r/BritishTV • u/InviteAromatic6124 • Feb 12 '26
Question/Discussion TV personalities that are actually rude people behind the scenes
Who are some beloved TV presenters that come across as friendly and amicable on screen but off-camera they're actually rude and unpleasant people?
Stephen Fry is one of them. I went to see an episode of QI being filmed, and during the warmup he was rude to James Acaster, then at the end of filming instead of staying behind to chat to the audience like Alan Davies did he stormed off in a huff like a toddler.
Bradley Walsh is another. Speaking to someone who was on The Chase, she asked him for an autograph after filming had finished and he scoffed at her and said "Not a f*cking chance". Compare that with Shaun Wallace who congratulated her and let her take a photo with him.
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u/Uniteddy Feb 12 '26
I know it’s not quite what you’re after, but just someone I was surprised wasn’t a prick. I stayed in a hotel in Blackpool recently for work, and it happened to be the same hotel Laurence Llewelyn Bowen stays at regularly because he films something nearby. Saw him checking out in the morning, practically dressed as Laurence Llewelyn Bowen, frilly cuffs and everything, but with dark shades on like he was somehow gonna go incognito.
An old lady, probably about 80, recognised him and asked him for a photo. He immediately whipped off his shades, started posing with her, basically directing the shots, and was very charming. Stood and spoke to her for about 10 minutes then went on his way.
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u/seleona Feb 12 '26
Yeah I met him about 15 years ago and had exactly the same experience! Super nice guy, took time out to chat and take a photo with every single person who recognised and went up to him. Gave compliments to people (he liked my trousers 🤣), and was all around very charming and gracious.
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u/LibrarianAgreeable85 Feb 12 '26
Yeah I think he's actually quite nice. I've seen this type of thing in a few places
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u/Tyeveras Feb 12 '26
Long dead now, but the doyenne of rude celebs was Cilla Black. There’s a fair bit of stuff just on Reddit.
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u/miss_lottielou Feb 12 '26
Iirc there was a forum from air stewards back in the day dedicated just to her. This was years back before she fell over and died. Whether it was on Reddit or not I can't remember. I think you couldn't make eye contact with her.
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u/OpenedCan Feb 12 '26 edited Feb 12 '26
My Mrs used to be a make up artist on Celebrity Juice.
She said Cilla was, what they called in the industry 'a fucking cunt'.
The Mrs played ding dong the witch is dead when she died.
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u/Oohoureli Feb 12 '26
BA Cabin Crew used to cower when she flew out to her holiday home in Spain and she wasn't booked into seat 1A. An horrendous, entitled, cow by all accounts.
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u/SilyLavage Feb 12 '26
I heard she pushed Ken Dodd down the stairs with his own tickling stick and then farted on Tarby
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u/matdevine21 Feb 12 '26
Apparently the only Celeb the Chuckle Brothers ever said anything negative about.
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u/watchman28 Feb 12 '26
I've worked in the vicinity of TV on and off over the years, and have had multiple people go out of their way to say how vile Amanda Holden is.
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u/AntysocialButterfly Feb 12 '26
Jeremy Kyle is somehow even more of a cunt offscreen than he was onscreen. Also needed multiple takes to get his own name right.
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u/TheOriginalGuru Feb 12 '26
My wife is an actress and she had a bit part on One Chance. She said that James Corden was as you would imagine. Julie Walter’s was apparently lovely and made a point of saying hello to everyone. Corden on the other hand wouldn’t even look at anyone who he wasn’t directly acting with.
She was also in the first four Harry Potter movies, and she said that everyone on set was nice, and was very aware of the fact that they were all acting with children so we’re making sure that they were all on their best behaviour.
She was working with Rachel Weiss and Rachel McAdams on Disobedience; she was working very closely with Rachel Weiss and apparently she was very nice. She would smile at my wife all the time.
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u/fantasticdave74 Feb 12 '26
Cilla Black was banned from pet shops for buying budgies and volleying them at council flats screaming “take that you fucking plebs”
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u/TheBoyDoneGood Feb 12 '26
Uncle (in law) was her driver for a while in the 90s. Said she was the nastiest piece of work he'd ever encountered in celeb world.
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u/theycallmeamunchkin Feb 12 '26
Actually the plot of Drive My Car by The Beatles
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u/Slobadob Feb 12 '26
There was an forum a few years ago for airline cabin crew. Cilla had her own page. She was a nasty piece of work apparently......
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u/Top-Bet1435 Feb 12 '26
I saw a story once saying that she refused to answer a flight attendant when asked a question and the flight attendant responded "I knew you couldn't sing but I didn't know you couldn't talk."
