‘I’m sexier than George Clooney’

We chat to voice of Big Brother, Marcus Bentley

Is it true that you got the Big Brother gig because of the way you said “Chickens”? It is! The long story is, I’d left drama school in 1992 and had been a jobbing actor, but when the offers dried up, I started doing voiceover work. There were all these rumblings about a house being built and a show coming over from Holland, then I got asked to record a script. I sent something in and, the next thing I knew, I’d got the job. It was years later that the Channel 4 commissioning editor told me it was all because of the way I’d said “chickens”. What was your workload like on the show? In the beginning, I was on site for 14 hours every day of the week. They’d stitch a rough cut together overnight of that night’s show. Then all the producers would arrive at 8AM and watch it – sometimes they might hate it and tell everyone to start again. If something controversial happened, the producers would be fighting with the lawyers to get it shown. It would all only be finished about two hours before it was broadcast. There were times when the show had already started, and we were still finishing part four! When did you realise how big it had become? In the beginning, for me, it was just money. It wasn’t very good money, but it was nine weeks of solid pay. But then, I took my daughter to get a pair of shoes and as soon as I said something, this woman realised who I was and flew off around the shop like a budgie out of a cage. Also, a newspaper once wrote about the world’s sexiest men and, I swear to God, I beat George Clooney. They said I had the voice of melting caramel. How often do people ask you to say “Day X in the Big Brother house”? A lot! Big Brother has been on people’s minds because of the lockdown, so I get asked on Twitter to say things and record birthday messages. I do them if I feel generous. I’ve recorded thousands of voicemails over the years. n

‘I’ve recorded thousands of voicemails’