Being personal assistant to the sharp-tongued Pete Burns would not be everyone's idea of a dream job.

From his outbursts on Celebrity Big Brother, you might guess working for the flamboyant Dead or Alive singer would be dangerous and daunting.

Iain Wood would disagree - and he should know.

The 23-year-old from Brighton has just spent two months competing for the chance to be appointed Pete's right hand man or woman.

The young footballer was picked from hundreds of hopefuls to be one of ten finalists in a challenge filmed for Living TV.

Throughout the contest he had to live in a house in London with the other nine hopefuls while completing a different task every week.

But far from having his head bitten off by the Eighties star, Iain found he and Pete struck up an easy friendship.

He said: "Pete was very cool. I didn't really have much of a perception of him, I really didn't know much about him, which was a good thing because I didn't really judge him.

"I am quite an open person. We got on like a house on fire.

"When you get to know someone personally, you get to know the other side to them."

Pete, famous for his song You Spin Me Round, personally picked the contenders at auditions held in May with help from Rob Yeung, the business psychologist, and Donna Couling, professional PA to stars such as Rachel Weisz and Helena Bonham-Carter. Iain was nervous at the audition but still managed to see off competition from hundreds of others.

The winner was to be given the frightening task of organising Pete's wedding to his long-term boyfriend Michael Simpson.

Iain said doing the show taught him that despite Pete's larger-than-life persona and eye-catching appearance he is "a normal person".

He said: "The papers had said he was rude but that's a completely wrong perception, he is nicest bloke I know. He hated eliminations."

Iain, who lives with his dad in Patcham and used to play for Brighton and Hove Albion under-21s, applied for the show because he "really wanted the job". At the time he was working on the railways.

He said: "I applied to do the job to do something different. I have always done manual things and I thought it would be a good change.

"I really did enjoy the experience of doing it and I learned a lot about myself. It has given me a lot more confidence. I was a bit scared of standing up in front of people and talking."

During the show, contestants were not allowed to leave the house unless they were accompanied by a film crew.

Iain said: "It was a bit like Big Brother. You were allowed to go out but you always had to have a camera with you."

The decisions about who should be eliminated were taken by Pete with Sadly, although Iain put up a good fight, he did not get the job. He has now set up his own lettings agency in Brighton called Harwood Lettings.

Pete's PA begins on Living TV on Monday.

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