Romesh Ranganathan opens up about cruel body shaming as he recalls the trolling he received after taking his top off on TV

Celebrity Traitors star Romesh Ranganathan has opened up about body shaming and the pain of cruel comments after taking his top off on TV.

The comedian, 48, has revealed how he felt 'horrendous' for a few weeks after a troll sent him a nasty message online following a shirtless scene he did in his show Asian Provocateur which saw him explore his roots in Sri Lanka.

The star has been at the centre of headlines this week after he won the second series of Celebrity Traitors last Friday night alongside Sebastian Croft.  

Speaking on his podcast Wolf & Owl with Tom Davis on Friday, he recalled: 'I remember when I was doing Asian Provocateur and we were doing an episode where we were doing a martial art and you have to be topless for that.

'And I'd never taken my top off on camera before and I was really big and much bigger than I am now.

'And I was worried about it and then I just thought, 'Oh f**k it. I'm a comedian and I who gives a f**k, just do it.' 

'And then when the episode went out, somebody messaged me and said ''I was eating my dinner when I watched the episode and I couldn't finish it after seeing your top off. Sorry about that.'

'I had about two weeks just feeling horrendous about it. But the truth is you are completely in control over how much power that comment has to you. Do you actually care about that person's opinion of you? 

'That is the battle we've all got to come to get to grips with. That comment is not about what you look like. It's about someone who has got a serious number of issues. They've got some sort of anger issue and are taking it out on you.'

It comes after earlier this week Romesh revealed his real name is Jonathan as he explained how his dad was 'fiercely worried about brown kids fitting in in British society'. 

In a resurfaced podcast clip, fans were left shocked as Romesh revealed his real name isn't actually the name he is best known for. 

Appearing on Seann Walsh's podcast Class Clown last year, Romesh explained that his dad was worried about his son fitting in in British society, so named him Jonathan in his passport. 

The star said: 'They've come over to England. They want their children to have the best opportunities possible. My dad was fiercely worried about brown kids fitting in in British society. 

'It was something that sort of dominated a lot of his thoughts and then he sort of chilled out a bit.

'I mean, my name's Jonathan. I mean, you know, I've done stand up about it, but like it comes from a real place, man. Do you know what I mean?'

Shocked Seann replied: 'He really named you Jonathan? On your passport?'

'Yeah, Jonathan Romesh Ranganathan. It's like I'm the worst undercover cop in history' he joked '... but like they called me Romesh'. 

Romesh then recounted how at school there was just one teacher who insisted on calling him Jonathan. 

'Well, the thing about Jonathan the god how harrowing the origin story of that only came to me later on. At the time I just thought this is weird. 

'Do you know what I mean? It just was a bit strange.'

He continued: 'So do you know the first register of every year when you have a new teacher they'll read out the names and then you go 'sorry I'd rather be...' do you know what I mean? 

'So every year like every teacher would go 'Jonathan' and then I go 'that's me but please could you call me by my middle name? That's what everyone calls me'.

'And they go fine except for one guy. So, one English teacher. He was doing a register and he said Jonathan and I did the usual thing 'that's me but everyone calls me Romesh' and he said 'why?' and I said 'that's just what everyone knows me as'. 

'And he goes 'what's wrong with Jonathan?' I don't want to get cancelled at seven. 

'So, I said to him, 'There's nothing wrong with Jonathan. It's just that everyone calls me [Romesh] and he said 'Jonathan's a perfectly good name and that's what I'm going to call you' and that's what he called me for the rest of the year.'

Comedian Romesh and actor and musician Sebastian were crowned champions of the BBC show on Friday night, splitting the £83,000 prize pot.