Lifeboat crews rescue Burnley’s Jordan North from River Thames after he jumps in to save dog

And, despite being praised for putting himself at risk to save the animal, Jordan, a renowned Clarets fan who grew up in Harle Syke and attended St James’ Lanehead CE Primary School, said the rescue crew from RNLI Chiswick were the ‘real’ heroes.

Speaking on his show, Capital Breakfast, today, Jordan said: “'A big thank you and a massive shout out to RNLI Chiswick who came and rescued me because I was getting a bit panicky.

“I was getting a bit nervy as well because I thought my legs are going to go, I thought I can't hold on much longer so they got there just in time. The real heroes here are the RNLI who came out and got me, put a blanket round me. They're the heroes.'

The drama unfolded last night (Monday) at 5.05pm when a member of the public raised the alarm after Jordan, a runner up on the hit TV reality show ‘I’m a Celebrity..’ in 2020, stepped from a pontoon into the water to help a struggling labrador, whilst out on a run. The crew were out on exercise and reached the location, near Hammersmith Bridge, just three minutes later. Thames Commander Gavin Simmons alongside crew Sid Blake, Tom Coe and Cameron Crawley found Jordan sat on a float lift with the dog, owned by a member of the public, on his lap.

Gavin said: ‘We are on call to help all those who find themselves in difficulty on the water 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, even our beloved pets.

“While we’d always encourage people to call 999 and ask for the coastguard instead of entering the water themselves, we’re happy that in this instance we were able to help Jordan and the dog safely back to dry land.”