A lot of people confuse me for Stavros Flatley. Something I have to deal with almost every week
Actor and comic Omid Djalili is making daytime TV fun with his new quiz show... just don’t expect him to dance, says EMMA JOHNSON
BRITS just can’t get enough of gameshows and quizzes and now we have a new brain-busting challenge on ITV, from the team behind The Chase. Presented by funnyman Omid Djalili, Winning Combination sees nine contestants compete in a series of fast-paced general knowledge rounds to get themselves, and their number, through to the final where four players try and win a four-digit jackpot defined by their digits. Here, Londoner Omid, 55, tells us more about the weekday show.
How would you explain your new show, Winning Combination?
NINE players are randomly assigned a number. It’s up to them to try and get themselves and their number into the final.
The four that make it combine their numbers to make up the jackpot. It’s then a race against the clock. You’ll probably get it quicker than something like Pointless.
It’s quite simple and you’ll pick it up pretty rapidly.
How would you describe your hosting style?
I WASN’T really aware of any style I had... but if I had to describe it I’d say it’s a mixture of genial host and a Friars Club ‘Roast’ master.
It’s not exactly a new take but it’s me – and who ever thought I’d be doing something like this? – so it’s bound to be something new you’ve not seen before!
What’s your favourite round?
THE Battle round – very exciting. You can sense the tension. And it’s the most difficult part to host as I have to prompt contestants who forget to nominate someone to take a point off while I ask the questions. It’s high pressure. But the drama is spell binding.
That’s the beauty of the show: on the one hand they battle against each other and it’s highly competitive. But then, when they get into the combination, everybody has to work as a team.
It’s kind of a metaphor for life: work with some, compete against others.
Do you have some examples of what contestants wanted to spend their winnings on?
YES, it’s anything from the most humble to the outlandish.
One wanted to buy more plants for their patio. A realistic wish, as they have to share the prize money four ways. One person from Nottingham said they wanted to go to New York on a First Class flight. I had to be honest and tell them, “You’ll get as far as Leicester”.
What were some of the funniest answers from contestants?
SO MANY to choose from... but this one guy, Freddie, an Elvis impersonator, kept buzzing in early before I’d finished the questions, giving wildly wrong answers.
I told him to calm down and wait for the whole question.
Then came the question ‘Who voices Buzz Lightyear in Toy Story?’ he buzzed in and said, ‘It’s Woody…. wait...wait.. I know this... Woody... Allen!’
I lost it. He’d confused the characters of Woody, voiced by Tom Hanks, and Tim Allen who voices Buzz to get Woody Allen, literally the last person you’d think of getting to voice Buzz Lightyear. It took me a few minutes to get my composure back. I was laughing so much.
Have the contestants lucked out by being in lockdown doing so many quizzes?
A LOT of them hadn’t been with human beings for a long time. Some of them said, ‘I’ve literally been all alone the whole time in lockdown’ or ‘I’ve only seen my family for the last five months, no one else’... there was a real frisson of nerves and excitement.
We observed social distancing very diligently but you could tell some of them couldn’t believe they were there – not seeing anyone for months then suddenly being in a studio. But online quizzes are a great thing. You’ve got to keep your brain alive.
If there was a board of answers about you – what would be an obscure fact that could come up?
A LOT of people don’t know I was in the Oscar-winning film Gladiator. Not a bad little part either. But sadly my character had no name. Just “slave trader” (selling Russell Crowe to Oliver Reed). Notting Hill too. My part got cut down so it’s basically blink and you miss it, but I give Hugh Grant the orange juice he then pours over Julia Roberts’ character. Also a lot of people confuse me for Stavros Flatley. Something I have to deal with almost every week. And that’s not even his real name.
If your show had an ‘ask the host’ feature – how would you fare?
VERY badly. I hope it never comes to that. I’m the kind of person who gives myself a point watching University Challenge if I understand a question! Once I shouted out ‘Henry VIII!’ and the answer was nitrogen… an unwanted risk asking this host.
If Winning Combination was turned into a drama, who would you want to play you?
THERE’S no reason why I shouldn’t
play myself. I’m not ancient and I’m not too young.
If it happens in the next 10 years, I imagine I’d play myself. I must say it would be gutting if I was played by Stavros Flatley…
Imagine – I’m totally available – and my agent calls to say, ‘They’ve gone with Stavros Flatley.’ What? Why? ‘They just think he’s got more screen presence than you.’
In the first episode you joke about getting heckles. What is the best heckle you’ve ever had?
THE most remarkable heckle I ever had was upstairs at a pub gig and there were about 100 people.
I tried out a new joke that got absolutely nothing. It was silent. Then I audibly heard someone at the back say, ‘There used to be a pool table in here’. Which is less of a heckle, more of a wistful reminder of a happier time.
Being a quiz host is a new role for you. Have you ever turned down a role that you regretted?
YES. Well that’s one reason I couldn’t turn this opportunity down. Years ago I was offered a role in the very first episode of Game of Thrones. I read the script and thought ‘This makes no sense’.
All I had to do was go in and have a meeting, and I didn’t. It slipped my mind. Probably because I was convinced there was no point and nothing would come of it. I still haven’t watched it in case I love it. Because then I’d have to lock myself in a room and primal scream into a pillow for a week.