A former TV Gladiator is in Workington this week sharing the story of his life as part of a mission project.

Warren Furman, better known as Ace, is among a team of people, including the Archbishop of York, in the Moving Mountains initiative organised by churches in the county.

As well as visiting children in schools, Warren, 45, made a public appearance at St Joseph's School yesterday, explaining how he had gone from seemingly having it all to realising something was missing.

Warren, who grew up in Essex, explained how he was inspired to seek celebrity status by film stars including Arnold Schwarzenegger.

He said: "If you go back to the 90s I think it's a bit like now, we live in a celebrity culture. It's sold to you that if you get on TV that's all you need."

Having rejected the idea of taking up manual work, at 16 Warren ended up living in a YWCA .

He began bodybuilding but soon found that the physique he was seeking could only be achieved with steroids.

He said: "It's a bit like a suntan. You're body's injured and you've opened yourself up to the damaging rays of the sun and everybody says you look great. It gave me a confidence and it was like an armour."

Warren applied to be on ITV game show Gladiators and, after auditioning, was taken on.

He said: "I went overnight from having nothing to being flown to the Gladiators' training facility in Mauritius."

Warren soon found himself earning crazy money, his phone rang off the hook, everyone wanted a piece of him and he had what seemed like the perfect party lifestyle - but he also began to see through the celebrity culture.

He said: "What shocked me the most was how fake showbiz was. I saw a lot of appalling behaviour from a lot of celebrities."

Warren's show business bubble began to fall apart when Gladiators came to an end. His phone stopped ringing as the "friends" he'd made through his fame dropped him and he discovered he had grown apart from those he knew before being on TV.

He said: "It was like somebody had given me a lottery ticket then taken it away and ripped it up. I thought I needed to get back into show business. All my friends had moved on with their lives."

Warren did some panto work then became a construction site manager, living for a weekend party lifestyle.

But his life felt empty and he embarked on a spiritual search, exploring many religions and lifestyles in an attempt to fill the gap in his life.

It was a challenge for him as his parents were set against the idea of there being a god, having suffered the death of Warren's brother.

Warren, who now lives in York, said: "They said it there was a god babies wouldn't die. I was completely diverted from the God of the Bible.

"I'd been to church enough times to think 'this is thoroughly boring' because I didn't connect with it, I didn't understand the gospel.

"I was searching everything and I noticed all the eastern religions all mentioned Jesus but then pointed away."

Then he came across businessman Julian Richer, owner of Richer Sounds, who had become a Christian a few years earlier.

Warren said: "Although I'd had lots of money I hadn't had super wealth. I thought maybe if I had super wealth that would bring me happiness."

Warren was invited to a fellowship at Mr Richer's home and, after experiencing a celebrity culture where people looked for what they could get, was surprised to find him serving his guests, seeming comfortable with his life.

Warren enquired about the purpose of his life and Mr Richer advised him to do two things - attend an Alpha Course and be baptised. Begrudgingly, he accepted and went on the course, where he was told the story of Jesus and how God sent him to be a sacrifice for people's sin to enable them to have a relationship with God and gain eternal life, and it was all for free.

But he was sceptical. He said: "It's counter cultural. We live in a world that says your security comes from getting stuff. This was the opposite. I was a no-risk person. They told me to accept Jesus and take a step of faith. I thought 'I have to examine this'.

"I started looking at history books and there was infinitely more evidence that Jesus existed than other well-known people."

Convinced by the evidence he found, Warren invited God into his life and committed himself to Jesus - and soon he found things beginning to change in his life.

He stopped smoking and found himself less interested in alcohol, having battled for a long time to give them up. He and his partner married and quickly realised their changed life provided greater security not just for them but for their children.

Warren has seen his life transformed in the three years since he came to faith and, instead of seeking fame and fortune, now spends his time helping to spread the gospel message.

Now happy with a much less lavish lifestyle, he does occasional work on construction sites to pay his bills and otherwise spends his time carrying out school visits and other sessions for free to share his story.

He said: "I feel incredibly lucky because I know for a fact that the reason I was born was for God with a purpose for Him and I nearly missed that.

"It's incredible how God has used the Gladiators story in my life."

The Revd Canon Professor Robert Hannaford, who hosted last night's event, said: "Warren was excellent and gave a really compelling story. Sometimes it takes someone like Warren to help people hear the story of Jesus afresh."

Warren will be at The Hub in Workington tomorrow (Saturday, March 10) from 11.30am to 1.30pm to meet the public.