TELEVISION stunt man, Matt Pritchard, returned to the Penarth Pier Pavilion last week to discuss his second vegan cookbook.

Matt Pritchard began his television career by hurting himself and his friends for fun on the MTV stunt show, Dirty Sanchez.

Almost 20 years later, Pritchard is still testing the bounds of taste. His second vegan recipe book, Dirty Vegan: Another Bite, was released last month alongside a tie-in BBC cookery programme.

Last Friday, Matt Pritchard visited the Penarth Pier Pavilion to discuss his latest culinary enterprise and prepare a vegan dish with Mel Griffin of Griffin Books.

Pritchard has not lost his mad-dash style and performative vigour. He relished his new role as he prepared for the talk: “I enjoy it, man. It’s better than shoving a drumstick up your arse on stage,” he said.

Originally from Cardiff, Pritchard studied cooking at college but dedicated himself to professional skating when he was sponsored at 21.

“Dirty Sanchez was great. It was just 15 years of mayhem.

“We were getting paid to travel around the world. Getting drunk and off your head with your mates – that’s like winning the lottery when you’re that age.

“I loved it. But then it took its toll on my mental health. Especially the drugs part of it.

“I needed to do something about it and that’s when I started my fitness journey.

“With my addictive personality, when I do something, I’ve got to do it – not just dip my toes in.

“I started looking into veganism because a lot of endurance athletes were vegan. The more I researched it the more it started making sense to me.

“I love animals. I’ve got a dog and I wouldn’t eat him. What’s the difference between a dog and a pig? All these things started making sense to me.

“As soon as I became vegan, I felt healthier. So many people were trying to put me off it.

“But on a vegan diet, I did The Decker, which is 10 full Iron Men in 10 days.

“Now I’m looking at doing the Double Decker which is 20 in 20 days. On my 50th birthday I’ll be doing 50 of something for 50 years.

“It’s another way of proving to people that veganism helps me, and that age is but a number.”

Pritchard became vegan in 2015 and began to film his own cooking show on YouTube. In 2019, the BBC aired the first series of Dirty Vegan.

“If you’d told me 20 years ago that I’d be sitting here with you now and talking about vegan cooking books, I would I have laughed in your face,” he said.

Pritchard said that he was forced to leave Twitter last year because of abuse from online trolls and members of the Welsh farming community.

Why were people so hostile?

“Because of guilt. Anger does it. Cognitive dissonance. They’re too lazy to change or they don’t want to believe it.

“But the evidence is there. What I care about is the evidence and the animals.

"I don’t want to kill something that doesn’t want to be killed. If you eat steak, how can you say you care for all animals?”

In his characteristic salt-of-the earth way, Pritchard hopes to entertain audiences with his new series whilst gently educating them about the benefits of vegan cooking.

“You know, there’s 50/50 arguing about Brexit. There’s 50/50 arguing about meat and veganism.

“We’re all arguing amongst ourselves like lunatics. This show is just there for people to enjoy. “There’s a bit of fun in it. There’s a lot of education.

“When it goes out on TV, I get a lot of positive messages from people saying they’ve cut down on meat. So, clearly, it’s doing something.”