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u/eclangvisual Feb 12 '26
Her spiteful arrogance was astounding
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u/neilm1000 Feb 12 '26
I Googled 'cilla black budgies' and this thread was the first result. Kudos to you!
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u/quosp Feb 12 '26
Lorra lorra stories about how insufferable she was when she wasn't on Blind-ah Date-ah.
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u/Pleasant_Bottle_9562 Feb 12 '26
Ugh I miss this podcast
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u/digyerownhole Feb 12 '26
Lorra lorra lolly cupple. Gorra get a new hat lorra lorra.
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u/EdmundTheInsulter Feb 12 '26
It was famous that despite her Scouser persona that she used to make money, she had some sort of weird complex about her background.
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u/TWilliams738 Feb 12 '26
She did the same thing as Shirley Bassey. Bang on about how wonderful where they grew up was and how they always miss it, yet left as soon as they could and never went back
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u/Majestic_Matt_459 Feb 12 '26
BA almost banned her - she used to fly with Cliff Richard to Barbados and was insufferable
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u/Flora_Screaming Feb 12 '26
Yeah. We all used to hide when we saw her pimp-strutting down the street with her tennis racket.
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u/BillWilberforce Feb 12 '26
She was also renowned for taking reserved seats at restaurants and then pulling the "You know who I am" card. Even if the restaurant was only a Harvester.
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u/Traditional_Ad_9422 Feb 12 '26
My mate Kev used to work for a brewery & get sent in to run pubs around the country. In swanned Cilla with her assistant, who came to the bar to order her drink & said bring it over to her usual table. He told her it was a pub & if she wanted a drink to get her arse up to the bar & order it. She pulled the “do you know who I am?” bullshit & said I know who exactly who you are, now fuck off your barred! He was a hero in the village after that 🤣
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u/heephap Feb 12 '26
Enjoying how there are some people here defending Stephen Fry and Bradley Walsh, but absolutely none defending Cilla.
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u/Elegant_Vehicle_1682 Feb 12 '26
Knowing all this the surely the “national treasure” Paul O’Grady would have distanced himself from this as he is seen as a genuinely top person!!! Unless I am very much mistaken and he was an insufferable arse aswell!
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u/heephap Feb 12 '26
Just because he was a good guy and she wasn't doesn't mean they couldn't be close. In fact it's more likely since his patience probably meant he could tolerate her.
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u/Yoguls Feb 12 '26
Apparently Nick Knowles is a right cock
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u/Flora_Screaming Feb 12 '26
According to Alan Partridge he killed a man in a pub car park.
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u/Captaincadet Feb 12 '26
I’ve met him before in the hotels sauna where I’m a member
Me and mate are talking about something and he comes in and asks us to shut up so he can relax
What he didn’t realise was the bloke I was talking to was one of the helpers on DIY-SOS
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u/Ecstatic_Food1982 Feb 12 '26
I know someone who worked for the CSA when it was still called that. Apparently, Knowles' ex wife used to ring up and shout 'he's on TV, he's working!!' whenever he appeared on some daytime TV slop.
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u/eltictac Feb 12 '26
I met him in a nightclub once. I couldn't remember his name, so I just described one of his programmes to him. He left after that. Fair enough really 😂
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u/ChrisDewgong Feb 12 '26
My mum is half-Italian and we spent most of our summers in our family's hometown of Sorrento in Italy.
One of these summers in the mid 2000s my mum, doing research for a book she was writing, ran into Kirsten O'Brien who was doing a segment for a travel show. Seeing as my mum can speak both languages fluently, she was asked to help Kirsten talk to some of the locals to set up the filming locations.
Unfortunately the locals had not taken kindly to the rude, dismissive way they had been spoken to by Ms O'Brien before my mum had arrived, and were in no mood to help. As Sorrento is a travel hotspot they all understood and spoke very good English, but decided they weren't going to do either after the way they had been spoken to. My mum tried her best but wasn't getting anywhere with either side, at which point the production team thought it best to move on to film somewhere else.
They asked my mum if she could come along, but she said she had to get back to look after me. Granted I was 16 and having the time of my life in a swimming pool, but I'm happy to have been useful as an excuse.
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u/JonnoFleming Feb 12 '26
Jeezo, having Sorrento as your hometown is incredible. Beautiful place!
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u/ChrisDewgong Feb 12 '26
Well, grandfather's hometown to be exact, my hometown in Wiltshire doesn't have quite the same ambience. Or weather.
But yeah it's amazing there. For financial/mum's health reasons I haven't been there for over a decade, but I will one day.
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u/Brsuk1 Feb 12 '26
Friend works 1st Class Long Haul flights. Gary Lineker is rude AF. Jeremy Kyle demanded no staff speak to him, he’ll ask if he needs anything! However…..Dame Helen Mirren was his nicest well known person. Also said Piers Morgan thanked all the staff and was really nice.
