The Match:

Can we first congratulate you with your fantastic goal and being chosen as the captain for the team. What went through your mind when you scored?

Jonathan: "First of all when I hit it, I thought 'Oh...oh...that's going in'. And when I scored I just couldn't believe it. It was just an amazing moment. You know when you say sometimes how you feel from 1-10, you often feel about an 8, or a 7, but I actually got to the point I felt an 11, it was amazing."

Did you cry?

Jonathan: "I was close, cos the emotion was so high. When I did an interview after, I was very close. I gave everything - and I mean everything, I couldn't have given any more than I gave, and we came so close. Nobody gave us a chance, everybody thought - even my mates, Rob, Ant & Dec - we were going to get absolutely hammered. But we just played so well and it was just an amazing night, especially being captain as well, which was fantastic."

Was it hard to live in a house with the other players and what did you miss most from home?

Jonathan: "Everything from home I missed, I missed all my home-comforts; television, Nikki. I loved living with the lads, it was good fun. What you guys saw on camera was on camera, but once we went into our bedrooms there were no cameras in there, so we could say what we wanted really, so we had that release. I think 2 or 3 more days in the house, there would have been a few fights. People were just starting to have enough of each other. They needed their sanity back, so I think it was the right time when we came out really."

Who did you get on with the most?

Jonathan: "It's hard because with me being the captain everybody showed you so much respect. And I tend to get on with quite everybody really. Ben Shephard is a good lad, he's a lovely lad. Harvey I got on with, Darren Campbell, Tommy Craig, Rocky, Simon from Blue. Me and Simon have been mates since we were 12 you see, so we got on really well. Once he came in the house, he shared a room with me and Ben. Dane Bowers; Dane is a good mate. Unfortunately he got voted off first, I missed Dane actually, he's a good boy. So all of them really, I couldn't pick one in particular."

Was the training anything like you expected before you went in?

Jonathan: "Yeah, I think I had an advantage as I used to play for Everton I knew pretty much what was going to happen. I think the other lads were a bit shocked by it, but it wasn't that severe cos if they would have made it to be that severe then we would have been knackered come the match itself. I remember the first day being very hard. We did the bleep-test first thing, and then we did another session in the afternoon. But it was good."

Calum Best said after he was sent home he didn't expect it all to be taken so seriously before he went in, did you think it would be as serious as it was?

Jonathan: "Yeah, I did. Calum is from America, and he doesn't understand I think the passion for football in this country. We're all in the celebrity industry, so you've got to have an ego. Everybody in the house had an ego and there's no way you wanted that ego to be dented, so it was taken seriously. I suppose if we had turned up and not took it seriously we would have been hammered 12-0 and then we'd always be remembered as this bunch of lads who got absolutely hammered, and there's no way our egos would have let that happen."

You had the longest thread on the Sky Forum with messages of support and some fans mentioned they sent you cards while you were in the house, did you get those?

Jonathan: "I did get my cards, thank you very very much. They meant a lot."

Did you notice any jealousy from the other lads when Graham Taylor asked you to be the captain?

Jonathan: "I don't think there was jealousy, I think most of them already knew. They were already calling me 'skipper' before he gave me the band. A lot of the lads came up to me and said: 'You should be captain'. I didn't see any jealousy to be honest with you - not to me anyway. Maybe when the doors were shut!"

What was it like to work with Graham Taylor?

Jonathan: "I couldn't have worked with a nicer bloke, he was absolutely fantastic! And if there's one good thing that's come out of this tv show it's Graham Taylor. When he was the England manager he got a lot of stick. This tv show has now made him look like the proper bloke he is and I'm really pleased and I'd love to work with him again."

Would you consider taking part again next year?

Jonathan: "It's hard cos how do I top what I did? I'd have to score a hat trick I think! It was amazing to be captain and to score that amazing goal, but how do I turn down the opportunity again? It was such a great experience, I'd love to do it again, so I'm fifty-fifty at the minute."

