we all sometimes mislabel how we feel, but I want people to know it's fine not to be ok all the time. You just have to be willing to keep putting in the work!" he said.
When it comes to the rest of his tattoos, it didn’t sound like Pete had any plans to stop: "Everyone always asks me how many tattoos I've got and it’s sort of just become one big green mess now. So it’s just one big tattoo because there’s not really much space left, other than my arse which will be done at some point. There’s a lot of hours work that have gone into making me look this s**t," he quipped.
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