Gogglebox is back with the first batch of fresh episodes of the year with the cast ready to review the past week of television and offer their insights and have their reactions caught on camera.
Fans of the show will be able to condense a week of TV into an hour themselves while being given additional entertainment by the reactions from the cast.
The award winning show is now in its 19th season – having first launched way back in 2013 and making household names out of future stars including Scarlett Moffatt, Tom Malone Jr and Steph and Dom Parker, among others.
But how exactly is the show filmed? What do the stars snack on? And do they actually get paid to sit around and watch TV?
Here are all the biggest show secrets about Gogglebox – as told by the cast themselves.
How the show is filmed
Viewers of Gogglebox get to sit back and relax while watching a host of participants sitting back and relaxing to watch TV.
For those in the show, however, watching TV has become something of a profession – but it does sound like filming the series can be more demanding than some might expect.
Dave and Shirley Griffiths, who joined the show in 2015 to appear from series six onwards, have explained how the show works.
Dave told new! magazine: “The crew turn up on a Sunday and then we normally kick off about 3pm. That fives them time to set up.”
And he went on to describe the filming as “a pretty long watch”.
Nick Grimshaw, who has been a participant of Celebrity Gogglebox since the spin-off launched in 2019, has also hinted that filming the show can be something of an endurance test.
He told Lorraine Kelly, herself a participant since 2021, while appearing on her ITV morning show last year: "You are there for a while. You have to watch the week in telly.”
Fellow Celeb Gogglebox star Gyles Brandreth has also discussed the filming process in the past, telling Esther Rantzen's That's After Life podcast: "They come to the house at the beginning and they set up the cameras in the room.
"They then go away for two months. The cameras are permanently in the room and you genuinely forget they are there. You are alone in the building and that lulls you into a false state of relaxation."
Sandra Martin – who featured on the show alongside Sandi Bogle from series one until series nine – both quitting by 2017 – has also opened up about the long hours involved making an episode of the show.
She previously told The Sun she would be watching eight to 12 hours worth of TV over two days: "Gogglebox is an easy job. It’s the best job ever. But it was boring at some points."
She added: "They’d come at 2pm or 4pm, set up the equipment by 6pm and by 10pm they’re out.
"It was easy in-and-out job. But when I watch them doing the show now, I think ‘boring’. You can’t do any other shows. That's why me and Sandi, Scarlett (Moffatt), Steph and Dom all left."
Food and snacks
One of the bonuses of featuring on Gogglebox is that you get to have snacks and food provided by the show – meaning you can keep yourself happily hydrated and bat away hunger while watching hour after hour of TV.
Dave Griffiths told new! magazine: “We have a sandwich or something. Gogglebox also offer us a meal, if we want one. We don’t bother with that really. We get some snacks in… like crisps, buts, chocolate.”
Wife Shirley added: “We just buy what we want and they pay for it!”
Nick Grimshaw has explained that he often ends up nibbling on junk, saying: “At the start we started off we wanted to be healthy but now we just have crisps."
While sisters Ellie and Izzi Warner, added to the show in 2015’s season six, have shared their love for chicken Kiev by munching on the meal in front of cameras.
Izzi lamented during one episode: “I were trying to find something to have for tea on Sunday. Because I thought ‘I’m not going out again over t’ weekend. I’m probably going to be a little bit hungover on Sunday. We’re not eating out ‘cause we ate out last Sunday, so I need to find something for Sunday tea.’
“But everything I kept going to were Kiev based. I though, ‘Izzy! You’re having Kiev tonight, you don’t want Kiev on Sunday.’ And Grant don’t like Kiev.”
She continued: “I mean, don’t tell me how I’ve ended up with somebody who don’t like Kiev when I love Kiev as much as I do.”
Watching themselves back
Gogglebox has given near instant nationwide fame to all the families taking part – but do they watch the show themselves?
It seems some of the cast do – and can’t get enough of the series even when they’re in it themselves.
Dave and Shirley Griffiths have remained fans of the show even since joining the panel in 2015, with Dave telling new! magazine: “Shirley is an avid viewers of it. Yeah, she loves it!
Shirley admits: “I watch every single episode back. I watch the celebrity version, too. I like the celebrities. It’s my favourite programme of them all.”
Fellow participants Jenny Newby and Lee Riley have also admitted they also watch the show – but have sometimes been forced to miss tuning in to episodes due to the show itself.
Jenny told fans previously that she couldn’t tune in for the season 18 premiere, explaining: “As you can see, we are filming this evening so we won't be able to watch the show. Hope you all enjoy the show this evening and I hope you are glad that everybody is back."
