Riccardo Guido

East London’s best kept sewing secret… well actually not a secret anymore after she melted our hearts on BBC’s Great Sewing Bee this season.

Team: Apollo
Position: Outside
Number of Years Playing: 2
Been with the Spikers since: 2017

So from your name I’ll take a leap into the dark and guess you’re from Italy… Tell us where you’re from and how you ended up in London?
Very good guess! I'm from a small town near Lecce in the heart of Salento in Puglia. I came to London after I finished university in 2006 to have some fun while learning the language and after 13 years I'm still learning I guess...

How do you pay the bills?
I'm a multimedia producer, my last job was for a social enterprise creating resources for teachers based on scientific expeditions around the ocean. Unfortunately that came to an end in March (been made redundant) but I'm starting a new job next week for a charity that helps people with mental health issues through creative learning... I'm so excited!

So I hear you’re a celebrity now from your stint on BBC’s Great Sewing Bee… is that a show about making honey? What’s that all about?
Haha, no honey involved. The Great British Sewing Bee is a talent show like the Bake Off but for amateurs sewers. When I applied for I never thought I'd be able to pass the first phone interview but I guess my Charisma, Uniqueness, Nerve and Talent took me all the way through the FINAL! Yeah! Follow me on Instagram @rifallo

Besides volleyball, sewing impractical garments, and talking very loudly at the pub, what else do you do in your free time?
You covered pretty much everything I like to do, one thing I'd like to add is drinking while I'm being loud...

Are you a hunter or gatherer?
Definitely a hunter, although I love gathering certain things.

You’re known for changing your hairstyle a lot—like Madonna in the ‘80s. Have you always been a coiffure chameleon? What can we expect next? More purple hair?
I like to keep my look fresh although I'm trying to grow it longer

What have you learned (if anything) from playing in an organised sports team? Anything you can apply to your non-volleyball life?
Playing in a team makes you feel you're a valuable (although it does apply to my case all times) member of a group and it gives you confidence to keep pushing yourself and put yourself out there. I think this is a very health attitude to adopt in any environment you get involved with.

What’s it like flat sharing with two other members of the club? Have you killed Rishi and Gabe yet?
I think we get along really well together and it's funny because I don't think we would have met under any other circumstances. So far so good, let's see how long the arsenic will take to kick in.

Tell us what’s been on heavy rotation on Riccardo’s Spotify? What have you been bumping to while tapping that sewing machine? Or do you still buy CDs?
I don't use Spotify nor listen to CDs, I have a 20GB data allowance on my phone and I love to listen music on YouTube, you never know what the next track is.

In your two years in the club, share with us your top 3 memories or highlights of being a Spiker? They can be from training, from social events or in any other context really…
Just 3! On the top is when Emmet broke his forehead against my glass while dancing during the end of the season party last year. Second Apollo day out in Brighton playing beach volley and third when we had to pretend we were volleyball pro when filming my backstory in Leyton during the beach volley tournament for the Sewing Bee.

What is the meaning of life according to Riccardo?
Be funny, no one wants to listen to you bitching about your colleague at the pub.