888forums blog

108 players descend on leafy Maidstone in Kent, all of them hungry, hoping to gorge on fish ´n chips galore as they go in search of the big one.

Here we showcase the players involved, bringing you the person behind the shades. Up close and personal, it doesn´t get any more intense than this!

The first heat - The Celebrity Challenge is about to get underway.

Read about the professionals taking part today…

Brandon Block!

Brandon Block is a British club DJ. Under the name Blockster he has had two hits in the UK Singles Chart; You Should Be… (a remix of You Should Be Dancing by the Bee Gees) reached number 3 in the chart in January 1999, and Grooveline reached number 18 in July 1999.

Block is best known for appearing on stage heavily intoxicated at the 2000 BRIT Awards after friends suggested he had won the award for best soundtrack album, when in fact he had not even been nominated for the award, resulting in a humorous confrontation with award presenter, Ronnie Wood.

In 2005 he appeared on the chatshow Heads Up with Richard Herring to discuss his life, career, anti-semitism, and his love of poker. In September, 2006 Brandon was on Five’s reality television show Trust Me - I’m A Holiday Rep. He formerly (2000-1) presented “Brandon Block’s Video Hits” on Rapture TV, which is occasionally repeated to this day.

Brandon also hosted a show alongside fellow DJ and friend Alex P on MTV Dance, where they toured Ibiza interviewing clubbers from around the island and playing the latest dance videos.

This is Brandon´s second appearance at the 888.com Open - can he put he others in a spin and dance off with the trophy?

Willie Thorne

A strong junior player, Thorne became national under-16 champion at both snooker and English billiards in 1970. He never really converted this early promise into professional success, however, only ever winning one ranking snooker tournament (the Classic in 1985). The same year, he reached the UK Championship final against the then dominant Steve Davis, and seemed to have built himself an unassailable 13-8 lead. But a miss on a straightforward blue off its spot during the first frame of the final session allowed Davis to take the frame and eventually win the title. Thorne later said that he had hardly looked at the blue, considering it a certainty. He reached the quarter-finals of the World Snooker Championship in 1982 and 1986.

Caroline Feraday

Definately NOT the weakest link!

She joined Capital FM at the age of 18, after studying journalism and earlier stints at BBC Radio Kent and Invicta FM, spent five years as the station’s Flying Eye travel reporter on Foxy’s Drivetime and Tarrant at Breakfast, and presented Capital’s London Chart show. In 2001 she joined BBC Radio Five Live, to present her own shows - staying for two years. She then joined London radio station LBC 97.3 at its relaunch under new owners Chrysalis, presenting the flagship Drivetime show. However after a series of changes, she moved to the Friday evening programme between 8-10pm, which came to an end in December2006, when Caroline left the station.

Caroline made her first appearance on television as a presenter on VH1 in 1998. Since then she has appeared on Sky One, Sky Travel, GMTV, Living TV, ITV Play and the ITV News Channel. She has worked as a showbiz reporter on This Morning on ITV, and is the voice of Channel 4’s morning show B4 (daily at 7am).

She also co-presented a comedy show entitled Consequently for Carlton. Caroline has hosted Capital’s Party In The Park event in front of 100,000 people, supported the Spice Girls at Wembley and covered the 2012 Olympics decision live from Trafalgar Square for London TV.

She often appears on Five’s The Wright Stuff as a panellist.

Caroline enjoys films, music and running, and participated in her first marathon – the London Marathon in 2005.

She has also appeared as a contestant on The Weakest Link… will she be the ICE Queen melting everyone´s hearts today?

Michelle Orpe

If anyone wants to find Michelle Orpe, all they need to do is follow the trail of hopeful and starstruck men who follow in her wake. The sexy model and actress has struck quite a chord with the male poker playing public during her time as host of Poker Night Live. She is now hoping that the audience will follow her as she takes on the best in her pursuit of the 888.com Poker Open V Crown!

Cashing at her second ever event, Michelle has turned her hand to many things, being deejay, model (obviously) and even appearing in a band called Frenzz. Happily she has swapped the luminous trousers and flashy bright elbow pads for the sombre lighting and intense atnmosphere of the poker table and TV studio.

Still, the fun didn´t stop there - Michelle has also been a PR, receptionist and box maker! These days, however, it´s been poker poker poker: she has played it, taught it, presented it, written about it, been a VIP Player Manager and an Affiliate Manager for an online poker room and even dealt it at high profile events. Her best performance so far was winning a qualifier to the London EPT at The Vic. 250 runners, 2 girl players, 10 seats up for grabs and I got one. I lasted 9 hours in the EPT and went home with nothing, but a £5600 win gives me bragging rights for another 6 months at least, so for now I’m happy.

So, that´s it for now - can the Obsterjet blow the opposisition out of the way and rocket her way to success at the 888.com Poker Open V?

Rod Harrington - The Prince of Style!

Rod Harrington was a dominant force in World Darts in the 1990s winning the World Matchplay title twice. Though he still competes he is now a director of the PDC and TV Darts pundit / commentator.

He started his career before the game split into two separate organisations during the early 1990s. He accumulated many Open tournament titles including the Belgian Open (1991, 1992), Denmark Open(1991, 1992), French Open (1991, 1993) and the Swedish Open (1991). His 1991 Winmau World Masters victory over Phil Taylor remains one of the Power’s rare major final defeats - although he was only a single-time (and current) World Champion at the time.

Harrington made his World Championship debut in 1992, reaching the quarter-finals before losing to Mike Gregory. At the 1993 World Championship, Harrington lost 2-3 to Wayne Weening in the first round despite being seeded fourth for the tournament. After those championships, the majority of the top players left the governing body, the British Darts Organisation to form the WDC (now PDC) in an acrimonious split in the game.

Achievements

1995 PDC World Championship Runner Up
2001 PDC World Championship semi-finalist

1998 PDC World Matchplay Winner
1999 PDC World Matchplay Winner

1991 World Masters Winner

1998 World Grand Prix Runner Up

Rob Key

Robert William Trevor Key (born 12 May 1979) is an English cricketer.
He is the captain of Kent County Cricket Club, and a former member of the England
Test match and One Day International sides.

A right-handed opening batsman,
Key made appearances at age-group level for Kent from the age of eleven, moving
up until he made his first-class debut in 1998. He made appearances for England’s youth
sides, and was a member of the side which won the 1998 Under-19 Cricket World
Cup. Following a season of heavy run-scoring, Key was called up to the England A side
in 1999.

Following an injury to Marcus
Trescothick, Key made his Test debut against India in 2002. He toured Australia
during the 2002–03 Ashes series, where he justified his selection ahead of a
more experienced player. His One Day International debut came in 2003, against Zimbabwe,
however he was dropped from both squads shortly after. Injury to Mark Butcher
allowed Key back into the England
side for the series against the West Indies in
2004. He scored his maiden Test hundred in the first match of the series, which
later became his maiden first-class double century as he scored 221. This
performance, coupled with the 93 he scored in the third Test, earnt him
recognition as one of the five Wisden Cricketers of the Year. Key’s last
internationals came during England’s
tour of South Africa
during 2004–05, where he managed to score 152 runs without being
consistent.

Key became Kent captain
following the 2006 English cricket season, following David Fulton’s
resignation. He has led Kent
to two Twenty20 Cup Finals Day appearances and a Friends Provident Trophy
final, and has also captained the England Lions on several occasions.