Coronation Street actor Colson Smith shares ’emotional’ personal storyline was scrapped by bosses despite months of work
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.
“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.
Who lives where on Coronation Street?
Here is where all of the residents of Weatherfield's main street live
- 1 Coronation Street – The Barlow family (Ken, Tracy, Steve, Amy)
- 3 Coronation Street – The Bailey family (Aggie, Ed, Michael)
- 5 Coronation Street – The Winter-Brown family (Gemma, Chesney, Joseph and the Quads)
- 7 Coronation Street – The Alahan family (Dev, Asha, Aadi)
- 9 Coronation Street – The Dobbs family (Tyrone, Fiz, Evelyn, Cassie, Hope, Ruby)
- 11 Coronation Street – The Grimshaw family (Eileen, Todd, George, Mary, Sean, Dylan)
- 13 Coronation Street – The Webster family (Kevin, Abi, Jack, Alfie)
- 15a Coronation Street – Dee-Dee Bailey and Adam Barlow
- 2a Coronation Street – Craig Tinker
- 4 Coronation Street – The Metcalfe family (Sally, Tim)
- 6 Coronation Street – The Nazir family (Yasmeen, Alya, Stu, Eliza)
- 8 Coronation Street – The Platt family (Gail, David, Shona, Max, Lily)
- 10a Coronation Street – Rita Tanner
- 12 Coronation Street – Brian Packham
“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.