Romesh Ranganathan interview
What do you most look forward to when filming these shows?
I look forward to seeing the guys, obviously we've only seen James for a little bit because he's only doing two of them but it's nice to see Jamie and Freddie. I do keep in touch with them, contrary to what they might tell you, we are friends so it's good to see them. The show is a proper laugh to do, except for the physical stuff, I hate that as much as I like everything else about it. With the joy of knowing that I'm coming back to do League, is the horror of knowing that I will be repeatedly humiliated as a result of the lack of my basic physical fitness and coordination. Take my weight out of it, my physical shape out of it, I'm not even coordinated so there's that horror but despite all of that I do very much enjoy doing the show.
Do you feel more comfortable taking on the challenges this series?
No, because I've not got any better at them and there's only so many times you can say, 'I'm shit at this'. At least last year I had the novelty of going, 'I'm new to this' but now I'm doing it again and it's like, 'he's demonstrated zero improvement'. I dread them slightly less I guess but I've not improved any of my ability to do them. Jamie and Freddie are just getting increasingly frustrated about it... They tolerated it at first and were just pulling the fat kid for a PE lesson but then you think, 'I just want this fat kid to piss off', it's difficult.
ALOTO welcomes other guest hosts for this series, who are you most looking forward to seeing on the show?
I think it will be very exciting for League fans to see Jack Whitehall on the show and I think that will be a special one because Jack was so brilliant and is synonymous with the show, arguably more so than me at this point because he's done seven series and I'm only doing my second now. He's very much a fabric of the show and I think it will be fun to be part of that experience of having A League Of Their Own audience welcoming him back.
You're hosting one of the shows this year, are you looking forward to taking on that role?
It's the perfect thing for me because I get to be on A League Of Their Own but don't have to do any of the challenges. It's the dream ticket for me, I get to see the guys, I get to have a laugh but don't have to be involved in the physical stuff. The challenges can be as horrific as possible, the worst ones ever, and it won't bother me at all. It is a challenge though because James is very good at it and I'm not trying to be James. I'm looking forward to it but I'm conscious of the fact that I'm stepping into the shoes of someone who's very good at doing it.
We know that you were injured during one of the records, were there any other particularly memorable moments on set or during a VT?
We've had Tony Bellew on the show twice previously and I thought he was one of the best guests we've had. I'm an A League Of Their Own fan so even the ones from before I was involved, I enjoyed watching them. I think he is incredible and there was a lot of pressure on him coming into this third appearance. He is funnier, more amazing than he's ever been, and I say that believing that he was one of the best guests we've ever had before he came into that show. He steps it up a level in the show. Tony Bellew knocks it out of the park. James loves him, but I don't think James even expected him to be as amazing as he was on the show.
Who would be your dream guest on ALOTO?
That is a great question... It could never happen ever, for obvious reasons because I'm about to give the name, but if we had Mohamed Ali in his pomp on the show, I think he would've smashed it. He would have been great; he was so charismatic and such a character that I think he would have been fantastic on the show.
Why do you think people enjoy this show so much?
I think that the production team go all out to make the show as exciting as they can in terms of the ideas they have for challenges that we do. Whether it's out on location with the marines like we did for this series or a wing-walking challenge which Jamie and Tony did or it's in the studio. The studio challenges are some of the most incredible set-ups I've ever seen on any panel show. It's the characters of the show people love to see - Jamie and Freddie obviously and James but you're also seeing sports people outside of the environment that you normally see them in. It's more relaxed and you see them doing mad stuff. Last year we had Wladimir Klitschko being told by Jamie Redknapp that he sounds like the guy from the meercat advert - it's mental. There are all these things that are so out of context and funny that make people come back to the show. The production team work their asses off to keep it different.