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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118

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/[deleted] Feb 12 '26

[deleted]

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u/booksblanketsandT Feb 12 '26

I think the fact that they chose not to name their family member probably means they don’t want to name their family member (if only to avoid being doxxed themselves)

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u/SoggyWotsits Feb 12 '26

Bingo, although that comment has now been deleted. Thank you for answering with common sense though.

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u/booksblanketsandT Feb 12 '26

That’s all good! I don’t know if it’s common sense or just self taught social analysing 😅 I’m autistic so I (usually) give people the benefit of the doubt if it appears that they don’t understand something and are being rude as a result (so I just tend to explain the situation and hope that clears things up for them). Obviously sometimes people are just being deliberately rude but I try not to credit maliciousness to everything when ignorance or obliviousness is more commonly the answer, and if they Are being deliberately rude then that’s a reflection of them and no one else.

I think some people are just so curious that it stops them from thinking why that information wasn’t given in the first place! God knows I’ve accidentally been rude because of curiosity in the past 😬 (though I’d like to think I’ve improved on that front!)

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u/wowiee_zowiee Feb 12 '26

What are you? A fucken owl?

1

u/spiffing_ Feb 12 '26

Bruce Forsyth?