Ann Widdecombe did one show and thought she was Victoria Wood ..it still sends a shiver through me
Paul Merton picks worst ever HIGNFY guest
PAUL Merton has declared Ann Widdecombe his least favourite host on Have I Got News For You, revealing she ordered him to “be amusing”.
He claims the former Tory politician’s successful first stint on the show in 2006 went to her head, making her so arrogant she thought she was a comedy genius when she returned in 2007.
Merton, 60, a team captain, said: “She’s telling the producer what jokes will and won’t work. She turned to me at one point and said, ‘Come on, be amusing; that’s what you’re paid for’.
“Even as I say it, it sends a shiver through my heart. It’s like, the arrogance of the woman, you know? Suddenly, she thought she was Victoria Wood.”
Speaking to the Radio Times as the show enters its 55th series, Merton said it was his “worst experience” on HIGNFY.
He said: “Now, there’s a thing in showbusiness. The first time you do something, you’re going to be a bit rabbit-caught-in-the-headlights but adrenaline gets you through. Then the programme is edited and her friends see it and say, ‘Oh, you were very good on that’.” He said that explained the change in her attitude when she next appeared.
But Widdecombe, now 70, was then so offended by panellist Jimmy Carr, she vowed never to return.
She labelled the comic’s humour a “barrage of filth” and said: “There’s no amount of money for which I would go through those two recording hours again. At one stage I nearly walked out.”
Paul’s rival team captain Ian Hislop,
57, voted former Labour leader Neil Kinnock his least favourite host, because the recording dragged on for three hours.
Speaking of other politicians who had appeared, he said: “John Prescott was very unhappy after the show. And Alastair Campbell was furious, because I’d managed to get the words ‘weapons of mass destruction’ into every answer.”
The show returns on BBC1 at 9.30pm on Friday with Jeremy Paxman, 67, in the presenter’s chair for the first time.