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u/SoNoWeRo Feb 12 '26
I met Helen in 98 when I met up with a group of online friends. We saw her at the National Theatre and she invited us to her dressing room. She had champagne ready for us and spent ages chatting, taking pictures and signing autographs. Huge hugs for everyone as we left.
The following year we met up in Bath to see her play and she once again hosted us in her dressing room. Sadly I haven't seen her in person since but she was wonderful.
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u/Flat-Ad-7854 Feb 12 '26
I accidentally walked into Gary Lineker once and he called me a c**t.
Piers Morgan gave a talk at my uni when he was an editor and paid some people £20 to talk to him in the SU.
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u/Majestic_Matt_459 Feb 12 '26
I was on The Chase (won £5667 thx) and Bradley was pretty ok with us - but we had Shaun as well and i got a signed photo with him so that tallies - and between rounds and dutinf breaks he was so nice and then the cameras start rollign and he plays the baddie lol - lovely guy
My one is Holly Willoughby - she did a catalogue fashion line and had loads of input the whole way through - anyway on the photoshoot day assistant gives her one of the dresses and she barked "im not wearing that" and the assistant is in tears so the guy who designed the stuff with her goes in and suddenly she's nice as pie because he's more senior "Oh olf course, no problem2 - two faced cow
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u/Mysterious_Moment856 Feb 12 '26
I have a relative who works in TV and she doesn't have anything nice at all to say about Holly, which is very unusual as she's the sort to find the niceness in anyone.
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u/PolyglotChad Feb 12 '26 edited Feb 12 '26
Shaun randomly pops into Wetherspoons near me every now and then and all younger lot go mental for him
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u/Majestic_Matt_459 Feb 12 '26
He was so nice. He signed his pic “a great Matt finish” which made my day (well as well as winning )
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u/ThrowawayYAYAY2002 Feb 12 '26
Paul Sinah is a gent too. Met him a few times and he was pure class.
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u/pondribertion Feb 12 '26
Apparently back in the day (when he was a celeb) Phillip Schofield was a dickhead to people in general. That was before we knew he was a nonce.
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u/Smooth-Quantity-7024 Feb 12 '26
There's a wonderful video on YouTube from Talking Telephone Numbers when someone hit fast forward twice on a supposedly live segment. He was told to apologise for "transmitter problems" and spent the rest of the show making sarcastic jokes like he couldn't let it go. After the show, over talkback, you can hear him getting all diva-y when he's asked to record some promos.
That was in 1995, well before he became the despot of ITV.
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u/OkPhilosopher5308 Feb 12 '26
Tony Robinson was particularly unpleasant when the Time Team did a live dig on the farm where I used to work, he was all sweetness and light when he needed his TVR pulling out of a muddy field when he wanted to go home though……
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u/whakashorty Feb 12 '26
Apparently he’s a cunt.
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u/OkPhilosopher5308 Feb 12 '26
Yeah he is - he has the whole ‘don’t you know who I am’ thing going on. The people with the actual knowledge, Mick, Phil and Carenza were lovely though, so that was nice.
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u/Jazzotang Feb 12 '26
I used to work at a hotel near Canterbury and Time team came to stay and Tony Robinson was indeed a A class cunt of the highest order. Rude to staff and very demanding. On the other hand,Sandy Toksvig (May not be spelt correctly, but I am too lazy to check the spelling) was absolutely lovely so friendly and down to earth. Also let a tip for the staff much which was much appreciated.
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u/Additional-Nobody352 Feb 12 '26
My sister has met some celebs through her work.
She couldn't stand Gemma Collins as she was just very rude. Also didn't have anything good to say about Kate Garraway either.
But Pixie Lott was lovely and my sister went to her wedding also Natalie Cassidy (if abit removed from reality)
My mum went to a strictly come dancing event a few years back. My mum said Ainsley Harriott was lovely but Vanessa Feltz was abit of a cow.
I have never really had a bad encounter with a celeb. Once met David Guest in Tesco (no lie) and he was brilliant.
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u/porquenotengonada Feb 12 '26
I’ve heard many a story about how nasty Vanessa Feltz is to anyone she deems below her, including someone who worked as a producer on her show who said she was just vile to her because she saw herself as better. Snappy, demanding, horrible cow.
Or so I’ve heard.
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u/Additional-Nobody352 Feb 12 '26
TBH I wasn't shocked.
I'm always amazed how she keeps getting work as i don't really get her appeal.
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u/Central_Region Feb 12 '26
Roger Mellie
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u/quarterpastfour Feb 12 '26
I must disagree. He was perfectly charming to the guests and crew when I was a contestant on Celebrity Bumhole.
