Real-life Emmerdale couple make surprise appearance on BBC show

Emmerdale fans who tuned into Gardeners' World last night were in for a treat, as none other than real-life couple Jeff Hordley and Zoë Henry popped up in the final segment of the episode.

The allotment special traveled up and down the country, including to Manchester and Devon, before viewers got to see what the Cain Dingle and Rhona Goskirk actors got up to in their garden.

The duo grow chillies, including the particularly strong vampire chillies.

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Jeff explains that the chillies start off black, when they're not so bad in terms of heat, and then turn red in colour, and that's when you know that they might blow your head off.

To help with his explanation, he actually eats both coloured chillies – and quickly regrets it.

"You need a pint of milk, Jeffrey," Zoë says, telling him that he can get some water from the tap.

The couple also called their allotment their "little haven" where they go to relax, and reckon they've had it for about 16 years. They joked that neither of them were into gardening when they first met in 1994 and would have totally brushed off the idea of owning an allotment back in the day.

However, Jeff's parents and grandfather were big gardeners, and he and Zoë have "happily" fallen into it.

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"We love it so much," Zoë said. "And even though it's such an effort to come on or to keep up with it, ultimately, the benefits far outweigh the stress.

"Certain points in the summer, we sit down to eat and everything on our plate we've grown ourselves, and that feels pretty awesome.

"So when you know that's your end goal, you're like, 'Well, it's worth it'."

Emmerdale airs on weeknights at 8pm on ITV1 and streams on ITVX.

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