FORMER PHOENIX Nights star Paddy McGuinness is back on ITV1 presenting another series of cheeky dating show Take Me Out. He recently helped to launch BT Vision Essential – so we caught up with him to find out more.
What can fans expect from the new series of Take Me Out?
It will be a lot more glamorous. They’ve changed the Island of Fernando’s, that’s a different place altogether now.
Were people flocking to apply?
Yeah, when we advertised it, the first week we had 35,000 people.
Is there anything about a man that would instantly make a female contestant turn off her light?
I think if he starts talking and he’s a bit of an idiot, then they won’t wear it. That’s why we can’t do the show the other way round with lads behind there, because lads will just leave their lights on full stop – it doesn’t matter who comes out. So that’s why we do it with the girls, because they will give the lads a little bit of grace, but if they starting acting up they’ll just turn the lights off.
Tell us about the catchphrases – the Paddy-isms – where do they come from?
For all the “Let the toad see the hole”, “Let the nut see the bolt”, “Let the treacle see the pudding”, basically we write a load at the beginning of the show. Then as we use them up, we put a whiteboard and a marker in the studio and we get the audience to write them. And 90% of them we can’t use, but the 10% we can are little blocks of gold.
It’s kind of a cross between Blind Date meets Generation Game meets Britain’s Got Talent
There’s always going to be a Blind Date comparison with Take Me Out. How does it feel to be a 21st-century Cilla?
Hah! I don’t know, it’s a strange one really because I know it’s a dating show but it’s kind of a cross between Blind Date meets Generation Game meets Britain’s Got Talent.
Do you keep tabs on the people who get together?
Yeah, recently a couple got engaged. They never actually went on a date! It was a guy called Fabian, and the girl whose light he turned off is the girl he’s now engaged to.
You got married in the summer, congratulations.
God bless you.
Any advice on how to achieve wedded bliss?
My single mates, if they ask me for any advice I just tell them to lie through their teeth. Because if they were to be honest with girls and say, “We like playing on the Xbox and going to football” it’s not going to get them very far.
Your Saturday Night Live tour took place at the end of 2011. Did you enjoy doing stand-up again?
When you’re touring, you normally do a hundred-odd nights all over the country in theatres. I like being up on stage, it’s great when you get the audience feedback – I just don’t like being on the road.
Why ‘Saturday Night Live’?
When I was a kid I used to love watching Saturday night TV. I loved the vibe of that and that’s what I kind of wanted to recreate on stage live. With it being arenas, I decided to be a little bit different and put a proper show on.
Does it make you nervous playing that size of venue?
No, you get more nervous playing small rooms, when you first start off and you’re doing 30 people in the back of a pub. At least when they’re buying tickets to come in and watch you they’ll give you five or ten minutes’ grace, you know. You do get nervous but it’s enjoyable once you get into the rhythm of it.
Take Me Out is on ITV1 on Saturdays at 7:30pm and then you can watch on Catch Up.
What’s your favourite Paddy-ism from Take Me Out? Let us know with a comment below. And follow our TV, sport and film chit-chat at @tvfrombt on Twitter
