Typical Boro fans like listening to Taylor Swift, watching Big Brother and shop at Aldi, according to a YouGov survey

The typical Boro fan is a middle-aged man who enjoys DIY and loves nothing more than listening to Taylor Swift.

Those are the findings of a light-hearted YouGov survey based on data provided by Boro fans.

The market research firm have launched a new service that provides profiles based on a huge database of preferences expressed by members of the public.

And it's fair to say the Boro findings are quite surprising.

According to the survey the average demographic for Boro fans is male aged between 40 and 59 and belonging to the social grade ABC1.

The findings claim that Boro fans spend between 36 and 40 hours a week in front of the TV and their favourite show is Big Brother.

The demographics of a typical Boro fan, according to a light-hearted YouGov survey

Seared scallops get the nod over cod but a typical Boro supporter's favourite meal is beans, egg and chips closely followed by a chicken tikka.

Roy Chubby Brown is one of the most popular Facebook searches for Boro's faithful while Ricky Gervais, Mark Cavendish and Piers Morgan are amongst the most popular people to follow on Twitter.

When it comes to favourite celebrities there's a strong Teesside core to the preferences of Boro fans with Jeff Stelling and Steph McGovern both named in the top five but Gabby Logan is the most popular, according to the survey.

The weekly big shop is most likely to be done at Aldi while Boro fans also enjoy going out cycling and visiting museums and galleries, or so claim the findings of the YouGov study.

The results of the survey also claim to offer an insight into the personality of Boro fans, alleging that the typical Riverside regular is an expert at saving money, puts their family before their career and exercises at least once a week.

If any of this seems completely ridiculous, it might well be.

The sample size of fans used was quite small compared to the actual size of Middlesbrough's fanbase.

Just under 200 fans were included and considering that the club has a Twitter following numbering in the tens of thousands it would be fair to assume that this sample size is probably not as rigorous as it could be.

Anybody at the club thinking it would be a good idea to flog scallops instead of a parmo in a bun at the next home game might want to reconsider.