a load of rubbish if you ask me:

Emmerdale's Michael Parr was dropped from big storylines when he climbed Mount Everest
"I wrote myself out of so many stories."

Emmerdale star Michael Parr has admitted that he missed out on some big storylines when he climbed Mount Everest last year.

The actor took a short break from his role as Ross Barton last autumn in order to take on the gruelling challenge, raising over £8,500 for charity.

Michael was part of a team of 41 climbers raising funds for the Steve Prescott Foundation. As a team, the group raised over £200,000.

As Michael was away from set, Emmerdale bosses had to reduce his involvement in a number of ongoing plots – which could partly explain why his character has been so quiet in recent months.

Speaking about the climb at a recent Emmerdale press day, Michael revealed: "I definitely had some moments of coming back from it and I do feel like I've been pissing my life away a bit – when we did that and we saw what a difference you can make.

"It throws you off a bit because it does make you think, 'What am I doing with my life when I can take this time to affect lives?'

"When we first got there, we set off and we were walking with 11 yaks. Obviously the yaks are eating and the cause and effect of them eating is that they poo. Then these little kids will just come along, 3 years old, pick it up, mash it up and put it on the wall.

"You're going, 'This is mental, I can't believe they live like this.' And then four days later you're going, 'I can't believe I spend all my day on Twitter and Instagram and bull****.'

"Your life is so much more bonkers than theirs – they just eat, sleep and love their family and we've got so many distractions. Because I will admit that I am a little bit addicted to my phone. You know, just as much as anybody, you're always on it.

"But I'm slowly but surely weaning myself off all social media, even though I need to keep it up because it almost feels like part of my job now. I've come off Facebook, though."

He continued: "They're doing Kilimanjaro in October and – this sounds a little selfish – but I really shot myself in the foot doing the Everest one in terms of work and money, because I wrote myself out of so many storylines that I don't think I could afford to do it again this year.

"But there's also the fact that I would want to go higher. There's no point in me doing the same thing. I'd want to do something that's a bit more extreme, but I'd prepare for it so differently because I was a broken man when I was up there!"

Opening up about just how tough the climb was, Michael recalled how he nearly pulled out during some particularly difficult moments.

He said: "If anything, I've realised how vulnerable and feeble I was because I was the first to drop. When we got there, at day two, altitude sickness hit me bad. The only thing I can describe it as is being the drunkest you've ever been and the most hungover you've ever been and then having to walk and exercise and figure things out.

"I just couldn't do it and I thought that I was much stronger than that. Seriously, on day three, I was like, 'I'm going to have to let so many people down. I'm going to have to pull out.'

"I thought I was so much stronger. Especially because I fought for years and I've done Thai boxing and stuff. Then when I did something that actually pushed me, I was like, 'God, I'm such a weasel.'"

http://www.digitalspy.com/soaps/emme...ines/?zoomable