Michael Sheen has been hailed a 'Welsh national treasure' after paying off £1million of debt for 900 people in south Wales. The actor, who is currently appearing on The Celebrity Traitors, used £100,000 of his own money in an emotional campaign that was documented in the Channel 4 programme Michael Sheen's Secret Million Pound Giveaway.
How the debt was written off
Sheen explained on The One Show at the time how he made it happen, saying: "£100,000 to buy £1million worth of debt seemed like a good deal to me. I didn't have £100,000 to throw around."
"So I wanted it to be effective. But when I realised I could do this, get £1million worth of people's debt and just write it off, it seemed like a good thing to do," he added.
He went on to explain: "People's debt gets put into bundles. Then debt-buying companies can buy those bundles, and they can sell it on to another debt-buying company at a lower price. So even though the amount of people who owe is still the same, the people who own the debt, can sell it for less and less money."
"So I was able to set up a company and for £100,000 of my own money buy £1mill worth of debt, because it had come down in value, because they don't think there's as much chance to get the money back. I had no idea this happened," he said.
Reaction to the giveaway
Sheen said he didn't know whose debts he paid off, but knew where they lived and the kind of debt it was. "I thought I would only work on this for a few weeks or a month or something, and it turned into two years, because we had to do it secretly," he said.
The move cemented him as an icon, with one person saying at the time: "He is a true Welsh national treasure." Another said: "He's a fantastic actor and a damn fine human as well," while a third wrote: "Awesome. We need more people like Micheal."
Someone else said: "I love this, I love this person's work. Thank you, Michael for seeing the people off stage." Another added: "A true modern day saint."
The Celebrity Traitors continues tonight at 8pm on BBC One and iPlayer.
