Coronation Street star Colson Smith has entered the Celebrity Big Brother house, as the iconic reality show is revived on ITV1 on March 4.
But who is Colson? What has he appeared in? Is he in a relationship? And what is his net worth?
Read on to find out more about the 25-year-old soap star…
Celebrity Big Brother: Who is Colson Smith?
Born in Dorchester, Dorset, Colson is a 25-year-old soap actor. He is best known for his role as Craig Tinker in iconic ITV soap Coronation Street.
Colson was born on August 13, 1998, in Dorchester, however, he later moved to Castleford, West Yorkshire.
In 2009, he began attending acting classes run by Northern Film and Drama, and two years later was cast as Craig in Corrie.
Away from Corrie, Colson has appeared in several short films, including Reverie, Jailhouse Dog, and Hollow Wood.
In 2021 he appeared as a contestant on Sitting On A Fortune, and in 2022 he took part in ITV’s reboot of The Games.
Colson Smith on Coronation Street
Colson joined the cast of Coronation Street in 2011 at the age of 12.
During an interview with the Coronation Street Blog in 2017, Colson admitted that joining the soap at such a young age meant he had to grow up “quickly”.
“I was 12 when I joined, and I suppose that being with adults and having friends that were a lot older than me means that I’ve grown up quickly and I’ve got quite an old head on my shoulders,” he said.
He continued, saying: “I always tell my friends at home that my banter’s far better than theirs because I’ve had more experience. I got fed to the lions the minute I turned 16 and went into the adult green room!”
He then went on to say that when his parents never expected him to become an actor when he was younger.
He continued, saying: “I don’t really know where it [acting] came from. I was born in Devon in the most rural of rural places, and when I moved to Yorkshire and became a townie, I did loads of stuff after school. I played football, cricket, and I went to a drama class – and the thing that stuck was drama.
He then said that he got “lucky” with his acting.
Colson Smith’s Corrie storylines
Colson plays the role of Craig Tinker, the son of Beth Tinker. He made his debut on the soap back in August 2011.
In 2015, he was nominated for Best Young Actor at the Inside Soap Awards. However, he narrowly missed out, with Emmerdale‘s Amelia Flannagan winning instead.
During one storyline in 2016, Craig failed to step in during a failed robbery which saw Kylie Platt stabbed and killed. However, he soon redeemed himself, showing courage when Gemma Winter was threatened. This led to him applying to be a Special constable.
However, he was rejected from the role due to his father being a criminal. After finding out that his dad was still married to mum Beth, he reported her to the police for bigamy.
In 2017, the decision to reject Craig’s special constable application was overturned, and he achieved his goal of working for the police.
In 2018, Craig was diagnosed with OCD.
Colson Smith on Craig’s OCD
Speaking on This Morning back in 2018, Colson said that he hoped the OCD storyline would end the condition’s stigma.
“I was excited,” he said of doing the storyline. “But I knew it would have to be something I was told more about. My knowledge was quite slim. I knew the stereotypes probably.”
“And how it’s seen in the public is obviously something which needs to change, there needs to be more awareness, the stigma needs to go, less stereotypes, so that’s what I think the storyline is hopefully going to do,” he then added.
Is Colson Smith leaving Corrie?
Colson hasn’t given any hints about his future on the soap and returned to the cobbles back in January following a Christmas break.
He could be absent from the soap for up to three weeks if he is heading into CBB.
View this post on Instagram
How did Colson Smith lose weight?
Colson has been very open about his weight loss journey over the years. In 2021, while appearing on This Morning, he admitted he was “bored” of being the “fat kid”.
He was on the show to discuss a short film he made about his weight loss, titled, “Bored of Being the Fat Kid”.
During his interview on This Morning, Colson explained that from his debut on Corrie in 2011, people were trolling him about the way he looked.
“I’ve always felt like my role is to be the fat kid,” he said.
“And I kind of decided that I was 22, I’ve had the same job since I was 11, like it’s time to make that change,” he then added.
During the short film, Colson said of his childhood: “I’ve never liked the way I look. I’ve never been happy and I’ve never been content in it and that’s always been quite a challenge.
“The fact that I was fat and ginger made me stand out from everybody else.
“The reason I got bullied is because I was fat and I was ginger so I kind of just went with it and embraced it and decided ‘if people want me to be the fat ginger kid I’ll be the fat ginger kid.”
Colson said his “comfort from being bullied was food”.
He said: “And I kind of played that card for a while just trying to get on, which probably made the whole situation worse because my comfort in being bullied was food.”
Colson Smith weight loss
He then explained that when lockdown happened in 2020, that was the “perfect” time for him to pursue his goal of losing weight.
“This an experience that I have really enjoyed,” he then said of losing weight.
Colson ended up losing 10 stone over 18 months.
To this day, Colson continues to post fitness snaps on his Instagram. Last month (February 2024), Colson revealed that his goal was to get a personal best in a 10k and marathon distance.
View this post on Instagram
Is Colson Smith married?
At the time of writing, Colson isn’t in a relationship. He has maintained a close friendship with his former on-screen girlfriend, Ellie Leach, however.
The pair reunited at the TV Choice Awards last month.
How much is Colson Smith worth?
According to some sources, Colson’s net worth is reportedly between £100k to £1 million.
JOIN ED!’s CELEBRITY BIG BROTHER CHANNEL ON WHATSAPP – IN THESE 4 SIMPLE STEPS USING THE INVITE LINK HERE
Celebrity Big Brother airs on Monday, March 4 at 9pm on ITV1 and ITVX.
Leave us a comment on our Facebook page @EntertainmentDailyFix and then let us know what you think of this story.