In the summer of 2009 bushfires ravished huge parts of Victoria with devastating result. The natural disaster destroyed 450,000 hectares of land, killed 173 people and injured a further 414 and the tragic event became known as The Black Saturday bushfires.
Amongst the homes lost, of which there were countless, was comedian and Celebrity Apprentice’s Ross Nobles’.
WATCH: Camilla Franks and Ross Noble go head to head in heated argument
In an interview with Channel Nine Ross revealed the devastating impact losing his family home had.
“Our house was completely destroyed and we lost all of our stuff, there was a huge amount of tragedy that happened around us and a lot of our community were affected in some really terrible ways,” he said.
It’s unsurprising to see then that Ross has chosen the Australian Red Cross’ Disaster Response and Recovery as his chosen charity on Celebrity Apprentice.
Ross knows first-hand how much the Red Cross does in the wake of disaster having been there for him in 2009.
“They gave me a lovely pair of boots that I was able to walk around the smouldering remains of my house with, so I’m doing it to buy other people boots, let’s hope they never need it.
“Once people have rebuilt their homes and once the trees grow back it’s easy to think, that’s it solved, you know. But a lot of the time what happens is people are so busy trying to physically rebuild their life they don’t realise the long term effect it’s having on their mental health.”
Ross, 44, currently resides in Melbourne with his Australian wife Fran, with whom he shares two daughters, Elfie and Willow.
While Fran doesn’t feature too much on Ross’ social media, the comedian has been known to mention his wife in numerous of his stand-up routines, with hilarious results.
As well as joking about being unable to keep up with his wife’s “fit” Australian family, during his BBC Live At The Apollo performance, the 44-year-old told a hilarious story about a bit he used to do with his wife at the supermarket.
Explaining that he used to hold up a can of dog food and shout “Fran!” down the aisle, Ross claimed that his loving partner would, time and time again, exasperatedly reply: “We haven’t got a dog”.
“I did this every time we went to the supermarket for about two years.” the stand-up star said during the routine. “And she started to get a bit annoyed. And finally, she snapped, she lost it, and she got us a dog.”
WATCH BELOW: Martha Kalifatidis on the set of Celebrity Apprentice
