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23rd March 2024
09:00am GMT
He's a Dubliner born and raised, we always see him on our screens and walking red carpets but a slice of the quiet life is what he's on the hunt for.
"I grew up always wanting to like maybe live in Manhattan or New York. That was always my thing like I think I was raised on Sex in the City. So I wanted to be Carrie Bradshaw," James says with a laugh.
Yet that all changed when he met his boyfriend William Murray who hails from Cork, the social media star found himself loving life away from the city.
"I was actually like, hang on I prefer wellies and you know, a vegetable patch over like skyscrapers."
That's exactly what James' new Virgin Media TV show, The Great Inspo Home Adventure is all about.
Airing on Sunday night at 8 pm, it'll follow the couple as they travel across Ireland looking for inspiration for their forever home down in Cork.
Yet it's not just about building or buying some stunning home, the couple are looking to make it as sustainable as possible and for James, that seems to start with chickens.
"Chickens are a must," the 34-year-old explains and you can tell by his voice he's dead serious.
"That's one of the things on the list. My dad actually keeps chickens and I've always been very jealous of that out of him. It creates a nice ecosystem in the head because all your scraps from your food, go and feed the chickens and the chickens give you back eggs."
Yet while on his travels film, the star found a lot more inspiration and realised there are more benefits to being sustainable than just helping the environment.
"Both from visiting a load of houses, a lot of them have an eco element, like solar or air to water or you know, all that sort of stuff.
"So, I'd love solar, I'd love to look into solar for our own house, because a couple of houses we visited, they get all their electricity from solar, and some of them even put it back into the grid, and you can make money back that way."
On top of this, the couple aren't here to show off beautiful houses, they want to help people understand what goes into creating a forever home.
"I actually wish I got to watch this show before I went on my journey because it will show you the whole process of getting a mortgage talking to a mortgage broker, the trials and tribulations of getting your accounts together," James explains.
"And so it's a great show for any first-time buyers or people who want to make that move to the country because nicely lays it out and in a digestible format."
So with all his newfound knowledge in his back pocket, is James ready to come for Dermot Bannon's home renovation crown?
"Oh shaking in his boots," the influencer says with a laugh, "I have my hammer and my hard hat, I'm going to take over the home-show realm!"
Yet in all seriousness, this is something of a full circle moment for James who says he was raised on home makeover programmes.
"I grew up being obsessed with Location, Location, Location, Kirstie and Phil and Grand Designs. I love home shows and to be part of one is a dream that to be part of one. It really is."
You can tune into The Great Inspo Home Adventure at 8pm, Sunday night over on Virgin Media One.
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