A GENTLE giant bodybuilder is showing his muscle on television as he fights for the title of Britain's Strongest Man.

Mark Felix, 38, is now through to the final of the competition, which features strongmen competing in tests of their power.

Mark, of Moss Street, Great Harwood, who has two children, was shown on television earlier this week taking part in the final heat of the competition.

The weightlifter, originally from the Caribbean, trains at Great Harwood Gym on Game Street, and was among ten men who were hoping to get through to the final.

Just three can qualify, along with a highest placed 'loser.'

In the challenge, based in Minehead, Somerset, Mark had to pull a 40-tonne train, lift huge barrels of cider, and hoist massive safes off the ground.

Today, the 6ft 4ins, 21-stone weightlifter said: "This is the first time I have been in a competition this big."It's completely different from normal weightlifting. You just have to get stuck in, and you can't give it a second thought. If you think about it, that's when you start to fail."

Mark, a former plasterer and head doorman at Opium nightclub, Accrington, is well known in East Lancashire.

Last year he took fourth place in the Rossendale Strongman competition, raising charity cash for a local hospice.

After arriving in East Lancashire in 1996 he started training at Ultimate Physique gym, in the Alliance Business Park, Accrington.

Now Mark has turned semi-pro, and travels around the country taking part in competitions.

If Mark wins he could go on to compete in the famous World's Strongest Man competition. In the past, weightlifting luminaries like Geoff Capes, who took the title, have taken part.

Peter Hammond, owner of Ultimate Physique gym, said: "He is a gentle giant."

Britain's Strongest Man final will be shown on television on Sunday, September 5, from 4.25-5.15pm, on BBC1.