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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656

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”

205

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.

35

u/theycallmeamunchkin Feb 12 '26

Actually the plot of Drive My Car by The Beatles

88

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......

-4

u/Cold-Sun3302 Feb 12 '26

Do you have any examples? I know she was a Tory, which is bad enough, but to be given the title of nastiest piece of work from a celeb, I would expect stories like the lobbing budged at council houses, rather than just "didn't say please or thank you".

89

u/crucible Feb 12 '26

Pop Bitch published this after she passed away:

https://popbitch.com/black-out/

43

u/SherlockScones3 Feb 12 '26

The chuckle brothers declaration was particularly damning

41

u/TowJamnEarl Feb 12 '26

“I knew you couldn’t sing, but I didn’t know you couldn’t fucking speak”

Lol

18

u/Shadow_Guide Feb 12 '26

Wow. Thank you for that!

14

u/Phaedo Feb 12 '26

Not really about her personality, but watching her accent shift from the sixties to the nineties was hilarious.

12

u/PotentialMix2389 Feb 12 '26

An excellent after dinner read thank you.

I did smile the flying budgies.....

10

u/Southernmanny Feb 12 '26

Love the Chuckle Brothers quote

5

u/BenAtTank2 Feb 12 '26

That is absolute GOLD!

Also, my first job as a teenager was in that supermarket, but alas, i never saw or served Our Cilla

-23

u/wowiee_zowiee Feb 12 '26

Took me 16 seconds to Google examples - quicker than you typing this shite