Hull man flown to Hollywood to meet Mike Tyson after designing tattoo of him

A man from Hull has had a Hollywood experience most will only ever dream of, after winning a tattoo competition with his design of Mike Tyson.

25-year-old bus driver Michael Mennell was taken to Hollywood, met Mike Tyson, partied all night with Drake's assistant and became friends with Steve-O from Jackass.

It comes after Michael entered a competition on a private website for die-hard Jackass fans, and won.

Steve, alongside the cast of the Jackass all rose to fame for their daring stunts, especially among Generation X at the height of the MTV era in the early 2000s.

He said: "Steve-O's got a private website where fans can become members and he does these competitions, and this one was to design his next tattoo. I designed and submitted a Mike Dyson one, where Mike Tyson has a hoover coming out of his head. He messaged me saying that I'd won and said let's fly you out to LA."

He flew out within a fortnight and found himself amongst the starts of Hollywood.He said: "We were walking around Venice Beach and then we go into this office building, we just open the door and there is sat Mike Tyson on the set of Hotboxing, his own podcast.

Mike Tyson then gave Michael a golden chain with an ear on it, before he went behind the scenes of the podcast, where the guest was fellow Brit, MMA fighter Paddy 'The Baddy' Pimblett ahead of his fight at UFC 278.

He added: "We were watching the UFC fights in this private bar when Drake's assistant walks in with a package for Paddy, and out comes this Rolex that Drake promised Paddy for winning his fight. I couldn't believe it, I know it's crazy."

The 25-year-old bus driver then went on a road trip to San Diego with Steve-O, where he recalls taking the wheel after Steve-O dived out in the middle of the freeway to go to the toilet, while the car was moving.

He was also able to meet other Jackass starts including Wee-man and Johnny Knoxville, who came with a gift for him.

Steve-O said to Michael "You're probably one of the nicest kids I've ever met," before inviting Mr Mennell to stay a few nights in his Hollywood Hills home.

Michael said: "We were just talking about the tours that he does, the UK one hadn't even been announced at this point then, and I told him you need to come to Hull, I don't want to be travelling far out to see you again. He said to leave it with me, I'll see what we can do and we exchanged personal phone numbers.

"He'll call or Facetime when he's in England, but when he came on for his gig at Hull City Hall, he got me and my family backstage passes to spend the day with him. I was with him when he went to that dog rescue on Beverley Road.

"Behind the scenes, he's really quite mellowed out, but people don't get to see that side of him. He's the coolest guy, not snotty, he's just really just a down-to-earth guy. When people meet him, they act like idiots but he's really not like that anymore."