Hundreds disappointed as Mario Falcone and Tom Kilbey pull out of Merry Hill charity date
A charity event at a Black Country shopping centre had to be cancelled at the last minute after two of its stars were forced to pull out.
Hundreds of fans were expected to visit Dudley's Merry Hill shopping centre yesterday to meet stars of TV, sport and music.
But they were left disappointed when organisers were forced to pull the plug on the event just before it was due to start after The Only Way is Essex stars Mario Falcone and Tom Kilbey were called up by the show's producers for filming.
On his twitter account yesterday, Falcone confirmed he had spent the day "filming til late".
A posting on Merry Hill's Facebook site said the event's cancellation was due to "the changing schedules of the celebrities supporting the charity."
Among the other guests set to attend were Dancing on Ice's Matt Lapinskas and X-Factor's The Risk. Chef Glynn Purnell and footballers Darren Eadie and Kevin Cooper were also scheduled to take part in the event.
It was being held in support of the Help Harry to Help Others charity and to promote its family funday, called Footy4Harry, which will be held on May 18.
A post went up on the shopping centre's Facebook site at around 9.30am yesterday. The event was due to begin at 11am with a live question and answer session at Eat Central.
Spokesman for the shopping centre Kelly Reed said: "The charity is really disappointed the event was not able to go ahead as planned.
Disgruntled fans expressed their disappointment on the social media site.
Michelle Wright posted: "Very poor show with this event. Fortunately I read the post before we were due to set out and make the long journey there."
Diane Higgs added: "It's a disgrace."
Help Harry Help Others was started by brave youngster Harry Moseley while he was battling an inoperable brain tumour.
