Interior design career not a total Carr crash
ALAN LEARNS ON HOSTING JOB
IF the TV work or comedy gigs ever dry up, at least Alan Carr knows he could make a killing as an interior designer.
The funnyman has become a dab hand at home makeovers since hosting Interior Design Masters, which returns for a fifth series next Tuesday at 8pm on BBC One and iPlayer. Alan said: “I wasn’t interested in interior design when I started. I love the show, don’t get me wrong, but I was a bit, ‘It’s only wallpaper – get over yourself!’
“But as the series went on and I saw more and more designs, I realised – and I know this sounds pretentious – the power of colour and space.” Alan recently put his skills to the test with pal Amanda Holden on Amanda And Alan’s Italian Job, where the pair set to work on a dilapidated 17th-century house in Tuscany.
He continued: “I was renovating our little house in Italy doing what the designers were doing back home.
“I was upcycling, finding wallpapers, tiling, panelling – on a budget, too.
“But they didn’t have Amanda bossing them about – joke!”
And the comic dug out the mood board to spruce up his own pad, too.
Alan added: “I got these bright teal tiles for my kitchen. I thought, ‘Sod it – let’s have a bit of colour.’ Best thing I ever did.
It’s a talking point when people come into my home.”
Alan reunites with series judge Michelle Ogundehin and believes the show – following 10 novice designers looking for their big breaks – stands out from the reality TV crowd.
He said: “Sometimes I am shocked and think Michelle and the guest judge got it wrong. But then that’s what separates this show from a lot of others.
“Michelle will so eloquently say why it was wrong and then you go, ‘Oh, I see.’
“The show is fair – no one stays in because their nan’s not well or they didn’t get a Christmas present as a child.
“It’s whether they follow the brief.”