CORONATION Street actor Colson Smith has shared an ’emotional’ personal storyline that was scrapped by bosses despite months of hard work.
The 26-year-old – who plays Craig Tinker in the long-running soap – shared his incredible weight loss journey in an emotional TikTok video.
He was looking the picture of health after revealing his colossal 11-stone weight loss.
At his biggest, he was 24 stone, and he got so fed up of his appearance that he asked Corrie bosses if he could weave a weight loss story into his character’s life, but then COVID-19 hit.
“I was on dodgy ground,” he shared.
“I didn’t realise how big I was. I was 24 stone before covid and I was so unhealthy, but I had a bizarre relationship with food where I would do a restrictive eating cycle and I would eat s**t loads of food and hate myself for it, so then I would punish myself by not eating, and then I would get so hungry and emotional that I would binge eat again.
“I went like that for about a year, and I had a thought about how we could play the story with Craig so that he would have an eating disorder linked to his OCD, which was slightly close to home, but I think it is important that stuff like this is told on TV.
“So, I went to Corrie’s bosses to ask if I could play this story if I lost the weight, and I can tell you now that I can do it.
“They were for it, but COVID-19 happened, so we kiboshed the story,” he revealed.
However, he had a eureka moment when driving home to his parents’ house – lockdown was the perfect excuse to do something about his weight.
He decided to take up running as a hobby, which is the secret behind his dramatic weight loss of 24 stone to 13 stone.
“I told myself now is the time to start running – there was no excuses to put it off,” he revealed.
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“I hated it at first, and then one day, I was out on the run, and I was talking to myself, and I said, I’m a runner.
“It kind of just happened, but it had to happen as I was so unhealthy, and losing weight is properly addictive.
“I just got into it, and literally the weight dropped off!
“I dropped from 138kg to 84kg in less than a year.
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“It was all through discipline, healthy eating and running and I didn’t have access to a gym.
“I do not regret it and now I fear that if I don’t run, I’ll get big again.”
Colston says that running has changed his life; he ran his first marathon last month.
In addition to treading the cobbles, he hosts the hit podcast The Sofa Cinema Club alongside Ben Price and Jack P Shepherd.
