COMEDIAN Peter Kay employed a body-double to help him make waves for his latest television appearance.

Millions of viewers have seen him dive from a high board in an hilarious new advert for John Smith's bitter.

The commercial is a parody of the Commonwealth Games and shows the Bolton funnyman getting better marks than athletes performing perfect somersaults and twists -- even though he simply leaps in feet first.

But while Peter was a good sport and jumped off the board more than 30 times during filming, directors said they still needed a bigger splash.

So they called in body-double Rick Stonell, who almost made a bigger hit in the water than comic Peter makes with audiences during his shows.

Peter said: "I'm not very good with heights. So when I was standing on the diving board with the camera crew all smiling up at me, I was frightened out of my wits.

"Rick kept shouting 'Confidence, confidence!'

"So I shouted 'You wanna try doing a stand-up show at Glasgow Empire on a Saturday night'."

Rick, who told Peter he had doubled for James Bond in the film Goldeneye, used to own a hairdressing shop in Bolton, but now owns a top salon in Soho. He became a part-time body-double in the 1980s, but says his job with Peter was one of the most challenging he has had to do.

Rick, aged 45, said: "I'm a lot hairier than Peter so I had to shave off all my body hair to ensure that we looked exactly alike. The water was freezing."

Viewers watching the TV advert see Peter jump from the board. But it is Rick they see hitting the water. However, it is still not clear which of the pair is seen climbing out of the pool with part of their backside on show.

Rick said: "I've not seen the advert yet, but all of my friends keep saying they've seen my bottom on TV.

"I'll have to look closely to see whose bottom it is. It could be Peter's, or it could be mine."