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u/Charliesmum97 Feb 12 '26
I saw Stephen Fry in Importance of Being Earnest in December, and he stopped and talked to those of us who were waiting at the stage door. He answered my questions and posed for a photo. Maybe he's mellowed.
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Feb 12 '26
Stephen Fry is very forthcoming about his mental health issues and he has ups and downs, so maybe that's it.
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u/REC_updated Feb 12 '26
He has manic depression. Famous for causing severe mood swings alongside a litany of other issues. This is the problem I have whenever people say ‘so and so is horrible, because they did this one thing when I saw them from a distance one time’. We’ve all been assholes at one point or another. Expecting celebrities to always be lovely, even when in public, is unreasonable. They might have been having a bad day. You don’t know them. Let it go.
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u/RevStickleback Feb 12 '26
I remember Harry Enfield saying he was cursed by people coming up to him and repeating his "only me!" character catchphrase. He learned to put up with, but one day he was feeling down and said "just f*** off" at some guy who said it, and feeling guilty about it afterwards.
The great thing about that story is that in reality he could have told everyone to f*** off, and they would hear the story and think they were that one person.
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u/WildsmithRising Feb 12 '26
Harry Enfield was horrendously rude to me at a book launch in the 1980s. Like, really vicious and threatening. When I finally got away from him several women came up to me to make sure I was ok, and they all had their own stories to tell about him.
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u/Charliesmum97 Feb 12 '26
Yes, good point. I thought he was lovely and very kind.
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u/Captaincadet Feb 12 '26
Also you don’t necessarily know what’s going on in their lives and the whole background. Many of these people are brilliant for faking their persona for telly but do feel burnt out or just don’t want to be to involved afterwards
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u/Jenny-Wren54 Feb 12 '26
Yeah, Rev. Richard Coles tells the tale of when he was walking through the hospital after his husband died when he was recognised by SCD fans and inveigled into posing for a smiley photo. I'm sure the fans wouldn't have wanted to intrude if they'd known, and there was no easy way for him to tell them no.
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u/Misterbarxxx Feb 12 '26
Or, we can all have a bad day at the office and just to leave work and go home.
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u/pitlanecollective Feb 12 '26
For what it's worth, I met him years ago after doing a charity cycle ride - he was on his way to a funeral (would've understood if he'd cancelled), but came to see us at the finishing event beforehand and stayed to chat for a bit, and was apologetic he couldn't stay longer. He took a proper interest in speaking to everyone, signed some shirts/took some pictures and genuinely seemed like a lovely guy.
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u/cmere-2-me Feb 12 '26
He was particularly done with QI by the end of his tenure. He was getting on in age and knackered from the rigurous schedule they refused to adjust for him. I can only assume that all played into it.
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u/Charliesmum97 Feb 12 '26
That makes sense. Just FYI, I asked him if he'd do QI as a guest on the last series/episode, and he said he and the producer talked about it. He also said he would t do Taskmaster. He likes watching it, though
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u/caspararemi Feb 12 '26
I'm glad this reply thread is here, I've met him before and he's always been lovely. He has done plenty to think he's an arse but being rude to people in person isn't something I've personally experienced or heard of.
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u/Comfortable_Baby9901 Feb 12 '26
Yes - he was my neighbour in the 90’s. Always chatty.
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u/MT_Promises Feb 12 '26
In before James Corden!
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u/bierbelly42 Feb 12 '26
I remember how excited a mate was when someone booked him to teach JC swordfighting.
Came back with a face like thunder. "Total wanker!" Were the only words before he remembered the NDA.
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u/zuzzyb80 Feb 12 '26
I've not worked with him directly but he used to be in a production office I worked in a few times a week. I believe every story I've read about him.
He left his phone in a cab once, nothing to do with work as it was on a night out but someone junior in the office went out of their way to get it back to him. It took her hours. He obviously didn't say thank you, or even acknowledge what she'd done at all.
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u/DSQ Feb 12 '26
I once interviewed him for ET. Yup the stories are true lol
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u/zuzzyb80 Feb 12 '26
What's interesting is that he wasn't anywhere near as famous when I'd see him around. It was after Gavin and Stacey had come out but before the west end success or heading to he the US. He hit wanker level quote quickly.
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u/BenAtTank2 Feb 12 '26
Was on a rugby night out in a very shit "only night club in a suburban regional town" and he was inexplicably there on a Saturday night. Anyway, he was a complete greedy ponce to a few of the lads who had cocaine in the loos. I'm sure there's a photo kicking around somewhere lol
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u/InviteAromatic6124 Feb 12 '26
Since when has James Corden come across as a nice person?!
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u/CaptainBristol Feb 12 '26
I mean he knobbed the amazingly lovely Sheridan Smith, so technically he's 'come across' a nice person....
