Yes, that Pete Wicks. The tattooed, permanently black-clad, self-confessed Grinch who once said the only thing he wanted for Christmas was “for everyone to leave me alone” has just dropped the most heart-exploding festive special in television history, and Britain is not okay.

The trailer opens with Pete stomping into a Dogs Trust centre in a black hoodie that says “Bah Humbug” in gothic lettering, growling, “I don’t do Christmas, I don’t do tinsel, and I definitely don’t do elf hats.” Cut to thirty seconds later: Pete wearing the world’s most reluctant Santa beard, getting absolutely mauled by a litter of abandoned Staffie puppies who have decided his neck tattoos are the perfect chew toy. His face when the tiniest one falls asleep on his chest? The exact moment 12 million people realised they would die for this man.

Then the tone shifts, and the trailer punches you straight in the soul.

We see Pete sitting on the freezing floor of a homeless shelter in Manchester, arm around a man who’s just been told his dog – the same scruffy terrier mix Pete helped rehome two years ago – has been found and is waiting outside. The man starts sobbing. Pete, the guy who once said emotions are “messy,” starts sobbing harder. The dog barrels in, tail wagging so violently it’s a health hazard, and leaps straight into its owner’s arms. Pete turns to the camera, voice cracking, and whispers, “That’s Christmas right there. That’s the whole bloody point.”

Cue the entire nation losing their minds.

There’s more: Pete secretly buying an industrial-sized bag of sprouts because one of the shelter dogs apparently loves them (yes, really), Pete attempting to wrap presents with his teeth because the dogs keep stealing the tape, Pete slow-dancing with a three-legged rescue lurcher to Fairytale of New York while pretending he’s not crying. And the absolute killer: the moment he reunites with Buster, the nervous bulldog from Series 1 who wouldn’t let anyone touch him for weeks. Buster sees Pete across the kennels, recognises him instantly, and barrels over like a furry missile. Pete drops to his knees and just says, “Hello, you big ugly bastard,” while openly weeping into Buster’s neck rolls.

The trailer ends with Pete standing in the snow outside the shelter, fairy lights reflecting in his wet eyes, saying the line that has already been turned into 4.8 million TikToks:

“I came here thinking I was helping them. Turns out these dogs have been saving me the whole time.”

Twitter has been down since 9:02 a.m. when the trailer dropped. #PeteWicksChristmas is the global number one trend. Someone has already started a petition to make him the official face of Dogs Trust forever (it has 340,000 signatures in six hours). TOWIE fans who’ve known him for a decade are posting childhood photos next to current screenshots with the caption “We watched a Grinch grow a heart in real time.”

Even the cynics are broken. One viral tweet reads: “I’ve spent years calling Pete Wicks a walking midlife crisis in designer trainers and now I’m sat here crying because he bought a homeless man and his dog matching Christmas jumpers. I need therapy.”

The special itself airs 8 December on BBC One, and the BBC has already issued a public health warning because early test screenings reportedly left entire rooms “emotionally compromised.” Expect Pete attempting to cook Christmas dinner for 40 shelter dogs (spoiler: the turkey ends up on the floor and the dogs declare it the best day of their lives), Pete getting stuck in a giant inflatable Santa costume, and one reunion so beautiful the crew had to stop filming because there wasn’t a dry eye in the building.

Pete, who still insists he’s “not soft, just allergic to onions and injustice,” told the camera in the final trailer shot: “If you’re alone this Christmas, or you’ve lost someone, or you think nobody gets it – watch this. Because these dogs don’t care what you’ve done or where you’ve been. They just love you. And maybe that’s enough.”

The man who once said his heart was “permanently on flight mode” just handed it over, wrapped in a bow, to every abandoned dog and human in the country.

Clear your Sunday night. Stock up on tissues, mulled wine, and maybe a rescue dog application form, because Pete Wicks is about to ruin you in the best possible way.

Christmas came early this year, and it’s wearing black eyeliner and smells faintly of wet puppy.