AN East Lancashire soap star has admitted he would jump at the chance to compete on some of the country's most watched reality TV shows.

Blackburn's Alex Bain, 20, answered a couple of questions from fans on Instagram over the weekend (January 23) when one follower asked if he would consider going on I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here! or Dancing On Ice.

The Coronation Street actor, who plays teenage delinquent Simon Barlow on the show, would follow in the footsteps of colleagues Simon Gregson (Steve McDonald), Helen Flanagan (Rosie Webster), Andy Whyment (Kirk Sutherland), Sair Khan (Alya Nazir) and Jennie McAlpine (Fiz Brown) by heading into the Australian jungle, or more recently, Welsh castle.

Bain replied to the question asking if he would like to go on the show: "Absolutely! I can't wait to get those opportunities! Hopefully, fingers crossed!"

Jane Danson, who plays Bain's mum (Leanne Battersby) on the street, is one of several Corrie stars to have competed on Dancing On Ice, another show he said he would like to go on.

In October, Bain posted a stream of mawkish online messages directed towards his girlfriend, Mollie Lockwood, as she posed for photographs in a fluffy off-white sweater as the cold winter weather commenced.

Unable to contain his infatuation, Bain commented beneath the deadpan poses: "Absolutely stunning! Those eyes are just incredible boo! I love you so much!"

While all seems sweet between the lovestruck teens, Bain's personal life has not always been plain-sailing.

He recently revealed that he had become the subject of vile online trolling after the birth of his first child, Lydia Rose, with ex-girlfriend Levi Selby aged 17.

He told a national newspaper that the trolls had targeted him and cruelly suggested that he was a 'bad parent' to his daughter.

He said: "If I didn’t stick at the job that I’m in now I would have been lost. Corrie has kept me going and especially having a daughter has kept me going – it gives me something to do.

"My family have been great and have always looked after me. They just said: 'you go in your own your lane, don't listen to what people say, because they're the people who are jealous of what you've got.'

"It has been a struggle over the years, but I think now I’m on the up."

Bain went to Griffin Park Primary School before making his on-screen debut on the cobbles in 2008.

He recently teased a new business endeavour, announcing that he is now the CEO and founder of Mjöllnir Productions Ltd - though few details have been given up to now.