Fleabag fans go wild for real-life 'hot priest' who has 117k Instagram followers

The second season of Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s hit show, Fleabag, had fans swooning over Andrew Scott’s Priest character.

Many were sad when the show ended and they were no longer able to get their Hot Priest fix.

So it seems they turned to an actual priest to fill the void.

Rev Christopher Lee from West London has amassed over 117,000 followers on Instagram where he posts 60-second sermons and selfies with his wife and children.

The 36-year-old father-of-two has become a hit on social media but claims his success is due to his words and not his appearance.

In a post on his Instagram stories on December 9, he said: “People don’t follow me because of anything to do with my looks, I think they follow me because I am able to talk about the gospel in a way that is accessible and relevant.”

Despite this, he has experienced his fair share of bizarre behaviour from followers he told The Telegraph, including women sending him nudes and people asking him for selfies at a funeral.

He added that the attention and comparison’s to Fleabag’s Hot Priest are “embarrassing”, but it’s likely all just because of his youth.

“I’m a young priest who is engaged with culture, so that in itself is going to raise eyebrows because priests traditionally are a little bit heavy, a little bit old and a little bit distant, and I am, I think, none of those things,” he explained.

Instead of posting for likes as many of us do, Rev Lee is using his social presence to spread “faith, positivity and hope” to the young people who dominate the digital space.

He added: “There’s a bit of a lost generation in the church of 16 to 25-year-olds who have evacuated the church and they are on Youtube, Instagram and spend around four or five hours a day on these platforms and so we need to engage with that.”

Rev Lee has been a priest at St Saviour’s Church for four years now, having previously worked in business.

However aged 21, he decided to try something new and travelled to Tanzania to teach English.

He took a copy of the Bible with him to use during lessons and became fascinated by his readings about God.

This inspired him to undertake a long distance degree to become a priest and three years later, age 24, he was ordained a deacon in the diocese of Mount Kilimanjaro.