HOTSEAT ON WITH THE

EVERYTHING about the new series is bigger and better than the last.

Send to All is back, where I send some very silly texts to all the contacts in celebrities’ phones and we see what hilarious replies they get.

Unexpected Star returns. So many people have nominated people for us to surprise that we have been able to pick some wonderful people.

There’s a married couple, a pilot, the oldest Unexpected Star at 92 years old and the youngest at 11 years old. WE ARE doing more and more elaborate things and it’s crazy the way we’re surprising people in the theatre (the series is filmed in front of a live audience at the Theatre Royal on Drury Lane, London).

Last year we turned the theatre into a hotel and the attention to detail was incredible.

This series we have an actual aeroplane fuselage on stage and the Unexpected Star, who is a pilot, sits in a seat and the front of the plane falls down for him to find himself in the middle of the stage.

We’ve turned the theatre into a haunted house complete with a ghost train ride that travels through a set of doors straight on to the stage.

We also turned the theatre into a cinema and built an actual auditorium on the stage.

The Unexpected Star sat in her seat with her popcorn and the screen fell down to reveal the packed Theatre Royal on their feet applauding her.

All the Unexpected Stars have been incredibly shocked but have brought the house down with their amazing performances at the end of each show. would open on the other side and they would find themselves on the stage.

Only the lift doors wouldn’t open the whole way so I had to climb in and get them all out. IT ALMOST went wrong this series with our oldest star to date, David (92) who thought he was going to buy a new walking frame, and Lionel Blair, who was part of the prank, called him by his name.

David kept saying: “How does he know my name?” But we got away with it! SO MANY times people say things like, “it’s a dream come true to perform for so many people and on TV”. But when the Unexpected Star is in their nineties like David is, it felt that much more real and poignant because he really had waited a lifetime for this moment and he was determined to make the most of it and he really loved it.

I was watching the monitor at the side of the stage and thought, “this is amazing, this is everything the Unexpected Star can be”.

It encapsulated it perfectly and I did well up. WE’VE got Holly Willoughby, Eamonn Holmes and Ruth Langsford, Josh Groban – who’s our first American, Anton du Beke and Bradley Walsh – and we’re recording Cheryl, too.

We’ve been getting people out of bed and taking them to their bathroom where there’s been a pop star singing in their shower and they have to identify who it is.

We’ve had some great special guests for The Midnight Gameshow like Mr Motivator, who made people exercise in their bed, Timmy Mallett playing Mallet’s Mallet, SpongeBob SquarePants, Joey Essex, Wayne Sleep and Derek Acorah to name just a few.

We’ve also filmed a special celebrity Midnight Gameshows for this series with Gino D’Campo, which is as funny as you would imagine, and are filming another one but obviously can’t say (who it is) as it will be a big surprise for them – but it’s a great one. WE’VE got amazing music performances this year from Nile Rodgers, Rita Ora, Kylie, George Ezra, Paloma Faith, Little Mix, Cheryl, Michael Bublé.

I had a great moment with Michael where I asked him if he could teach me to sing like him and he said, ‘Why we don’t sing together?’ so we did. It was great because my wife and children came to watch his performance.

I did every dance move I could think of in-between. I even greatly embarrassed my children by doing that floss dance very badly.

It certainly felt very showbizzy. What a charming, lovely man he was, very generous and game for a laugh.