Nexus Fostering’s very first foster carer wins a holiday on Ant & Dec’s Saturday Night Takeaway!

When we were recently approached by the production team of Ant and Dec’s Saturday Night Takeaway asking if we wanted to nominate a foster carer to take part in a feature on the show, we jumped at the chance. But who would we nominate? All of our carers do such amazing things, we couldn’t pick just one. So, they suggested nominating our very first carer, or our oldest. Well, that was easy as it just so happened to be the same person! Danny was our very first foster carer 22 years ago and is still fostering at the young age of 82 alongside his wife Solange.

His daughter Heidi who is also a foster carer with Nexus Fostering, was in on the surprise and just had to get them to the TV studio. It was recently Solange’s birthday, so they presumed she had organised a trip for them. What Heidi didn’t know was that she was also going to be part of the surprise. 

The show went live at 7pm and after a few moments of the hosts surprising members of the studio audience, Ant then revealed that all of the people sitting in the same block as Danny, Solange and Heidi were in fact all fostering families and together they had fostered over 5500 children. Danny said, “I thought I recognised some carers from years ago, but I didn’t realise we were there for this reason”.

On previous series’, they had a segment called the ‘happiest minute of the week’ where they gave out holidays to people who have done extraordinary things, but as they are celebrating 20 series of the show, Ant & Dec decided to surprise all 411 audience members who had been specifically hand-picked for the show and gave them all a ‘Takeaway Getaway’.

Heidi said, “We were shocked to receive the holiday along with everyone else there, they said all our reactions were brilliant”.

Courtesy of TUI they can choose a 7-night all-inclusive holiday with 40 destinations to choose from or a Mediterranean cruise.

Danny said, “We didn’t see that coming at all. It was a very pleasant experience and surprise. We don’t know where to go yet, we will have to have a look”.

Kelly Randall the Director of Nexus Fostering says “Danny was our very first foster carer and now alongside his wife Solange and daughter Heidi, they all continue to provide high quality care for children and young people who have experienced trauma and difficulties in their early years. They deserve to have their hard work acknowledged and recognised as they have gone above and beyond the average expectation of foster carers".

Read about Danny and Solange's fostering story here.