Alan Carr has never been one to hold back what he really thinks and this is evident once again as he returns to host the latest series of Interior Design Masters with Alan Carr.
This will be the sixth run of the hit BBC One show – the fifth since Carr took over from Fearne Cotton as host in 2021 – and will once again see head judge Michelle Ogundehin and a rotating roster of guests run their eyes over the work of 10 amateur interior designers as they compete to be crowned champion.
The Dorset-born star, 48, describes the gig as “a laugh and a giggle”, but admits he sometimes has to reign his obervations in when speaking to the contestants about what they are working on.
Speaking to The Standard and other press ahead of the new series launch on Thursday, he explained: “I do have to bite my tongue and they don’t warn me and I go in there and what you see is what you get. I mean you know my poker face is not the best. I think the reason that I got the job was they said ‘Alan, you are the people at home, you go in there’ and I’ve got no filter, it has got me into so much trouble before.
“I go in there and if they’ve painted it the colour of baby poo, then it’s baby poo. If it looks like the inside of a nappy, what can I say? I try not to be too cruel and bullying but sometimes I can’t help myself, you know.
“If you’re not going to have a bit of banter with me then don’t come on the show.
“There’s so many WTF [what the f***] moments and you’re going really!? But I think that’s the joy of the show. You get people who inspire you and you go ‘wow!’ I’m going to do that in my house to people like oh my god do not come anywhere near my house.”
There will be plenty more WTF moments to come with the show recently picked up for a seventh and eighth series.
While Carr admits to having used the services of previous contestants to decorate his own home, including series three alumni Amy Davies and Fran Lee, he says you can’t please everyone all of the time.
Part of the contract of taking part in Interior Design Masters is that if the client doesn’t like what has been done with their space, the show’s team of experts will redo it the next day back to how it was before.
Carr said: “I’m not naming and shaming, but there was one where we were all waiting and the woman came round the corner and she was crying and we were like ‘oh my god, she loves it! She loves it!’ And as she was getting closer and closer, I was like ‘oh, they’re not happy tears!’
“What you find is the ones where it’s the independent businesses where you can’t muck about and it’s a personal thing, they’ve built this up and all of a sudden someone’s made a bad - well, not a bad design choice, but has not done what they want. It’s all about the client, I keep telling you! So we’ve had tears and then sometimes where at the end of the day the people have said ‘can you paint it back?’”
In such circumstances, Carr says he refers to his default setting of “just smile and nod and wave and just be my usual camp self.”
Series six of Interior Design Masters with Alan Carr begins on April 10 at 8pm on BBC One.