Dressing up ( or down) for the show
Stephen Webb has been a cast member on Gogglebox since the first season in 2013 and says he used to get dressed up when first started filming the show – but quickly gave up making the effort.
Speaking to Philmarriot.net, the star – who used to feature alongside now ex-boyfriend Chris Ashby-Steed, said: “When we first started, we got quite excited and went out and bought nice shirts, jeans and shoes.
“But now, we’ve definitely settled into it more. I’ve got a bag of clothes that I take to Chris’s to film. When we’re not doing a series it’s still in the boot of my car. I never wash it!”
Lorraine Kelly has also declared she just wants to be comfortable when filming the celebrity version of the show – which she appears on alongside daughter Rosie.
She told fans before she made her 2021 debut to expect to see her looking casual, saying: ”Clothing wise you just want to be in something comfy.”
Getting drunk on camera
Steph and Dom Parker were fan favourites of Gogglebox when they appeared on the show during the first seven seasons – and were rarely seen without a drink in their hands.
However the couple, who quit the series ahead of 2016’s eighth series, insist they are not the drunken lushes the show made them out to be.
Dom previously told The Sun: “It’s sort of rather unfortunate that on that show we were always filmed over one night and if you have nothing to do other than sit and watch telly, you’re going to have a couple of gins.
“I think an awful lot of people think that we’re absolutely sloshed all of the time, but we can’t be, we have to be places, we have to get up in the morning, we’ve got two kids, we’ve got to drive!”
Welsh couple Dave and Shirley have confessed they do sometimes have one drink too many while the cameras are rolling, with Shirley admitting to new! magazine: “Sometimes me and Dave have a little bit too much… We get a little bit drunk!”
Giles Wood and Mary Killen have been fan favourites since they joined the show in season five in 2015 – where they warmed viewer’s hearts by affectionately referring to each other as “nutty”.
Fan’s won’t see Mary knocking back drinks on the show, however, as she told the Mirror last year that she was forced to quit drinking after suffering a serious bout of food poisoning in 2018, saying: “Immediately afterwards, I found I couldn't face alcohol.”
But curiously, Tom Jr of the Malone family, who have featured on the series since 2014, has previously said alcohol is banned for Gogglebox stars.
He told The Sun last November: "We weren't allowed to order or drink alcohol, because I don't think the show would work if we were all there slurring our words. It would be a different type of show!"
Mixing with other Gogglebox households
With a large cast of relatable participants dotted all over the UK, you would think there might be some kind of secret Gogglebox convention where the show members would be allowed to meet in the flesh and swap life stories with each other.
Well, no.
Dave and Shirley Griffiths confirmed to new! magazine that they sadly never really get to meet the other stars of the show – with fleeting encounters at rare TV awards shows offering the only chance for the show stars to get close.
Shirley explained: “I spoke to Jenny [Newby] and Lee [Riley]. I saw them when I went to the National Television Awards and you know, just waved. But no, we don’t meet.”
And Dave backed up her claim, saying: “I’ve spoken to them on social media – wished them happy birthday, and they posted different things which I commented on. And we’ve had replies from them.
“But it’s funny, having never met them. I suppose, like the rest of the nation, you feel as though you know them anyway.”
Tom Malone Jr has also previously discussed the fact that the stars never mingle in real life.
Replying to fan questions via TikTok, the star said: "We actually don't know any of the other families on the show, we've never met them.
"Occasionally we might tweet each other or mention something to each other on Twitter or Instagram but we don't meet up or anything like that... never met any of them."
How much do they get paid?
The cast of Gogglebox earn a reported £1,500 per household per month when they are working on the show – with the participants dividing up the cash between themselves.
Series Icon Sandra has opened about how she splashed the cash she earned from the show in the past.
She told The Sun: “Money was good, I blew the money, but I looked after my children and my friends, made sure everyone was happy. I’m not money orientated.”
She also adds she often gets free coffee and upgraded train seats when she’s out and about after finding fame on the show in exchange for giving selfies.
However, shoemakers have previously implied people take part in the show over their love of entertainment rather than money.
Show's creator Stephen Lambert declared in 2015 that: "everybody on Gogglebox has been found and persuaded to be on the show and I think that's the key to why they are likeable and why the show works, because we get to know these people".
He added at the time: "We've never advertised for people on Gogglebox."
Gogglebox airs on Friday nights on Channel 4 and via 4OD at 9pm.
