EASTENDERS star Ricky Champ has left fans worried after announcing his decision to quit the social media platform X.
Ricky, who is best known for playing Stuart Highway on the soap, has 31,400 followers on X, formerly Twitter.
Sign up for the TV newsletter
He sends out tweets regularly about his career as well as personal musings. But in a shock move, Ricky announced he would be quitting the platform.
Giving fans advanced notice of his departure, he wrote: Hey guys… I’m deleting this account and coming off X.
“You can still follow me on Instagram if you wish. Big love!” he added.
Fans were shocked by the post that seemingly came out of nowhere and flocked to the comments to offer Ricky their support.
While another commented: “Oh no hope you’re all good, see you on Instagram,” adding a smiley face emoji at the end.
A third fan shared their best wishes to Ricky, writing: “Be lucky, Rick.”
He has not yet posted anything on Instagram since announcing he was deleting X.
Ricky left EastEnders in 2022 after a “crazy” journey.
“In EastEnders I went from villain to hero to dad,” he told Digital Spy at the time of his exit.
EastEnders epic blunder as Bianca Jackson tries to take down Reiss Colwell – but did you spot it?
“It was amazing, doing that for five years with a character’s arc. It felt weird leaving him,” he admitted.
Happily, for fans, Ricky hasn’t ruled out a return to the soap someday, noting that anything is possible.
“He didn’t die. He rode off into the sunset. I think he’s somewhere in the North Circular living with Rainie,” he said of his character.
Stuart was able to start fresh with Rainie (Tanya Franks) and their baby son Roland after leaving Walford.
MICHELLE Collins has seen her second EastEnders stint boost her bank balance. Yet what stars have quit this year?
The Sun exclusively reported how Michelle, 62, was down to £20,000 in her company accounts when she agreed to a shock back-from-the-dead return to Albert Square last year.
Her character, Cindy Beale, was presumed dead off-camera in 1998.
Yet what about the 2024 exits?
Earlier this summer, loyal soap fans appeared to note how Stevie Mitchell had “quit” the long-running series.
It came after Alan Ford enjoyed just six-months on-screen.
Bobby Beale actor Clay Milner Russell also left this year after five years in Walford.
Fans also feared Martin Fowler actor James Bye would “quit out of boredom” over recent storylines.
Additionally, a host of stars have quit the BBC soap for Hollywood fame.
One of the most successful stars to come from the BBC One soap is Rob Kazinsky.
He played Stacey Slater’s brother Sean Slater from 2006 to 2009, he has starred in Hollywood blockbusters Pacific Rim and Captain Marvel.
Ben Hardy, who quit EastEnders as Bobby Beale almost a decade ago, went on to break Hollywood the following year, when he starred as Archangel in X-Men: Apocalypse.
Since then, he has played Roger Taylor in Queen biopic Bohemian Rhapsody, and he starred in Michael Bay’s Netflix movie 6 Underground.
Michelle Ryan played Zoe Slater until 2005.
She starred as the lead in short-lived American series Bionic Woman from 2007 to 2008.
He previously dealt with some heavy but progressive storylines, including his breast cancer diagnosis and suffering from postnatal depression.
A year after leaving the soap, actor Ricky joined the West End play 2:22 A Ghost Story at the Apollo Theatre.
READ MORE SUN STORIES
He has also bagged a guest role in the Netflix series The Decameron alongside Derry Girls actress Saoirse-Monica Jackson.
Ricky also plays Sergeant Daz Black in ITV police training comedy Piglets.
