Dion Dublin appears on Blankety Blank this weekend (August 17) and the ex-footie star has enjoyed a great career since he retired from the game.
But how did 55-year-old Dion become famous and is he really a property developer?
How did Dion Dublin become famous?
Born in Leicester, Dion started his football career at Cambridge United in the late 1980s.
A striker, 6ft 2in Dion soon caught the attention of the bigger clubs and he secured a dream move to Manchester United in 1992.
However, a broken leg in the same year put paid to his United career – they had signed replacements and he couldn’t get back in the team.
But better things were around the corner.
He signed for Coventry City and became one of the Premier League’s best strikers, and was called up for England, winning four caps.
He also played for Aston Villa, Leicester City, Celtic and Norwich.
How did Dion Dublin break his neck?
Dion was playing for Aston Villa at the time of his life-threatening accident in 1999.
He was just 29 at the time and was millimetres away from being paralysed and ending up in a wheelchair for life.
Dion has since said: “At the age of 29 I broke my neck during a match. The support I had at the time from those around me was amazing.
“Mr Jackowski [his surgeon] told me: ‘Dion, you’ve broken your neck. I’m just going home to have something to eat and I’ll come back and put you right.’
“He was so confident. I thought he was being blasé but I now know he’s an amazing person.
“He told me I’d be playing again in three-and-a-half months. Almost exactly to the day, I was back on the pitch.”
Dion now has a permanent titanium plate holding three neck vertebrae together.
On to television after his playing career…
After football, Dion became a pundit for the BBC and Sky.
And in 2015, he was the recipient of a BBC Diversity Creative Talent Fund grant available for training up promising future TV presenters.
This immediately paid dividends, and later that year he was announced as a new presenter on Homes Under The Hammer.
Is Dion Dublin a property developer?
Dion became a hit on the daytime property show despite not being a property developer.
He became such a hit with viewers, fans even noticed a catchphrase: “Stairs going up to the bedroom…”
One fan even put together a video of the star – which went viral – uttering his now inescapable catchphrase.
How Dion became a sex symbol
Back in 2021, Dion was voted by Brits as one of the nation’s top embarrassing celebrity crushes.
The guilty pleasure list included Pointless star Richard Osman, Nick Knowles and Jeremy Vine.
Dion finished in the top five… not bad going!
What did Dion invent?
A keen musician, Dion was known for playing the saxophone during his playing days.
Speaking to the Coventry Evening Telegraph in he said in 2010: “I have always enjoyed making music.
“Especially playing the saxophone, so while my teammates went out to play golf to relax, I would go and play on my saxophone.
He then a musical instrument of his own, The Dube.
“I started designing The Dube in the evenings after I played football and then it became a full-time hobby when I retired,” he said.
It’s described as, “a stylish cube percussion instrument, which comes in four sizes and can be totally customised in colour schemes and tones.
“It’s ideal for musicians, in schools, even DJ sets, the list is endless.”
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Is Dion married?
Dion likes to keep his private life private, but we do know that he’s married to Cheryl.
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However, Dion is active on social media, especially Instagram, and regularly posts snaps of his family.
The most recent was from earlier in August, where Dion, Cheryl and adorable baby daughter Ruby were enjoying a meal in Portugal.
Blankety Blank is on BBC One Saturday August 17 at 7.05pm.
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