Who is Adam Pearson? Meet Celebrity MasterChef 2022 contestant and TV presenter
The TV presenter and actor has just been cast opposite a Marvel star, but first, he needs to impress Gregg Wallace and John Torode.
A new series of Celebrity MasterChef is well underway, with another cohort of 20 famous faces vying to impress judges John Torode and Gregg Wallace.
Among them is Adam Pearson, the presenter and campaigner who has previously fronted documentaries about disability discrimination, as well as starring alongside Scarlett Johansson on the big screen.
Here’s what you need to know about the TV star and disability rights activist as he joins the Celebrity MasterChef 2022 line-up.
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Who is Adam Pearson?
Age: 37
Job: TV presenter, actor and disability rights campaigner
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Instagram: @adam_pearson_tv
Adam Pearson is an actor, presenter and campaigner who was diagnosed with neurofibromatosis type one at the age of five. The genetic condition causes non-cancerous tumours to grow on nerve tissue anywhere on the body, and is estimated to affect around one in 3,000 people.
His first acting role came in 2013 when he was cast opposite Scarlett Johansson in the sci-fi film Under the Skin, directed by Jonathan Glazer. He saw the role as an opportunity to confront the stigma around disfigurement, telling the Observer: "If I can try to be as normal as possible and show there’s nothing to fear – either on film or day to day, going round the corner to go shopping for milk – then the more people see it in wider society, the less stigma there is."
Pearson has worked behind the scenes in television, as a researcher on shows like The Undateables and Beauty and the Beast: The Ugly Face of Prejudice for Channel 4, appearing in the latter as a presenter.
He went on to presenter BBC Three documentaries Adam Pearson: Freak Show and The Ugly Face of Disability Hate Crime, and also appeared alongside his identical twin brother Neil in a Horizon episode titled My Amazing Twin. Neil has neurofibromatosis too, but it has impacted him in different ways: he suffers from epilepsy and memory loss, but the condition has not affected his appearance.
Pearson has also featured as a reporter and presenter in several seasons of Channel 4’s Tricks of the Restaurant Trade and is an ambassador for Changing Faces, the charity which seeks to end discrimination against people with visible differences.
He was recently cast in the film A Different Man, a psychological thriller backed by acclaimed independent studio A24, and will appear alongside Marvel’s Sebastian Stan and The Worst Person in the World’s breakout star Renate Reinsve
Announcing news of his appearance on Celebrity MasterChef in an Instagram post, Pearson joked that he will either "win the whole thing, or set the disabled community back a few years" but promised that "either way I’m going to have fun".
When does Celebrity MasterChef 2022 start?
The latest season of Celebrity MasterChef is kicked off on Wednesday 10th August, airing on BBC One and BBC iPlayer.
Celebrity MasterChef is airing on BBC One this summer. To find out what else is on TV, check out our TV Guide or visit our hub for more Entertainment news.
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