Did this adventure tempt you to go back into football?

Jonathan: "For about 5 minutes. When I came out I was asked by a couple of lower league clubs to sign, but I wouldn't change what I do for anything."

The Who's Tommy:

Tommy! What a difference from everything you've done before! Are you looking forward to it? Are you nervous cos it is so different?

Jonathan: "Yeah, I am. I took a big decision. I've done Godspell which is very light-hearted, and then Rocky Horror and then there was Grease. Tommy is a different thing. Tommy is a very serious musical, it's very heavy. It's very full-on. The music's rock and it's a challenge. Normally I can come on stage, and I know more than anybody that a cheeky grin and a cheeky smile will get me away with murder. I can't do that on Tommy.
Grease was a great musical, but it didn't inspire me, it was more going through the motions I suppose, although I'd make sure every night I'd do a good performance, but that cheeky grin and smile would pull me through a lot of stuff. Rocky was a different thing, it was all about charisma and being yourself - this wacky character. But Tommy is very, very serious and it's up to me to hold that and it is going to be a big challenge for me, cos it's something I've never done before."

Could you tell us a bit more about the musical, and in particular about your role?

Jonathan: "The script is being sent to me right now, so I don't know the storyline in great detail yet, but the story is pretty much about a young kid whose father is away and his mother falls in love with this other man. When the father returns, he gets into a fight with the lover and one of them gets shot in the head. Tommy sees this as a young kid and it disturbs him for the rest of his life and turns him into a deaf, dumb and blind kid. It's very sad. He grows up and meets an uncle who fiddles with him - he's a kiddie-fiddler - and disturbs him that way as well. He has no response to anything, until one day he goes down to an Arcade place and plays the pinball machine and he's amazing. Everybody loves him because he's the pinball champion now.
That's pretty much what I know so far. The story is very deep and I suppose emotional. It's going to be different, but it's a challenge I'm really looking forward to."

Did you have to audition for the part and how does such an audition work?

Jonathan: "It was weird, I was in Dublin and I got a phonecall from Bill Kenwright's people and they said we'd love Jonathan to come and see us about a project and I didn't know what it was about at all. So I went to them and they said 'it's a musical called Tommy'. 'Pinball Wizard' for me is an amazing song which I've always loved, and I've always loved the Who. The musical hasn't been done for 9 years, so in a way it's sort of like an original musical again. One thing I've always wanted to do is a serious musical and one I could get my teeth into and really concentrate on, so I just said to them 'I'd love to do it'. I sang for them, although I didn't have to. They said 'You don't have to sing for us, cos we know you can sing, but would you just sing for these people'. So I said 'Yeah' and did one blaster of Pinball Wizard and that was it."

As you said, it's been a long time since the last Tommy tour, do you reckon there could be a soundtrack?

Jonathan: "I don't know, soundtracks aren't as successful as they used to be you see, I think that's why producers hesitate to do them now. With the industry being what it is, I don't think there's that much demand for them. I think they'd struggle to make their money back. I'd love one."

Are you any good at playing pinball?

Jonathan: "Yes, I suppose I am, I've got to be, aren't I? I'm not a massive Arcade player actually, I'm not a massive player of any games to be honest with you."

There seem to be a lot of songs in the show, what's your favourite?

Jonathan: "Pinball Wizard is a big favourite of mine, Acid Queen is a great song. Hopefully some of the musical arrangements are going to change, so we'll see."

For Grease you only had two weeks to rehearse, will you have a bit more time for this one? And have you been singing the songs in the shower already?

Jonathan: "Yeah I have been singing them in the shower! I'm going away for a couple of weeks, and then I'll be back and I'm gonna start straight in, learning the songs with my musical coach - just going through them. There is acting, but there is not much speaking in Tommy which is good. I hope the fans will really enjoy Tommy, I'm sure they will. It's very nice for them to see me in a different light."