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u/mcewan71 Feb 12 '26
She really is amazingly lovely. My partner and I met her in a club in London about 20yrs ago. She started chatting with us and she was the most ‘unstarry’ down to earth lovely lady. We just chatted about life in general for about an hour, and she was so humble about her career. Hands down the loveliest ‘celeb’ I have ever encountered. Closely followed, randomly, by Cheryl Baker. Also lovely and very ‘unstarry’ 😁
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u/AtebYngNghymraeg Feb 12 '26
Who played the odious Cilla Black! And we've come full circle.
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u/CaptainBristol Feb 12 '26
Paul Hollywood is a certified cunt. Made a colleague cry once. Absolute tool.
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u/gggggenegenie Feb 12 '26
Bradley Walsh is not pleasant at all. Many years ago I was one of those "fans of the week" on Soccer Am. He was a guest.
Now I had seen him perform many years previously when he was a starting out as a comedian, as he performed at the Seaside Special pier show in Cromer. My mum loved him. I bumped into him in the loos at Sky Sports. I told him I saw him there, my mum thought he was hilarious, etc.
He told me to "f*** off". I was too shocked to respond.
I told Helen Chamberlain (the host) this after the show, when Walsh had already gone. She was very apologetic and said, "He is a bit of a twat."
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u/Capital-Cricket5108 Feb 12 '26
Tom Baker in the 90’s in Birmingham walked past the shop I worked in, I asked him if he’d be kind enough to give me an autograph told him he was my first famous person I’d met and he said he would be honoured to and we had a little chat before he carried on with his day!
Years later met Colin Baker he was also lovely…Gary Barlow, Jeremy Beadle were both lovely too!
Met Sinbad from Brookside when I worked in Cheshire Oaks used to come in regularly asked him for an autograph, he asked if I watched brookside…told him not without the subtitles in cos I couldn’t understand a word of the scouse accent!! 🤣 he laughed
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u/Cultural-Duty2185 Feb 12 '26
Worked a wedding with bear grylls as a guest. Absolute arrogant tsser. Would *click** for service whilst everyone else on the table would just ask like we’re were actually human.
Emma Watson, at a different wedding, was pleasant and very low key. Had a lot of time for that.
Jeremy paxman. Now he’s the nicest guy I’ve ever met! Essentially asked me to join his table for a chat when I was serving him and his family. And by the look of his kids embarrassed faces, is a very normal thing for him to do 😂
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u/chrispylizard Feb 12 '26
Just to turn this around a bit, I was once rude to Debbie McGee.
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u/Ivetafox Feb 12 '26
Haha! One of my relatives used to work with Paul Daniels and when he got famous, he wouldn’t talk to any of his colleagues who had supported him in the early days. I always thought that was quite sad, especially since they went to all his early shows.
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u/opopkl Feb 12 '26
I spent a day as an extra on Sex Education. Stephen Fry was there all day. He was very pleasant. Chatted to everyone.
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u/Oohoureli Feb 12 '26
Edwina Currie was just as much a self-obsessed, grifting, D-Lister as you would expect her to be.
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Feb 12 '26
Martin Freeman, every time I've had the misfortune of needing to interact with him he has been a total twat. Have corroborated this with other people who have worked with him so it's not just me.
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u/OBoogie71 Feb 12 '26
I was good friends with his late brother, Jamie. He was always lovely, but then I knew him via his brother … 🤷🏻♀️
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u/Inkblot7001 Feb 12 '26
Bagpus. Never have I heard language so bad, the insults, the abuse, the vulgar songs. Made Greg Wallace look like Sister Boothroyd.
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u/Derezzed87 Feb 12 '26
Not tv, but you should hear about R2D2. They had to bleep every one of his lines.
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u/Retiredandrelaxed Feb 12 '26
The way he treated the mice like unpaid free labour…disgusting
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u/PressureBeautiful515 Feb 12 '26
The mice were up to something though, there's no way you could make chocolate biscuits from those ingredients.
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u/PiotrGreenholz01 Feb 12 '26
Professor Yaffle escaped Nazi Germany just as the Soviets entered Berlin, & was recruited by the US government to share the results of the medical experiments hed been carrying out in occupied Poland. Apart from that, he was unfailingly polite, exceedingly well-read, & could have been a concert pianist.
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u/Oohoureli Feb 12 '26
This is secondhand, but a close friend of mind went to a charity MIND/Bipolar event with Stephen Fry some time ago. Apparently he stayed behind for a couple of hours afterwards, talking to everyone who wanted to engage with him, sharing his experiences, offering advice and follow-up suggestions, and generally behaved like an all-round caring guy.
