London: The shy, bumbling star of `TV`s 40-Year-Old Virgins` is actually a 45-year-old professional actor who has had sex before, it has been claimed.
Channel 4 viewers saw balding "IT engineer Clive" burst into tears as he struggled to get intimate with women.
The cardigan and specs-wearing loner jetted to the US for treatment and was filmed shouting "I just had sex!" after apparently losing his virginity to a blonde therapist.
But pals have claimed that he`s been faking it all along and he is actually actor Clive Dancey, who has appeared in Midsomer Murders and TV ads for Stella Artois. They also said he`s 45 not 40, the Sun reported.
A source has revealed that Clive has had sexual relations in the past and is not the hand-wringing virgin depicted in the show.
The source added that he`s a good actor and used his skills to full effect and criticise Channel 4 for not being fully transparent about this.
Clive, a member of Equity whose Twitter account is @actorclive, lives in a 180,000-pound two-bedroom flat in Hertfordshire. He has a novelty US licence plate in his front window printed with the word ACTOR, plus a Sunset Boulevard street sign.
His online CV at CastingCallPro lists impressive credits including Shakespeare plays, pantomimes and voiceovers for the animated series of Doctor Who.
When confronted about them, Clive said: "Um, yeah, I need to speak to somebody because I`ve been advised not to say anything about that."
When approached by The Sun, Channel 4 insisted Clive was an IT engineer when the show was recorded but is now an actor.
Bosses admitted he was 45, not 40, and had had "sexual contact which was never consummated" before recording the programme.
"Clive considered himself a virgin at the time of filming. While he has had a small number of relationships in the past, with some limited physical contact, none was fully consummate," a spokeswoman said.
The spokeswoman added that programme-makers were also aware Clive acted in pantomimes in his spare time, but said they strongly refute any allegation the programme is in any way faked.
The show has sparked several complaints and Mediawatch suggested it was in danger of crossing the line into voyeurism.
ANI
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