YouTuber and I’m A Celebrity winner AngryGinge has revealed his mother’s house burned down in a fire on the morning of his Soccer Aid appearance — leaving him to process the devastating family crisis just hours before taking to the pitch in one of the year’s most watched charity football matches.
Morgan Burtwistle, 24, who is known to his millions of followers as AngryGinge, shared an emotional video on Instagram showing the charred and smoke-damaged interior of his mother Michelle’s home, speaking through a protective mask as he stood in what remained of the living room. “So as you can tell, you wouldn’t think it, but right now I am in my mum’s house,” he told fans. “Morning of Soccer Aid I get a phone call saying mum’s house has burned down. This is what we are dealing with now.”
Despite receiving the devastating news that same Sunday morning, AngryGinge went on to play in Soccer Aid and finished on the winning side as England lifted the charity trophy in aid of UNICEF. The contrast between the public triumph and the private crisis he had been managing throughout the day only emerged afterwards.
On Monday night, he had left fans concerned when he posted that he would not be able to go live on social media due to a “major family issue.” He wrote: “The support last night cheered me up massively of what I needed but atm I need to be with my family and make sure everything is ok.” By Tuesday he was showing his followers the full extent of the damage. “This isn’t even the worst of the worst,” he said. “We are dealing with this at the minute. I will keep you all updated and I will be live whenever I can go live.”
The fire carries particular emotional weight given the bond between AngryGinge and his mother. Michelle raised Morgan and his sister largely alone on a council estate in Salford, working multiple jobs — including as a cleaner and in a care home — on an income of around £12,500 a year to keep the family going and support her son’s wide range of after-school activities. “We kept him busy with the after-school clubs — cubs, football, theatre, rugby and he loved them all,” she told The Sun. “He did cheerleading as well. They actually won a competition out of all the schools in the area.”
Michelle became a familiar face to AngryGinge’s followers when she was seen supporting him during his time in the I’m A Celebrity jungle last December, where he had a particularly difficult moment that resonated widely with viewers. Struggling with homesickness, he told the Bush Telegraph: “It’s a bit of a s**t day really, I just feel as though I’m missing home, missing speaking to my family.” He then paused and choked up before adding: “I’m holding it in. I suppose it’s just one of my down days.”
Michelle told The Sun at the time that seeing her son struggling had reduced her to tears. “My heart absolutely sank, I started crying. It was so hard to see, because I know Morgan is such a strong person, so he must have been struggling a lot.”
No further details about the cause of the fire have been released. AngryGinge said he would continue to update fans when he was able to go live.
