London Hughes blog
Published: Monday 22nd September 2014
London Hughes is the third bad bridesmaid we meet on the ITV2 show. Here she talks about what it was like to go undercover...
Being a Bad Bridesmaid was the hardest yet most amazing thing I've ever done in my television career. Ever. When I was briefed on the show and told all the things I'd be getting up to, I felt more than confident: "Go on a hen do with 5 strangers for a couple of days, pretend to be someone else... it'll be on TV, it'll be funny... piece of cake!" Boy, was I wrong.
The Character
First of all, and I'm not being biased when I say this, but it was much harder for me compared to the other 'BBs' (that's TV talk for 'Bad Bridesmaids') because the character I played on the show was an over-the-top version of myself! We decided that, because I was currently on TV at the time, presenting Scrambled (Weekend mornings from 7.30am on ITV), we didn't want to risk being rumbled.
If I had had changed my name and persona and one of the Hens had recognised me, it would have been game over... Which meant that any time the girls got angry, or annoyed or frustrated (which was pretty much all the time) they weren't getting angry, annoyed and frustrated at some silly made-up fictional character, they were getting angry, annoyed and frustrated with ME. I didn't have a character I could hide behind, so at times it felt extremely personal.
But my character wasn't exactly me, I was 'London Hughes the television presenter / deluded celebrity Diva'. It was hilarious. Myself and the producers assembled every bad character trait from every celebrity we'd ever met or heard about and piled them into one, and thus, I became the worst celebrity diva of all time.
My new character traits included "being on the air diet". I didn't eat food - which meant every dinnertime, whilst the Hens were chowing down on the best food the Windsor Hotel had to offer, I had to suck on thin air, like a little fish! And whenever I was allowed to eat, I had to use scales and measure my food intake. I only allowed myself 5grams a day... which is basically half a chip. Needless to say, when the cameras stopped rolling I'd head straight back to my hotel room and chow down on a huge steak burger courtesy of room service.
My character was also paparazzi obsessed, even though there were never any there. I often had to fake anxiety attacks because I thought I saw a man in the bushes, or saw a pap car following us. That didn't go down to well with the girls, especially when I freaked out in the middle of a Polo lesson, and faked an asthma attack all because I thought I saw a camera flash.
Speaking of Polo lessons, I totally shocked myself, when I (a horse riding virgin) managed to convince the Hens that I was a professional Polo player. "I polo ride with Prince Harry all the time" I told them, whilst trying to figure out which foot I needed to put in the stirrup first. But because I was acting like a confident polo player, I became a confident polo player!
My horse 'Vanity' (aptly named) was so comfortable with me that, before long, I was riding around like a pro, much to the annoyance of the Hens. You see, my character claimed to be a professional at everything! Polo player, model, cake-baker... you name it, I'd done it, and probably with a major A-list celebrity whose name I'd casually drop into conversation. Oh yes! I name-dropped a lot!
We all have that one friend that constantly tells you the story about how she 'accidentally saw Adele in Waitrose'. Well 'Diva London' was like that, but 1,000,000 times worse! I had to make up celeb stories all the time! Any celebrity the Hens may have mentioned just so happened to be a "close personal friend of mine". At one point I convinced them that I'd met Barack Obama at the Inauguration and partied with Beyoncé and Jay-Z on their private jet. I was a 24-hour gossip queen, whenever the girls called me out on ridiculous celeb based lies I had to swear blindly that it was true! "Yes of course Will.I.Am's real name is Brian! If you don't believe me, just ask him."
Convincing the Hens of my "celebrity status" was a lot easier than I thought, mainly because at the time I was actually on TV! One of the Hens had even recognised me, so no matter how outrageous my lies/actions had been it was always backed up.
The most surreal example of this had to be when we had just finished the first day of filming, we were in a bowling alley and I - 'Diva London' - had just been going on to the Hens about how famous I am... I decided it would be an awesome idea to leave stacks of my autographs laying around the bowling alley so members of the public could find them and treasure them. As I was about to do so, a man came up to me and actually asked me for my autograph! (Not an actor, a normal innocent member of the public).
