Michael McIntyre interview
With the fifth series of Michael McIntyre's Big Show ready to transmit, here's an interview with the host.
Michael, what can you tell us about the new series?
Audience favourites Unexpected Star of the Show and Send to All are back with some huge surprises and tremendously embarrassing texts for celebrities.
The Midnight Gameshow also returns this series and I wake up some very familiar faces including the whole of Westlife - one at a time I might add, not all at once. They were on tour and staying on the same floor of a hotel.
I woke up Judge Rinder in his home from a very deep sleep and there's a special Christmassy gameshow to come. They are all hilarious!
We also have a new feature this series called Big Show's Big News. This is where members of the public entrust me to deliver big news they are waiting for in their lives, it could be anything from exam results to revealing the gender of a baby, planning permission, job application etc. The person has no idea what the news might be and for some it's quite a tense moment.
Another new feature is a very silly game called See it Win it where members of the audience who wear glasses have to identify prizes on the stage without their glasses on.
The biggest surprise of the series was for a lady while she was on a cruise holiday in Portugal, I won't spoil that, you'll have to watch it!
As you say, firm favourite Send To All returns. Can you tell us who's playing?
Among the brave celebrities handing me their phones this year are Emma Bunton, Harry Redknapp, Sharon Osbourne, Ian Wright and Bear Grylls. As with all our celebrities who have played Send to All in the past, they are all great characters and are up for a laugh. The texts that have been sent are great fun and the replies back are simply brilliant!
Have you ever been surprised at what you've found whilst going through the phone?
There was a big surprise when I went through the ASOS app on Emma Bunton's phone. I clicked on previous orders and found some very naughty underwear as well as a pair of pyjamas. Emma's partner Jade said he recognised the pyjamas but not the underwear!
Who was the most nervous at handing their phone over?
Ian Wright kept saying he wasn't nervous, but the levels of sweat on his head suggested otherwise.
Every series the unexpected star continues to amaze, what can viewers expect this year?
There have been so many incredible surprises and breath-taking performances and we've built some amazing things to trick our Unexpected Stars in to thinking they are somewhere else before they discover they are on the stage.
In the past we've turned the theatre in to a hotel, a museum, a cinema, a ghost train roller coaster ride, a nightclub, we've even had an aeroplane fuselage on stage! I don't want to give too much away but this series we've got an Escape Room, a health and beauty spa and even a go-karting track.
All the Unexpected Stars have been incredibly shocked but have brought the house down with their amazing performances at the end of each show. I can't wait for people to see them!
Do you get nervous before the reveal?
It's always very nerve wrecking before we surprise the unexpected stars. Especially as we get more ambitious with the set-ups and sillier with the comedy beforehand, but I think it's good to be nervous, it makes for good TV.
Are you doing another karaoke surprise this series?
In the previous series we secretly filmed karaoke singers singing Take That songs and Kylie Minogue songs and then surprised them with not only the embarrassing footage but the real Gary Barlow and Kylie in the theatre. This series we've got Abba-oake with the legendary Bjorn Ulvaeus and Robbie-oake with the one and only Robbie Williams. And as ever, they are hilarious.