Interview with Dom Joly and Vicky Pattison for Celebrity Hunted

11 October 2018

How did this pairing come about?

Dom: I had to pick a girl and I really wanted a winner! I've done a couple of shows where I thought I was going to do quite well and I didn't. I mean, I only came fourth in the jungle and she won it! I'd watch Geordie Shore. I knew she was about the only person to have been to university, she’s the intellectual of Geordie Shore! Then she bloody won the jungle. She's funny and mischievous. I just thought when I watch Hunted, what makes me laugh is when they tease each other and take the piss. I thought it would be quite interesting because we’re chalk and cheese really.

What did you think when you got the call?

Vicky: To be honest with you, I was absolutely buzzing. It's really funny, we've just been talking about this in the car. There's been a talk of us doing it with so many different partners and it just never quite panned out. When I got the call about Dom, I just said…

Dom: She said, ”He’s an idiot but it might work!” We're both fans of the show. The one thing I think we know, this is what I love about Vicky, she's analysed it as much as I have. Having said this, we'll probably get caught on the first day. But what we’ve learnt from watching the show before is that you really need to be as unpredictable as possible and you need to keep away from patterns. I'm 50. She's 30. She's a Geordie. I'm from the Cotswolds. We couldn't be more different. We have no idea where either of us are going to go. I think that's going to confuse things slightly! So we make a good team!

Why did you both want to do a show?

Vicky: To start off, we’re both major fan girls for Hunted.

Dom: Fanboy!

Vicky: Fangirl, fanboy. I am a huge…I don't think it's adrenaline junkie?

Dom: Drinker?

Vicky: Yes, drinker, that's fair! But I am an adrenaline junkie, if there's anything I can do where I'm going to test myself or there's potential for growth or even just…

Dom: Growth? Come on!

Vicky: I tell you honestly, Dom. I'm such a cliché.

Dom: She really is! She was giving me quotes on how to improve myself. She's brilliant at getting people's names right. I always forget people's name. I'm terrible. She does that thing where she repeats someone's name four times when she meets you. She got that from Simon Cowell's book. She’s been reading books about people like him to help her to grow!

So if Vicky’s doing it to ‘grow’, why are you doing it Dom?

Dom: I like shows which even if you're Richard Branson, you wouldn't be able to get that experience unless you robbed a bank. It's possible Richard Branson might get bankrupt, go on the run and get chased, but I doubt it! I love the idea that we're doing something you'd never have the chance of ever doing. My kids watch this show. It's the only show we watch together. They said, "If you get asked to do that, you've got to do it." We watched it with Spencer and Jamie last year. We were like, "Oh, I've got to do that!”

So what is your strategy?

Dom: There is no strategy. That's our strategy! That's what's cool, everyone else seems to have a plan. They've all thought about what they're going to do. Now, we're not sure if it's because we're lazy, but we have no plan.

Vicky: We're a fly by our pants kind of team. I think that is going to be one of our greatest strengths. Our little journey will be littered with things that we think are going to be memorable, fun, really going to piss the Hunters off!

Dom: We're really going to go for the Hunters. That's our main thing. We want to tease them. She wants to ask one of them out constantly. I found their Twitter page where they put out the reward thing and on it, it's got the number you ring in. I'm like, "Hello." We're going to be ringing in quite a lot with various requests and ordering pizzas and stuff.

Vicky: I just want to butter them up so he'll date us.

Dom: Yes, she wants to butter him up and I want to tear him to bits! She hates the little blonde hunter though. You've got a real issue with her.

Vicky: Oh, God. You know the little blonde ground hunter? Nicola. If she grabs us, there's trouble. One of the strict instructions is that if you get tapped on the shoulder that’s it, game over, you’re essentially out. There'll be none of that happening, just try and take a Geordie down!

So basically you’re planning to torment the Hunters!

Dom: That's sort of my job, really. That's what I do. I'm good at lying and dressing as a squirrel and annoying people. I'm not sure where we going to get the squirrel in but he’ll feature somewhere!

Are you two competitive?

Dom: Crazy competitive! We're also sort of inherently lazy because we quite like to drink. It's quite a weird combination. We’ve already been on the wine. Everyone else has been ordering tea. We're like, “More wine please!” Maybe we're doing this wrong?

It sounds like you’re going to be the Steph and Dom of this series and drink all the time!

Vicky: They looked like they were going on the run with a fucking mini-fridge! I loved Steph and Dom!

Dom: We're not like them. We're going to drink hard but we're going to run hard. I don't feel they ran very hard.

Vicky: Yeah, what is it? Work hard, party harder?

Dom: Yes. We're going to be mortal, I believe is the Geordie Shore term. Get mortal.

So basically you'll be drunk for next two weeks?!

Dom: What else is there to do when you're being chased by the state? Also, it's another way of keeping your thoughts from being logical and something that they can plan for or predict. If you're so drunk that you make bad decisions, they won't guess those!

Vicky: I never know where I'm going to end up when I’m drunk so how will the Hunters?

Dom: You have to have a psych test to do this show, we both passed, apparently! Anyway, the psych guy gave me one bit of advice. He said people who are somewhere on the spectrum tend to do a lot better because they're totally illogical. Now, I don't think we're on the spectrum but we're definitely illogical!

Is there anything you’re worried about?

