Spencer Matthews opens up about his late brother

Michael Matthews died descending Everest


MIC’s notorious Spencer Matthews did the completely unexpected on Friday by appearing on every mum’s favourite daytime show, Loose Women. For the most part he stayed relatively quiet until the conversation turned to the loss of family members, and Spencer spoke candidly from the end of the panel.

His elder (and previously unmentioned) brother, Michael Matthews went missing on his descent from Mount Everest in 1999, and his body has never been recovered. The accident occurred following a sudden storm on the mountain, and his team members said they saw Michael become detached from them in the high winds.

When they couldn’t find him they continued their descent, taking him for dead. A climber a few days following the accident reported seeing an ice axe in the snow, far away from the trail, so it is assumed that Michael became disorientated in the storm and fell to his death.

Spencer was ten at the time of the tragedy, and says that despite his brother no longer being around, he still remembers him.

He said: “When you lose someone their memory lives on… Mike was a very tough person to live up to. We try to treat every day like he did. He was very successful.”

Aged just 22 at the time of his disappearance, Michael was the youngest Brit to reach the mountain’s summit, where he only spent a mere 20 minutes before beginning his descent. The family still celebrate Michael’s birthday every year. It is estimated that the mountain has now claimed 250 climber’s lives.

Spencer spoke of the lasting impact his brother’s legacy has had on his life, saying: “Whenever I feel like giving up, I just think of him and it stops me… he lives on in the family. We celebrate his birthday every year.”

Spencer also revealed he travelled to Africa after he was booted from the show for admitting his addiction to steroids. He spent time there teaching sex education as part of a charity project in Tanzania.

He also managed to take his shirt off a little bit too, when they discussed men shaving their chests.