Wynne Evans has told of the pain of being blasted for starring in telly’s most infuriating advert.
The Welsh tenor plays the singer in the Go Compare insurance commercials. And he admits that Twitter taunts and Facebook insults got to him.
“It was the first major advert in the age of social networking,” Wynne told The Sunday Post. “So when people thought it was rubbish or I was an idiot they were instantly able to blog and tweet about it.
“When you read you’re a fat so-and-so it really does hurt the first hundred times you read it. “But then it was like water off a duck’s back. And it set me up to go back to opera.
“There’s nothing a critic can write about me that can ever touch what people have said on Facebook.”
“We knew right away people were finding the tune annoying,” admits the affable 41-year-old. “But the writers said that annoying is another word for effective and it was really effective.”
But the role has let Wynne have the last laugh.
“It’s given me opportunities I would never have had,” said Carmarthen-born Wynne. “I’ve worked with Andrew Lloyd Webber, been a presenter on Classic FM and had my own series on the Welsh Channel 4.”
Wynne’s powerhouse voice gets full rein on his new Classic FM album which features “a selection of songs that have touched me.”
He said: “I’ve put all my favourite songs on there. There’s a real mix and even if people don’t know the names of all the tracks I’m sure they’ll recognise them once they hear them.”
Wynne still recalls his first time at the Royal Opera House.
“The girl at the desk asked if I was opera or ballet,” laughs Wynne. “You’ve seen the ads, I’m a far git. Did she really need to ask?”
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