Ant and Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway: Portsmouth braille artist wins a holiday to Florida

Clarke Reynolds appeared on Ant and Dec’s Saturday Night Takeaway on Saturday night after he was contacted by ITV.

The artist lost his sight five years ago and had his first solo show called ‘The Power of Touch’ which featured some of his artwork and attracted a number of media outlets, including the ITV, who then decided to reach out to Clarke’s partner to see if he would be happy going on a show.

His appearance on the Saturday night programme came to life following this and during the show Ant and Dec, gave out special boarding passes to people who were deserving of a free week’s holiday to Florida – and Clarke was one of the recipients.

He said: ‘It is really weird so obviously I grew up with Ant and Dec and my first ever concert was PJ and Duncan at Guildhall when I was ten years old and I was a big fan of the show and I applied last year for my daughter because she has cerebral palsy and she doesn’t grumble and I have always wanted to take her on a holiday like this.

SEE ALSO: Visually impaired Portsmouth artist Clarke Reynolds set to be special guest at Havant art studios

‘Losing my sight meant that I wanted to create new memories but I didn’t have the finances.

‘Ant surprised me with a ticket and I didn’t realise at the time but when I turned the ticket over it had braille on it and I thought that was an inclusive touch – we didn’t tell our daughter anything and we always watch Saturday Night Takeaway on a Sunday while we eat dinner and she saw me and said ‘that’s where you went last night’ and then she saw me get the ticket and she was so excited – it is going to be great.’

Clarke, his daughter and his partner will all be jetting off to the Universal Orlando resort next Monday and they will have the opportunity to go to all of the universal theme parks, including the Wizarding World of Harry Potter and $2,000 to spend on food and dining.