Celebrity Gogglebox star says he will 'never do the show again' despite praising its 'winning formula'

Celebrity Gogglebox logo
Channel 4

Frank Skinner revealed that he would 'never do the show again' after describing his experience on Celebrity Gogglebox on a recent podcast episode.

The radio star appeared in an episode of Celebrity Gogglebox alongside David Baddiel but didn't enjoy the experience.

‘You know when I said I didn’t enjoy doing the gig on the Isle of Man? Well, it was a glorious pleasure compared to filming Gogglebox,’ he said during an episode of Frank Off The Radio: The Frank Skinner Podcast, before saying he would 'never do the show again'.

The TV star continued, ‘There’s a place in Wareham in Dorset called Monkey World, and it’s beautiful because they’re often monkeys that have been rescued from unkindness on the continent, and a lot of Spanish, in particular, there’s a thing of having your photo taken with a monkey.

‘The way to make them behave – and you can see this when you get close – is they’ve got cigarette burns on their skin that they use to make them do what they want them to do. And doing Gogglebox was a very similar experience.’

Channel 4 Celebrity Gogglebox Rio and Kate Ferdinand

(Image credit: Channel 4)

Frank's problem with the show was that he claimed the show's producers were heavily involved while he was filming. The TV star went on to say, 'We’re sitting watching TV, and we start talking, and a voice says, 'Say something about his jacket.'

'Then it would stop, and they’d say 'Can you not go into digressions, it’s funny if you keep it close to what’s actually happening. And pretty soon, I’m thinking, 'Just please make this stop. And when I left – I’d made it pretty clear in a politer way – I said 'Sorry, I thought this was going to be like enjoyable'.'

Frank did praise the show in the episode, saying, 'But to be fair to them, they know how to make it - they've been making it for years. The producer was a really nice guy, they were nice people, they got me fish and chips.'

He then added, 'But they've been working with a lot of non-professionals on Gogglebox, who probably need a lot of guidance. Why change a winning formula? I think it's quite helpful as you get older and you've got less time, to within a couple of weeks discover two things that you know you'll never do again.'

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Lauren is the former Deputy Digital Editor at woman&home and became a journalist mainly because she enjoys being nosy. With a background in features journalism, Lauren worked on the woman&home brand for four years before going freelance. Before woman&home Lauren worked across a variety of women's lifestyle titles, including GoodTo, Woman's Own, and Woman magazine. After starting out working for a local paper in Yorkshire, her journalism career took her to Bristol where she hunted out stories for national papers and magazines at Medavia news agency, before landing a job in London working as a lifestyle assistant.

A big fan of adventure, Lauren is also a keen travel writer and loves sharing tips on where to find the best places to eat, drink, and be merry off the beaten track. Lauren has written a series of travel guides for London hotels and loves sharing her insights into a destination's cultural and culinary offerings. If you need a recommendation on any UK destination, she's more than happy to help. At the weekend, you'll usually find her hanging out with her pet cat (or anyone else's pet she can get her hands on), escaping to the countryside, or devouring a good book.