Freddie Flintoff kissed by seal in North Sea while filming TV series

The 38-year-old was in the North East shooting Freddie Fries Again, which sees him driving up and down the country in a chip van.

In one episode, he and sidekick Rob Penn swim with seals near Lindisfarne - which he admits was initially a worrying experience, especially after getting seasick on the boat beforehand.

"They've got big teeth! So you think, 'Is this all right?' But then you're looking in their eyes, and they've got such loving eyes that you just go with it. It was an amazing thing to do," he said.

"You'd never have thought you could swim with seals an hour from Newcastle.

"I was a bit sceptical about it to begin with," he explains, before adding: "One kissed me on the head!"

The series also sees him skinny dipping with 100 Irish women - with the nautical nature of some of his pursuits naturally bringing up jokes about his past.

Knocking back the obvious question about his drunken "pedalo incident", which saw him lose his England vice-captaincy in 2007, he said: ""With the pedalo, I never got on it!

"That's something I try to forget, that were a long time ago - haha - but it keeps rearing its head!"

:: Freddie Fries Again continues on Sky 1 on Tuesdays