The comedian will be giving people the chance to win a year’s salary in his new show and could be returning as the host of The Price Is Right...
Many of us dread the moment the alarm clock goes off on Monday morning to start another week at work, so imagine if you could quit your job but still be paid your full salary for a year?
That dream will become a reality for the winning contestants of Alan Carr’s fun-filled new game show. Members of the audience must all bring their resignation letters with them, but only one lucky person will win an entire year off.
With celebrity guests, action-packed studio games and crazy challenges, Alan Carr thinks I Hate Mondays, which starts on Friday on C4, has something for everyone…
WOTV: How did you get involved in the series?
Alan Carr: "I’ve done game shows before and they haven’t always worked out so I wasn’t sure at the start, but once I heard the idea I was very interested. When I saw the queue of people who wanted to come on the show before each recording I thought we could be on to something. It made me realise how many people can’t stand their jobs!"
WOTV: How does the game work?
AC: "We pick random people from the audience, ask them questions and then at the end of each episode we have three finalists, all of whom earn between £5,000 and £50,000 a year. The final round is a test of knowledge and a lot of luck, but whoever wins, we pay them the highest salary of all the finalists!"
WOTV: What would people like to spend the money on?
AC: "All sorts! There was one episode where an elderly gentleman wanted to quit his job so he could pick up his grandkids from school and spend time with them, because he was getting on. Then we had a woman who wanted to spend the money on a bum lift to look like Kim Kardashian! There were some tears when people lost and I found it quite emotional, because you realise how much it means."
WOTV: Tell us about your celebrity guests…
AC: "Well I need someone to help with all the crazy challenges! Amanda Holden was brilliant for the first episode and later in the series we have Jonathan Ross and Mel Giedroyc. It was a bit embarrassing because I just couldn’t say Mel’s name properly. She told me I’d said it four different ways, but wrong every time. It’s a shame because I looked up how to say it on the internet the night before, but obviously it didn’t help!"
WOTV: What were the worst jobs you had, before going into comedy?
AC: "I’ve had so many rubbish jobs, shampoo packer, call centre worker, flyering, driver’s mate, cleaner, Tesco… I collected the trolleys in the car park and kept the pounds for myself! The worst one was when I worked at a CD factory. All the bits of plastic left over at the end I had to crawl under the machine and sweep them up. Health and safety was out the window. Then I had to put that in an industrial bin and one day someone pushed me in the bin while I was doing it. That’s when I knew I had to make a change!"
WOTV: How did you get your big break in comedy?
AC: "I was telling everyone about all my rubbish jobs and people found it funny. They told me I should go on stage and say it. The rest, as they say, is history and now I’m a national treasure!"
WOTV: We loved you on the Price Is Right over Christmas, will it be coming back for a full series?
AC: "It went down so well and I was blown away by the reaction it got. Even critics who usually hate me were raving about it! I think C4 want to do some more and if they do I’d love to host it again!"
I Don't Like Mondays starts on Friday 6th April on C4