Dom: We've got a communication problem. That's the only thing because obviously, we speak two languages!

Vicky: Dom doesn't understand my accent!

Dom: I will do in a couple of days but at the moment, there's a sense of panic when she shouts an order. I've not got a clue what she’s saying!

You’re both used to roughing it in I’m A Celebrity or on The Island so will you be hitting the countryside?

Dom: Yes, definitely. She's bought a tent that splits into two so we each carry half our tent. How good is that? I died on the island. All I know is the first night, nothing will be worse than the island so I'm fine.

You mentioned the squirrel outfit, so have you got loads of disguises?

Dom: Yes! I tell you the best thing about Vicky. The moment we knew she was doing it, she sent me a WhatsApp, which we've obviously deleted since, which just said, "Just to let you know, Dom, I'm prepared to shave my head." I loved that commitment!

Vicky: He's a natural man of mystery, isn't he? He's a master of disguise. It's right up his street.

Dom: I’ve got someone from my Trigger Happy days who’s going to be helping us, you’ll just have to wait and see but it’s going to be fun! Aside from the disguises my wife's given me a present to give to Vicky because I snore really badly. She gave me a really nice box of earplugs, so she should be all right.

Vicky, you’re saying that you're happy to shave your head, but you're getting married soon?

Vicky: I might be one of those really edgy birds who pulls it off! Maybe a bit of Sinéad O’Connor or Demi Moore. I could go a little bit Jessie J, if I have to. Hair grows back. This is for charity guys. I'm going to rock it!

Are you going to call on any celeb pals to help you?

Dom: We both know Jamie Laing.

Vicky: We got advise from Jamie Laing already.

Dom: It didn't help much. He couldn't remember doing it, as far as I could see! No, he was quite helpful. He said the first four days is really brilliant, then fifth, sixth, seventh you get really depressed. When you get to the second week, you think you want to win and that's when you lose. That's what he said and he's probably right. You're always going to have a bad day on these shows. You just don't want both of us to have a bad day on the same day. That would be the problem.

Do you think you might fall out and split up?

Vicky: Oh, my God, can you imagine?!

Dom: I think it's actually a good thing we don't know each other. We've got no previous history. None of us has bored each other with our stories yet. My wife is like, "Thank God, someone else is going to listen to your crap for two weeks.” We’ll have plenty of booze though. I've got camel bag you know one of those backpacks with a straw that comes over your shoulder and you suck on. We’re going to fill it with wine or cider!

Do you see the other teams as real competition?

Vicky: They are lazy arrogant, like ‘we just got this’.

Dom: Kay and Johnny, they've not seen the troughs of reality, they are like a mean couple, it's quite sweet. love Johnny Mercer because what's great about him is, he's an MP, he is ex-army. He told me that the reason he became an MP and he just looked at them all and excuse my language but it's what he said and he said he just thought they're ‘all a bunch of ***** and I can’t be any worse’ and I thought that's amazing. My favorite thing is the government could actually fall while we’re on the run. He could come back and be the only MP left in camp! The designated survivor!But we are definitely going to beat them!

Vicky: We'll definitely crush those two! Dom has mentioned this before. I'm stupidly competitive, like, it's a problem! I'm not going to be taking any prisoners. I feel like there's a lot who probably underestimate me and Dom.

Dom: We want to win. We really do.

In terms of the general public, are they a help or a hindrance?

Vicky: You have to ask Dom because he is the famous one.

Dom: No, this is an issue here because she just announced casually in the car, "Oh look, I've got over 4 million followers on Instagram." I'm like, "Well I've got 13,000, so f*** you!”

Vicky: It's going to be a difficult one. We’ll have to ask them to post it and say they saw us in a different location to where they did. I guess we’ll just have to trust that they're gonna help us and not stitch us up!

Your partners will be will be grilled by the Hunters at some point. Can they stand up to a grilling?

Dom: It's not really a problem because there are two people at home for me, I've got an 89-year-old mother who is so contrary. I told her, she said, "Absolutely, right. Absolutely, I'm up for it." I said, "You can't tell them anything you know." She is so contrary, where as my wife, she's Canadian, they can't lie. Their honesty is like a Christian camp. I said, "You're going to lie." She said, "I won't directly lie." -

Vicky: Well, I feel like John's got a major problem with authority so he’ll stand up pretty well.

Dom: Also, I've got two quite aggressive pigs. Our plan is that my wife is going to let the pigs out when the Hunters’ car comes in, the postman won't come in because they ram the thing so I'm hoping the pig is going to take that car out!

How big are these pigs?

Dom: They're huge! I rescued them because they were what people thought were micro pigs and then they grew to be monsters and I've got a farm so we took them in. I just took them because I'm really into pigs. It would be great if we can get on film that the Hunters were disabled by my pigs, Francis Bacon and Stanley!

It sounds like you are looking forward to this experience, is there anything that you're nervous about?

Dom: Rain.

Vicky: I'm not bothered by the rain. I'm from Newcastle, mate!

What is your message to the hunters?

Dom: F*** you! You won't catch us! If they were really good at what they were doing, they wouldn't be doing this show, they’d be actually still working for the security services. So it seems to be clear that these Hunters are actually rejects. They've been mopped up by TV companies.

Vicky: I will just like to make it really clear that me and Dom have separate messages on that front!