I was live on Channel 4. I did not swear.
I was drunk, the tickets were free, don’t judge me (*).

I went to a Big Brother Eviction night (2006, the one where they put that annoying bitch Nikki back into the house to rekindle her showmance with eventual winner Pete) with a mate who worked with the boyfriend of one of the production team. We stood in the cage, behind Davina (you can see me very, very clearly on many of the bits that Davina does to camera); I wanted to see what a live TV show was like and it was actually quite impressive watching the evening’s events unfold.

But the bit that will stay with me, amongst all the cameras and lights and technical equipment is the doors into the house. When the contestants are released back into the wild to be lauded on the cover of Hello and Chav Monthly, they appear from behind the doors at the top of the stairs to a fanfare of boos and cheers and general alcopop induced hysteria.

And those doors are opened by two blokes on either side pulling on a couple of ropes. No fancy electronics, no remote control robots. Just ropes. I assume that’s because on a live TV schedule, there’s no room for anything to go wrong and ropes are more reliable, but it seemed incongruous amongst all the high tech chicanery.


(*) Okay, do judge me. There's really no excuse for that kind of thing. At least it's not like I admitted I once went and saw Barry Manilow in concert. Oh, hang on...
(Rakky (forgot her password) The muffin maverick, Tue 9 Nov 2010, 9:36, 5 replies)

I went on a Channel 5 show once
That's worse. And I didn't get any free booze.
(IHateSprouts is baking a huge pie shaped like an enormous pie, Tue 9 Nov 2010, 9:38, closed)

It's amazing what TV land consists of.
The sound engineer's/stage hand's adage is that the only tools you need are duct tape and WD40 - if it moves and shouldn't = duct tape. If it doesn't move and it should = WD40.
( Je suis un vagabond is an unfunny, up your own arse middle class knob, Tue 9 Nov 2010, 10:22, closed)

I have no idea what the fuck you just said
but the thing about the doors has been true since the sixties at least - that's how the ones on the Starship Enterprise worked
( emvee cruor deo cruoris, Tue 9 Nov 2010, 12:27, closed)

Related sci-fi slidey door trivia
The sound effect for those doors was made by sliding a piece of paper in and out of an envelope.
( Scrumper, Tue 9 Nov 2010, 14:36, closed)

Barry Manilow puts on a great show!

(Trixy1, Tue 9 Nov 2010, 12:29, closed)