BBC Strictly Come Dancing's Pete Wicks heartbreaking explanation for 'Pirate Pete' nickname

Strictly Pete Wicks’ mum was the person who gave him his Pirate alias as a young boy and although he laughs about it, the reason behind it is due to a childhood affliction.

Reality TV star has been undergoing something of a physical transformation in his various performances on . He has long been known for his long, dark hair, beard and swarthy looks but fans of the show were shocked when he danced the Quickstep to The Jam’s, Town Called Malice sporting a dramatically different haircut.

In keeping with the 50s rock n roll outfits he and professional partner Jowita Przystal were wearing, the 36 year old’s long locks had been styled up into a huge quiff with slicked back sides, Although he does sometimes wear his hair up in a ponytail or man bun, he has never sported a short cut since he’s been famous.

In fact when he joined reality show TOWIE in 2015, he was introduced and became known as Pirate Pete thanks to his dark looks and buccaneer style. Although many assumed the moniker was something recent and had probably been given to him by friends, it was actually first conceived by his mum when he was much younger and it had nothing to do with his hair because he was blonde as a boy.

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"Pete Wicks was blonde, fat and um, quite sociable and happy - don’t know where it all went wrong," he quipped during a filmed TOWIE interview, The Story of Pete Wicks in 2021. He also revealed exactly where his nickname came from and it wasn’t from his pals on the ITVBe reality show, but was because of a physical affliction. "Pirate Pete’s a bit of a funny one. I think either Lockie or Jake Hall will say that they came up with it but it actually started years and years ago when I was a kid - my mum came up with it."

He continued: "So I had a lazy eye as a kid. I used to have one eye that used to be able to see around corners, so I had to wear an eye patch to strengthen the lazy eye. So my mum called me Pirate Pete, she was the first one to call me Pirate Pete and then obviously as I got older and started to look like I’d washed up on a desert island it kind of stuck a little bit more. So now I’m like the version of Johnny Depp, like a really s**t caricature."

A lazy eye is also known as amblyopia and according to the is when the vision in one eye doesn’t develop properly. It can cause a variety of symptoms including shutting one eye when looking at things or a squint where eyes look in different directions. It can also lead to and can cause the individual to trip over or fall a lot. Treatment may involve wearing an eye patch over the stronger eye for a few hours a day to strengthen the vision in the weaker one.

Pete also revealed that unlike a lot of kids, he didn’t sit for hours in front of the telly and would spend his days hunting in the woods for his favourite thing. "As a kid I didn’t really watch a lot of TV," he explained. "I was obsessed with sticks and . Generally I used to sleep with a stick. I used to go into Epping forest and find sticks and then I used to become obsessed with sticks. I don’t know why, I just liked sticks - I prefer sticks to people. Sticks have got a lot more personality than a lot of this [TOWIE] cast, just as wooden," he joked.

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