Mike Brewer, the star of television’s Wheeler Dealers series, has opened up about the numerous death threats and ‘tirade of abuse’ he has received online.
Brewer, who is celebrating 20 years of Wheeler Dealers this year, explained to Car Dealer Magazine: “I’ve had death threats. Regularly, people threaten to rape my wife and daughter and murder me. People say they’re outside my house. I’ve actually had people at my gate.
“I wake up every day to a tirade of abuse. It happens every single day.”
Wheeler Dealers has now entered its 21st season, reaching 200 million-plus people worldwide. However, this success has been tempered by a lot of online hate.
“People take umbrage at that and get jealous of it. So they revert to social media and tell me what they think of me, and the abuse does hurt.
“It does affect me, and it affects my mental health. But fortunately, I’ve got a really strong family and a very strong, loving wife. And I’ve got a great team of people around me that know simply what you read online isn’t true.”
The new season of Wheeler Dealers starts on Discovery Plus on Friday, October 6, and Brewer touched upon some of the early days of the hit series.
“I was being offered Top Gear at the time, I’d just come off the back of Driven, as well as Deals on Wheels on Channel 4 and I really thought this would just be a bit of a stop gap in between.
“I knew that it had some kind of presence and legs then. And here I am, we’re just about to start the 21st season 20 years later and I’m still doing it. It’s incredible.”