He knew exactly who I was and had a disabled son who was a huge fan of mine! I was lost for words. You need to understand that I never and I mean never get asked for my autograph, people do not know who I am!! I was in shock! Of all the times for someone to actually ask me for my autograph!! This man was so humble and kind to me, I wanted more than anything to stay and chat to him, and ask about his son, but I was supposed to be acting as 'Diva London', and 'Diva London' gets asked for autographs all the time, this is nothing new to 'Diva London'... she has millions of fans!
Plus, the Hens were watching me clearly thinking that maybe I was as famous as I claimed. I couldn't make a big deal out of this, so instead I quickly signed an autograph for him and his son engaged in minimal chatter and politely dismissed him.
To the man from the bowling alley, if you're reading this: I'm extremely sorry I couldn't stay and chat longer! Your son sounds absolutely amazing! And thank you so much for your kind, kind words.
I felt so bad afterwards; I'm embarrassed to say, I got back to my hotel room and cried like a baby! They were the first tears I shed whilst filming Bad Bridesmaid but they certainly weren't to be the last. (Dun dun dunnnnnn... proper dramatic, I know!)
The Challenge
The challenge was, to convince four Hens (Tanya, Jade, Yinka and Dami) that I was besties with their bride to be, Lola. Lola was in on it of course, and so was her fiancée Victor who convinced the Hens that I was the girlfriend of his best friend 'Tunde' (are you following this?). So the Hens thought that I knew Lola through her fiancée's best friend, when in reality I'd never met any of them and there was no best friend called 'Tunde'. Whenever the girls asked me about him, I'd just show them a picture of my brother!
The producers made me watch footage of the Hens beforehand so I could suss out their personalities. Dami was Lola's little sister, and a bit overprotective; Jade was Lola's lifelong friend - she was really quiet but picked up on everything; Tanya was the calm fun time besty - she loved exercising and had a body to die for; and Yinka was Lola's American cousin - she was the joker of the group and said it exactly like it is! This was going to be interesting...
Not only did I have to convince Lola's Hens that I was indeed a good friend of hers, I also had to sabotage the hen do and future wedding at every chance I got! Over 4 days we had 5 major activities - after sabotaging every one and really aggravating the Hens, I then had to make a wacky proposal to Lola about the wedding that she had to agree! Whether that be doing a speech at the wedding about what good besties we are, or turning up to the ceremony in a white wedding dress! Whatever I asked, Lola had to agree to. You see she had a lot at stake! If Lola successfully convinced her Hens that I was her wacky celebrity friend and a part of the upcoming wedding then she would win a honeymoon. Lavish indeed!
Lola was such a great sport, she was a kind girl with a heart of gold and to be honest, a lot of the time, I don't think she thought I was acting. I remember once during an activity I had to cry and run off... and Lola ran after me. I thought she only did that because the Hens were watching, but, no, she was genuinely worried about me! "Are you okay London? Are you okay?" she said in a panicked tone. I laughed, wiped my tears and said "Lola! I'm acting!" Bless her! Clearly my acting was waaay too convincing! I'll be awaiting that BAFTA nod then!
After a day with these Hens I could tell that they thought I was weird, and I'm pretty sure that when they got back to their hotel rooms I was the topic of discussion. I found it so hard to constantly annoy them, after I'd sabotage an activity they'd be sooooo angry with me. And then I'd have to go and have dinner with them like nothing had happened!
It was like high school, and all the cool kids hated me... but I still had to sit with them! And then came the catty remarks and the bitching! These girls didn't hold back, they would say things under their breath but loud enough for me to hear, or even directly to my face! After my third paparazzi scare, I could tell I was getting to them!
Which is probably why the final activity of my BB episode was so explosive - I had really gotten to these Hens! Three days of constantly pushing their buttons. I knew they were riled up, but no one predicted what was about to happen next!
We were all taken to London for an exclusive pre-wedding photoshoot. There was a lot of champagne involved. We'd all got given these gorgeous bridesmaid gowns to wear for the shoot and Lola had this amazing white wedding dress and...
Wait! I won't ruin it, you'll just have to tune into my episode of Bad Bridesmaid to find out what exactly happened! Let's just say it was drama and there were tears! But not from me this time! (Dun dun dunnnnnnnn - I know, the suspense must be killing you!)
To find out what happened, tune into London's episode of Bad Bridesmaid on Thusday 25th September 2014.