TV Times

Ready or Not

Presenting duo Sam and Mark on shocking unsuspecti­ng shoppers in a shiny new Saturday night game show…

- Ready or Not SATURDAY / BBC1 / 6PM

Saturday / BBC1

Paddy Mcguinness is great value as the host of Take Me Out, so he’s the perfect choice to provide commentary for this game show in which the public will take on surprise challenges. Presenting duo Sam and Mark tell us about it…

We all love shows where the public get the surprise of their lives, so we can expect to be royally entertaine­d by BBC1’S new comedy game show Ready or Not.

‘It’s fun, mad and people at home will want to be part of it,’ says Take Me Out host Paddy Mcguinness, who provides a voiceover as different presenters spring quirky games and quizzes on passers-by.

TV Times quizzed duo Sam and Mark – aka Sam Nixon, 32, and Mark Rhodes, 36, who host one game, ‘The Lift’…

Ready or not sounds like fun! How would you sum it up?

Mark: It’s a guerrilla-style game show where unsuspecti­ng people win prizes. Each game is a crazy concept in itself but they’re all different. Sam: There’s a surprise around every corner and this great Candid Camera feel where you get to see the shock from contestant­s who’ve no idea that they’re about to take part in a game show.

What is your game, the Lift, like? Sam: We commandeer­ed a lift in a shopping centre and decked it out as a sparkly TV studio. Then, when the doors opened on someone, we’d try to get them in the lift. One of us would ask them questions and if they got them right they’d keep choosing different

floors of the centre until they found the other one of us who’d be waiting with a prize. It was tense in that tiny lift and shattering for whoever had the prize, because we had to leg it up the stairs to get there in time! Mark: You’d stand there with a telly hoping they’d pick the right floor!

Any memorable contestant­s? Mark: My favourite was an elderly lady who got a question about rap music. You should’ve seen her face because she didn’t have a clue, but she got it right, and the best bit was that she won a drone. She was so sweet and said, ‘I love it but what is

Whenever people spot us in a lift now they might panic! Sam

it?’ There’s a really nice mix of reactions from people. You don’t know what’ll come out of their mouths; it’s exciting but terrifying. Sam: Yes, whenever people spot us in a lift now they might panic! You never know what you’ll get from the public and whether they’ll play along. But that makes it brilliant.

Who are your favourite game show presenters?

Mark: I loved Bob Monkhouse. He was old school and so friendly and warm. Richard Osman and Alexander Armstrong have a great rapport on Pointless too.

Sam: For me it was Des O’connor on Take Your Pick. He was great with the contestant­s. I also loved Les Dennis on Family Fortunes with lines like, ‘If it’s there, I’ll give you the money myself,’ if they gave a stupid answer. Bradley Walsh is brilliant on The Chase too. He gets really into the game. We’re going on The Chase soon and I’m scared!

You met back in 2003 as Pop Idol contestant­s. do you have fond memories of that time?

Sam: Massively. As soon as Mark and I met, we got on like a house on fire and without that show, we wouldn’t be doing this so it was wonderful and we’re proud of it. Mark: Fifteen years is a long time and parents of kids on our CBBC show Sam & Mark’s Friday Windup sometimes say they watched us as kids, which makes us feel old! Sam and I are just like brothers now. Even our daughters were only born a few days apart in 2014 and their initials are S [for Scarlett, Mark’s daughter with his wife Harriet] and M [Meridon, Sam’s daughter with wife Anne], so perhaps we’ve subconscio­usly created the next Sam and Mark. Sam: Or maybe Mel and Sue!

Caren Clark and Hannah Davies

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