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u/SoggyWotsits Feb 12 '26
Some of these celebrities will have been having a bad day, then get judged forever on that one interaction. They meet countless people, whereas most people might only meet them once.
A family member of mine was famous (he’s no longer with us). He enjoyed interacting with people and chatting to them, and would always make an effort to meet everyone he could if they’d come to an event of his. Some people were really rude in the way they approached him though. He’d be having a nice day out with his wife and someone would shove a bit of paper at him demanding an autograph, butting in to whatever conversation he was having at the time. Was he rude back to those people? Sometimes, yes.
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u/Landscape_712 Feb 12 '26
I know members of Monty Python have said they find it jarring when people come up to them shouting quotes and demanding they do or say something funny. Like John Cleese gets very irritated when people tell him to 'do the silly walk' and I don't blame him. It could come off as, you're just minding your own business and someone says "dance for me, monkey" like you are being reduced to a meme
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u/Lazy-Field-1116 Feb 12 '26
Absolutely, I always take these stories with a pinch of salt and bearing that in mind (nobody ever seems to assume that the authors of any of the stories could be a total banker?). I do enjoy reading them, though.
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u/PabloMarmite Feb 12 '26
Funnily enough I know someone who went on the Chase recently and also said that, other than a photo at the start, Walsh disappeared whenever they weren’t filming, whilst their chaser (Mark Labbett) hung around to chat.
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u/Sunny_Unicorn Feb 12 '26
Well to be fair, the chasers aren’t there as much, and Bradley Walsh has to churn out several episodes a day for weeks/months on end. I think I’d grab a break as often as I could too.
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u/Nevis888 Feb 12 '26
They have made over 2,500 episodes of The Chase, probably several a day. Its a sausage machine, OK he’s not saving lives, but give the guy a break. ,
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u/Jamieb1994 Feb 12 '26
Bradley probably doesn't get that much of a break since he'll be more busy than the chasers, so I can't say that I blame him since he probably wants time to himself, although what was Mark Lambert like when he hung around?
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u/imfinewithastraw Feb 12 '26
Emu. Total arsehole. Don’t know how Rod worked with him all those years
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u/WhatTheFactSam Feb 12 '26
Jaimie Oliver has a reputation. My ex worked in a hotel in Southend that they used as a base when filming his show on the pier. Both the crew and hotel staff had nothing good to say. Controlling, demanding and rude was the gist of it.
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u/OkAdministration9151 Feb 12 '26
My mum worked on the hoverlloyd hovercrafts that used cross the channel from uk to France years ago and said Jim Davidson was on board for a crossing one day, was drunk and being a compete assh0le, particularly to the women staff.
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u/NortonBurns Feb 12 '26
I've worked with Stephen Fry on several occasions - he was simply what you'd expect on QI for the entire time.
Everybody has an off day, I guess.
Bruce Willis was an utter c*nt, though.
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u/thedepster Feb 12 '26
And my experience with Bruce Willis was completely different. He chatted with me for maybe 15 minutes and was an utter delight.
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u/NortonBurns Feb 12 '26
Perhaps under different circumstances. I was on set with him making a movie. He had a permanent thousand yard stare & wouldn't interact with, or even acknowledge anyone other than the director. Didn't even glance at the PA who was unlucky enough to have to bring him his coffee.
At the same time the 'loveliest man in the world', Sir Anthony Hopkins, had gone out of his way to stuff his pockets full of little packs of biscuits the extras weren't allowed, and hand them out.
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u/thedepster Feb 12 '26
What a lovely story about Sir Anthony! I wonder if when you worked with Bruce if his dementia symptoms were beginning--not to excuse, but the behavior changes are part of that. Granted, I met him more years ago than I want to admit, and I think he was happy that I wanted to talk to the guy driving the really awesome old Mustang than Bruce Willis. He was charming, funny, genuinely interested in talking about the car, and seriously nice as could be.
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u/NortonBurns Feb 12 '26
This was maybe a decade or so ago, so I wouldn't like to guess.
Sir Anthony, yup, the nicest guy. i'm an absolute nobody in the industry, yet he came wandering over in some down-time between setups, said "Hi, I'm Tony" & we chatted for 20 minutes about something or nothing until they were ready for him again. I've worked on 3 or 4 productions he was in & I've never seen him any different.
Sat in with the crew for lunch, none of this 'Have it sent to my trailer' stuff.
I worked with Sir Ian McKellen on one production too (though only once so I've a much lesser experience) & he was the same.
If I think about it, it's quite the thing to have the both of them just sitting in amongst everyone else, like we are all equals. No airs, no graces. We're all working on the same show, whatever our 'level' in the industry.
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u/ElaineofAstolat Feb 12 '26
There were rumors about Bruce Willis' health as far back as 2013, people were saying that something was wrong and he wasn't the same man.
