Only six months to live. And as if that weren’t enough even out of work. The story of Jonnie Irwin, a famous British conductor, shook the world. In recent days he has revealed to those who follow him every day on TV that he has lung cancer, which reached his brain in August 2020. “I don’t know how long I have left to live – he declared -, but I try to stay positive and my attitude is that I’m living with cancer, not that I’m dying from it.” But among the thousands of displeasure messages, one came from his company that no one expected: Freeform Productions – the production company of “A Place In The Sun” – fired him.
“When people find out you have cancer, they write you off – said the 49-year-old TV presenter in an interview with the Sun -. Yes I’m in stage 4 and it’s terminal but I’m not dead yet so let me live my life while I can. As soon as I told the producers of “A Place In The Sun” about my diagnosis, they paid me for the rest of the season, but didn’t renew my contract, even though they knew I wanted to keep going. This hurt and broke my heart. I feel enormously disappointed and now I can’t even watch the show.”
Jonnie Irwin and wife in Paris
In August 2020, when he was diagnosed with lung cancer that had spread to his brain, Irwin was filming an episode of “A Place in the Sun” in Italy: his vision became blurred while he was driving. Soon after, the diagnosis of cancer. A mix of drugs, radiotherapy and chemo has kept him alive until today and he, passionate about his work, has never stopped dealing with “Escape To The Country” and various commercial projects despite the disease.
Now the news of the lack of renewal «hurts. She broke my heart – added Irwin -. I feel hugely disappointed. I can’t even watch the show now.” «Working is really important to me – continued the conductor – it also prevents me from thinking about cancer. But from the bosses of “A Place In The Sun” I didn’t get the support I thought. I told them I wanted to work and when I said I could get notes from the doctors and my oncologist that I was fit to work, they said – verbatim – “You don’t really want to go that route, do you?”. Within two weeks there was another one in my place on tv, they sidelined me for someone healthier and it affected my mental health, as if the cancer wasn’t bad enough.”
Now the TV host wants to enjoy the time he has left with his wife Jess and children, Rex (3) and twins Cormac and Rafa (2). They enjoyed a trip to Cyprus after chemo and last weekend he surprised Jess with a trip to Paris. “Every time something really good happens with them – explained Irwin -, I have this little voice in my head that repeats to me “don’t be too happy, because you won’t be here for much longer”».
When asked by the Sun, Freeform explained that the failure to renew the presenter’s contract was caused by an insurance problem: “The production company was unable to guarantee adequate insurance coverage for Jonnie,” reads the statement, where it is added: “Obviously we understand how frustrating this must be for him in this difficult moment”.