Adrian Chiles has said he was “too good” at drinking to notice he had a problem.
The BBC 5 Live presenter has spoken about his alcohol consumption after a doctor warned him he could not continue drinking at his rate of 100 units a week.
Chiles, 51, has said that not getting hangovers and not getting into fights made him feel that he was not a problem drinker.
But, speaking on Good Morning Britain, the Birmingham-born broadcaster said that a day without a drink would “not feel like a proper day”.
Planning on having a drink or three this weekend? 🍷🍻🍾It’s pretty easy to drink more than you should, as TV presenter Adrian Chiles found out. pic.twitter.com/tGbMio0fAt
— Good Morning Britain (@GMB) August 24, 2018
Adrian was talking ahead of an upcoming BBC documentary, Drinkers Like Me.
He admitted to having a tiny ‘niggle’ about his alcohol consumption before embarking on the project.
“I kind of knew, it niggled away at me, that a day without drink didn’t really feel like a proper day,” he told presenters Ranvir Singh and Charlotte Hawkins.
“I was just aware I kind of needed it, but I thought, ‘why did I need it?’.
“Why did I need those one or two pints early evening, why, if I had a party tonight with a hundred of my best friends, why would I be looking forward to it less if I couldn’t drink?
“I just thought it was a bit odd. I thought, hang on, I’m 51 now, I’ve been drinking since I was 15, it’s always been a massive part of my life.”
During filming he was told by a doctor that he could not continue his level of drinking.
He said: “I was kind of too good at it. I don’t get hangovers, I don’t fight, I don’t wake up with strangers.
“I don’t drink during the day, I don’t drink alone. I thought ‘I’m fine’, but I was a heavy drinker without realising it.
“The problem was I didn’t have a problem.”
West Bromwich Albion fan Chiles added that realising what he was consuming for the BBC show made him want to cut down.
He said: “I’ve been drinking since I was 15. It’s always been a massive part of my life.
“I want to shrink it down to the ones I really want.”
Drinkers Like Me is due to air on BBC Two on August 27.
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