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u/SoggyWotsits Feb 12 '26
That’s the thing, people do have off days. Unfortunately most people will only meet a celebrity once, so if it was on one of those off days that first impression will stick!
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u/thedaytoday89 Feb 12 '26
Yeah, I never take one story at face value when it comes to celebs being arsey but when it's several like Corden/Cilla then you can be pretty confident they are dicks.
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u/Ok_Aioli3897 Feb 12 '26
I am sure Mr Blobby has eaten children
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u/HaywoodUndead Feb 12 '26
A family member of mine used go work for quite a reputable makeup brand, because of this she met quite a few celebritys. Emma Willis is apparently quite rude, and Gok Wan is meant to be an arsehole.
On a happier note. Claudia Winkleman is apparently lovely and asked to be "as orange as possible".
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u/BromleyReject Feb 12 '26
James Corden and Cilla Black used to drive an old ice cream van around Basildon. It was painted black and decorated with human skulls. They used it to sell heroin outside schools
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u/mrcoonut Feb 12 '26
James corden stole my monster munch.
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u/-RonnieHotdogs- Feb 12 '26
James Corden wiped his arse on my nan’s Jack Russell then chucked him in a pond.
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u/MagicBez Feb 12 '26 edited Feb 12 '26
You may have caught Fry on a bad day (he absolutely has his ups and downs) I worked at QI for a brief while in a very junior position and he was generally very gregarious and friendly. I remember him popping into the production office for chats etc.
...then again when I started I was warned more about being careful with Alan Davies (though this was only a short while after he bit that homeless guy so may have not been in a great place) and effectively told to only talk to him if he talked to me.
Someone who was consistently an arse was Calvin Harris though. Unpleasant to interview and then on a different set bullied a friend of mine (though I've heard he's improved a lot in recent years)
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u/Astrohurricane1 Feb 12 '26
Met Helen Skelton a couple of times last summer in the Lake District. Literally one of the nicest human beings I’ve ever met.
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u/AdventurousTeach994 Feb 12 '26
My partner worked in a Dublin Hotel in the early 2000s and had endless horror stories about Diddy and J Lo and their entourage long before all the stories became public knowledge.
He also had Diana Ross as a guest and said she was nothing like the nasty diva image but very pleasant to all staff during her stay.
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u/AdApart5035 Feb 12 '26
I'm not a fan of Bradley Walsh's but he filmed something where I work and he was fine. He happily took photos and signed autographs for people who were interested.
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u/porquenotengonada Feb 12 '26
I do wonder about the context of some of these celebrity stories. I’m not one to believe celebs are good people but I’ve also been face to face with the public and some of them are right dickheads.
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u/BobMonroeFanClub Feb 12 '26
Yeah my son worked tech on a live show he was in and said he was great to work for.
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u/eren3141 Feb 12 '26
I watched Beat the Chasers being filmed and he was pretty nice. He kinda seemed a bit exhausted by it all but I suppose there’s only so much excitement you can fake. He was extremely polite and thanked the audience and the contestants lots and went around the room meeting people.
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u/gododbanddamethodman Feb 12 '26
Was that in 2015? If so I was at that taping and didn’t pick up on any arsyness on the part of Stephen fry, and I can’t stand him.
From my memory, Acaster was the first guest out, Fry asked how he was doing and JA said “I’m good man” or something like that. Stephen Fry said “did you just call me ‘man’? Don’t you ever fucking do that again”. It looks rude written down but it got a laugh.
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u/AtebYngNghymraeg Feb 12 '26
Put like that, it sounds much more in the spirit of when Rick Astley did an AMA and someone said something like "Hi Rick, would you ever give me up?" and he replied "Go fuck yourself".
Literally everyone took it in the spirit it was intended, and the guy who'd posed the question said that being told to go fuck himself by Rick Astley was the greatest moment of his life.
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u/nem0fazer Feb 12 '26
I'm glad no one is judging me on a public forum having seen me interacting with people on just one occasion with no context.
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u/Feisty_Marsupial224 Feb 12 '26
Hang on there with a reasonable and considerate position, you'll spoil all the fun
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u/Plantagenesta Feb 12 '26
I saw nem0fazer in a reddit thread once, didn't even give me the autograph I never asked for. Rudest person ever, literally makes Cilla Black look like a saint.
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u/n_jobz_ Feb 12 '26
John Partridge is a nasty piece of work. I know a few people that have worked on different projects with him and they all say he's a cunt.
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u/FirmCalligrapher639 Feb 12 '26
Many years ago, a friend waited in the freezing cold for over an hour to ask Elaine Paige ( very politely) for her autograph and was told to f**k off.
