[RhysJR]

The BBC have told The Metro that AJ Odudu was no longer under contract to promote the Google Pixel, so they were fine with the broadcast.

A bit of grey area then, as the public could still associate her with the product as she was still promoting it less than six months ago, but as she is not currently payed it should be fine from the BBC PoV.

metro.co.uk 

BBC replies to Michael McIntyre’s Big Show 'rule break' | Metro News
Michael McIntyre’s Big Show has been accused of breaking BBC guidelines after AJ…
  Source: metro.co.uk

[Stooky Bill]

There was a few "unexpected" stars who when they saw they were on the stage, their reaction was not exactly surprised or stunned - it seems I think some of the unexpected stars might have sussed out that they are going to be appearing on Michael's show.

I do wonder how convincing they can make the Stage Door of the Drury Lane theatre look like something else or if there's other back entrances that are less obvious. The one at the Palladium where the 2019 series was filmed used an entrance down a narrow back street at the back called Hills Place which could be anywhere, but it's not the most salubrious part of soho

maps.app.goo.gl 

Google Maps
Mit Google Maps lokale Anbieter suchen, Karten anzeigen und Routenpläne abrufen.
  Source: www.google.com

With members of the public I can kind of understand not being suspicious if they don't know London. That said I saw Tony Hadley being interviewed on Sunday Brunch and he said that when he was caught he knew he was in Covent Garden but just went wherever his management told him to go so just went with it

---

Incidently the absolute highlight of the series was the appearance of the infamous Fanny Chmeler

youtu.be 

[JMT1985]

Going back a few series, there are a few "unexpected" stars which I felt knew because their reaction when they are revealed on stage was so relaxed - unless they were the type of people who were totally unfazed by it.

[RhysJR]

Nice to see a decent recration of Broadcasting House Studio V tonight. Michael said it was the exact set, but you could see the sofas were a bit smaller. That type of feature you could ossibly clamour to have more often, though it must be a lot of effort to undertake.

Moving the Unexpected Star to be celebrity based is really not working for me. It feels a bit fake, that they do go into their singing almost without breaking stride. Even if the civillian Unexpected Star does work out what is happening, you still have the novelty of them peforming in front of the large crowd for the first time, and often a lovely backstory.
I wonder why they do it? It can't be a lack of applicants.

[JMT1985]

Nice to see a decent recration of Broadcasting House Studio V tonight. Michael said it was the exact set, but you could see the sofas were a bit smaller. That type of feature you could ossibly clamour to have more often, though it must be a lot of effort to undertake.

Moving the Unexpected Star to be celebrity based is really not working for me. It feels a bit fake, that they do go into their singing almost without breaking stride. Even if the civillian Unexpected Star does work out what is happening, you still have the novelty of them peforming in front of the large crowd for the first time, and often a lovely backstory.
I wonder why they do it? It can't be a lack of applicants.

I agree with you about the celebrity unexpected star - It seems Michael is falling down the trap that Who Wants To Be A Millionaire went down, when they started celebrity specials, it seems the public doesn't like too many of them. I remember the great Malcolm Tucker from The Thick of It saying when you bring out celebrities you really do know you are desperate.

I always remember Noel Edmonds saying that he forbid any celebrity specials of Deal or No Deal for many years, and he had to relent in 2012 when Channel 4 forced him to agree to do specials with celebrities, he said he knew the show was on a downward slide when that happens, and I feel Michael's Big Show is going that way too.

Michael has ditched a lot from this show - he rarely bothers to venture into the audience to have a bit of fun with them - all stand up comedy has been axed from the show including his opening monologue - surely if you have a few writers, you could create a 5 minute opening routine each week, it is only what 6 shows a year he does with The Big Show.

Also do you notice, they don't bother using the show as a Christmas special. Why? This would be a perfect show for a Christmas special, they used to do it, last Christmas special of the Big Show was in 2019.

[Johnr]

Perhaps unsurprisingly the fake One Show family were invited to watch the One Show from the studio tonight and have a quick chat towards the end about the whole thing

[Gary Baldy]

Something I find really odd about the Unexpected Star section…

How does nobody automatically suspect a thing?

They disguise the Theatre Royal Drury Lane as something else… but surely if they drive themselves to where they think they’re going and search for directions… they’re not going to find them, because where they think they’re going doesn’t actually exist.

Or if they go in a taxi, they’d be telling the driver to take them to a location that doesn’t exist… unless the taxi drivers are in on it?

[Jon]

Something I find really odd about the Unexpected Star section…

How does nobody automatically suspect a thing?

They disguise the Theatre Royal Drury Lane as something else… but surely if they drive themselves to where they think they’re going and search for directions… they’re not going to find them, because where they think they’re going doesn’t actually exist.

Or if they go in a taxi, they’d be telling the driver to take them to a location that doesn’t exist… unless the taxi drivers are in on it?

Obviously whoever is with the unexpected star is in on it. I’m not sure many members of the public would be driving themselves around in central London anyway.

Most people from outside of London will have no idea about London’s West End. So if it’s a friend that’s telling them they’ve organised an activity and knows where to go, in theory it shouldn’t be too difficult to pull off. Even with the celebrities, they’re probably used to doing what their management tells them, but of course it’s possible they might have more of an idea something is happening.

[JMT1985]

If the show had been filmed in a regular TV studio, the idea of the unexpected star of the show would simply not work I feel - since they use a theatre in London's west end, and since the theatre has also a back entrance and side locations which can be used, it does make it slightly easier.

However, now we have had this many series of the show, it will be getting harder for the team to make sure the unexpected star doesn't twig and know what is happening which is what I think has happened recently judging by the reaction of a few of them

[Brekkie]

And it's something which likely wouldn't work if it was live as well