'It was very unnerving': Ted Lasso star Cristo Fernandez on bizarre fan encounter in toilet

Actor Cristo Fernandez attends the Ted Lasso season two premiere event at the Pacific Design Center on July 15, 2021 in West Hollywood, California, USA.
(Image credit: Valerie Macon/AFP via Getty Images)

Ted Lasso actor Cristo Fernandez has told FourFourTwo about the time he was collared by a selfie-hunting fan – while in the middle of going to the loo...

Fernandez, who plays striker Dani Rojas, was speaking to FFT as part of a feature on the return of the award-winning Apple TV+ sitcom – which follows its American title character as he takes charge of fictional English club AFC Richmond.

Recalling his strange experience for the latest issue of the magazine available to buy, Rojas said:

"It happened at a shopping mall in Los Angeles. I was in the loo when I could feel this person just starting at me as I was taking a wee; it was very unnerving.

"Eventually, he said, 'Are you that smiley one from Ted Lasso?'. He didn't even know my name – not Cristo, nor Dani. He asked for a selfie right there on the spot as I was having a wee.

"I said, 'Can you just hang on a minute until I've finished?' and he took the selfie right there in the loo. That was one of my stranger encounters."

Fernandez is character is known for his catchphrase 'football is life' – and that sentiment applies equally to the man himself: he played for second-tier outfit Tecos in his native Mexico, only to see his career cut short by a devastating knee injury. 

"My mother said that I read, watched and breathed football all of the time," Fernandez told FFT. "I knew nothing else."

Tom Hancock

Tom Hancock started freelancing for FourFourTwo in April 2019 and has also written for the Premier League and Opta Analyst, among others. He supports Wycombe Wanderers and has a soft spot for Wealdstone. A self-confessed statto, he has been known to watch football with a spreadsheet (or several) open...