FALKLANDS WAR hero Simon Weston, CBE, raised £40,000 in a nail-biting play-off against some of Britain’s cleverest brains on ITV’s ‘Beat the Chasers’ to help people living with EB, a painful and rare skin condition. The episode aired on Tuesday 11th January at 9pm on ITV.  

As Simon came on stage, Chaser Mark ‘The Beast’ Labbett leaned across to his fellow Chaser Jenny ‘The Vixen’ Ryan and whispered ‘now he’s someone I wouldn’t mind losing to’. 

Simon is the President of DEBRA UK, the national charity supporting people with epidermolysis bullosa (EB), a potentially fatal skin condition often described as ‘Butterfly Skin’, that causes constant pain due to unstoppable internal and external blistering. DEBRA funds vital research into treatments and a cure as well as specialist healthcare, international best practice and lifelong care and support to the EB community.  

Competing solo against five of the Chasers, Simon held his nerve to the last second of the quiz, winning when Paul ‘Sinnerman’ Sinha got his team’s last question wrong and Simon secured the massive £40,000 win. He can be heard exclaiming at the moment of victory “yes! That will do!!” to overjoyed cries and cheers from the studio audience 

Simon said, after the win, “I am delighted to be able to tell DEBRA, a charity that I feel so passionately about, that they have £40,000 to help support people living with EB, through community support, nursing and research into finding a cure. Epidermolysis Bullosa is very a distressing condition and DEBRA UK is working tirelessly to #FightEB. This money will make a huge difference to that fight.” 

Tony Byrne, DEBRA UK CEO said, “What a thrilling finish! This is an incredible win for Simon and for people living with EB. We are so grateful to have Simon as our President, who fights as hard as anyone in the charity to raise awareness about this painful and debilitating condition. This is an amazing amount of money and will go to making the lives of people living with EB a little easier”