As Keith Lemon prepares for the return of Through The Keyhole, I thought it was only right to catch up with the man himself to find out more about the new series.
For many, Tuesday was back to work day, and Keith Lemon was no different. Shortly after his appearance on Loose Women, where he paid tribute to the late Carrie Fisher, and before our chat officially began, Keith told me that he woke up thinking “Oh no, I’ve got to go to work”, but by the second interview he said “I forgot that I love doing this!"
If you're yet to watch Through The Keyhole, where have you been? It's basically Keith Lemon having a nose around celebrities houses whilst a panel of more celebrities have to guess whose house it is from a series of clues... Or clueseses as Keith likes to call them.
Here's what Keith told me about the new series...
Can you believe we're here talking about a fourth series?
No, I can’t believe it. It’s crazy, but I’ve always said, if we can get the houses we’ll just keep it going because it’s a really fun job.
It’s a different type of fun to the Sketch Show or Celebrity Juice, it’s like going on tour with your mates. And then we make telly whilst we’re on tour.
Do you think people are more open to letting you look around their house now?
Well I would say no, but our booker might say yes! I don’t really know. They basically give me a sheet of paper with names on and I tick the ones that I think would be fun to do. Some people ask me “Who has turned you down?” - Well I suspect Brad Pitt has, I bet Simon Cowell has. Loads of people probably have.
But we still seem to be doing alright with getting houses. We’ve got some great ones in this series.
Where in the world do you go this series?
We go over to America and we’ve some great names there. We did a few in America. We went to France too... and... Do you know what, we filmed it June! That’s the funny thing. That’s why I can’t remember!
Who do you have on the panel this series?
On the first episode we’ve got Fearne Cotton, Will Mellor and Judge Rinder, or Robert. He’s been on Juice before and he’s really nice, I get on with him. I just didn’t know that he pulled monkey faces whilst he was dancing.
He pulled some funny faces didn’t he? It was like his mouth was being possessed. Anyway, he did well in that dance programme didn’t he?
Erm... Paddy (McGuinness) is on. Jimmy Carr is on. Kelly Brook was on the Christmas one. Jonathan Ross is on - the usual faces! I just get me mates in. It’s nice to have your mates on. Especially if your mates make for good guests.
Any rooms that you’ve not been allowed in to?
Yeah, there’s always a room you can’t go in and that’s where you think “Oh, that must be the sex den then!” It’s always the quiet ones, the most surprising person to have a sex den was an innocent boy/girl next door!
What’s been the weirdest thing you’ve found this series?
The weirdest thing this series is probably fake tan stains on the toilet seat. You think you’d just clean it off wouldn’t you? But we don’t film it, because we’re not rude. I just tell everyone about it instead! (Laughs)
Fake tan can be difficult to deal with. I used to wear fake tan, but I haven’t worn it for years. I’ve seen a few bedsheets that have been stained by fake tan. It looks like someone’s had a run problem basically. It looks like someone has shat all over the sheets!
Normally it’s the posher people. Posh people are dirty bastards! (Laughs)
The most surprising?
The most surprising is generally the gaff that you go to. You have expectation of what a place might be like and then it’s totally different!
Someone who’s really well turned out might have a not-so-clean place as you might think. And then somebody who’s been in show business for two minutes might have the biggest gaff you’ve ever seen! You think, how have they got that?! Have they got a side business or something?
It’s always surprising when you go into people’s houses. Always.
From the previous three series, whose house surprised you the most then?
Rylan’s surprised me. Because it were quite big and posh. It weren’t particularly my taste, it was camp as hell!
He had glittery wallpaper so you couldn’t lean on, otherwise it’d cut your face. Where’s he got all his money from? He’s only been doing telly 10 minutes!
I remember Jack Osbourne’s house being nice, but that’s not really a surprise because he’s from the Osbourne’s, so they’ve got dollar bills all over the place. He’s actually got a very humble place, it’s very homely and not really rockstarry - it’s nice. It’s one of my favourite houses his.
Anyone’s house you’re yet to have a nose around but would love to?
I’d like to do Kylie's house. I’d like to do anything with Kylie if I’m honest. Just stand in the street and go “Oh it’s cold Kylie ain’t it? Put some trousers on and stop walking around with those hot pants!"
I’d like to do Cowell’s. I’d like to do Jonathan Ross’ house. Especially at Halloween. If we did a Halloween special we should do his house - it’s like a ghost train! I don’t think we’ve ever asked him. I don’t think so. I don’t recall...