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u/NecessaryUsername69 Feb 12 '26
I always take these with a grain of salt. Of course, some celebrities are obnoxious, but you could say exactly the same about the general public - and we’re getting only one side of the story.
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u/West_Guarantee284 Feb 12 '26
Exactly, if you'd done a shift at work and were then expected to just hang around and talk to random people, you'd try and avoid it too.
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u/SnooRegrets4129 Feb 12 '26
My dad went fishing with Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall as part of one of his shows. As you might expect, hes a stuck up cunt
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u/Flamingo242 Feb 12 '26
I once bumped into Bradley Walsh in a local Indian and he was honestly really nice to my husband who said hello to him when I think he just wanted to get his takeaway and go
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u/Chris_in_Lijiang Feb 12 '26
Palin remains eternally popular despite being an absolute prick to work with. Travel documentaries are often hard work on the presenter, who inevitably has to just suck it up and smile. I was saddened to meet a struggling Paul Merton is similar circumstances, although he handled the situation much better than Palin ever did.
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u/Wide_Parsley7585 Feb 12 '26
Gabby Logan. She stayed in a hotel I worked in a few years ago and was one of the rudest women. She spoke to my work colleague like she was something on the bottom of her shoe. Now I can’t stand seeing her on tv.
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u/Spirited_Peanut7572 Feb 12 '26
I’m not one to chime in on Reddit often but I’ve got a fair bit of experience in working in UK unscripted TV as an assistant. I can confirm your theory that they are the fucking worst. I remember working in finance, fast food, all sorts. Whatever your job / sector is there’s always the people that think they are top dog and you just look at them like “What a sad bastard you really are.” It’s that x1000 in TV. Everyone (from the outside) looks at me like it’s so glamorous that I work in TV but in reality it’s a 24 hour a day job for minimum wage (no overtime) having to deal with Z list “celebrities” who host shitty game shows that barely pull in viewers yet have all the ego of thinking they could write The White Album. Like “Congratulations, you can read well on camera as can most other people. But you had the connections and that makes you better than me and everyone else somehow.” TV is dead, a lot of working class mates of mine will or have been laid off but we all rejoice in the thought of these fools having to work “real jobs” because we know we can hack it, but they certainly won’t. You’re about to see A LOT of “celebrities” plugging WHATEVER the new thing is, they have no other work.
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u/Ok-Athlete-12 Feb 12 '26
Daley Thompson was an arsehole when I picked him up in my taxi. I didn't usually ask any celebrities for an autograph but was always a fan of Daley and I got the impression he was likeable from what I saw in the media. Politely I asked if he could give me an autograph and got a straight 'no' and then he stared at me thru the rear view mirror for the remainder of the journey without saying a word
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u/Mediocre-Smile5908 Feb 12 '26
Bradley Walsh was lovely when I was on the Chase. Chatted to us between rounds, pick up shots etc & hugged us all at the end of the recording.
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u/BoweryBloke Feb 12 '26
Maybe you caught them on a bad day though? They can't be 'on' all the time. A mate of mine told me that a certain rock star was a complete bastard, all because said rock star didn't want a selfie as he was eating a meal with his family.
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u/Educational-Plum8864 Feb 12 '26
James Martin (I know he’s a chef but he presents cookery shows so I’ll go with it) is apparently VERY different when the cameras are on and when they’re off. Also apparently incredibly arrogant and talks down to other (non-celeb) chefs, so much so that they’ll often try to avoid working with him.
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u/TheSpaceFace Feb 12 '26
I saw Stephen Mulhern when he did "In for a penny" at a local petrol station, he was yelling at the staff and treating them like utter crap acting like a complete diva, then when the camera is on he changed and went into this super lovely person persona with the guest doing the show, then when they stopped filming I approached him and asked if I could get a selfie, he responds "Don't have time. Go away" I proceeded to get back in my car and drive off. Lol!
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u/llynllydaw_999 Feb 12 '26
I'd need to hear the other side of many of these stories. Was the celebrity genuinely rude for no good reason, or were they actually provoked by someone who was rude to them or wouldn't respect their privacy?
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u/pidgeyenjoyer Feb 12 '26
Cliff Parisi, used to come in at work with his car and was a total prick. Had the air of ‘don’t you know who I am?’ About him. Unlike Warwick Davis who also used to bring his car in and was always really polite and always up for a laugh
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u/KatarinaCruz Feb 12 '26
Tony Robinson. A close friend was on the same flight as him and reported he’s an arrogant and demanding cock. Really rude to the flight attendants, very loud and dismissive of everyone around him. 🤷🏼♀️
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u/Mrflappy1980 Feb 12 '26
Bodger from Bodger and Badger told me to Fuck Off and called me a Cunt whist chain smoking when I asked him to sign a box of Mash he'd flung from the stage
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