A Wiltshire teacher has opened up on his “surreal” experience of starring in multiple Sky Sports adverts.

Dean Carpenter, from Ludgershall, teaches construction and bricklaying at the Sparsholt College Group but found himself on our screens last year when he was part of a Sky Sports advert for further education teaching.

After shining in the clip, Dean was on TV again this transfer deadline day, when his picture was used alongside presenter Mike Wedderburn.

The 53-year-old described the experience as “surreal” when he recounted his experience of filming for the advert.

He said: “I went to London and it was a proper TV set with wardrobe and makeup, I’d never seen anything like it.

“It does sound surreal because it all just started with me filling in a form and escalated from there.”

In total Dean spent five hours doing various takes and retakes of the advert, which saw him place a brick, something he claimed he did “about 30 times” by the end of the day.

But the hard work paid off when the clip aired the next month and the reaction started flooding in.

“The first night I received a text from a former colleague who I hadn’t seen in over 20 years”, added the former builder.

“I had students messaging me on Teams and sending screenshots of the advert.

“I always dreamed of playing rugby for England, but being on a Sky Rugby advert, I’ll settle for that.”

The advert was part of a national campaign to encourage industry professionals to transfer their skills to further education teaching, created in partnership with Sky media.

Dean added he was pleased to raise awareness about the need for more teachers with a wealth of firsthand experience.

He said: “It’s fantastic to raise awareness about this because we need teachers in further education, it’s the same in any industry and everyone is short.

“We need people there to teach the students we have so we want to get them through from their industries when their knowledge is up to date.”

Reflecting on his decision to make the jump into teaching, Dean said it was a privilege to pass on his skills to the next generation.

He added: “I believe it’s so important to train future construction workers with the skills they need and inspire young and old into the profession. 

“I have a chance to pass on my knowledge to at least 50 students every year – it is a privilege to have a direct impact on so many lives.”